News for July 11, 1997

Nelissen

This was Nelissen's first race for 15 months since he injured himself badly in Gent-Wevelgem. The Limburger who is now riding for the Palmans team took part in the attack and rode with 3 other riders for nearly 52 kms ahead of the peloton.

At the 125 km mark he stopped. He had planned to ride only for 80 kms. "I am very optimistic", he said. The race was won by his team-mate Peter Spaenhoven.

Zulle abandons

He had an operation and was riding with discomfort. In addition, in the first stage Zulle was one of the unfortunate riders to be involved in the mass fall. In the GC he was more than 4 minutes behind the current leader Mario Cipollini.

More Tour News from L'Equipe

While Laurent Jalabert becomes increasingly visible in the scrum and in the general classification, his teammate Alex Zulle seems headed - thanks to generous helpings of bad luck and other deficiencies - towards a fate as sad as it is inflexible.

From one of our special correspondents in Plumelec, Gerard Ejnes

Both evidently share a secret that they persist in trying to hide - in order, in the case of Laurent, not to hope for too much, and, in the case of Alex, not overly to despair. Yesterday, while the Frenchman was rushing in just to miss a first podium placing, the Swiss, stuck at the back, was losing more time and more hope.

Right from the first stage, Laurent Jalabert and Alex Zulle switched places in the overall standings. In three days, the former has moved from 22nd to 7th, while the latter has slipped from 5th to 72nd, with a deficit of 2:59 on his teammate.

It's purely through habit that Once is again pretending to be a two-headed eagle, with everything pointing to an impending decapitation.

Spotted on Tuesday at the front of the race in a breakaway, Zulle made little of it yesterday before the start: "I have tried to test my broken collarbone," he was saying to Vire. "When the pace is moderate, it doesn't hurt, but when it's fast, it hurts. At the beginning of the stage, I almost abandoned. And while the circumstances of the race threw me to the front, at the end of the breakaway I had cramps. In the evening, after the massage, I felt tired. That's a signal. The situation is complicated for me. I would need a whole stage with no pain and no problems to be really reassured. I'm only in with a chance if nothing else happens between here and the Pyrenees."

Zulle considers abandoning -

LATE NEWS - ZULLE DID ABANDON

Yesterday's stage obviously won't have reassured the official leader of Once, this time if not caught in the final crash, then at least in its aftermath. "For sure, I didn't fall. On the other hand, if I was at the back at that moment, it was because I wasn't feeling too good," he admitted openly after the finish. "All day we were going real fast. I was very nervous. With legs like this I won't be going very far." That was a snippet of an almost-blown secret that Zulle lets out, diminished by his injury. And it's a still unpredictable situation that Laurent Jalabert, who also began the Tour in tentative fashion, risks facing in three weeks' time.

Laurent is going well, and already no longer resembles the rider who seemed glued to the road in the Tour of Switzerland. He's going well, and although he doesn't want to let it show too much, he lets it show a little. On Tuesday, an impromptu three-man attack allowed him to snap up a few seconds' bonus. By the evening, he was minimizing its significance: "What is clear is that I am no longer having difficulties. But on this type of terrain there's no way of really knowing what condition you're in. I'm obviously not going to get dropped on the flat. But OK, I was in front and that's great."

Having confirmed that he no longer had any intention of contesting the sprints, he was entertained by the pugilistic adventures of his young brother Nicholas, in a boxing match at Forges-les-Eaux with McEwen, the Australian from Rabobank - inappropriate behaviour for the end of the race: "I'm very proud of him. It's good, he's got character," he laughs.

Getting back to Laurent a few minutes before the finish in Plumelec, it's again Nicholas who he mentions first - the little brother who's been ploughing his own vigorous furrow: "Nicholas' attack was a real surprise. He apparently knew the finish well. I saw him come up three kilometres from the line, on the descent, while we were going pretty fast. He told me 'Look out, there's a bend!', and then once we went round it, he attacked." What followed was above all "in the family", because Laurent finally decided to make the effort and have a go himself. "In this kind of uphill finish, it's not risky for me. Well, less risky anyway. Although having said that..."

Jalabert satisfied

Anway, here he is, Jaja, back to normal - if a little disconcerted: "I wouldn't have pushed it behind Nicholas," he admits. "I don't see the point in compromising my sprint by chasing my brother. Anyway, he produced quite a little exploit by attacking and lasting so long." Once Jalabert the Younger swallowed up, Jalabert the Elder took over: "In fact, I got to the front too early. The slope suited me well, except I was caught out by the final bend. I was overtaken. Afterwards I did all I could to get back on, but it was impossible."

Laurent even faded away in favour of a strong Riis, which doesn't disappoint him unduly. "That's OK, that's OK. It's beginning to get hard after three long days of high pressure, but I'm satisfied. And I've kept out of the crashes, which is very important."

Luck - and Laurent is better placed than anyone to know it - is, in cycling, a professional quality. For the moment, it is keeping him company towards those Pyrenees that will decide a fate that one might now comtemplate optimistically for the man who may soon be the best of the remaining survivors. Unless he already is.

Olano, the heir (L'Equipe, 5-6/7/97)

- 27 years old, Spain, Banesto.

- PALMARES. Champion of Spain in 1994, he most of all became known by winning the World Championship in Colombia the following year. Also in 1995 he obtained a second place in the Tour of Spain (behind Jalabert). He has ridden three Tours de France: abandoned in 1993, 30th in 1994, and 9th in 1996.

- HIS SEASON. Invisible until the Tour of Asturias (mid-May) and the Bicicleta Vasca (which he won). A fall prevented him from overall victory in the Dauphine (he was 2nd). But the form is there for certain.

- HIS STRONG POINTS. He is seen as the hardest worker in the peloton. Olano has of course some class, especially in timetrials, but he is above all a monster of willpower. No sacrifice will frighten him away from his goals: if he rides, he eats; if he's not riding, he makes do with one meal a day. As a result, in four years he has lost 16 kilos! After the Dauphine, he lived a hermite's existence in the Alps and then in the Pyrenees where he gobbled up an orgy of cols.

- HIS WEAK POINTS. He has assumed the succession to Indurain with Banesto and mentally this weight must sometimes get to him. In the high mountains he still shows some limitations. He has not yet been very successful in the Tour, which he has never before undertaken as a team leader. His personal enemy: his weight.

- HIS AMBITIONS. A podium placing would satisfy him.