ZbergBeat Zberg (Mercato Uno) signed a contract with Rabobank for 2 years. Rabobank expects Zberg can help Sorensen in the classics next season.Post Tour Criterium NewsThe first contracts were signed for the criteriums after the Tour de France. Jan Ullrich is going to live with Jens Heppner in Aachen-Germany in the neighbourhood of the Dutch border. He will start in several races in Holland. The first race is the Draai van de Kaai in Roosendaal on August 4. Erik Zabel will start there too.Tour NewsTelekom and Banesto stayed at the same hotel for the rest day and after the press conference with Olano, Ullrich & Riis answered questions. Ullrich was the first to talk: "I don't think that Bjarne is an adversary for me. But I'm convinced that he will ride better in the Alps than in the Pyrenees. The Pyrenees are difficult, but the Alps even more. The one that worries me the most is Olano because he goes well in the time trial and like Bjarne, I'm convinced that he will do better at the Pyrenees". "The relationship between Riis and I are good. He's a gentleman, who never gets mad. I try to learn from his experience and his way of neing. I think that it is lucky to have him beside me, because everything that he does helps the rest of us to improve"."I'm a realist and I still can't see myself in Yellow in Paris. In reality the Tour begins today, then there are four very tough days. The time to make any predictions will be after we pass the Alps, not now". Dane, Bjarne Riis corroborated his teammate when he said: "There is no competition between Jan and I. For now he's the leader, but nobody knows what can happen. My morale is high and I haven't gotten lost from the Tour yet. But for now, I'm happy for him. I had problems in the first stage in the Pyrenees to keep up with the best. I went better in the second stage, but Jan was super. If he rides the Alps like he rode the Pyrenees, nobody will be able to follow him. I will not attack him, because he behaved very well with me in the Pyrenees and I will be like that with him in the Alps". About today's time trial, Riis agreed with his teammate: "Olano will be our toughest rival. I don't think that he will throw the towel yet". "Like Olano, I feel that depending on how you face the first kilometer of the climb will determine how the rest of the climb will go. And then there is a second climb, which is not as tough as the first one, but after climbing he first one, will be difficult", said Riis. Already in their hotels in Saint Etienne since Wednesday night, they arrived there from Perpinan by air. Some worked more, Abraham Olano and his teammates rode 80km, one and a half times the time trial route, and others rode less: the members of Team ONCE only rode for two hours. Kelme only rode softly and for about two hours on the time trial circuit. The riders will have sort of a take-off ramp of about 5km. This part in divided in two sections.The first part is a soft descent and the second is a very fast one. Then there is a short and tough climb, a steep descent and a false flat which goes to the foot of the climb. This is the Col de la Croix de Chabourdet and it is rated a category 2. If is 14km long and the top is at km 26.5, that is practically at halfway in the route. Then followed by 20 wavy kilometers, until the decisive 9km kilometer descent that leads to Saint Etienne. This is definitely a leg breaker route, which might rearrange the overall, since it will be necessary to be very centered as to not waste any decisive moments. The leader of Team Banesto assured that he won't deny the news that he will abandon "because I have never thought about it and the person that should respond to that is the one who invented it". It was pretty tense at the Albatros Hotel, right before the press conference with Abraham Olano. There was an announcement made in the cover of a newspaper assuring that Olano would decide yesterday if he would abandon. Olano started the press conference by saying that: "I don't know where this information came out of. It definitely didn't come out of Banesto. Whomever published it should know. I don't have to make any correcting statements, because I never said such a thing. The person that needs to do it, is the one that invented it", said Abraham. Yesterday, all of Team Banesto went through complete analysis and the results will be known today, although it is known that Olano's levels were normal, although the bio chemistry and enzyme levels is yet to be known. "It will be important to know how are my reserves after the effort made. I thought that I was fine but after the Pyrenees, I have my doubts. Olano also said: "I'm headstrong and even thought I had it all lost in the mountains, I kept fighting. It doesn't matter how things work out, or what the analysis say, I'm not going to abandon. I didn't do it at the Giro or Vuelta when things got bad and I'm not going to do it now". The immediate future is today's time trial. Olano explained that: "I want to dispute it and be at the level that I desire, I don't want to give away anymore time. I know that Ullrich is the strongest, but the fight is not with him, but with the other rivals, where I think the differences will be small. Only if I do very well in the time trial and my strength returns would I consider battling the German". Yesterday he trained over the time trial circuit. "But we didn't force the engine. Anyway, it is a relief to continue to be third in the overall. I hope to recuperate, since I have to suffer, let it be to win places in the overall, not to stay the same". He rejected the statement that his present stage is due to his responsibility. "I have always evaded pressure, it has never affected me. The only pressure I have is my own". Neither does the pressure of substituting Indurain bother him. "I'm not substituting him, I'm just the leader now. Miguel did great things and had us spoiled. We have to realize what the Tour is, we have to be realistic and weight our ambitions". When asked about his performance: "After the crash at the Dauphine, the analysis showed some muscular fatigue. I don't know if it is the same thing now. It is not a matter of my pulse, but my muscles, which don't have the strength. But I will continue to fight until the end, no matter what the analysis say. That's what I'm here for". Bernard Hinault said that he feels that Ullrich is capable of winning six or seven Tours. When asked about it, Olano said smiling: "Well, to win the Tour one needs various favorable circumstances. And Ullrich has yet to win his first one". When asked if a podium finish would be a disappointment he answered: "I came to the Tour with the will to win. But to climb the podium is not considered losing". Boardman In Unaccustomed Time Trial PositionWe were treated to a masterly time trial ride by Jan Ullrich, but what of Chris Boardman? Still suffering severe back pain, the result of his crash in the first Pyrenean stage, he forwent any use of a special time trial bike, even, as some riders including Ullrich did, as a bike change at the top of the climb. He rode his normal road bike with a triathlon extension. He managed to keep the best time over the first 12.5 km for a long time before it was swept away by the stage leaders but was then caught for two minutes by Franck Vandenbroucke on the climb. Channel 4 TV's Phil Liggett rightly noted that there was no record of Boardman having been overtaken in a time trial before. But Boardman chased hard on the descent and Vandenbroucke had to sprint hard to hold him off at the line (still two minutes ahead of course). This prefigured Richard Virenque's experience with Ullrich. Overtaken, Ullrich got well out of sight and was descending in a very dare-devil way, but Virenque got near to catching him on a rise before the finish. More than three minutes down on Ullrich but good enough for a superb second place and keeping Virenque well placed for the Alpine stages.Channel 4's Garry Imlach spoke to Chris Boardman at the finish: Boardman: Somebody's been stubbbing a cigarette out in my back for the last hour and a half. Imlach: You said before the time trial that it would hinge on whether you were able to adopt the aerodynamic position. How much did your inability to do that hinder you? Boardman: Well, I had to take my road bike today with just a little pair of handlebars on. Because I couldn't get low enough. And we'd already taken a decision before the start that this was going to be the first time trial, in my professional career I suppose, that I haven't ridden flat-out. It's quite an unpleasant experience, actually. I'm feeling a little bit lost. Because at the moment I don't have a job to do. And it's not very nice to come to a time trial for the first time in five years and have to ride it steady. |