News for July 16, 1997

Tour News

In the first Pyrenean stage today (Stage 9) GAN's Cedric Vasseur unexpectedly held on to his yellow jersey by 13 seconds. His team leader, Chris Boardman, slipped from 3rd to 72nd at 27.54 after losing the leaders' pace on the first climb of the day, the Col du Solour, and then crashing on the descent. British Channel 4 TV's Paul Sherwen spoke to Vasseur and its Garry Imlach spoke to Boardman:

Sherwen: Cedric, it was an incredible day for you today... Vasseur: Yes it was, it was incredible. I didn't think this morning that I could keep this jersey. But I've done my best. And today I have already this jersey on my shoulder. And I'm very pleased for me and for my team.

Imlach: Worst possible start to your first day in the mountains -- a crash. Tell us about it.

Boardman: I could just see the cars so I was quite pleased actually the way I was feeling. I'd really looked after myself there. And one of the Lotto guys came shooting past and I thought the guy must know the descent in the fog. So we started the descent and suddenly the road turned green. And basically we were riding up an embankment and I just almost saved it but basically I was watching -- I made the mistake of watching him instead of the road, and I might have got away with it -- probably wouldn't -- and I just ended up rolling in a ditch. I've just stressed all the back of my neck and I've just displaced two vertebrae but I could get through the rest of the stage. The only thing was that after that I was trapped by the peloton because nobody wanted to chase -- you can't do 130km on your own, especially with like 250k-odd tomorrow. So it's just a frustrating situation to be in. The legs are OK though.

Imlach: You rode the rest of the stage OK, what about the rest of the race? Boardman: I don't see any problem. If it was another race I'd be going home, but it isn't another race, so I won't be.

Blood Tests Continue:

Five teams were subjected to blood testing yesterday: GAN, Casino, US Postal, Roslotto & Saeco. Boardman, was not amongst the ones required to give blood, neither were: O'Grady & Eros Poli. But all the rest of the team was examined, including Moncassin incluido. There were no riders with their hematocrit level higher than 50%. On the contrary, Frenchman Pretot (GAN) only had a level of 41% and the doctor ordered him to drink red wine every night for his dinner.

Cedric Vasseur:

At the end the differences were not a big as they seemed. Even Cedric Vasseur, the condemned leader, according to the experts, was able to defend his first place by 13 seconds and will dispute the 'Queen Stage' of the Pyrenees dressed in yellow. "I went all out on the last descent and I gave everything I had inside of me in the last kilometer. So here I am for the moment. Tomorrow will be another day and maybe I will still be 'alive'", finished the French rider.

Escartin:

Escartin regretted that he wasn't able to "answer Virenque's last attack, but I was already riding at close to maximum. It has been a strange race and it is difficult to understand what Telekom & Festina did, since they would take off and slow down. After the Tourmalet they could have eliminated a lot of people and they slowed down. I hope to improve so that I can start attacking, since the podium s not impossible. Ullrich is very strong and Virenque, better than I expected".

Olano:

Abraham Olano didn't loose his serenity and admitted that he didn't assimilate well the first day in the mountains. "I felt bad from the beginning, bad but within reason and after chasing the whole day, I think that I saved it pretty good. I knew that it could happen to me, just like to any of the favorites. But nothing is lost and there is no need to get nervous. One day is one day and we have to put it away and see what we can do tomorrow. One has to think about recuperating and the next stage, which will have nothing to do with this one", he said.

The 53 seconds given up to Ullrich are not insurmountable. "This has only just begun. And the time that I lost is not so bad considering I had a bad day. Lets see how much the rest will loose when it happens to them. The flat at Soulor is not an excuse, although it did complicate matters. I had to come up a lot of places and when I finally reached the main group the rhythm increased and it took a lot to hold on. From that moment on my race was just a constant chase". When he was dropped during the climb of the Tourmalet, Olano didn't become obsessed. " I knew that it could happen to me, but you can't do much more than riding calmly, at your rhythm and at your teammate's tempo. On the descent we were able to hook up and we took care of that first situation, which repeated itself when I stayed behind at Val Louron'', he remarked.

Olano also wanted to mention: "the great work by Manolo Beltran. If he would have been dropped, we could always pull Jimenez back, but it would have hurt me, because it is always good to have a man in front, because it is an asset for the team and can always slow down the front group a bit". To have had more teammates around him wouldn't have helped him much anyway. "I am the one that had to pedal and if you're not going well, you won't go no matter how many teammates you have around you".

Brochard

An absent minded Brochard said at the finish: It is the 14th of July? I didn't know. It is the best day to win. I attacked Camenzind because I saw that he wasn't going well. I already had a few climbs in my legs, but on the last descent I gave it all. When I caught them, Virenque told me to go ahead. At first I thought that it was so that I could pull, but then I remember our tactic: Richard for the overall and me for the Mountain and to win stages. We have to be happy".

Virenque:

Virenque was very happy at the finish: "The team worked a lot and well and we deserved to win. I felt really good on the last climb and I attacked a few times. Regretfully, Pantani didn't collaborate, because we could have done a lot of harm. Then I told Brochard to keep going. This is just getting started, there is a lot of Pyrenees and all the Alps".

Unzuue

Unzue (One Banesto's directors) was satisfied with the stage "because I was worried about this first day in the mountains, specially the Tourmalet. But Abraham did very well in the final section and I hope that this was his worst day in the Tour. I have also seen Bjarne Riis in trouble and Ullrich has been impressive. Pantani seems to have recuperated, while Festina rode an awesome stage and they are in great form", he said.