Streaks of white had formed over his blue shorts, and silvery powder lined around his mouth. While he was wearing the yellow jersey, he didn’t look resplendent in the golden fleece. In fact, his shrunken cheeks made him looked like a famished dog. That was how un-pretty Lance Armstrong looked like was he was beaten by Jan Ullrich in the stag 12 ITT in the 2003 Tour de France.
Forward two years and it would be Michael Rasmussen’s personal horror show when he stopped or crash five times in the final ITT, losing a podium shot that he has been trying hard to maintain for 10 days in just 55kms. He would go down from 3rd to 7th.
But today, Ras avoided the crashes, the slick road and most of all, Alejandro Valverde, who left the start gate 3 minutes ahead of him but who he passed in the closing K’s of stage 12. Ras seemed unconcerned about the doping vortex that he had been following like hurricane Katrina.
It must have been one of the lowest point in Valverde’s life, when a cadaverous climber could pass him by in a flat TT. I hope that Valverde’s ego is as thick as Ullrich’s otherwise, this would be a major setback in his young career. Remember that he was in second place going into this stage. Valverde will have to look no further on what happened to Ras 2 years ago to get inspired as it was just his “un jour sans”, one bad day.
The biggest winner though was ASTANA and Alexander Vinokourov. Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, Vino torched the rest of the field, winning the stage by 1.14min over Australia’s Cadel Evans of PREDICTOR-LOTTO. I thought that Evans was going to wear the yellow today so I was a bit disappointed about his ride against the surprisingly strong Ras.
The other winner today was Alberto Contador of DISCOVERY CHANNEL. Just 2 years removed from having a brain surgery to remove an aneurysm, I have a feeling that Contador will win the Tour if not this year, in the next few years. Vino’s teammates Andreas Kloden and Andrei Kascheskin, are now at 4th and 6th overall after a strong TT performance. They could almost smell the yellow jersey from their perched.
Another prominent loser today is the enigmatic Iban Mayo, although it was expected of him to have exceptional days followed by a downer. Today was one of those days.
The next 3 races will be on the Pyrenees, the high mountains that separates France and Spain. It was here on these rugged mountain slopes that the movie “The Lost Command” starring Anthony Quinn was shot. Compared to the Alps, the Pyrenean climbs are steeper and narrower and therefore favors those who have the sharp accelerators in Contador, Valverde and the resurgent Vino. And this is home court for Contador and Mayo.
ASTANA says that they will be attacking in the next three days so we’ll see how PREDICTOR-LOTTO, DISCOVERY CHANNEL, RABOBANK AND CSC, will answer the aggression.
While the picture is still dim with Vino, I think he’s chances are still there, that is if the planets are aligned in his favor. My original pick, Kloden has the best shot but he will still be playing second fiddle to Vino in the team hierarchy and that would be his problem.
Only 6 minutes separate the top 12 riders in the next 600km in the Pyrenees. If this will not thresh out the grain from the chaff, the final ITT this Saturday will.
So hold on to your seats and enjoy the ride!
Watch the Tour live over the net here: http://www.steephill.tv/2007/tour-de-france/.