The Pyrenees
The past two days of racing in the Pyrenees have been the most exciting of the tour so far. To really understand what happened we have to start with Saturday’s Stage 14. It started with a relatively easy incline which gradually worked into some of the easier Category 4 and 3 climbs, then on to a beyond category (15km stretch with and average incline of 8%) and finally finishing with a tough Category 1 climb to the finish (9km stretch with 7.3%).
Lance lives for the Pyrenees, an example of this is a famous quote from his son a couple of years ago. When asked at a very young age “What does daddy do?”, his son responded with “Daddy makes’em suffer.”. Eloquent and true, when Lance is in the Pyrenees he is at his best. For the second time in this year’s tour, team Discovery disintegrated fairly early in the race. Their main responsibility is to lead Lance, at a fast enough pace to eliminate most of the competition, to the last couple of km of the race and then Lance can take over from there. The man who rides in front of the Peloton or other group does 30% more work than all of the riders behind him. This is due to aerodynamics and works exactly the same as ducks that fly in a V pattern. If you watch the lead of the peloton, you’ll see that riders take a very short turn on the front and then switch back and forth with other riders for periods of strenuous work and then rest. Team Discovery, like most other teams, have a superhero bike rider who the rest of the team will be doing all the work for. Ivan Basso is that rider for Team CSC and Jan Ullrich is that rider for TMobile. These are the two main individuals that Lance has to watch at all points of the race. If they “attack” the peloton (accelerate away from the group), Lance and Team Discovery have to respond. Team Discovery must also respond to any other rider in contention for the General Category lead (the Yellow Jersey). For the GC, places 2 – 10 (Lance is currently in First) all riders are less than 9 minutes away from Lance’s time. Any one of these riders who attack, must be countered by Team Discovery. And thanks to a great rider from TMobile, Alexander Vinokourov (currently in 9th place 7 minutes out of first), Stage 14 saw an onslaught of attacks that Team Discovery had to counter. With the recent loss of Manuel Beltran, one of Discovery’s best climbers, Vinokourov’s attacks quickly diminished Team Discovery down to one rider, Lance. Lance didn’t mind though, as he was left in a small group with one rider from each team Basso(CSC), Ullrich(TMobile), Levi Liepheimer(Gerolsteiner), Floyd Landis(Phonak) and Michael Rasmussen(RaboBank). One rider from each team makes the playing field level, everyone must share in the break away work and no one has a teammate to hide behind or strategize with.
The final climb to the summit was impressive; Jan Ullrich finally proved to the field that he is still a contender. Ivan Basso, proved to the field that he wants a GC win in place of Lance. In fact it was his aggressive riding that left Ullrich unable to counter as the race entered the final km’s. Lance waited to see what Ullrich would do, saw that he had nothing left, and sprinted around him in the manner that has made Lance such an awe inspiring rider to catch back up with Basso. In stage 14, there was only one break away rider able to hang on to the lead the entire race. As Lance and Basso approached the finish line, they were racing for second place. There is a time bonus of ten seconds or so for second place and nothing for third and Lance needs to distance himself as much as possible from the then second place rider Rasmussen. In this circumstance Lance had to beat Basso to the finish and he did so with ease. If you were wondering why he let Basso finish first in stage 15, there’s your answer. First and second place had already been taken so there was no time bonus available. Lance was content to finish with the same time as Basso by riding his tail across the finish. So Lance’s goal for stage 14 was accomplished, put more time in between himself and Rasmussen. Rasmussen started the day 38 seconds behind Lance and finished the day a minute and 41 seconds behind Lance. Nice work!
So on to Stage 15, likely the most difficult day of the Tour de France. Stage 15 contained at the easiest, a difficult category 2 climb, 4 category 1 climbs and then a final HC (beyond category) to the finish. And after the quick destruction of Team Discovery in stage 14, Lance shifted the strategy just a bit. You always have to watch what Lance is saying. He never gives away anything. Prior to the start of stage 15, Lance public said that he would win the stage in honor of fallen teammate Fabio Casartelli, who died in the 1995 Tour de France. Let me restate this, Lance who never gives away anything, publicly states that he will win the stage. Strategy my friends, look at this shiny apple while I steal your wallet. Everyone had their eye on Lance. Watch Lance, when he breaks for it, its go time. Only problem is that Lance didn’t go for it. Not only did he not go for it, he orchestrated a Team win for fellow teammate George Hincapie who has in the past 10 years never won a stage victory. It was brilliant!
Here’s what happened. There was an early attack on the peloton with several riders not in GC contention. This obviously means that Lance doesn’t need to chase them down. They could win by 20 minutes and it would have no bearing on the Tour overall. But this time, Lance sends Hincapie one of Team Discovery’s best all around riders who no one else really needs to worry about in the GC, to follow the attack. The hope is that Hincapie can get far enough ahead, that when the big riders finally catch the breakaway, and Lance is by himself against Ullrich, Basso and whoever, Hincapie will be there to drive Lance to the finish and a stage victory. Like I said before two riders are always stronger than one, so having a teammate at the end is a huge advantage. But because Lance never attacks, and everyone is watching Lance, the breakaway gets far enough ahead (20 minutes or so) that they can’t be caught. As the teams start to realize what’s happening, TMobile finally sends Vinokourov to the front of the peloton for the first major attack of the day. Vinokourov, being a threat in the GC, then drives Lance to counter attack. As Lance counters so do all of the big names in this years tour. The peloton is instantly shredded apart as the weaker riders simply can’t hang with the big boys. The big race quickly diminishes once again down to Ullrich, Basso and Armstrong. And again, Ullrich doesn’t have the gas to hang with Basso and Lance at the end. Basso and Lance finish in 6th and 7th respectively and Ullrich finishes it up in 9th.
But the big story is George Hincapie, who received a free ride through the entire stage. Because team Discovery is “defending” the Yellow, there is no need for Hincapie to help the breakaway in any form or manner. He simply rode the back tire of the breakaway the entire race. In most circumstances, the breakaway riders need to help each other to stay ahead of the peloton. This help means taking turns riding lead doing the extra 30% work. The other riders know that Hincapie doesn’t need the breakaway to succeed so its pointless for them to try and force him to do any work. They know their only chance to win is to get rid of the 6’3” Team Discovery rider so there were many attacks within this small breakaway group. However, since Hincapie wasn’t doing any of the work, it was very easy for him to counter each attack and end up on the back wheel of the lead rider each time. The many attacks took their toll on the breakaway riders and it came down to just two at the end, Hincapie and Pereiro. Hincapie who is one of the best sprinters had the advantage the whole way. Pereiro’s only chance to win would be to lose Hincapie and he couldn’t do it. Two hundred meters from the end, Hincapie made his move and easily sprinted past Pereiro for his first ever stage victory!
Hincapie is famous for coining the term “No Chain”. Once on a practice ride with Lance, Hincapie reported that he had a technical problem. He asked Lance to look down at the back of his bike to see if he had chain? What he meant by this was that his ride was so easy, it felt like there wasn’t a chain on the bike. It’s a big joke between the two and yesterday Hincapie rode like there was “no chain”! So in a fitting tribute Hincapie, who was also a good friend and teammate of Casartelli, was able to capture the win in his honor.
On a side note, did anyone see the camera motorcycle run over the fan that was chasing down one of the riders! It was great, they showed it in slow motion from the vantage point of the helicopter above. Man that must’ve hurt!
GC Standings after Stage 15:
1) Armstrong
2) Basso (CSC) – 2’ 46”
3) Rasmussen(RAB) – 3’ 09”
4) Ullrich(TMO) – 5’ 58”
5) Mancebo(IBA) – 6’ 31”
6) Levi Leipheimer(GST) – 7’ 35” American
7) Floyd Landis(PHO) – 9’ 33” American
8) Alexander Vinokourov(TMO) – 9’ 38”
9) Christophe Moreau (CA) – 11’ 47” French (and yes, I love the French!)
10) Andreas Kloden (TMO) – 12’ 01”
18) Hincapie(DSC) – 19’ 35” American
Today is a rest day and the Tour continues with Stage 16 out of 21 tomorrow.
Lance lives for the Pyrenees, an example of this is a famous quote from his son a couple of years ago. When asked at a very young age “What does daddy do?”, his son responded with “Daddy makes’em suffer.”. Eloquent and true, when Lance is in the Pyrenees he is at his best. For the second time in this year’s tour, team Discovery disintegrated fairly early in the race. Their main responsibility is to lead Lance, at a fast enough pace to eliminate most of the competition, to the last couple of km of the race and then Lance can take over from there. The man who rides in front of the Peloton or other group does 30% more work than all of the riders behind him. This is due to aerodynamics and works exactly the same as ducks that fly in a V pattern. If you watch the lead of the peloton, you’ll see that riders take a very short turn on the front and then switch back and forth with other riders for periods of strenuous work and then rest. Team Discovery, like most other teams, have a superhero bike rider who the rest of the team will be doing all the work for. Ivan Basso is that rider for Team CSC and Jan Ullrich is that rider for TMobile. These are the two main individuals that Lance has to watch at all points of the race. If they “attack” the peloton (accelerate away from the group), Lance and Team Discovery have to respond. Team Discovery must also respond to any other rider in contention for the General Category lead (the Yellow Jersey). For the GC, places 2 – 10 (Lance is currently in First) all riders are less than 9 minutes away from Lance’s time. Any one of these riders who attack, must be countered by Team Discovery. And thanks to a great rider from TMobile, Alexander Vinokourov (currently in 9th place 7 minutes out of first), Stage 14 saw an onslaught of attacks that Team Discovery had to counter. With the recent loss of Manuel Beltran, one of Discovery’s best climbers, Vinokourov’s attacks quickly diminished Team Discovery down to one rider, Lance. Lance didn’t mind though, as he was left in a small group with one rider from each team Basso(CSC), Ullrich(TMobile), Levi Liepheimer(Gerolsteiner), Floyd Landis(Phonak) and Michael Rasmussen(RaboBank). One rider from each team makes the playing field level, everyone must share in the break away work and no one has a teammate to hide behind or strategize with.
The final climb to the summit was impressive; Jan Ullrich finally proved to the field that he is still a contender. Ivan Basso, proved to the field that he wants a GC win in place of Lance. In fact it was his aggressive riding that left Ullrich unable to counter as the race entered the final km’s. Lance waited to see what Ullrich would do, saw that he had nothing left, and sprinted around him in the manner that has made Lance such an awe inspiring rider to catch back up with Basso. In stage 14, there was only one break away rider able to hang on to the lead the entire race. As Lance and Basso approached the finish line, they were racing for second place. There is a time bonus of ten seconds or so for second place and nothing for third and Lance needs to distance himself as much as possible from the then second place rider Rasmussen. In this circumstance Lance had to beat Basso to the finish and he did so with ease. If you were wondering why he let Basso finish first in stage 15, there’s your answer. First and second place had already been taken so there was no time bonus available. Lance was content to finish with the same time as Basso by riding his tail across the finish. So Lance’s goal for stage 14 was accomplished, put more time in between himself and Rasmussen. Rasmussen started the day 38 seconds behind Lance and finished the day a minute and 41 seconds behind Lance. Nice work!
So on to Stage 15, likely the most difficult day of the Tour de France. Stage 15 contained at the easiest, a difficult category 2 climb, 4 category 1 climbs and then a final HC (beyond category) to the finish. And after the quick destruction of Team Discovery in stage 14, Lance shifted the strategy just a bit. You always have to watch what Lance is saying. He never gives away anything. Prior to the start of stage 15, Lance public said that he would win the stage in honor of fallen teammate Fabio Casartelli, who died in the 1995 Tour de France. Let me restate this, Lance who never gives away anything, publicly states that he will win the stage. Strategy my friends, look at this shiny apple while I steal your wallet. Everyone had their eye on Lance. Watch Lance, when he breaks for it, its go time. Only problem is that Lance didn’t go for it. Not only did he not go for it, he orchestrated a Team win for fellow teammate George Hincapie who has in the past 10 years never won a stage victory. It was brilliant!
Here’s what happened. There was an early attack on the peloton with several riders not in GC contention. This obviously means that Lance doesn’t need to chase them down. They could win by 20 minutes and it would have no bearing on the Tour overall. But this time, Lance sends Hincapie one of Team Discovery’s best all around riders who no one else really needs to worry about in the GC, to follow the attack. The hope is that Hincapie can get far enough ahead, that when the big riders finally catch the breakaway, and Lance is by himself against Ullrich, Basso and whoever, Hincapie will be there to drive Lance to the finish and a stage victory. Like I said before two riders are always stronger than one, so having a teammate at the end is a huge advantage. But because Lance never attacks, and everyone is watching Lance, the breakaway gets far enough ahead (20 minutes or so) that they can’t be caught. As the teams start to realize what’s happening, TMobile finally sends Vinokourov to the front of the peloton for the first major attack of the day. Vinokourov, being a threat in the GC, then drives Lance to counter attack. As Lance counters so do all of the big names in this years tour. The peloton is instantly shredded apart as the weaker riders simply can’t hang with the big boys. The big race quickly diminishes once again down to Ullrich, Basso and Armstrong. And again, Ullrich doesn’t have the gas to hang with Basso and Lance at the end. Basso and Lance finish in 6th and 7th respectively and Ullrich finishes it up in 9th.
But the big story is George Hincapie, who received a free ride through the entire stage. Because team Discovery is “defending” the Yellow, there is no need for Hincapie to help the breakaway in any form or manner. He simply rode the back tire of the breakaway the entire race. In most circumstances, the breakaway riders need to help each other to stay ahead of the peloton. This help means taking turns riding lead doing the extra 30% work. The other riders know that Hincapie doesn’t need the breakaway to succeed so its pointless for them to try and force him to do any work. They know their only chance to win is to get rid of the 6’3” Team Discovery rider so there were many attacks within this small breakaway group. However, since Hincapie wasn’t doing any of the work, it was very easy for him to counter each attack and end up on the back wheel of the lead rider each time. The many attacks took their toll on the breakaway riders and it came down to just two at the end, Hincapie and Pereiro. Hincapie who is one of the best sprinters had the advantage the whole way. Pereiro’s only chance to win would be to lose Hincapie and he couldn’t do it. Two hundred meters from the end, Hincapie made his move and easily sprinted past Pereiro for his first ever stage victory!
Hincapie is famous for coining the term “No Chain”. Once on a practice ride with Lance, Hincapie reported that he had a technical problem. He asked Lance to look down at the back of his bike to see if he had chain? What he meant by this was that his ride was so easy, it felt like there wasn’t a chain on the bike. It’s a big joke between the two and yesterday Hincapie rode like there was “no chain”! So in a fitting tribute Hincapie, who was also a good friend and teammate of Casartelli, was able to capture the win in his honor.
On a side note, did anyone see the camera motorcycle run over the fan that was chasing down one of the riders! It was great, they showed it in slow motion from the vantage point of the helicopter above. Man that must’ve hurt!
GC Standings after Stage 15:
1) Armstrong
2) Basso (CSC) – 2’ 46”
3) Rasmussen(RAB) – 3’ 09”
4) Ullrich(TMO) – 5’ 58”
5) Mancebo(IBA) – 6’ 31”
6) Levi Leipheimer(GST) – 7’ 35” American
7) Floyd Landis(PHO) – 9’ 33” American
8) Alexander Vinokourov(TMO) – 9’ 38”
9) Christophe Moreau (CA) – 11’ 47” French (and yes, I love the French!)
10) Andreas Kloden (TMO) – 12’ 01”
18) Hincapie(DSC) – 19’ 35” American
Today is a rest day and the Tour continues with Stage 16 out of 21 tomorrow.
posted by TexasDan at
9:55 AM
