ON THE narrow bends of the Côte de la Rochette yesterday morning, there was no hint of the drama of the day before, during which Lance Armstrong’s principal challenger, Joseba Beloki, of Spain, crashed out of the 2003 Tour de France, forcing the champion to take evasive action by speeding downhill through a field. There is no doubt, however, that one of the most extraordinary incidents in the race’s long history has drastically altered the probable outcome of the centenary Tour.
High on the hillside overlooking Gap, Armstrong’s cross-country route, perilously close to a drainage ditch and through steep pasture strewn with rocks and potholes, was still clearly visible. It is no wonder that, after four years of being known simply as “Big Tex”, a recent series of spills and Monday’s remarkable escape has prompted the more fitting nickname of “Lucky Lance” for the American. Only those who have followed the Tour de France for many years could remember a similar incident. In 1971, Luis Ocana, the Spanish climber, was determined to end Eddy Merckx’s hold on the Tour, but while leading the race through the Pyrenees, Ocana crashed out of that summer’s Tour during a breakneck descent of the Col de Mente in a thunderstorm. Beloki and Ocana were seen as the main obstacles to the champions of their generation and failed in similar circumstances.
In the aftermath of Beloki’s exit, the whole character of this year’s Tour has changed. The Basque had vowed to attack Armstrong at every opportunity and, until his high-speed crash, he had kept his word. At yesterday’s start in Gap, his team-mates were distraught. “I am destroyed by the loss of a whole year’s work,” Manolo Saiz, Beloki’s team manager, said. “We’ve got nothing left now.”
Yesterday, after the Spaniard’s dramatic exit, Beloki’s ONCE team accused the Tour de France organisation of putting commercial considerations before the safety of the riders. “Everybody’s worried about security and we’re obliged to wear helmets now,” Mikel Pradera, a team-mate of Beloki, told the Spanish media. “But with the heat, the roads start to melt and that puts them into a bad condition.
Then the caravan comes through and tears them up even more and nobody realises what can happen because of that.”
Beloki, who broke a leg, wrist and elbow in the crash, was taken from the scene by ambulance to Gap and yesterday was flown from Marseilles to his home town of Vitoria, where his broken femur was due to be operated on. But in a communiqué issued late on Monday night, the Tour’s maintenance team revealed that the road temperature on the Côte de la Rochette, where Beloki came to grief, had been
52C and the surface had not, as would normally be the case, been treated.
“Several times during the day the road team sprayed the race route with water to try and reduce the temperature and prevent any further deterioration,” the communiqué issued by the Equipement organisation read. “Towards the end of the stage, on the descent of the Rochette, the proximity of the publicity caravan to the race did not allow any intervention. In these circumstances, the riders were warned of the danger before they rode down the descent.”
Normally, the publicity caravan, composed of Tour sponsors’ floats and marketing vehicles, is expected to pass along the route one hour before the arrival of the riders. This allows the road team to clean the surface of any loose gravel, or in extreme heat to attempt to cool the melting surface. On Monday afternoon, however, the failure to monitor the caravan’s slow progress may have led indirectly to Beloki’s dramatic crash.
To some eyes, Beloki was unlucky, but to others, on a descent that was clearly dangerous, he was foolhardy. “He made a professional error,” David Millar, of Britain, said, referring to the Spaniard’s misjudgment of the crucial bend. “It’s a misconception that the roads are more dangerous in conditions like that. It’s actually better for descending because the roads are tacky, so there’s less risk of your wheel sliding away.”
Yesterday’s stage, from Gap to Marseilles, was won by Jakob Piil, the Danish sprinter, who outpaced Fabio Sacchi, the Italian, in the shadow of the Stade Vélodrome.
Today’s rest day in Narbonne brings to an end a key phase of the race in which Armstrong, despite being below his best form, has kept his composure in trying circumstances. Friday’s first individual time-trial and next weekend’s Pyrenean mountain stages will further test the American’s resolve to win his fifth successive Tour.
- Jeremy Whittle is editor of procycling magazine
Stage results and overall positions
TENTH STAGE (Gap to Marseilles, 219.5km): 1, J Piil (Den, Team CSC) 5hr 09min 33sec; 2, F Sacchi (It, Saeco) at same time; 3, B De Groot (Neth, Rabobank) at 49sec; 4, D Nazon (Fr, Brioches) 2min 07sec; 5, R Haselbacher (Austria, Gerolsteiner); 6, P Gaumont (Fr, Cofidis); 7, S Baguet (Bel, Lotto); 8, V G Acosta (Sp, iBanesto.com) all same time; 9, J E Gutierrez (Sp, Kelme) 5:06; 10, B Cooke (Aus, FDJeux.com) 21:23; 11, R McEwen (Aus, Lotto); 12, E Zabel (Ger, Team Telekom); 13, F Rodriguez (US, Vini Caldirola); 14, F Guidi (It, Team Bianchi); 15, G Glomser (Austria, Saeco) all same time. Selected others: 45, L Armstrong (US, US Postal) 21:23; 54, D Millar (GB, Cofidis) same time.
LEADING OVERALL POSITIONS: 1, Armstrong 45hr 46min 22sec; 2, A Vinokourov (Kaz, Team Telekom) at 21sec; 3, I Mayo (Sp, Euskatel) 1min 02sec; 4, F Mancebo (Sp, iBanesto.com) 1:37; 5, T Hamilton (US, Team CSC) 1:52; 6, J Ullrich (Ger, Team Bianchi) 2:10; 7, I Basso (It, Fassa Bortolo) 2:25; 8, R Heras (Sp, US Postal) 2:28; 9, H Zubeldia (Sp, Euskatel) 3:25; 10, D Menchov (Russ, iBanesto.com) 3:45; 11, R Laiseka (Sp, Euskatel) 4:03; 12, C Moreau (Fr, Crédit Agricole) 4:04; 13, M Beltran (Sp, US Postal) 4:31; 14, G Totschnig (Austria, Gerolsteiner) 4:58; 15, P Caucchioli (It, Alessio) 5:17. British: 19, Millar 7:15.
POINTS POSITIONS: 1, Cooke 140pts; 2, McEwen 131; 3, Zabel 112; 4, T Hushovd (Nor, Crédit Agricole) 107; 5, J-P Nazon (Fr, Jean Delatour) 100; 6, S O’Grady (Aus, Crédit Agricole) 94; 7, L Paolini (It, Quick Step) 94; 8, O Freire (Sp, Rabobank) 83; 9, R Vainstains (Latvia, Caldirola) 81; 10, P Bettini (It, Quick Step) 72.
KING OF THE MOUNTAINS POSITIONS: 1, R Virenque (Fr, Quick Step) 135; 2, J Jaksche (Ger, ONCE) 75; 3, Armstrong 74; 4, I Parra (Col, Kelme) 71; 5, A Garmendia (Sp, Team Bianchi) 62; 6, F Mancebo (Sp, iBanesto.com) 61; 7, R Aldag (Ger, Team Telekom) 61; 8, D Di Luca (It, Saeco) 56; 9, Moreau 54; 10, Mayo 53.
TEAM POSITIONS: 1, Team CSC 134hr 32min 58sec; 2, iBanesto.com at 27sec; 3, Euskatel 11min 09sec; 4. US Postal 15:20; 5, Cofidis 21:16.
TODAY: Rest day.
