STAGE FIFTEEN
First, let us pause today to recognize the two riders who did not start the stage: Iban Mayo and Jakob Piil. Sometimes, even the best cyclists have lousy Tours, and this was a spectacularly bad Tour for Mayo. He decided after a warmup yesterday that his form was off, so he decdied to pull out of the race. Yeah "off" is a way to describe it. A pre-race favorite who got a course designed almost explicitely for him, Mayo is down by 45 minutes. It's hard to find a team captain having a worse Tour. He's been non-competitive from the word go, and he's been even less of a factor in the mountains. We normally criticize those who abandon, but come on, just make the torture end and go home. I can't really blame a guy who was supposed to be, at worst, a top ten finisher going home when he's trailing guys like David Moncoutie by 20 minutes.
Jakob Piil, however, has rode a brilliant Tour so far. If there was a breakaway, there was Piil. Without reservation, I will call him the most aggressive rider of the 2004 Tour, and we love our aggressive riders here at BartCopSports. In Stage 14, he finished in dead last due to a torn tendon in his right knee. Let's give the guy credit for trying to ride through the pain, but it was just too much for him in the end. That's a shame, as Piil's been a real treat to watch this year. The race is a little poorer for his absence.
Today, also, we mourn Voeckler's loss of the yellow jersey. when he cracked, he cracked big time, but this takes nothing away from his epic defense during week two. The peleton split early today, and despite several attempts, Voeckler could never rejoin the main group. He's been riding over his ability for a solid week, and today it just caught up with him. There's no shame in cracking, particularly after the truly heroic defense he gave.
I think it's also safe to concede the King of the Mountains title to Richard Virenque. I make no secret of my dislike of Virenque, but today I'm gonna say nice things about him. Usually, he attacks early and picks up points on the smaller climbs, only to get crushed on the final climb of the day, so it was nice to see Virenque hang with the leaders during the final ascent today. He didn't win the climb, but he at least finished among the leaders. He acted like a real climber, not a guy just picking up cheapie climbing bonuses. He still sprinted at the top of each ascent, but he contested the biggest climbs of the day, a rarity for Virenque, so that was a positive development and one I was happy to see.
All right, enough beating around the bush. Armstrong took the yellow jersey today by winning the stage, but this wasn't vintage Lance. He won, but he didn't destroy and demoralize. A group of ten riders rode the final Col de Chalimont together, and it's worth looking at the group, as it involved the heaviest of heavy hitters. In recent years, heck, in recent stages, Armstrong has blown these little groups apart. He just didn't do that today, just methodically racheting up the pace until he won the stage in the end. That's how normal people win stages like this, not Lance Armstrong. Hey, I'm nitpicking, but Armstrong sets the standard at perfection, so let's hold him to that. Let's look at the elite group:
The Posties. Only Armstrong and Azevedo after Landis did the heavy lifting early on. Azevedo set the pace for the group while Lance sat near the back watching for breaks.
Rabobank. Both Leipheimer and Rasmussen were in this elite group. Levi's flexing his muscles and showing he's one of the top cyclists, and Rasmussen spent most of the day out front with Virenque. After getting reeled in, he managed to hang on.
Virenque. The King of the Mountains. OK, he wasn't gonna win the stage and he wasn't up front setting the pace, but he was in the elite group, which counts for a lot.
CSC. Ivan Basso brought two domestiques with him. Sastre made sense, but how the hell did Jens Voigt manage to hang in this group? As a reward, he got to play pacemaker along with Azevedo.
T-Mobile. And of course, the tenuous duo of Ullrich and Kloden. Ullrich attacked early on the previous climb, but Armstrong didn't even react, slowly just pulling him back in. Nothing demonstrates the changing of the guard better, can you imagine just one year ago Lance allowing Ullrich out of his sights for even a second? And Kloden wasn't there to set a pace for Ullrich.
Notably absent from the group is Mancebo. We didn't expect Totschnig or Caucchioli to hang on in this kind of group, but I thought maybeMancebo would make a run at the podium. I don't think I saw him once during the coverage today. He was a complete non-factor. Today, the favorites finally asserted themselves. We know who is for real and who isn't. Guys like Simoni are having nice Tours and may even finish in the top ten, but they aren't a threat. If you weren't in this group, you're the peleton (or a sprinter). This was strictly A-list.
It's also interesting to note who got dropped in what order over the final five K. The first off the back were the two CSC domestiques. Basso's having a great Tour, and he's got tremendous support, but they are just a hair weaker than US Postal. If Basso and Armstrong changed teams, there's no telling who would win this race. Not to say CSC is weak, they are the strongest team not in blue.
The next group off the back was Azevedo, Virenque, and Rasmussen. Azevedo peeled off secure in the knowledge of a job well done. He brought Lance to the 2km flag and let him take over. Virenque and Rasmussen, spending most of the day all alone well ahead of the peleton, just cracked close to the finish. Not a suprising event, and mainly due to Azevedo's work. He cleared the field.
Leipheimer just couldn't make it to the final sprint, getting dropped in the final kilometer. Hey, he's just not as strong as the top four who made it to the final sprint. And the leaders of that final sprint were, of course, Basso and Armstrong. They are the strongest, leaving the two Telekom teammates to fight for third (which Ullrich won today). Ullrich is never going to be a domestique, and his race to the line over Kloden is his last gasp of authority over the team. No upstart's gonna take the team from him until he's good and ready.
So, it's down to two men. Basso and Armstrong will race up Alpe d'Huez. This is the way it should be. No teams, no help, no nothing. Just a man and his bike going up the mountain. May the better man win. It's still an open question of who that will be.
First, let us pause today to recognize the two riders who did not start the stage: Iban Mayo and Jakob Piil. Sometimes, even the best cyclists have lousy Tours, and this was a spectacularly bad Tour for Mayo. He decided after a warmup yesterday that his form was off, so he decdied to pull out of the race. Yeah "off" is a way to describe it. A pre-race favorite who got a course designed almost explicitely for him, Mayo is down by 45 minutes. It's hard to find a team captain having a worse Tour. He's been non-competitive from the word go, and he's been even less of a factor in the mountains. We normally criticize those who abandon, but come on, just make the torture end and go home. I can't really blame a guy who was supposed to be, at worst, a top ten finisher going home when he's trailing guys like David Moncoutie by 20 minutes.
Jakob Piil, however, has rode a brilliant Tour so far. If there was a breakaway, there was Piil. Without reservation, I will call him the most aggressive rider of the 2004 Tour, and we love our aggressive riders here at BartCopSports. In Stage 14, he finished in dead last due to a torn tendon in his right knee. Let's give the guy credit for trying to ride through the pain, but it was just too much for him in the end. That's a shame, as Piil's been a real treat to watch this year. The race is a little poorer for his absence.
Today, also, we mourn Voeckler's loss of the yellow jersey. when he cracked, he cracked big time, but this takes nothing away from his epic defense during week two. The peleton split early today, and despite several attempts, Voeckler could never rejoin the main group. He's been riding over his ability for a solid week, and today it just caught up with him. There's no shame in cracking, particularly after the truly heroic defense he gave.
I think it's also safe to concede the King of the Mountains title to Richard Virenque. I make no secret of my dislike of Virenque, but today I'm gonna say nice things about him. Usually, he attacks early and picks up points on the smaller climbs, only to get crushed on the final climb of the day, so it was nice to see Virenque hang with the leaders during the final ascent today. He didn't win the climb, but he at least finished among the leaders. He acted like a real climber, not a guy just picking up cheapie climbing bonuses. He still sprinted at the top of each ascent, but he contested the biggest climbs of the day, a rarity for Virenque, so that was a positive development and one I was happy to see.
All right, enough beating around the bush. Armstrong took the yellow jersey today by winning the stage, but this wasn't vintage Lance. He won, but he didn't destroy and demoralize. A group of ten riders rode the final Col de Chalimont together, and it's worth looking at the group, as it involved the heaviest of heavy hitters. In recent years, heck, in recent stages, Armstrong has blown these little groups apart. He just didn't do that today, just methodically racheting up the pace until he won the stage in the end. That's how normal people win stages like this, not Lance Armstrong. Hey, I'm nitpicking, but Armstrong sets the standard at perfection, so let's hold him to that. Let's look at the elite group:
The Posties. Only Armstrong and Azevedo after Landis did the heavy lifting early on. Azevedo set the pace for the group while Lance sat near the back watching for breaks.
Rabobank. Both Leipheimer and Rasmussen were in this elite group. Levi's flexing his muscles and showing he's one of the top cyclists, and Rasmussen spent most of the day out front with Virenque. After getting reeled in, he managed to hang on.
Virenque. The King of the Mountains. OK, he wasn't gonna win the stage and he wasn't up front setting the pace, but he was in the elite group, which counts for a lot.
CSC. Ivan Basso brought two domestiques with him. Sastre made sense, but how the hell did Jens Voigt manage to hang in this group? As a reward, he got to play pacemaker along with Azevedo.
T-Mobile. And of course, the tenuous duo of Ullrich and Kloden. Ullrich attacked early on the previous climb, but Armstrong didn't even react, slowly just pulling him back in. Nothing demonstrates the changing of the guard better, can you imagine just one year ago Lance allowing Ullrich out of his sights for even a second? And Kloden wasn't there to set a pace for Ullrich.
Notably absent from the group is Mancebo. We didn't expect Totschnig or Caucchioli to hang on in this kind of group, but I thought maybeMancebo would make a run at the podium. I don't think I saw him once during the coverage today. He was a complete non-factor. Today, the favorites finally asserted themselves. We know who is for real and who isn't. Guys like Simoni are having nice Tours and may even finish in the top ten, but they aren't a threat. If you weren't in this group, you're the peleton (or a sprinter). This was strictly A-list.
It's also interesting to note who got dropped in what order over the final five K. The first off the back were the two CSC domestiques. Basso's having a great Tour, and he's got tremendous support, but they are just a hair weaker than US Postal. If Basso and Armstrong changed teams, there's no telling who would win this race. Not to say CSC is weak, they are the strongest team not in blue.
The next group off the back was Azevedo, Virenque, and Rasmussen. Azevedo peeled off secure in the knowledge of a job well done. He brought Lance to the 2km flag and let him take over. Virenque and Rasmussen, spending most of the day all alone well ahead of the peleton, just cracked close to the finish. Not a suprising event, and mainly due to Azevedo's work. He cleared the field.
Leipheimer just couldn't make it to the final sprint, getting dropped in the final kilometer. Hey, he's just not as strong as the top four who made it to the final sprint. And the leaders of that final sprint were, of course, Basso and Armstrong. They are the strongest, leaving the two Telekom teammates to fight for third (which Ullrich won today). Ullrich is never going to be a domestique, and his race to the line over Kloden is his last gasp of authority over the team. No upstart's gonna take the team from him until he's good and ready.
So, it's down to two men. Basso and Armstrong will race up Alpe d'Huez. This is the way it should be. No teams, no help, no nothing. Just a man and his bike going up the mountain. May the better man win. It's still an open question of who that will be.
posted by Poseur at 3:33 PM
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