| The American leaves behind its main competitors Participants in the most prestigious multi-day cycling road race, the Tour de France, overcame the Pyrenees Mountains. Yesterday there was a flat stage, which should not have made any changes to the overall standings, and today the peloton has a well-deserved day of rest before storming the Alpine peaks. As expected, the five-time winner of the Great Loop, Lance Armstrong, finally made a loud statement about himself in the Pyrenees. The finish of the two stages followed a similar scenario. Only the Italian Ivan Basso managed to hold on to the leader of the U.S. Postal team who had gained momentum. At the 12th stage, a less titled rider celebrated success, and on Saturday the famous American won.
The main result of the two mountain stages was the total failure of Lance's main competitors in the fight for the right to complete the race in the yellow jersey of the leader of the general classification. German Jan Ullrich couldn't keep up the high pace both times and lost to the American for two and a half minutes. Spaniard Iban Mayo almost dropped out of the race on Saturday during a difficult climb. The injuries received during falls on the previous days of the race made themselves felt. Tired of the pain, Mayo got off his bike and headed to his team's technical assistance vehicle. Immediately his teammates and several other rivals who happened to be nearby came up to him and began to persuade Iban to stay on the route. Mayo argued with them for several minutes, but still, through their joint efforts, the Euskaltel-Eusskadi riders and their fellow travelers literally forced the leader of the Basque team to pedal again. As a result, the Spaniard was almost 38 minutes behind Armstrong. and completely switched out of the fight for the yellow jersey.
Even before this incident happened with Mayo, Tyler Hamilton and the winner of last year’s youth (under 25) Tour de France classification, Russian Denis Menshov, left the peloton. “I’ve been bothered by pain in my knee for more than a week,” Menshov said. - At the beginning of the Tour, I fell unsuccessfully twice - at the stage that took place on the paving stones, and during the team time trial. I didn’t receive any serious injuries, but the huge hematoma was not going away and my knee was aching. I could grit my teeth and ride the Tour to the end. However, I still would not have shown a good result, and it is unknown how long it would take to recover. And the Olympics are ahead, and it is important for me to come to Greece completely healthy and rested.” Hamilton also retired due to problems with his knee, and the Spaniard Zubeldia literally turned inside out - he was poisoned by something.
Contrary to predictions, Thomas Weckler retained the yellow jersey after his ordeal in the Pyrenees. The Frenchman demonstrated great endurance and the ability to climb the mountain with all his strength. At times he fell out of the lead group, sometimes it seemed that Weckler was about to stop. But nothing like that: Thomas rose in the saddle, drawing additional energy from nowhere, and returned to the leaders. True, on the final climbs he lost in time to Armstrong by 9 minutes. 35 sec. Weckler had a minimal margin of advantage left - 22 seconds.
“This guy has a great future,” Armstrong praised his opponent. - To be honest, I did not expect such stability from him, he is a true fighter. I myself have to thank my Portuguese teammate José Azevedo. He worked great with me in the mountains, giving his best. In general, U.S. Postal acts very harmoniously.” Jan Ullrich does not think that his fight with the American is over: “Of course, Armstrong is good today. Just don’t forget that there are still two individual time trial races ahead and I will fight to the end. Don’t rush to give the final victory to the American.” In total, Ulrich spent almost 7 minutes on the entire Tour distance. more than Lance. No matter how brave the German is, it is too much.
Basso and Armstrong are separated by only 1 minute. 17 sec. Perhaps the greatest danger for Lance is the Italian. He is not very strong in time trials, but in the mountains, as everyone has already seen, Basso feels quite comfortable. He is 26 years old, rides for the CSC team, won the white jersey of the best young rider at the Tour two years ago, and last season took a high seventh place in the overall standings. Ilya TRISVIATSKY |
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