First Edition News for October 19

Longo Curtails Record Attempt

Jeannie Longo pulled up 15 mins 55 secs into her Bogota hour record attempt, which began at 8.30am local time this morning (18 October).Riding on 57X15 (8.11m) Longo had covered nearly 13km when she pulled up in the face of a rising wind. Longo was uncertain whether she would feel fresh enough to make a second attempt on the 47.411km record held by Yvonne McGregor either tonight or Thursday morning.

Longo already seemed dispirited yesterday when L'Equipe spoke to her. "Im afraid that I may be coming under the adverse influence of the two gammaglobulin injections I was given after my fall in the Worlds," she said. " And again, as I get nearer the record attempt the stress gets more and more. My sleep is disturbed and I feel that I'm not recuperating well." With little financial and material support, Longo, L'Equipe felt, seemed on the point of cracking in the face of all sorts of problems. "I thought I'd seen everything in Mexico," she said, "but here, except for the kindliness of the [Colombian] people it's much worse." Longo has had problems attempting records in the open air before -- in Colorado Springs in 1987 she abandoned after 35 minutes.

"An open air record is always double or quits," she said yesterday. "To say, as Miguel did, that it's Sunday or nothing doesn't seem like a good solution to me. It only needs a little wind and everything's screwed up. I want to try not to make the same errors. I don't understand why a man like him who depends so much on sunshine started when the air was humid and cold. What a strange idea! ... McGregor put up a very good performance. My schedule will be just a bit faster than hers. If I made 47.500km I'd be more than happy."

Longo is scheduled to make a further attempt in Stuttgart at the end of the month whatever she decides to do today or tomorrow.

TOUR DE TOUR '96

Distances
Total approx. 3835km; longest stage -- Stage 17 Argeles-Gazost--
Pamplona (260km)

The Teams
22 teams of nine riders (198 in total) The 18 top teams in the 22-strong 
"Premier Division" as of 15 January will automatically qualify, "so as to avoid
their running from the beginning of the season" 

a French team is placed between 19th and 22nd it will also automatically 
qualify. For the remaining teams, the wild-card formula will be 
reintroduced. The last invitations will be issued on 11 June (after the GP 
du Midi Libre, the Giro dItalia and the Criterium du Dauphine Libere)

The Prologue

Notionally the UCI-sanctioned maximum for a prologue is 8km. By 
special permission the one at s-Hertogenbosch is 9.4km, but on wide 
roads with easily negotiable bends [Boardman take note! -- RT]

The Big Climbs

STAGE 7 Chambery--Les Arcs SUMMIT finish
Col de la Madeleine 2000m (20km at 7.8%)
Cormet de Roselend 1968m (20km at 6%)
Les Arcs 1700m (14.7km at 5.8%)

STAGE 8 (time trial) Bourg-Saint Maurice--Val dIsere

Val dIsere 1810 (14.8km at 5.9%) SUMMIT finish

STAGE 9 Val dIsere--Sestrieres

Col de lIseran 2270m (15.5km at 5.8%)
Col du Galibier 2640m (34.7km at 5.4%)
Col de Montgenevre 1870m (8.1km at 6%)
Sestrieres 2030m (10.8km at 6.1%) SUMMIT finish

STAGE 10 Turin--Gap

Col de Montgenevre 1890m (42.4km at 3.1%)
Col de la Sentinelle 981m (5.3km at 5%)

STAGE 13 Le Puy-en-Velay--Superbesse-Sancy SUMMIT finish

Col des Fourches 970m (9.9km at 4.3%)
Col de Toutee 996m (5.5km at 4.8%)
Superbesse 1275m (2.1km at 5.5%)

STAGE 16 Agen--Lourdes (Hautacam) SUMMIT finish

Hautacam 1516m (13.4km at 7.8%)

STAGE 17 Argeles-Gazost--Pamplona

Col dAubisque 1704m (28.4km at 4.2%)
Col de Marie-Blanque 1100m (8.7km at 7.1%)
Col de Soudet 1540m (15.8km at 6.8%)
Port de Larrau 1600m (14.8km at 7.9%)
Cote de Remendia 1040m (2.7km at 3.7%)

STAGE 18 Pamplona--Hendaye

Alto de Erro 800m (5,5km at 4.4%)
Cote dIrouleguy 250m (2.6km at 2.9%)
Col dIspeguy 672m (8.2km at 6.4%)
Puerto Otxondo 602m (6.7km at 5.4%)
Col de Saint-Ignace 185m (2.9km at 4%)

LEquipe rates Stage 17 the hardest of the race, with Stage 9 a close 
runner-up.

The Riders' and Managers' Views

Miguel Indurain

"Although the first time trial's uphill, it's not an excessively hard climb and I think it will be very good for me. In any case it's up to the riders to adapt to the course, and I know how to adapt."

"The 1996 Tour will be very hard, like all Tours, very complex and very nervous. I think that the key stages are in the Alps, with three summit finishes, and in the Massif Central where there will be a number of snares [for the unwary]. It will be very difficult to control the race there, as it was at Mende [where Jalabert broke clear to win at the summit] this year... The Pyrenees are always a big moment in the Tour, but they are in the last week, so they may not be decisive. By then, riders often lack the strength to build big gaps."

Luc Leblanc (Polti)

"Its a dificult, open Tour, well suited to attacks ... At first sight, it seems to me that the numerous stages of middle-height mountains [not readily translatable "moyenne montagne] could be more dangerous than the [high] mountain stages. Thats because they offer climbers more opportunities to attack at strategic points. Practically from one end to the other the route will be uneven [again untranslatable -- accidente(e acute)] which suggests to me that Miguel Indurains team will find it harder to master the peloton than in previous years. As for me, I hope only to find again in this Tour my 1994 legs."

Manolo Saiz (ONCE directeur-sportif)

"Its an ideal Tour de France for us. If Laurent [Jalabert] and all the team arrive in the same spirit as they did this year we are going to live to see great moments. The middle mountain is certainly going to favour our offensive spirit, more so than the high mountains. Still, all Tours de France are difficult."

Roger Legeay (GAN directeur-sportif)

"Its an out-of-the ordinary Tour, compact and difficult and one which has fundamentally changed its philosophy. It gets into the mountains very early on and stays there. There are therefore no transition stages. Strategically that is going to change many things even if in the end I don't think that the roles are going to be that different to other years. I regret the loss of the team time trial which gives the Tour a lot of beauty and a lot of sporting courage. It's a pity."

Richard Virenque (Festina)

I've been looking forward to finding out the route. I haven't been disappointed, it's a great one. What pleases me most is the disappearance of the team time trial. That can only favour me. Frankly, this Tour inspies me more than earlier ones. But I don't think that the mountain time trial will be much of an advantage -- the gearing won't be much like that used in the big mountain stages. It seems only like a time trial at altitude."

Laurent Jalabert (ONCE)

Jalabert was due to atend the presentation but overslept having just come back from holiday in Guadeloupe and missed his early morning flight to Paris. He went out for a two-hour training ride instead [!] and commented from home. "On first impressions," he said, "the route pleases me. Every year I say the Tour looks hard, this one looks very hard. I don't know half of the difficulties to come, but its a race with a bit of everything that seems favourable to me. It's difficult to say more right away."

(Jalabert was due to travel to Spain tomorrow for two for criteriums at Marbella, Alcobendas and Madrid. Then a holiday with friends on the Tunisian island of Djerba... buzzing around on mountain bikes! ) 

1996 Tour de France Itinerary (in kilometers):

  June 29 - Prologue in s'Hertogenbosch (9.4 kms)
  June 30 - 1st stage in s'Hertogenbosch (206 kms)
  July 1 - 2nd stage, s'Hertogenbosch - Wasquehal (228 kms)
  July 2 - 3rd stage, Wasquehal - Nogent-sur-Oise (195 kms)
  July 3 - 4th stage, Soissons - Lac de Madine (230 kms)
  July 4 - 5th stage, Lac de Madine - Besancon (225 kms)
  July 5 - 6th stage, Arc-et-Senan - Aix-les-Bains (208 kms)
  July 6 - 7th stage, Chambery - Les Arcs (202 kms)
  July 7 - 8th stage, Bourg-Saint-Maurice - Val d'Isere (30 kms ITT)
  July 8 - 9th stage, Val d'Isere - Sestriere (190 kms)
  July 9 - 10th stage, Turin - Gap (203 kms)
  July 10 - Rest day in Gap
  July 11 - 11th stage, Gap - Valence (200 kms)
  July 12 - 12th stage, Valence - Le Puy-en-Velay (143 kms)
  July 13 - 13th stage, Le Puy-en-Velay - Superbesse-Sancy (177 kms)
  July 14 - 14th stage, Besse - Tulle (185 kms)
  July 15 - 15th stage, Brive-la-Gaillarde - Villeneuve-sur-Lot (177 kms)
  July 16 - 16th stage, Agen - Lourdes-Hautacam (192.5 kms)
  July 17 - 17th stage, Argeles-Gazost - Pamplona (260 kms)
  July 18 - 18th stage, Pamplona - Hendaye (150 kms)
  July 19 - 19th stage, Hendaye - Bordeaux (220 kms)
  July 20 - 20th stage, Bordeaux - Saint-Emilion (60 kms ITT)
  July 21 - 21st stage, Palaiseau - Paris (145 kms)