Men's Professional Road Race Report
106 on the start list, 98 starters. (DNS: Den Bakker, Bouwmans, Knaven, Van
den Meulenhof, Vermey (Netherlands); Vansevenant (Belgium); Baldinger
(Germany); Meinert (Denmark).
Start at 9.05 am by the president of Colombia, Ernesto Samper.
15 laps of 17.7km = 265.5 kms.
Lap 1 (lap time = 27.15)
A crash in the first kilometres: France's Laurent Madouas is one of the
most seriously affected and restarts after about a minute. Team-mate Lylian
Lebreton, also in the crash, waits for him. Also involved are Swiss riders
Jaermann, Putini and Richard and the champion of Colombia Rico who waits
the longest for a new bike.
In the first climb the first to be dropped are the Durch riders Eyk and
Boogerd, the South African Ryder, the Japanese Imanaka, the Frenchmen
Laurent and Thibout, another Japanese Yamada, the Englishman Lillywhite and
the American Julich. Bugno is also in difficulty and is dropped (as at
Benidorm in 1992, when he had his second victory!). He is 50 seconds down
when he crosses the line at the end of lap 1.
Lap 2 (29.14)
The fast pace eases a little and Richard rejoins the peloton where Indurain
and Chiappucci are chatting at the back; then Madouas also overcomes the
delay caused by the crash. Bugno gets back on as well.
Gonzalez-Arrieta (Spain), Nino (Colombia) and Brochard (France) make an
attempt at the first attack on the way back to the finish line but they are
soon pulled back.
Lap 3 (26.48)
Laurent Roux (France) is the first to succeed in making a break, on the
flat stretch at the beginning of the lap. He has 2.30 on the peloton at the
end of the lap, which turns out to be the fastest of the race at 39.6kph.
18 abandons have already been recorded, including Lebreton and Thibout.
Lap 4 (28.03)
Roux increases his lead, which reaches 3.58 on the climb and 3.37 at the
end of the lap, where the Spanish team starts to impose a little "tempo".
Virenque is halted by mechanical problems, but soon gets back with the
bunch. Bugno abandons.
Lap 5 (28.47)
The Colombian, Lozano, attempts to counter-attack in pursuit of Roux but
the Spaniards maintain a fast pace and he is soon brought back. Roux
maintains his lead, which is at 4.06 at the end of the lap. The race is
one-third completed.
Lap 6 (29.15)
Virenque punctures at the base of the climb, but is paced back by Robin.
Roux holds his lead, now 3.47.
Lap 7 (30.12)
The slowest lap of the race so far marks the beginning of the end for Roux,
his lead being brought down to 2.27.
Lap 8 (30.44)
The mid-point of the race is fatal for Madouas, who is dropped on the
climb; Brochard suffers the same fate. At the front, Roux is also in
difficulty, while on the front of the peloton the Colombians are forcing
the pace (although Nelson Rodriguez is going backwards). Virenque remains
vigilant at the front of the peloton. Indurain awaits events tranquilly at
the back of the peloton along with Pantani. A light rain begins. At the
line, with 124km to go, Roux's lead has fallen to 1.11.
Lap 9 (29.19)
Roux is in great difficulty on the climb, after six laps alone, 112km. He's
soon caught by the peloton at the head of which the Colombians and Italians
are most active
Roux's assigned role was to look after Virenque after the middle part of
the race. Why did he make an early break? "The first climb threw me into a
panic and I didn't want to end up asphyxiated," said the Castorama rider,
who as yet has no contract for 1996. "So I preferred to ride on my own at
the front at my own pace. I know that I am going to be reproached for
this, but I'm willing to take the responsibility. When I saw who was still
in the peloton when it caught me, I was certain that I would never have
been with them at this stage of the race [if I hadn't broken away.]"
The French presence is now reduced: Virenque is accompanied only by Herve
and Rue. The peloton is now down to about 50 riders but the selection is
getting more and more severe. Near the bottom of the descent, Chiappucci
initiates a small break, taking with him his team-mate Faresin, Chepe
Gonzalez (Colombia) and Mauleon (Spain). At the end of the lap, the four,
with the Italians doing most of the work, have a lead of 26 seconds.
Laurent Madouas pulls out at the end of the lap.
"The crash [on Lap 1] was provoked by the speed with which the race set
off," Madouas said. "Everybody wanted to be well placed at the beginning
of the first climb. I found myself wedged between two other guys. After
the crash [Madouas had various injuries, including some damage to his
head] I couldn't climb easily with the peloton, it was only in the
descents that I could recover. Eventually things got worse and worse. I
even thought I was going to pass out I was suffering so much."
Lap 10 (28.10)
The race takes off with Chiappucci's attack, who loses his team-mate
Faresin at the foot of the climb. Il Diablo is doing most of the work,
helped a bit by Chepe Gonzalez; Mauleon plays the proper team role, doing
no work. In the peloton, the Spaniards, above all the young Santiago
Blanco, react to the attack -- this leads to a general explosion of the
peloton. On the descent the peloton catches Chiappucci, Chepe Gonzalez and
Mauleon, but a new attack propels Ochoa (Colombia) and Konychev (Russia)
into the lead -- and into a gathering thunderstorm.
Lap 11 (29.14)
The storm is raging on the higher parts of the circuit making the descent
perilous. On the way down Chiappucci runs out of road on a bend and loses
about two minutes. With four laps to the finish, Ochoa and Konychev have 56
seconds on a peloton which is now down to 14 riders, with Virenque the only
French representative.
Lap 12 (29.14)
Indurain punctures and falls back into a second group. But he makes the
junction just at the moment when Pantani attacks, overwhelms Konychev and
Ochoa and goes off alone. Indurain himself takes charge of the pursuit,
helping the depleted peloton to recapture Pantani before the top of the
climb. Puttini (Switzerland) and Escartin (Spain) build a slim lead on the
descent -- at the line they are 5 seconds ahead of a group of 15 (Indurain,
Jimenez, Olano, Virenque. Richard, Gianetti, Sorensen, Konychev, Colombians
Rincon, Ochoa and Gonzalez, Pantani, Lanfranchi, Pellicioli and
Casagrande). Chiappucci trails in far behind, his shorts torn in the crash
and abandons with Frenchman Herve.
Lap 13 (28.40)
The Italians pile on the pressure, with Pellicioli and Lanfranch doing the
bulk of the work, but Puttini and Escartin hold out, with a 26-second lead
at the end of the lap.
Lap 14 (28.26)
Escartin and Puttini are caught on the climb where Gianetti attacks,
controlled by Jimenez. Pantani pulls them back. Indurain punctures again,
and only gets back tot he group at the bottom of the descent. There are now
nine riders together in the lead: Indurain, JImenez, Olano, Pantani,
Richard, Gianetti, Virenque, Rincon and Konychev. Just before the end of
the lap Indurain essays an attack, unsuccessfully but it allows Olano to
go off on a counter-attack.
"Miguel had just come back after his puncture," said Olano. "Then he
attacked. Konychev, then Richard put in an effort and bridged to him and
I attacked. I felt very strong. I owe a great deal to Miguel."
Lap 15 (27.02)
With Olano away, Indurain and above all Jimenez do everything they can to
block any counter-attack. Olano opens the gap. But the admirable effort of
Pantani on the climb with only Indurain and Gianetti able to hold his wheel
gets the gap down to 15 seconds as the descent begins.
On the climb says Olano: "As soon as I took the left turn that leads onto
the false flats I began to cramp up. Soon there was lots of tingling which
announced the cramp. I didn't panic, I just climbed at my own pace. I said
to myself: 'if you concede 15 seconds to them in the climb it's won' [???
only 15 seconds maybe?]. It's about what happened. Once I launched myself
into the descent, I rapidly recuperated."
At the 1km to go banner, Olano punctures, but his tubular holds out to the
line. 35 seconds later Indurain outsprints Pantani and Gianetti.
"I kept my cool [after the puncture]," said Olano. "I couldn't see them
near me. I could certainly have fallen, but I handled my bike well. I
tried not to think too much of what was at stake."
Abraham Olano -- Palmaires
Born: 22 January 1970 at Anceta, Spain
Height: 1.82m; Weight 72kg
Olano specialised in the track at first, being a triple junior Spanish
champion (sprint, kilometre and team pursuit).
Professional -- 1992
Teams: Festina (1992), Clas (1993), Mapei Clas (1994), Mapei GB (1995)
World Road Race Champion, 1995
Champion of Spain, road and time trial, 1994
Tour of Asturias and one time trial stage, 1994
Clasica d'Alcobendas, 1994
GP Villafranca de Ordizia, 1992
Three time trial stages in Vuelta a Espana, 1995
Prologue time trial Tour of Catalonia, 1994
2nd, Worlds time trial, 1995 (5th in 1994)
2nd, Vuelta a Espana, 1995
3rd, Tour of Valencia, 1995
4th, Paris--Nice, 1995
5th, Semana Catalana, 1995
14th in UCI classification
Other News
More GAN Signings
Ronan Pensec (ex-Le Groupement), Philippe Gaumont (ex-Castorama) and
Stephane Heulot (ex-Festina) have signed for GAN. One further place needs
to be filled to bring the team to 18 riders, and Roger Legeay was expected
to have made this signing last weekend.
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Beer is Good for You -- And That's Official
Friday, Miguel Indurain didn't like the look of the pasta the chef had
prepared. "You know what I really fancy?" he said. "A ham sandwich and a
beer." Indurain munched a couple of sandwiches and sank two beers. To those
who were astonished by this, so near race day, there was a learned response
from J Sabino Padilla, the Banesto team doctor. "Beer?" he said. "Why, it's
the only drink that contains vitamin B6 and B12, and what's more, it aids
the elimination of toxins."