Tour de France News Extra for July 23, 2004
Edited by Jeff Jones
Armstrong's last Tour?
Nothing decided yet, says Bruyneel
By Tim Maloney and Jeff Jones
That's four.
Photo ©: Sirotti
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Will Lance Armstrong stop at six Tours de France and concentrate on other
races in what could be his last year in cycling in 2006? An article by
Sam Abt in today's New York Times entitled, "Armstrong Will Not
Return to Tour de France, Official Says" suggests that this could be the
case, quoting a "high-ranking official among the organizers of the Tour
de France."
The New York Times wrote, "If he wins for a record sixth consecutive
year Sunday, as seems certain, Armstrong will not return next year, the
official said, but will focus instead on at least one of the two other
big Tours, the Giro d'Italia in May and the Vuelta a España in September,
and several one-day classics...Armstrong, the defending champion, had
already informed the Tour organizers of his plan, said the official, who
did not want to be identified."
The rumour has been denied by Armstrong's team management, who have
said that nothing has been decided yet. Nevertheless, none of them were
able to give assurances that Armstrong will definitely be at the start
of the Tour next year, suggesting that the outcome of this year's race
may play a role.
Armstrong will be part of the new Discovery Channel cycling team next
year, which has signed a three year deal to sponsor the team and will
be part of the UCI's new Pro Tour. But the 32 year old, who is also looking
to life after cycling, said that while he is still competing, "At some
point I have to look at other races. There's still a lot of things I want
to do in cycling."
US Postal team director Johan Bruyneel spoke to Cyclingnews before
the start of today's 18th stage in Annemasse about the reports that Armstrong
wouldn't be coming back. "Let's put it this way, we just haven't decided
on a 2005 program yet," said Bruyneel. "We're still finalising the team
and program, talking to our sponsors about what we're going to do next
year. We do know that in the Pro Tour we'll be doing the three big tours
but that's all we know now. We really haven't made any plans yet; we're
just focusing right now on this Tour and getting to Paris. In August and
September we'll sit down, finalise the team and look at the program for
next year. So those reports are not accurate. We simply don't know yet."
However, as Angelo Zomegnan, La Gazzetta dell Sport's former cycling
journalist, will take over the direction of the Giro d'Italia this September,
his long time friendship with Lance Armstrong may seduce Lance to ride
the Giro d'Italia next year. Italy is the country where Armstrong won
his first pro race in Marostica 12 years ago.
Levi and the Bandit
Odessa and Bandit
Photo ©: CN
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Levi Leipheimer was happy to see his wife Odessa and dog Bandit atop
l'Alpe d'Huez Wednesday,
but the Santa Rosa, CA, Rabobank racer was not all happy with his time.
"I think I was slow the whole time...maybe when I saw my split time (at
9.5km in Huez-de-Oisans)...mentally, it's hard, you know. I just didn't
feel good the whole time up l'Alpe d'Huez, it just wasn't a good day.
But I'm still confident that I'll have a better ride (on Stage 17)."
Leipheimer's prediction proved accurate, as he hung tough all day in
the Alps, finishing 7th in Le
Grand-Bornand and moving from 10th to 9th on GC. With CSC's Carlos
Sastre less than 1'00 ahead of the American and Leipheimer's TT skills,
Levi should be able to move into 8th on GC after Saturday's 55km time
test in Besançon.
Christian at Liberty
Christian Vandevelde is happy to be back at the Tour De France with
Liberty Seguros after a difficult road to get there this year due to team
changes and visa issues. The likeable Vandevelde, originally from Lemont,
Ill. but now living in Boulder, CO. (and Gerona, Spain) told Cyclingnews
yesterday that "The Tour has been going good; pretty much exactly as I
expected it to. I didn't come in in my greatest form, have progressed
better and better throughout and feel better than when I started so that's
good. I'm happy so far. I haven't done anything spectacular, but I've
gotten myself in a few breaks so far. I helped out in the team time trial
and helped Roberto (Heras) and Igor (Gonzalez de Galdeano) as much as
I could."
We asked Vandevelde about being in the big break of the day on Stage
15 to Villard-de-Lans and he explained, "We didn't really think that
break would be going away at first. There were so many guys, and a couple
that were pretty well up on GC. And we really didn't know what was going
on behind us until the s**t hit the fan. It became pretty much a selection
with all the climbing. With 14 guys, we kept getting split up and coming
back together. At the end, there were only four or five us left from the
original break and it was good to be ahead of the real nastiness that
Postal Service was throwin' down. It was nice to be ahead of that storm."
Vandevelde is now hoping his strong Tour ride so far will get him selected
for Manolo Saiz's Vuelta a España squad in September. "Yeah, I'm pretty
sure it's on my program, so after (the Tour), I'll just rest up, lick
the wounds and come up good for the Vuelta. I'm looking forward to it."
After a series of injuries and bad luck over the past few years, we asked
Vandevelde, who was part of Lance Armstrong's first Tour winning squad
in 1999 as a 23 year old if the 'old' Christian was coming back. "Yeah,
I hope so. It's been a long way coming. I'm just feeling more and more
confident."
Bobby's wrist report
CSC's Bobby Julich had a decent day yesterday to Le Grand-Bornand, finishing
31st. After his bad crash on Stage
13 where he smashed his right wrist, Julich soldiered on and yesterday
saw a great improvement in his Tour riding. "The swelling has all gone
down and it's just really sore," he told Cyclingnews. I guess I'm just
really lucky to still be in this race because three days ago I thought
I was gone. I'm not patient enough to wait until it gets better. On l'Alpe
d'Huez, I just couldn't pull on the bars and when I stood up, I could
just basically stand up and stretch. I couldn't accelerate. But Stage
17 will be the most important day of the Tour so pain or not, I have to
go 100%."
We asked Julich where his head was at from all the changes at this year's
Tour and as always, Bobby was straight up, saying, "It's been such a roller
coaster. I started great, then I crashed, I suffered for a day, came back
and felt great then crashed (on Stage 13) and just been suffering. Because
when you can't hold the handlebars right, it just changes your whole pedal
stroke. Your back hurts, you hips hurt, your knee hurts, but you know,
all that just goes out the window in the Tour."
Julich predicted T-Mobile's attacks on Stage
17, saying, "They are going to attack a lot and I just need to be
there. But my experience is that (T-Mobile) attack lots but they don't
attack smart. So (CSC) just need to stay calm and make sure that we get
Ivan to the finish line without losing any more time."
T-Mobile did attack in the final on Stage 17, but Ivanov's early set-up
move was too fast and Ullrich and Klöden only gained time bonuses on Basso,
not any other time.
Bartoli for Athens
Although fuoriclasse Michele Bartoli abandoned on Stage
17 with a strained hamstring, when cyclingnews spoke to him Thursday,
the CSC rider was upbeat about his selection to the Italian Olympics squad
for Athens. "I spoke to (Italian selector) Ballerini and I'm happy to
be going...I have good condition now and I just have to make sure that
after the Tour I recover well and I'm sure I'll be ready. After the Olympic
Games is when my season will become most important."
We asked Bartoli about the satisfaction of his selection after having
been left off the Italian squad for last years Worlds in Canada. "Well
I'm glad to see the trust that Ballerini has in me for Athens. I hope
to be able to return this with a good performance in Athens and hopefully
the Worlds in Verona. So things are going pretty well."
Merckx agrees with "No Gifts" Armstrong
Axel Merckx (Lotto-Domo) was in full agreement with Lance Armstrong's
strong desire to take a third consecutive stage win in the Tour de France.
Armstrong has been in sparkling form in this year's race and has not given
any of his rivals an inch. Although he could have let Andreas Klöden ride
away with the victory yesterday, his jump with 200m to go to mow down
the German in the last 20 metres confirmed his "No Gifts" approach to
this year's race. Although some criticised it as being a little selfish,
most agreed that it was the right thing to do as it's a race, not a charity
event.
"I can understand Lance Armstrong very well; not giving anything away
in this Tour," Merckx told Het Nieuwsblad. "The whole day US Postal was
working furiously. He wanted to give the win to Landis, but when this
wasn't possible, he put things right himself. I am happy that I finally
was able to see Lance working on his terrain during a whole stage, from
up close."
Merckx rode very well yesterday to finish 6th at 1'01 down, and he is
currently lying 21st on the general classification at 33'54. "It would
be very audacious of me to say that I can do better than what I did today.
I think that I'm close to my highest level. If I would work solemnly towards
this tour then maybe I could do a bit more, but everything depends on
the team you have around you."
Verbrugghe wants to show himself on birthday
Rik Verbrugghe (Lotto-Domo)
Photo ©: Sirotti
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"A lot of people said behind my back that Rikske Verbrugghe was finished
and that I won't race anymore next year because I will earn a lot less,"
Verbrugghe was quoted in today's Het Nieuwsblad. "Well, I'm going
to continue racing and of course I am going to earn less money."
Verbrugghe continued, "My stage win in Lavaur in 2001 was very nice,
but the attack before the Col de la Croix Fry I think was good too. The
group held some big names. After two rotten years I still doubted myself
a bit. But those are fading slowly. This the answer to those who had written
me off. I feel that I'm getting back to my old self. Today I'll be there
attacking from the start; that's my way to celebrate my birthday. And
I hope to ride a good TT on Saturday. I would like to take this form to
Athens, to the TT, but that decision is made by the national coach José
De Cauwer."
More post-stage comments
Ivan Basso (CSC, 4th)
We tried to with the stage with Sastre but Landis' relentless pace was
too high to attack. I'm not happy with the way I did my sprint. I finished
very tired. I haven't been in big form in the last few days while at the
same time my rivals for the podium Ullrich and Klöden are better than
they were at the start of the Tour.
Christophe Moreau (CA, 19th)
"It's been three weeks that I've wanted to be in a good break like this
one. I had a great day and it was very exciting. As soon as I found myself
with just Simoni and Virenque our cooperation was not as good and that
kept us from going further."
Ludovic Martin (RAGT, 90th)
"I'm happy with my day even I if hoped that our breakaway would
go further. When I saw Moreau and Virenque coming back I didn't have any
illusions. I crossed two big cols with the leaders and that's not bad.
After that, I suffered in the heat on the Col de Tamie."
Source: L'Equipe
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