Stage 14 - Sunday, July 20: Saint-Girons - Loudenvielle, 191.5 km
Hang tough Gibo Simoni takes Loudenvielle stage
Armstrong better; Tour duel with Ullrich continues
By Tim Maloney, European Editor in Loudenvielle
After a lousy last two weeks at the Tour de France, 2003 Giro d'Italia winner Gilberto Simoni (Saeco) took a tight three-up sprint win on Stage 14 in the tiny Pyrenees village of Loudenvielle. Part of an original 17 man break that went away 4km after the start in Saint Girons, Simoni beat his remaining break companions, longtime friends Richard Virenque (Quick.Step-Davitamon) and Laurent Dufaux (Alessio). After dominating the Giro, prior to the Tour, Simoni was talking the talk, but he couldn't walk the walk at this year's Tour de France, so his first-ever Tour de France stage win was a nice consolation prize.
"Yes, before the Tour, I had different objectives, but I had to change them," a very satisfied Simoni told Cyclingnews. "To win a stage at the Tour isn't easy and it took luck too... yesterday I tried to get in a break and it wasn't the good one. It's been so hard at the Tour this year, but the win today wipes out the fatigue of the last two weeks."
His equally delighted team manager Claudio Corti told us that "Today, Simoni showed his great character as a rider. He started the Tour in less than top condition, but Gibo hung tough and was ready to win when he had the chance."
Also in the big break of the day with Simoni was USPS rider Manuel 'Triki' Beltran, who executed team director Johan Bruyneel's strategy perfectly for the 2nd day in a row. Triki told Cyclingnews post-stage that "Today things went pretty well for us. I got in the break and our team didn't have to do the work today." Like yesterday, that was Bruyneel's plan and today it worked again. Once the break had a 15 minute lead, Euskaltel and then Bianchi were forced to chase behind since Triki was the virtual Maillot Jaune on the road.
Armstrong was happy with the way things went with Bruyneel's team poker on the road to Loudenvielle today. "We wanted to force the other teams to work, when our riders are in the breaks but they're not working," Armstrong explained. "That forced Bianchi to ride and take responsibility. If we have the opportunity to play the tactics like that again, we will."
Armstrong also was somewhat sardonic when he spoke of Bianchi. "In many peoples eye's they're the favourites," he said. "I think Bianchi has a responsibility. to ride, since in our view, Ullrich is just as much the race leader as I am. Therefore, they should take part of the responsibility. of the race, which they did. We had Triki up the road and he was virtual Yellow Jersey, so Bianchi and Euskaltel had an interest to chase."
Armstrong's positive take on Stage 14 was echoed by his teammates Rubiera and Landis. Chechu told Cyclingnews after the stage that "I was feeling good today; it was a hard day today and it will be hard again tomorrow. Lance is feeling better and if tomorrow he's good again, we'll try and drop Ullrich. Vino was good, Ullrich was good and I think it's a really tight Tour. Everybody is so close.”
Floyd Landis explained further that "Luckily we didn't have to do too much work today since the Bianchi team is riding like they want to win the race. Tomorrow's good for us with a good, hard mountain finish so hopefully Bianchi wants to work again."
Speaking of great character, Maillot Jaune Armstrong (USPS-Berry Floor) showed plenty of his own today. When 3rd place Alexandre Vinokourov (Telekom) flew the coop halfway up the final ascent of the Col du Peyresourde with Iban Mayo (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Lance kept his cool, even though Vino was virtual Maillot Jaune at one point. The four-time Tour winner was feeling better today and along with Ullrich, Ivan Basso (Fassa Bortolo) and Haimar Zubeldia (Euskaltel-Euskadi), they pulled back time from Vino on the descent.
Armstrong was 11th on the stage, while Vinokourov closed to within 18” of the American but is still in 3rd on GC, 3” behind Ullrich. Lance didn't show his usual smooth, fast-pedaling form on the climbs on Stage 14. "I was standing up more than normal because... I don't know why! I said to myself, 'shoot, I'm standing up a lot'. I'm still not 100%, and when you're lacking or when you're missing form, you just gotta rough it."
Tyler Hamilton (CSC) continued his courageous 2003 Tour de France effort. The gutsy Man from Marblehead has been riding with a fractured collarbone for two weeks and today he had a tough day. Hamilton dropped out of the front group on the last ascent of the day and ended up 17th, 4'31” behind stage winner Simoni. Sitting 7th on GC at 7'32”, Hamilton is still showed he can do well at this years Tour. "I'm now paying the price for my injury," said Hamilton post-stage. "My chance for a podium spot is smaller but I'm not giving up."
Today went better for Armstrong. Armstrong said that "Today was the queen stage of the Tour and I felt a lot better than I did yesterday, which was a bit of a disaster after the time trial."
Talking about the close race, Armstrong said that "a few years ago a 15 second time gap wouldn't have worried me; you've seen the time trials I've done in the past. Tomorrow will come down to the final climb. I'll go all out, but if I'm at the top with Ullrich at the finish, then the time trial will become more important."
With astonishing frankness, Armstrong spoke about his supposed 'decline'. "It's fair (to ask that); I'm not riding as well as I have in years past," he admitted. "I can't exactly say why, but I wouldn't argue with people who say I'm declining. This is a sport where you can not only look at the differences between other riders, but you can look at the times on certain climbs. If you look at the times on l'Alpe d'Huez, that's four minutes slower, so it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that that guy is not as strong as he was two years ago. Something is not clicking."
"I knew it was going to be close but I probably didn't expect it to come down to the last few decisive stages," he added. "There's one more day in the mountains and the final time trial. But, hey, I mean something's not gone right... but there's nothing I can do about that now; all I can do is wake up every morning and do my best. And that's what I'm doing. If we get to (the final time trial in) Nantes and I have fifteen seconds (lead) and I lose by the time trial by sixteen, it will go down as the closest Tour de France in history. And I'll go home and have a cold beer and come back next year. So I'm not going to cry and whine; I'm just going do my best."
"Die Form kommt und geht, aber die Klasse bleibt" - Jens Voigt über Jan Ullrich
Sie sind vermutlich noch nicht im Forum angemeldet - Klicken Sie hier um sich kostenlos anzumelden
Offline
HASTA LA VICTORIA SIEMPRE
