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Stage 15
Valreas-Villard de Lans 217 km
Analysis
The second longest mountain stage started out slow with the first
attack waiting until the fifth kilometer. Then it just broke
loose with a lot of attacks and groups being brought back in.
There were several breaks that looked like they might stick but they
just kept being chased down. This is most likely because there
are not many more road stages left and every teams wants a rider in
the break.
Finally, a break of 14 riders did manage to escape at about 50
kilometers. They worked together for a while but then started
attacking each other for the KOM primes and even one road sprint.
The attacking slowly chewed up the break and caused it to be caught
with everything coming together before the last long climb.
Some of the riders in the break were just there for a stage win but
others like Virenque and Rasmussen were there to get KOM points.
If you check back in my course analysis, you will find that I said
some one down on time might do a desperation attack on the last long
climb hoping to gain time back. Ullrich did just that but was
caught and it made the race more fun. Even Leipheimer got into
the attacking for a while. It was also fun to see riders like
Van de Velde on break for so long. It was a really fun stage
with a lot of action the way bike racing is supposed to be.
It was interesting to see Voigt go from racing for a stage win in
the break to racing for Basso to win the stage after he had been
caught. That is why he lead the first pack for so long on the
descent just before the final climb. Basso gave it a good try
with a nice sprint but Armstrong made it by him for the stage win.
This was probably one of the most fun stages so far.
When you see a rider leading a group like Voigt did at the finish,
you have to ask yourself why and, most of the time, you can get the
answer by reaching for the standings and team list. In this
case, you would quickly see that Voigt is on Basso's team with Basso
being the team leader. When on break, Voigt can ride for
himself but he knows that when he is caught or in a group with the
team leader at the finish, he must domestiquate for the sake of the
team. You always ride for whoever has the best chance.
On your standings sheets, you need the name, team, and time or
points for each rider in the top five to ten for each title.
That gives you a quick check on why a team or rider is doing
something in relation to a team mate or title. I also keep a
set of the mountain stages with the climbing graph so I can check
off climbs as they happen and know exactly where the race is in the
stage.
Tomorrow
Tomorrow is the shortest stage this year, the Alpe de Huez TT at 15
km. Unfortunately, we wont get to see the great battle we had
been hoping for because of the top contenders being eliminated by
the crashes. It is almost certain that Lance will win or
finish top three with little time lost. Basso and Kloden are
the only two riders less than five minutes behind Armstrong.
They are down by 1'25" and 3'22" respectively but probably don't
have the strength do much anything about it although, you do have to
always keep an eye on such people because they could have one of
those really great days. It should still be fun to see how the
other riders do in relation to each other.
It seems that all of our debates and anticipation for the team time
trial, mountain stages, Alpe de Huez TT, and final TT were
meaningless because of the crashes. The crashes have been the
most significant tactical aspect of this Tour. But we can
still have some fun so don't go home yet. :-)
