By Eddie Arnet
STAGE 11: COURCHEVEL TO BRIANCON
DISTANCE: 107.5 miles
PROFILE: Two Hors Categorie (too tough to classify) climbs, and one Category 1 ascent; totalling 34.1 miles of climbing with a maximum grade average of 6.9%. There are also two intermediate sprints.
WINNER: T-Mobile's Alexandre Vinokourov in 4:47:38.
WINNING AVERAGE SPEED: 22.4 mph.
TOP AMERICAN: Bobby Julich of Team CSC.
WHO'S IN YELLOW?: By finishing 6th at 01:15 behind Vinokourov, Team Discovery star Lance Armstrong retains the yellow jersey with a 38 second lead over ex World XC Champ Mickael Rasmussen.
PELOTON SIZE: 26 riders formed the chase group, all finishing at 01:15. TOP MTBer: Cadel Evans (Austria; Davitamon-Lotto) finished an outstanding
7th right behind Lance.
THE OTHER THREE MTBers: Mickael "Rammstein" Rasmussen (Denmark; Rabobank in 9th and Floyd Landis (Phonak) in 19th, both on the same time as Lance's 01:15. Dario Cioni (Italy; Liquigas-Bianchi) placed 70th at 31:15.
RACE DRAMA: Five days ago in the Alps the Tour rode up the two longest and highest climbs of the 2242 mile course. It is the only stage with two HC-rated climbs. Two weeks ago before the start Jan Ullrich's T-Mobile teammate, Kazakhstan National Champ Alexandre Vinokourov, was considered a threat to take the overall away from Lance. He had yet to perform as such until today. Vino broke early with Colombian Santiago Botero of Floyd Landis' Phonak team and the two stayed together until the very end. Today also marked the Tour's halfway point.
STAGE 12: BRIANCON TO DIGNE-LES-BAINS
DISTANCE: 116.2 miles.
PROFILE: Two Cat 2, one Cat 3 and two Cat 4 ascents; 21.3 miles of climbing, and a maximum average grade of 4.6%.; two intermediate sprints.
WINNER: David Moncoutie (France; Team Cofidis-Le Credit Par Telephone) in a time of 4:20:06. Cofidis is a French telephone credit company.
WINNING AVERAGE SPEED: 26.8 mph.
TOP AMERICAN: Fred Rodriguez of Team Davitamon-Lotto in 18th place and within the main peloton that finished at 10:33 behind Moncoutie.
TOP MTBer: Cadel Evans in 35th and at 10:33.
LANCE ARMSTRONG: In 41st and on the same 14th place finish time of the 148 rider strong peloton.
THE OTHER THREE MTBers: All awarded the same at 10:33 finish time as the peloton, Mickael Rasmussen placed 46th, Floyd Landis 84th and Dario Cioni came in 92nd.
RACE DRAMA: To have a French rider win on the same Bastille day that France celebrates its national holiday, was a big, big deal over there. So the French were extra crazy. The Tour contenders know that the French riders would really be going for it today, and they relaxed and allowed the Frogs
to have their moment of glory. Not only did a French rider win, but fellow countryman Sandy Caser, riding for national lottery Francaise des Jeux, came in second.
Now past the Alps, and only in "hilly" terrain, the riders who still have a shot at the overall win sit back with their teams for some recovery riding. They're doing this because the next big test will come in three days when the Tour hits the Pyrenees during Stage 14.
Discovery's MO at this point is to sit in the peloton while keeping tabs on the riders who are still within a realistic striking distance of their captain. While you don't gain time this way, you reserve energy for the Pyrenees and more importantly, you don't lose time to the other contenders. Right now Lance Armstrong has a 38 second lead over ex World MTB Champ Mickael Rasmussen.
The last two stages have been so tough that it cost 11 more riders. Out of the 189 starters, 162 remain. One of the riders gone missing is Quick-Step's Tom Boonen (Belgium), who could no longer walk after his third crash yesterday. Since he quit it automatically put Thor Hushovd (Norway; Team Credit Agricole) in the green sprinter points jersey. Team Discovery also lost an important member as Spaniard Manuel Beltran crashed his way out of the Tour.
Credit Agricole is a French banking corporation. They use Look bikes with Shimano components and wheels.
STAGE 13: MIRAMAS TO MONTPELLIER
DISTANCE: 100.7 miles.
PROFILE: One 0.7 mile Cat 4 climb with an average grade of 6.1%. There are 2 intermediate sprint points.
WINNER: Robbie McEwen (Austria; Davitamon-Lotto) in 3:43:14.
WINNING AVERAGE SPEED: 29.0 mph.
TOP AMERICAN: Fred Rodriguez (Davitamon-Lotto) in third and on the same time as teammate McEwen.
WHO'S IN YELLOW?: 100 riders finished on the same time as McEwen, and within the peloton sat all of the Tour contenders. This is another status quo stage for Team Discover and Armstrong, and he still sits in the lead 38 seconds ahead of Rasmussen.
TOP MTBer: Mickael Rasmussen in 57th, Floyd Landis in 78th, and Cadel Evans in 81st; all on the same 3:43:14 finish time as McEwen.
THE OTHER THREE MTBers: Dario Cioni had trouble today, and trailed in third from last at 02:35.
RACE DRAMA: The temperature is in the 80s now, and in France that's hot
enough to make the roads soft. At one point a break of five riders early into the stage built up to a 9 minute margin. From the midpoint on the peloton began reeling in the break and swallowed it up with 10 miles to go. After that it was attack after attack--one orchestrated by Chris Horner himself (Saunier Duval-Prodir)--as riders tried to set themselves or teammates up for a top finish. But it wasn't to be as the main group consumed every challenger and it came down to a sprint-off between the front runners of the peloton.
STAGE 14: ADGE TO AX-3-DOMAINES
DISTANCE: 137 miles.
PROFILE: Two intermediate sprint points followed by four back-to-back Cat 4
climbs, one Hors Categorie climb, and a Cat 1 mountaintop finish. Welcome to the Pyrenees! It's 25.2 miles of ascending with up to a leg-burning maximum 8.1% average grade.
WINNER: Team Gerolsteiner's Georg Totschnig (Austria) in a time of 5:43:43.
WINNING AVERAGE SPEED: 23.9 mph.
TOP AMERICAN: Lance Armstrong in 2nd with a finish time 00:56 behind
Totschnig. With this finish Armstrong gained over a minute on Rasmussen and now sits in the lead with a 01:41 cushion.
PELOTON SIZE: The biggest intact group were the 41 riders who brought up the rear some 35:50 behind the winning time.
TOP MTBer: Floyd Landis in 6th at 01:31.
THE OTHER THREE MTBers: Mickael Rasmussen in 8th at 01:47, Cadel Evans 14th at 04:03, and Dario Cioni placed 132nd at 35:50.
RACE DRAMA: It's the Port de Pailheres climb that has a maximum average
grade fo 8.1% over 9.4 miles. That's steep! It's immediately followed by the infamous Ax 3 Domaines climb with an average 8.3% grade over 4.9 miles. By now the contenders for the overall Tour win have figured out that the only way to beat Lance is to attack and keep attacking until the American falters.
Moments after the start eventual stage winner Totschnig was caught up in a 15 rider break. Since it contained no real GC threats the peloton hung back. When they began into the mountains Armstrong again found himself without teammates. Instead he was surrounded by attacking T-Mobile riders Jan Ullrich, Alexandre Vinokourov and Andreas Kloden. Rider after rider from the early break began to fall back until it was Totschnig alone in the front with only Armstrong, Ullrich and Ivan Basso in a small chase group. Stage 14 had now come down to Armstrong against his two biggest Tour threats. Armstrong kept it pinned and with half a mile to go distanced himself from the two antagonists in a superb showing of strength.
STAGE 15: LEZAT-SUR-LEZE TO SAINT-LARY SOULAN
DISTANCE: 127.7
PROFILE: Two intermediate sprints lead into a Cat 2 climb, which is followed by 4 back-to-back Cat 1 climbs, culminating with a Hors Categorie mountaintop finish. It's 25.9 miles of climbing on a maximum average grade up to 8.6%.
WINNER: Lance Armstrong's Discovery teammate George Hincapie in a time of
6:06:38.
WINNING AVERAGE SPEED: 20.9 mph.
TOP MTBer: Mickael Rasmussen in 10th at 06:32.
THE OTHER THREE MTBers: Cadel Evans in 16th at 08:47, Floyd Landis in 19th at 09:34, and Dario Cioni in 61st at 36:09.
PELOTON SIZE: An intact group of 54 riders brought up the rear some 44:10 behind Hincapie.
RACE DRAMA: This was undoubtedly the toughest stage of the 2005 Tour, with the lowest winning average speed so far. In the end it came down to another testosterone test between Basso, Armstrong and Ullrich. Like yesterday Ullrich was pushed past his limits and he faltered. Armstrong and Basso continued on to finish a good minute ahead of the German party animal.
Lance Armstrong's main Lieutenant, George Hincapie, was involved in an early break. Seeing that Armstrong didn't need any help outriding the competition, Discovery Team Manager Johan Bruyneel told George to keep going after the greatest win of his career. Hincapie is the 8th American to win a stage at the Tour de France.
WHERE DO LANCE AND THE MTBers SIT NOW?
So far Lance Armstrong has averaged 26.3 mph over a distance of 1637 miles for a total elapsed time of 62 hours, 9 minutes and 59 seconds. He has 02:46 on Ivan Basso, 03:09 on Mickael Rasmussen and 0:5:58 on Jan Ullrich. Former mountain bike heroes Floyd Landis sit 7th at 09:33, Cadel Evans 11th at 12:57, and Dario Cioni is in 82nd at 2:06:17.
Mickael Rasmussen also has an insurmountable lead in the overall climber competition. If nothing else the Dane will leave France with the polka-dot King of the Mountain jersey. Lance Armstrong sits 3rd in the KOM classification, 91 points behind Rasmussen's 185. Phonak rider Oscar Pereiro Sio (Spain) is in second with 114 points.
Today is a rest day. That means Lance and the Discovery team will do a recovery ride that is longer and faster than most of us ride in a week. As of right now it's almost impossible for anything to happen in the next 6 days that would keep Lance Armstrong from winning his 7th straight Tour de France. It also looks like we're going to get at least 2, if not 3 mountain bikers in the top 10.
Click Here for an explanation of
the ex mountain biker's backgrounds as well as on the weird tour rules and
what the weird team names stand for.
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