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Tour News for July 13

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Jaan Kirsipuu (Ag2r, 1st stage)

Jaan Kirsipuu
Photo: © Sirotti

"The Tour didn't start well for me. The first two stages which were appropriate for me I completely missed. I lost a little confidence but fortunately my team-mates supported me and always relied on me. Sometimes it happens that I win when I'm not feeling well."

"Today, to win the stage, Ludovic Capelle was extraordinary; I would like to finish my career with him and take him to the top as soon as possible, with pleasure."

Ludovic Capelle (Ag2r lead out man)

"We chose the right moment; 500 metres before the finish. I know it's a long way from the line, but you have to make sure that you don't get closed in. Jaan was simply the fastest one there. He can win 9 out of 10 times; and today also he finished the sprint off perfectly. We are at ease now and I'm sure I will be allowed to grab my chance, but first we have to get through the next coming days; it will be tough. My throat has been hurting a bit since yesterday and I am getting a bit tired. But we'll see."

Vincent Lavenu (Ag2r directeur sportif)

On Capelle: "This is one of those golden boys, a great talent. He knows his job, our Belgian Champion. He coordinates perfectly well with Jaan Kirsipuu and that translates itself in the success like we have today. He has enormous qualities as a sprinter but is still too young. He needs to grow a bit more. His enthusiasm is great though. He'll gain what is lacking now soon."

"Kirsipuu is going for the Green Jersey but Zabel will be hard to beat. Zabel gets over those mountains a bit better than what Jaan does. Zabel again will be hard to beat."

Damien Nazon (Bonjour, 2nd stage)

"3rd then 2nd, it is good certainly, but I have to be disappointed: It is not a victory. However, I was good in moving up and passing. But I was wedged in. I would have like to have remained another 50 metres in the wheels."

Rik Verbrugghe (Lotto, part of the main break)

"Of course I'm disappointed. It's not easy to ride in front of the peloton that long. 40 km before the finish we still had 3' and I thought to myself: we can pull this off; but it wasn't meant to be. The disappointment is big. I said I was going for yellow in the first week and I came very close."

Axel Merckx (Domo, part of the main break)

"This hurts more physically than mentally. We were 1 minute short; if the peloton had let us take 4'40 instead of 3'40; the break wouldn't have been caught back. I'm wasted."

Laurent Brochard (Jean Delatour, 27th, part of the break)

"I tried to profit from the good feelings I had in my legs. I was waiting for the time to make a good attack, but I provoked it on the day before July 14. You do not always chose your day."

"In the finale I tried one attack, but I didn't think I could hold it. I simply hope that I will recover quickly because the finish was painful. I will try again."

Patrice Halgand (Jean Delatour, 72nd)

"We put up a good fight. I like this area because the bumps suit me, in each case better than Benoît Salmon. It was psychologically important to preserve the climber's jersey today. On Sunday, the stage is within my measure, so I hope to take more points for the climber's classification, which was my initial aim."

Bradley McGee (Francaise des Jeux, 163rd)

"I am tired and that is not a good way to be during the most beautiful race in the world. The Tour is another sport. But, I hope that if I keep eating and sleeping well while keeping my motivation, I will return strongly in the last week ".

Frédéric Bessy (Credit Agricole, part of the break)

"I remained in the wheels to patrol the escape of these four champions. It was necessary to be realistic, I had not recovered from the time trial the day before which is not my preferred discipline. But I was better in front, rather than in the wind in the peloton for the 5th consecutive day; I have lumbar pains and sore glutei."

Roger Legeay (Credit Agricole directeur sportif)

"It was a good day. I used four men to maintain the distance between the break and the peloton at 3 minutes. I knew that the sprinters' teams were going to do what was necessary to bring them back."

"O'Grady contests the sprints for the green jersey, which remains his objective."

Steels relegated to back of bunch

Belgian Tom Steels (Mapei) finished in fourth place today in the sprint into Strasbourg, his best result of the Tour so far. He had to fight his way back on after being dropped on the Col du Donon with 58 kilometres to go, but made it with the help of some of the other sprinters, including stage winner Kirsipuu.

"I am happy with the way today went," he said afterwards. "I held on. I had to let go on the last climb but together with Zanini, Kirsipuu, Casper and small group I caught back on. I lost my locomotive Zanini in the sprint but that wasn't too bad.I went for Kirsipuu's wheel and was waiting for him to go to the right, at that moment, I got a little push and that kind of threw me out, but those things happen in a sprint."

However, the race jury saw it differently and decided that Steels had impeded Zabel in the final 25 meters. "Steels was on the left hand side, trying to pass Kirsipuu. But he slowed down because he couldn't pass because of the barrier, and allowed himself to drift to the right. With 25 metres to go, he obstructed Zabel," said the president of the race jury Giovanni Meraviglia.

Kevin Livingston denies he was on Lance's file

Cyclingnews caught up with Telekom's Kevin Livingston after yesterday's team time trial stage for a few comments. Livingston did not have a brilliant ride, but the team only lost 24 seconds to Armstrong's US Postal boys.

"The TTT was not really for me; it was really hard but I hung in there. It's a matter of practice (regarding Telekom's slow TTT start) and we didn't practice this...but after the first time check we picked it up."

Regarding the rumours that his name had been substituted for Lance Armstrong's in training records of controversial Italian sports medicine specialist Dr. Michele Ferrari, Kevin said that "My name was never on Lances files! These rumours that came out a few years ago are just not true. It was my training alone in my files, but I don't work with Ferrari any more."

Bobby Julich wants to win a mountain stage

It's been a long three years for Credit Agricole's Bobby Julich, who finished on the podium in the 1998 Tour de France. After that ride, he was considered America's best chance for a Tour win, until Lance Armstrong came back and won in 1999 and 2000. In 1999, Julich fell during the Metz time trial, and was forced to abandon. In 2000, he finished in 48th place, and was never a GC threat. Could 2001 be his year?

He is currently lying in third place overall, and is assumed to be the team's main GC rider, as current Maillot Jaune Stuart O'Grady will certainly lose time in the mountains.

"I especially have to thank the team for where I am placed," he said in Het Belang van Limburg. "I will not hear it said that I can win the Tour. But a mountain stage or even the yellow jersey, that is maybe possible. In the Vosges perhaps."

Fassa Bortolo still struggling

The number one Italian cycling team, Fassa Bortolo, came to the Tour de France with the aim of rebuilding their confidence and results after the fiasco of the Giro d'Italia. However, with top GC man Francesco Casagrande's abandonment in stage 4, the team was dealt another hard blow.

Casagrande decided to race the Tour after crashing out of the Giro on stage 1, breaking his wrist. However, in the lead up to the race he suffered from a bad case of gastroenteritis and did not have an ideal preparation.

"I felt good," he said to Bloomberg News' Darren Tulett. "Then I had another setback because of gastroenteritis. I couldn't train for three days and ate nothing for two days - you lose your strength."

"First the Tour of Italy, now this Tour de France - I don't know how it could get worse," said Casagrande. "My morale is as low as it can get."

"It's not easy to switch targets just like that," said Casagrande of the Giro. "I'd spent months building up to that one race."

After the July 2 UCI rankings, Fassa Bortolo were the number one team by more than 700 points, with Rabobank in second place. However, with Frigo's dismissal, and Casagrande's failure in two major tours, the team is not getting the results it would like.

Belli, who expected to be Casagrande's lieutenant in the Giro, found himself in the co-leader's role after Casagrande was lost to the team. He was excluded from the Giro after he punched a spectator who was actually a cousin of race leader Gilberto Simoni, leaving Frigo to fend for himself. Then Frigo was sacked by his team after admitting that he had banned drugs in his possession.

Can Ivan Basso and Alessandro Petacchi revive their fortunes in this year's Tour? Basso is currently 43rd at 4'55, but is handy in the mountains. Petacchi's best place is 5th in stage four, and he will be hoping for a win later on in the Tour.

Friday the 13th

Further to the riders' superstitions reported yesterday, Lotto director Jos Braeckevelt remembers a severe case of superstition in 1993. Belgian rider Peter de Clercq "refused to take a plane for a stage transfer. The Tour direction authorised him to use a car," recalled Braeckevelt.

A million bottles of water

Food giant Nestlè's Aquarel brand of water is one of the main sponsors of the Tour de France, and is particularly prominent at the 1 kilometre to go mark, the blue of Aquarel replacing the red of Coca-Cola. In addition, Aquarel has made a total of a million 330 mL bottles of water available for use and distribution during the Tour. Half of these will be handed out as the advertising caravan rolls through, while the other 500,000 are for Tour riders, organisation, staff and media. At the end of each stage 2000 bottles are on hand for the riders (about 11 bottles each) if they want them.

To meet the daily quota, 14,000 litres of Aquarel have to be consumed per day, and hopefully the plastic bottles thoughtfully disposed of.

Official communiqués

Weather: cloudy sky and dry, but windy at the beginning. More clouds and threatening rain during the course of stage. Scattered downpours on the peaks of the Vosges with stormy tendencies in the afternoon. Wind from the south-west between 20-40 km/h on the flats, reaching 60 km/h at the top of the climbs. Temperatures between 16 and 25 Celsius.

Medical: Christophe Rinero (Cofidis): Pain in the left knee
Roberto Laiseka (Euskaltel-Euskadi): Wounds and contusions on the elbow, the hip and the right knee.
Santos Gonzalez (ONCE): Abandon because of persistence of pains in the left knee

Jury decisions: Rubens Bertogliati (Lampre): 10 seconds penalty for pacing
Tom Steels (Mapei): Declassification to last place in his group for an irregular sprint

Communiqué from the Tour management: One minute of silence will be observed by the caravan at the beginning of the 7th stage, Strasbourg-Colmar, in memory of the victims of the catastrophe of July 6, 2000 in Strasbourg.

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