Previous stories

Tour News for July 16

Post race comments

Serguei Ivanov (Fassa Bortolo, 1st stage)

:Serguei Ivanov
Photo: © Sirottti

"We started attacking from almost kilometre zero. It was quite hard from the beginning when I was away. Then when the three of us got together, we were riding well, all three rolling, downhill and on the mountains."

"I was scared when we had 6'10 then it was down to 3'50. The peloton was going very, very fast then. But with 20 kilometres, I saw 2'10, and I thought that's quite good. We were going at high speed and it was downhill. "

"Then I think we would make it to the finale. But with 10 km to go, I tried an attack. Why not?"

"When I came to Tour, I thought about a stage win. I don't want to stop at one stage. I will try to win one more."

Is it significant for your team? "Yes of course. The first victory in the Tour this year, and it's very important. The team has had a lot of bad luck. It was necessary to do something to get rid of it."

"Last year I was excluded from the Tour before the prologue. For me, it is therefore a revenge. Errors were made; I am not the only one in question."

Stuart O'Grady (Credit Agricole, 1st GC)

Stuart O'Grady
Photo: © AFP

"It was extremely hard. I would have thought [it was going to be easy] but it didn't happen like that. Everyone out there was on the attack. It made it a very fast start."

"Tomorrow is going to hurt and I'll probably end up in the gruppetto. I've got 20 mins on third place and it's not going to be enough."

"I hope they wait for Alpe d'Huez [to attack]. The Spanish teams will make it very hard."

About the yellow: "It was a very good first week. The whole team has been on a high. The morale is great. I hope Bobby Julich has a good GC - that would be perfect for us."

Bradley McGee (Francaise des Jeux, 3rd)

"I thought at one stage that our advantage could go up to 15 minutes. But, on the contrary, it quickly came down. When Ivanov attacked I didn't have the answers in my legs. In a normal sprint, I would beat them ten times out of ten. But, in this situation, if we arrived with three, I always come 3rd."

"I had never made such a long escape. I was afraid. I said myself at one point: c'mon Bradley - you're ready for it now, you're 25, you're four years as a pro."

François Simon (Bonjour, 16th and 2nd GC)

"I will try to ride my race in the head of the group. There is no question of me going into the red. It is not worth clinging to 40 seconds. My ambition is to remain with Armstrong and Ullrich. I will try to follow the head group until it explodes."

"I dream of the yellow jersey. But, first of all, it is necessary that O'Grady folds."

Didier Rous (Bonjour, 24th)

"There were not enough of us to be the only ones to ride. We were relieved. Telekom understood too late. If they had ridden, both of us would have caught the break. How can you take this attitude with Zabel in your team?"

"Damien has come close to victory three times. I hope that he will win before the end. Now we are obliged to think of the maillot jaune. It is possible."

Jean-René Bernaudeau (Bonjour directeur sportif)

"We did not think of gaining the maillot jaune. What could be worse for us? Consequently, whatever happens tomorrow, we will enjoy it."

"François Simon is a like a travelling computer. He asked me: 'Can a yellow jersey replace a stage victory?' because all his brothers won a stage."

"I have a small, secret dream that I will keep to myself because sometimes a corner, with the brakes applied wrongly, can lead to a fractured collarbone. Especially Simon, who is not the most solid."

"Today I made Chavanel and Renier ride in the finale. They were worth 20 riders. However, they are only neo-pro's. There is really something that's changed in cycling."

Kurt van de Wouwer (Lotto, 28th stage)

"It is really terribly fast. I thought that everyone would be saving their strength, but on the contrary. We are hanging on by the skin of our teeth. It goes from out of the blocks. According to me, there will be at the most 120 riders in Paris by the finish."

Mario Aerts (Lotto, 44th stage)

On his failure to make the break on Sunday: "The Tour goes for two more weeks. I am sure I'll have another chance. There will be another chance to succeed, surely."

Stage 9 - Full results & report
Stage 9 - Live coverage
Stage 10 - Preview

Tomorrow in the mountains

The first real mountain stage of the Tour is tomorrow's stage 10 from Aix-les-Bains to l'Alpe d'Huez. It's also the longest mountain stage, at 209 kilometres, and with three hors categorie climbs, it's going to be extremely tough.

The word is that it looks like Lance Armstrong is going to attack to show he's the boss of the race. He will have to, after he and the rest of the peloton gave Andrei Kivilev a 13 minute head start yesterday. Armstrong commented yesterday, somewhat annoyed, that it has been "amateur racing in the first week. People would attack when there are crashes."

Jan Ullrich
Photo: © Sirottti

Others have said that the peloton is "weak" with the French teams not wanting to take the responsibility for chasing, if the big teams e.g. USPS, Telekom, ONCE don't either. This has led to a very fragmented race so far, and explains the large time gaps.

Finally, top cycling photographer Graham Watson believes that Jan Ullrich is not as fit as he looks (and he certainly looks fit). During the Bastille Day stage Watson observed Ullrich "puffing" quite heavily on the climbs, although he did mount an attack at one stage. Perhaps it was the cold weather, which Ullrich doesn't like.

All these questions will be answered tomorrow. Don't miss cyclingnews.com's live coverage this (and every) stage starting from 10:00 CEST tomorrow.

Armstrong keeps defending

By Jeff Jones

Lance Armstrong
Photo: © Sirottti

Many people can't come to terms with the idea that Lance Armstrong is riding "á l'eau claire" (on clean water). Since coming back from cancer and winning two Tours de France, opinions have been completely divided as to how he can be this strong without artificial assistance, when several of his colleagues still seem to be reliant on performance enhancing drugs. Armstrong holds the record for the fastest ever Tour de France (1999: 3690 km in 91'32'16, at 40.273 km/h).

'How can someone be this good naturally?' is a common sceptics question.

In addition, his restricted approach with dealing with the media has earned him the respect and sympathy of fewer journalists than other 'more open' riders. Each day before he signs on, a media crowd surrounds the US Postal bus, and crushes him as soon as he emerges, to try and grab a comment or two. However, aided by a couple of bodyguards, Lance ploughs through the throng in order to get to the podium, sign on, and make his way to the start line. He doesn't go to the village depart, and even during the race is surrounded, protected and coccooned by his teammates for as long as possible.

In part, this is what winning two Tours de France does. The pressure and constant demands on one's energy and time are absolutely relentless. Added to this is Armstrong's private character, and extraordinary focus. He and his manager Bill Stapleton decide when and who with he will give interviews to.

The most recent storm surrounding the Texan arose from the interview he gave in La Gazzetta dello Sport recently, where he admitted to having dealings with the controversial Italian doctor Ferrari, who is on trial in Italy in a mass doping investigation. Of course, nothing has been proved yet in that trial (and perhaps never will). But Armstrong's comments quickly led to an article by David Walsh in the UK Sunday Times, which didn't pull many punches in implying that Armstrong had used illegal performance enhancing drugs.

Since then, he has been hounded by journalists to "defend himself" and to answer their questions, but as this seems to be a no-win situation for him, especially while the Tour is on, he has remained relatively secluded.

He did answer some questions this week, and once again denounced "all the innuendo, all the speculation, all the critics...I don't need to lie. I've never been so at ease with my relationship with the press, my relationship with the people, because I know I've been completely transparent," he said, as quoted by Sam Abt in the International Herald Tribune.

"People have lied in cycling and that's the reason we are where we are."

Again, he stated his position on Dr Ferrari: "From what I've seen, I don't think he's guilty," Armstrong said. "And when you say 'questionable reputation,' this is cycling. Who's not in question? Who's not being investigated? But please, let's look at the facts. Let's get the evidence on the table."

He said that he "felt better" about talking about his relationship with Ferrari, and that he was not "mad at anybody" including his rivals on the bike.

He named those as Joseba Beloki and Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano (ONCE), Christophe Moreau (Festina) and Jan Ullrich (Telekom), as well as "others that will show their faces."

At the end of it, win or lose, Armstrong maintains that "It's purifying to me that I've been honest. I can throw my hands up and say I did what I can do."

It will be easy to denounce Armstrong either way, and some journalists will no doubt do that. If he wins, then the innuendo will continue that no-one can be that good without being on something illegal. If he loses, then people will say it's because of the increased threat of being caught this year, and that he wasn't using something, like he was for the last two years.

Does Armstrong care about this? Not one bit.

Further comment on stage 8

Andrei Kivilev
Photo: © Sirottti

It was the fifth longest breakaway of all time (217 km) and resulted in a massive 36 minute advantage to the rest of the peloton. There was no attempt to contain the break after the main threat, Alexandre Vinokourov (Telekom) punctured and 14 men grabbed a lot of time.

Probably the best example in the Tour of what happened in stage 8 was in the 1984 Tour when Vincent Barteau, Le Guilloux and Portuguese rider Paolo Ferreira escaped between Bethune and Sergy-Pontoise. The three riders had gotten a lead of up to 25 minutes, and they eventually crossed the line with 17'42. Bartaeu took the yellow jersey and kept it for 12 stages. His teammate Fignon took it over and won the Tour.

It might be a 'Tour á la Kivilev', as it was in 1956 'á la Walkowiak'.

Thanks to Philipe Bouvet/L'Equipe.

Blijlevens abandons

Jeroen Blijlevens didn't make it to Aix-les-Bains today, possibly haunted by the ghosts of 1998, but more likely succumbing to the high pace of the first week, and a fairly heavy early season program. Along with Frenchman Loic Lamouller (BigMat), the withdrawal of Blijlevens means that there are now just 173 riders left.

Belgian champion Ludovic Capelle (Ag2r) also foretold his doom in tomorrow's stage, telling TV that he would probably not finish. "Tomorrow is certainly my last," he said.

Lightest bike in the world?

At the village depart this morning, Emmanuel Dehan presented a prototype of what is believe to be the lightest bike in the world. Weighing 4.75 kg, the bike currently costs 12,200 Euro, but this may reduce to 7,600 Euro if it is semi-mass produced. Of course, it is too light to pass UCI regulations, which restrict bikes to 6.8 kilograms.

Marie can't beat Ballanger

The man who holds the Tour record for the second longest breakaway in history (234 km in 1991), Thierry Marie, has been retired for several years now. And he showed it in the village today, only able to clock 14.9 seconds for the 250m stationary bike challenge. Felicia Ballanger previously rode the distance in 9 seconds...

Official communiqués

Weather
Dry, a little fresh for this time of the season. Predominantly sunny, with some clouds along the slopes. Breaks in the afternoon. Temperatures between 9 and 19 degrees.

Medical
Hamilton (USPS) and Millar (Cofidis): Digestive disorders
Hushovd (Credit Agricole) and Durand (FdJ): Multiple contusions and superficial abrasions

To the top ::      Back ::