Stage 17
Key Stage
July 24 Les-Deux-Alpes - La Plagne 179.5 km
Today's stage had a lot happen and was a lot of fun. Botero rode
extremely well for having won on such a long break yesterday. Most
riders would have broken today with half the efforts he made and
lost time. But his was not the only outstanding ride today. Boogerd,
Jalabert, Merckx, and others did great rides.
I must say though that the best ride of the day had to be that crazy
Aussie sprinter, O'Grady. Who said sprinters can't climb? Some one
forgot to tell those crazy Aussie sprinters that they can't climb.
O'Grady chased over the first HC climb and caught the break on the
descent to take the first sprint gaining 6 points for the Points
Title. Then he got dropped on the next HC climb to catch back on
just before the top but behind Boogerd's solo break to take second
for the second sprint and gained another 4 points. THEN he ATTACKED
and broke away from Jalabert and the other climbers on the last HC
climb to the finish.
If anyone ever tells you that sprinters can't climb, tell them about
O'Grady who is one of the best sprinters in the world and did
something today in the mountains that most climbers on this planet
can't do. It just proves that, if you don't know you can't do
something, you just might try it and find out you can do it. What a
ride. You have to love the guy.
They didn't start attacking for a while and then the dam broke. It
started out with Telekom trying to keep the pack together for the
first sprint and they did OK for a while fighting off a lot of
breaks. Then one break went up the road with Jalabert and Botero in
it fighting for KOM points and Botero hoping to stay off and move up
on GC some more. Botero's team mate, Sevilla got in the break to
help Botero so ONCE jumped Azevedo and two others into the break to
hold Azevedo's spot on GC. Next, Hamilton tried to bridge to support
Jalabert for KOM but, about that time, USPS said, "too many top GC
riders in the break", and they brought it back in.
The next break was Boogerd heading up the road for KOM and a stage
win. Jalabert and others including Merckx said not without me and
went hunting for Boogerd. Hot on their heels was O'Grady in pursuit
of sprint points. USPS liked the mix in the break and let it go as a
control. What a race. Don't you just love this sport?
Did you see Boogerd attack the first big break just before it got
caught and made his break stick? Great move. Some times it works and
some times it doesn't. This time it did.
There were a number of chase efforts to protect riders. iBanesto
chased to protect Mancebo, ONCE chased to protect both Azevedo and
Beloki, and USPS chased to protect Armstrong. This is still a team
sport.
ONCE showed their hand today. They are both protecting their top
three placings and were trying to beat Armstrong. Beloki's comment
during the rest day about not trying to beat Armstrong any more, was
just smoke. Galdeano attacked on the second HC climb to force USPS
to chase and lost over 4 minutes because of it. Then Beloki stayed
glued to Armstrong's wheel on the last HC climb instead of Rumsas
showing that he was more concerned with Armstrong than defending
against Rumsas. If Beloki had been concerned about fending off
Rumsas, he would have attacked him instead of finishing with him.
Beloki and Rumsas worked together to minimize their lose to
Armstrong.
The big change today was Galdeano and Mancebo losing time causing
them both to drop below Azevedo. Now Azevedo, Galdeano, Mancebo, and
Botero are all within just 29 seconds. This will not stand to Paris.
Galdeano and Botero have the advantage, if they don't lose more time
in the mountains, because they will probably put at least one to two
minutes into Azevedo and Mancebo in the time trial. Therefore,
Azevedo and Mancebo must keep trying to gain time in the next two
stages.
Leipheimer gained enough time today to be a threat to everyone from
Azevedo down on GC. He is now within 1.5 minutes of Azevedo. This is
a very close grouping on GC for this late in the race and the
mountains.
After today's stage, it should be apparent that, as long as
something doesn't happen, Armstrong has first, Beloki has second,
and Rumsas has third. Now the battle should shift to Azevedo,
Galdeano, Mancebo, Botero, Heras (whom I believe will drop out of
the top 10 on GC in the TT), and Leipheimer for the last two top
five spots. If they don't lose any more time, I believe that
Galdeano and Botero will end up fighting for fourth and fifth with
Azevedo, Mancebo, and, possibly, Leipheimer fighting it out for
sixth and seventh. We will see.
Today, Botero managed to climb above Armstrong on KOM. I expect to
see Merckx try to do the same thing in the next two days. He is only
31 points down. Just a couple of good KOM wins will do it and put
him on the podium in Paris.
Tomorrow
Aime/Cluses is 142 km of hard climbing with a down hill finish. I
rated this stage as the sixth most significant mountain stage for
this year. The two sprints are at 10 and 109.5 km so we can expect
to see the battle for the Points title to heat up for at least a
little while tomorrow since the second sprint will be after the
first three climbs. Will the Green Jersey stay with McEwen? The
climbs are at 31.5 (cat 1), 70 (cat 1), 96.5 (cat 2), and 121.5 (cat
1) kms. The first two climbs are the two hardest climbs for the day
with 19.1 kms at 5.9% for the first climb and 15.3 kms at 6% for the
second climb.
Expect to see Telekom keep the race together for at least the first
sprint and they should finally get their chance to challenge for the
Green Jersey. I don't think they will be able to keep the peloton
together for the second sprint but they could bring it all back
together on that long descent into the finish for a pack sprint of
sorts. There should be a long break with riders looking for a stage
win and the KOM battle. Watch for Jalabert, Botero, and Merckx to
continue fighting for KOM.
With only four stages left and one of those the time trial, the
stage battles are going to become more aggressive. That was probably
quite a bit of what the constant attacking was early today. It will
only get worse until Paris. There are only two mountain stages left
so the climbers will go hard tomorrow and the next day. We still
have some fun days left but not many. Enjoy it while you can.
