Jennifer, my beatiful wife, has a birthday today. As a treat, we went to lunch with a couple of our friends at the Sea Food Port in San Gabriel. Spicy Lobster is their specialty! Sooo Good!

Virenque is in King of the Mountains so far
By Rupert Guinness
Special to VeloNews
This report filed July 14, 2004

by Graham Watson

It was a happy Bastille Day for the housewives’ favorite
Richard Virenque gave French cycling fans all they could have dreamed for to mark their national holiday, Bastille Day, by winning the 237km stage 10 from Limoges to Saint Flour. The win moved him up to fourth place overall and gave him the lead in the King of the Mountains competition — his primary goal at this year’s Tour de France.

Furthermore, on this Bastille Day, French could also celebrate another day with a Frenchman in the yellow jersey, as young Thomas Voeckler (Brioches La Boulangere) finished among the overall favorites, more than five minutes behind the day’s lone victor, preserving his hold on the overall lead.

The art of the deal
While Virenque’s seventh career stage victory in the Tour won over hordes of his countrymen lining the hilly course through the Massif Central, Virenque created a virtual war with Belgium.

by Graham Watson

Voeckler
By allegedly breaking an agreement with his Belgian breakaway companion Axel Merckx (Lotto-Domo) three-fourths of the way into their 202km attack, Virenque (Quick Step) ensured that he would become public enemy No. 1 in France’s neighbor to the north.

As thousands of French fans cheered Virenque after the finish, Merckx was soon dropping his bombshells of accusation.

Judging by the Belgian media’s response to Merckx’s claim, Virenque could feel grateful that Belgium — where this year’s Tour began — is now behind the peloton’s wheels now, rather than ahead.

According to Merckx, when the pair broke free of the pack after 35km, they immediately spoke and agreed to ride for each other’s specific goal.

by Graham Watson

Merckx and Virenque work a two-man break
On a course of nine climbs, Merckx agreed to help Virenque amass points for the polka-dot jersey he aims to win for a record seventh time. In return, Virenque later admitted that he had agreed to repay Merckx by letting him win the stage.

Merckx accused Virenque of reneging on the deal by attacking him on the major climb of the day, the Cat. 1 Puy Mary, whose summit came at 173.5km.

“On the Puy Mary, I was going at my own tempo,” said Merckx. “When he accelerated I thought he would wait for me because we had an agreement. But no… he went off. He didn’t respect his word. If I had have known he was going to do that I would have taken points from him on the climbs.”

“Maybe their national day got the better of him,” Merckx said. “Yes, I am bitter and I am disappointed. I have respect for the rider, but my respect for the man has strongly diminished.”

Virenque, one of the principal figures of the 1998 Festina drugs scandal, which finally resulted in him serving a seven-month suspension that saw him miss the 2001 Tour, did not deny the two had formed a pact.
Virenque guts it out on the Tour’s longest stage

by Graham Watson

We are not teammates
He even said he understood why Merckx was upset and confirmed the plan was to let Merckx win the stage had they stayed away to the finish.

But Virenque justified the final outcome by saying: “It was not me who attacked, he was dropped.”

Virenque, who was first over the top of every climb and bagged a total of 68 points. He rocketed up from 10th with 5 points to first with 73.

by Graham Watson

Voeckler’s team protects the yellow jersey for another day
Had Merckx challenged Virenque in the climbs and finished with the Frenchman, he could well have taken the polka-dot jersey himself as he gave away nine points to the Quick Step man before being dropped. All told Merckx tallied 57 points on the day.

Virenque said he had no choice but to leave Merckx like he did.

“I needed points and my team asked me to ride on,” said Virenque. “If we had finished together I would not have sprinted. I can understand that he is upset; but then, we are not teammates.”

Not that France will care. They still can’t get enough of a man whose name was tainted in every other country around the world for being at the center of the Festina affair.

A bad day in green
Despite all the local euphoria over Virenque’s win, the day was for the most part a disappointing one, considering the predictions of carnage in the overall classification.

by Graham Watson

While Virenque and Merckx forged a maximum lead of 10:54 at 154km, there was hardly a murmur of action in the peloton.

In beautiful sunny but relatively brisk conditions and with a handy tail wind, it was as if their procession through rolling farmland littered with cattle was aimed at waking up France from its pre-Bastille Day celebrations the night before than setting the race alight.

It was not until after the fifth of nine climbs – the Col de Chalvignac at 126km – that some in the field started to feel the effects of the upward rise: one of them being the wearer of the sprinters’ green jersey, Australian Robbie McEwen (Lotto-Domo).

Suffering from tendonitis in the left knee from his stage 6 crash, McEwen found himself in a small group with Norwegian champion Thor Hushovd (Crédit Agricole) and Swede Magnus Backstedt (Alessio) and later finished with five other riders at 25:18.

With 195 points, McEwen still kept the green jersey another day. But his lead came under siege from a new front: that being Germany’s Erik Zabel (T-Mobile), whose third place on the stage saw the former six-time green jersey champion move up from fourth at 170 points to second at 185.

The race up front was of little interest to McEwen. As he rode on to what he later called his “my worst ever day in the Tour,” Virenque pedaled closer and closer to his victory — and alleged betrayal of Merckx on the Col du Pas de Peyrol, the route up the extinct volcano, the Puy Mary.

Mayo in trouble again
At the summit of the 5.5km climb, Virenque’s lead was about a minute on Merckx, who was followed at nine minutes by a strung-out peloton including Lance Armstrong and all but one of the overall favorites – Iban Mayo.

The apparently trouble-prone Mayo (Euskaltel-Euskadi) twice stopped on the climb at his most vulnerable moments because of mechanical troubles and each time was pulled back up by his teammates.

His woes began when his rear derailleur broke, the incident seeing him hit his knee on his handlebars. Then, because his team car was so far back on the narrow road, he saved time by swapping bikes with his teammate Unai Etxebarria — albeit switching to a much smaller one. It was not until the team car arrived, that he was able to switch to one of his own.

Mayo, who was the principal victim of crashes in stage 3, when he fell on the approach to the first sector of cobblestones, finally passed the summit 10 minutes behind Virenque.

“I am so angry. I always have problems at the worst possible moment. I just hope my bad luck is over,” said the Basque after rejoining Armstrong’s group and finally finishing with it, 5:19 behind Virenque.

Injuries take a toll
The long, sweeping descent of the Puy Mary also claimed two victims in spills: German Thomas Kessler (T-Mobile) and minutes later, Frenchman Sebastian Hinault (Crédit Agricole).

Kessler, who was in Ullrich’s group, spun out on loose gravel on a left hand bend and skidded into a barbed wire fence, cracking a rib on a fence post. Miraculously, he was able to continue after about 5 minutes and finish second to last at 25:18. Doctors, however, later diagnosed the broken rib and he will not start on Thursday.

Not so fortunate was Hinault who found himself in a 3-foot-deep ditch on a left-hand bend. Medical staff quickly readied Hinault for transport and he was soon on his way to hospital where he was treated for a fractured vetebra.

Up front, Virenque was providing hundreds of thousands of French fans with something to celebrate, passing the penultimate climb, the 2.9km-long Col d’Entremont, at 189km with 1:00 on Merckx and 8:35 on the Voeckler/Armstrong/Ullrich-led peloton.

Even with one more climb and 48km to go, it was clear Virenque was going to win the first climbing stage of the 2004 Tour, just as he did at Morzine last year in the French Alps.

Over the ensuing kilometers, the yellow jersey group swept up Merckx as Virenque continued on his solo quest for victory on Bastille Day.

The remaining interest was whether anyone would attack in the peloton or not — a hope that was barely satisfied. On the uphill finish, the charge for bonus seconds in the race for minor placings created a seven-second time gap between a group of 14 riders including favorites Armstrong, Ullrich and Mayo, and a 35-strong main bunch.

And for those who missed the split like Americans Tyler Hamilton (Phonak) and Levi Leipheimer (Rabobank), and Spaniard Roberto Herras (Liberty Seguros), that meant an unexpected time loss that in modern Tour racing could be vital.

But then with the Pyrénées and Alps and two more time trials to come, chances are that the effect of those seven seconds will be minimal. But then again, who can forget 1989?

There is plenty of stuff around the net that just oozes good stuff about the Tour de France. I ran into a great story compiled by Eric of the Fire Ant Gazette blog which totals up some interesting statistics about this years Tour de France.

curtsey of Erik blog at The Fire Ant Gazette:

* Of the 21 teams in the Tour, 11 are riding bikes equipped with Campagnolo components, and the other 10 are using Shimano components. I don’t know the breakdown for previous years, but I suspect that 10 years ago, the split was probably 90/10 or higher in favor of Campy.

* 13 teams are using bikes which are built in their home countries. The 21 teams are using bikes from 18 different manufacturers, with only Decathlon, Look and Time being used by more than one team. Interestingly, each of those brands are French.

* Three teams are using US-made bikes: USPS-Berry Floor is using Trek, of course. Two Italian teams, Saeco and Domina Vacanze are riding Cannondales and Specialized, respectively.

* French-made bikes are used by 7 teams, Italian bikes by 5, and Spanish bikes by 3 teams. Bikes from Swiss (BMC), Taiwanese (Giant) and Belgian (Eddy Merckx) companies are being ridden by one team each.

* There’s a wide range of financial backing for the teams in the Tour, ranging from an annual budget of $3.6M for the Italian team of Alessio-Bianchi to $14.4M for the German T-Mobile team. The Posties have the 7th-highest budget, at 9.0M.

* However, much to the chagrin of the sponsors, I’m sure, the amount of money doesn’t necessarily correspond to team success. For example, Alessio-Bianchi is in 2nd place after Stage 7, despite having the lowest budget. Team CSC is at #1, yet they have a lower budget than 16 other teams. On the other end of the spectrum, the third highest budget ($9.6M) belongs to Gerolsteiner, and the German team is sitting in 15th position. Granted, these standings will probably change significantly by the end of the race, and it will be interesting to see if the final standings reflect the finances.

All data were taken from the VeloNews website.

Vikings invade Brittany: Hushovd wins in Quimper

By Tim Maloney, European Editor in Quimper

Phase 1 of the 2004 Tour de France ended today in the southern Breton fishing port of Quimper on a cold, rainy day, a day perfect for a Norwegian who loves the bad weather reminiscent of his native Norway. 26 year old Thor Hushovd (Credit Agricole) made it look easy in the final sprint as he powered to a two bike length win at the end of a difficult uphill final kilometre. “I like this weather”, said Hushovd after his second Tour stage win. “The rain, the wind, the cold…it reminds me of home. I was happy all day. In the last few stages I had bad luck. Yesterday I didn’t do much in the sprint, two days ago I crashed.”

The powerfully built former U23 World TT champion from Arendal, Norway who lives in southwestern France has already worn both the maillot jaune and maillot vert at this year’s Tour, and now has a stage win. As he crossed the finish line in victory, Thor of the Tour pounded his massive chest three times, then put both hands to his forehead before raising his arms in a victory salute. Hushovd, who started the day by winning the first sprint in Montcontour explained that “I was really emotional today when I won…I’ve thought a lot about winning this stage. I’m really, really happy.”

With his win today, Hushovd is now back in the hunt for the maillot vert, sitting 11 points behind new points leader Robbie McEwen. “That’s always been my objective at the Tour and to win on the Champs Elysées. That’s the best stage to win for a sprinter.”

Young French champion Thomas Voeckler maintained the maillot jaune today as his Brioches Le Boulangère team showed signs of strain, losing three riders in the difficult final in Quimper. “So far, I’m really happy the way things have gone so far.”

Lance Armstrong was positive at the end of Phase 1 of this year’s Tour, telling Cyclingnews on his way to the plane after Stage 8 that, “I can’t complain. We’re in a good position, we’ve got enough time on our main rivals. It could have been worse, we could have had some crashes and lost time, there could have been splits in the final kilometre but we didn’t have that. I feel good, I feel healthy, and now we start the next part.”

Like all the Tour riders with the exception of Hushovd, Armstrong is looking for a break from the “temps de cochon” (bad weather) at the Tour so far. “Everybody’s sick and tired of the rain, and I’m a little scared because we’re going to Limoges, and I saw on TV that the coldest place in France was Limoges. Anything is better than last year when it was 35 degrees and you couldn’t sleep at night because it was so hot.”

Armstrong’s main Tour de France rival Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile) likes the hot weather and is looking for a change from the rain as well. “We’re heading south now, so I’m hoping for good weather”, Ullrich told the media in Quimper. “Not just because I like riding in good weather, but it’s less dangerous and more fun to ride. So far I’m happy. I haven’t had any bad luck, like a lot of other guys, so I’m ready for the race to finally get to the mountains.”

How it unfolded

It was a cool and rainy Sunday when the remaining 176 Tour de France riders took the start in the small Breton bourg of Lamballe today. After a few tentative moves with Credit Agricole’s Christophe Moreau very active, three riders managed to extricate themselves for the peloton. As usual, Mr. Aggression, CSC’s Jakob Piil was storming and he took three other riders with him today in an attack after 20km: the old man (at 30) of the young Fassa Bortolo squad, Matteo Tosatto, Ronny Scholz (Gerolsteiner) and Karsten Kroon (Rabobank). Kroon flatted out of the move and was re-absorbed by the peloton.

Over hill and dale, the lead trio pounded away on the low, leaden Breton skies which dumped intermittent cold rain on the break and peloton all day. Despite the strong headwind and narrow roads, the average pace in the first hour was still 44.7 km/h. On the first KOM on the Mur-de-Bretagne, Scholz took first, while in the peloton 4’00 behind, Richard Virenque rallied to take the remaining one point for fourth, while on the next KOM, Cote de Sainte-Mayeux, Scholz took the winner’s points again.

The tempo calmed down once the peloton realized that the break was gone so the 2nd hour was raced at just 40.1 km/h. The trio’s maximum lead was 5’52 after two hours of racing, but soon after the feed zone at the midway point of Stage 8, the peloton began to ride a faster tempo behind the break. Riding among huge, festive crowds amid the swirl of Breton music, Scholz took the penultimate KOM points of the day on the Cote de Menez-Kuz, while Piil took the final points on the Cote de l’Ensigne Vert with 20km to go. By that point, the Quick.Step and Credit Agricole led chase had cut the break’s lead to 2’00 and with 10km. to go, the break was caught and it was peloton groupé on the outskirts of Quimper. Pill has been the most aggressive rider of this year’s Tour de France so far, with 550km spent off the front including today, but all he has to show so far is one second place in Chartres.

Five time Tour winner Lance Armstrong stayed up front in the final uphill charge to the line today in Quimper, saying that an uphill finish “makes it more nervous because then you have a risk of people sitting up, or the leadout guys sitting up and leaving a gap, so everybody’s nervous to try to stay in front and not get caught behind a gap.”

Armstrong’s USPS-Berry Floor teammate Floyd Landis told Cyclingnews via mobile phone after Stage 8 that the first part of the stage wasn’t too bad, but then it started raining. “It was really cold today too,” said Landis. “The final wasn’t too dangerous. George and Eki were there with Lance in the final to make sure he didn’t get gapped.”

Armstrong was AOK today and stayed out of trouble in the chaotic final, as Paolo Bettini led the charge in his polka-dot meilleur grimpeur jersey up the hill in before the last kilometre and was then marked by McEwen (Lotto-Domo), who didn’t join in the attack but just sat on Bettini. Euskaltel pulled them back, then Luxembourg champion Kim Kirchen (Fassa Bortolo) made what looked like a perfectly timed counter move to get a 30m gap on the peloton at 500m to go. Kirchen’s move was in vain, as a tremendous surge by Hushovd with 200m to go put the Norwegian powerhouse past the fading Kirchen and across the line first by three bike lengths ahead of the Fassa man, with Erik Zabel in third and McEwen in fourth. With his fourth place and maillot vert Stuart O’Grady (Cofidis) in eighth, McEwen re-gained the green as his ding-dong battle with O’Grady continues.
Rest Day – July 12: Limoges

As soon possible after Stage 8, The Tour peloton will board two aeroplanes for the one hour flight to Limoges, then transfer to hotels in Limoges. After an undoubtedly long sleep, teams will take an easy ride tomorrow for one to two hours. The weather for Limoges is expected to be cool and rainy Monday.
Stage 9 – July 13: St. Leonard-de-Noblat – Gueret, 160.5km

Starting in the tiny village that’s the hometown of Tour de France eternal second Raymond Poulidor, Stage 9 opens Phase 2 of the 2004 Tour with a rolling, twisting ride through the small roads of the Haut-Vienne and Creuse to finish in the town of Gueret for the first time. A massive sprint is likely here as the stage itself doesn’t present many difficulties. The long term forecast for Limoges is for cool temperatures and sun as the low pressure front moves out of France and is replaced with nice weather.

Results

1 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Crédit Agricole 3.54.22 (43.01 km/h)
2 Kim Kirchen (Lux) Fassa Bortolo
3 Erik Zabel (Ger) T-Mobile Team
4 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Lotto-Domo
5 Andreas Klöden (Ger) T-Mobile Team
6 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick Step-Davitamon
7 Laurent Brochard (Fra) AG2R Prévoyance
8 Stuart O’Grady (Aus) Cofidis – Le Crédit Par Téléphone
9 Oscar Pereiro (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems
10 Danilo Hondo (Ger) Gerolsteiner

Points

1 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Crédit Agricole 35 pts
2 Kim Kirchen (Lux) Fassa Bortolo 30
3 Erik Zabel (Ger) T-Mobile Team 26
4 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Lotto-Domo 24
5 Andreas Klöden (Ger) T-Mobile Team 22
6 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick Step-Davitamon 20
7 Laurent Brochard (Fra) AG2R Prévoyance 19
8 Stuart O’Grady (Aus) Cofidis – Le Crédit Par Téléphone 18
9 Oscar Pereiro (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 17
10 Danilo Hondo (Ger) Gerolsteiner 16
11 David Etxebarria (Spa) Euskaltel – Euskadi 15
12 Allan Davis (Aus) Liberty Seguros 14
13 Michele Scarponi (Ita) Domina Vacanze 13
14 Sergio Marinangeli (Ita) Domina Vacanze 12
15 Francisco Mancebo P̩rez (Spa) Illes Balears РBanesto 11
16 Matthias Kessler (Ger) T-Mobile Team 10
17 Oscar Sevilla (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 9
18 I̱igo Landaluze (Spa) Euskaltel РEuskadi 8
19 Axel Merckx (Bel) Lotto-Domo 7
20 Yuriy Krivtsov (Ukr) AG2R Prévoyance 6
21 Jan Ullrich (Ger) T-Mobile Team 5
22 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Rabobank 4
23 Georg Totschnig (Aut) Gerolsteiner 3
24 Bobby Julich (USA) Team CSC 2
25 Michael Rogers (Aus) Quick Step-Davitamon 1

Mountains

C̫te De Mur-De-Bretagne РCat. 3, 51.00 km
1 Ronny Scholz (Ger) Gerolsteiner 4 pts
2 Matteo Tosatto (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 3
3 Jakob Piil (Den) Team CSC 2
4 Richard Virenque (Fra) Quick Step-Davitamon 1

C̫te De Saint-Mayeux РCat. 4, 54.50 km
1 Ronny Scholz (Ger) Gerolsteiner 3 pts
2 Matteo Tosatto (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 2
3 Jakob Piil (Den) Team CSC 1

C̫te De M̩nez-Kuz РCat. 4, 127.50 km
1 Ronny Scholz (Ger) Gerolsteiner 3 pts
2 Matteo Tosatto (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 2
3 Jakob Piil (Den) Team CSC 1

Côte De L’enseigne Verte – Cat. 4, 142.50 km
1 Jakob Piil (Den) Team CSC 3 pts
2 Ronny Scholz (Ger) Gerolsteiner 2
3 Matteo Tosatto (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 1

Sprints

Montcontour, 14.00 km
1 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Crédit Agricole 6 pts
2 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Lotto-Domo 4
3 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team CSC 2

Carhaix-Plouguer, 104.00 km
1 Jakob Piil (Den) Team CSC 6 pts
2 Matteo Tosatto (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 4
3 Ronny Scholz (Ger) Gerolsteiner 2

Chateauneuf-Du-Faou, 131.00 km
1 Matteo Tosatto (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 6 pts
2 Jakob Piil (Den) Team CSC 4
3 Ronny Scholz (Ger) Gerolsteiner 2

Teams

1 T-Mobile Team 11.43.06
2 Phonak Hearing Systems
3 Domina Vacanze
4 Rabobank
5 Euskaltel-Euskadi
6 Illes Balears-Banesto Santander
7 Liberty Seguros
8 Ag2R Prevoyance
9 Credit Agricole
10 Gerolsteiner
11 Fassa Bortolo
12 Quick Step-Davitamon
13 Team CSC
14 US Postal presented by Berry Floor
15 Fdjeux.Com
16 Saeco
17 Alessio-Bianchi
18 Cofidis Credit Par Telephone
19 Brioches La Boulangere
20 Lotto-Domo 0.21
21 R.A.G.T. Semences-MG Rover 0.42

General classification after stage 8

1 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 33.03.36
2 Stuart O’Grady (Aus) Cofidis – Le Crédit Par Téléphone 3.01
3 Sandy Casar (Fra) Fdjeux.com 4.06
4 Magnus Backstedt (Swe) Alessio-Bianchi 6.27
5 Jakob Piil (Den) Team CSC 7.09
6 Lance Armstrong (USA) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 9.35
7 George Hincapie (USA) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 9.45
8 Jose Azevedo (Por) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 9.57
9 José Enrique Gutierrez (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 10.02
10 Erik Zabel (Ger) T-Mobile Team 10.06
11 Tyler Hamilton (USA) Phonak Hearing Systems 10.11
12 Floyd Landis (USA) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 10.12
13 Santos Gonzalez (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems
14 Bert Grabsch (Ger) Phonak Hearing Systems 10.16
15 Francisco Mancebo P̩rez (Spa) Illes Balears РBanesto 10.18
16 Oscar Sevilla (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 10.19
17 Jose Luis Rubiera (Spa) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 10.20
18 Manuel Beltran (Spa) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 10.22
19 Viatcheslav Ekimov (Rus) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 10.26
20 Jan Ullrich (Ger) T-Mobile Team 10.30
21 Andreas Klöden (Ger) T-Mobile Team 10.32
22 Bobby Julich (USA) Team CSC 10.35
23 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team CSC 10.37
24 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Rabobank 10.43
25 Daniele Nardello (Ita) T-Mobile Team 10.46

Points classification

1 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Lotto-Domo 158 pts
2 Stuart O’Grady (Aus) Cofidis – Le Crédit Par Téléphone 149
3 Erik Zabel (Ger) T-Mobile Team 148
4 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Crédit Agricole 147
5 Danilo Hondo (Ger) Gerolsteiner 139
6 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick Step-Davitamon 109
7 Jean-Patrick Nazon (Fra) AG2R Prévoyance 101
8 Jaan Kirsipuu (Est) AG2R Prévoyance 91
9 Laurent Brochard (Fra) AG2R Prévoyance 89
10 Baden Cooke (Aus) Fdjeux.com 63

Mountains classification

1 Paolo Bettini (Ita) Quick Step-Davitamon 20 pts
2 Janek Tombak (Est) Cofidis РLe Cr̩dit Par T̩l̩phone 14
3 Ronny Scholz (Ger) Gerolsteiner 12
4 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team CSC 9
5 Jakob Piil (Den) Team CSC 9
6 Matteo Tosatto (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 8
7 Bram de Groot (Ned) Rabobank 7
8 Erik Dekker (Ned) Rabobank 7
9 Jérôme Pineau (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 6
10 Thierry Marichal (Bel) Lotto-Domo 5
11 Sandy Casar (Fra) Fdjeux.com 3
12 Franck Renier (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 3
13 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 2
14 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Fdjeux.com 2
15 Richard Virenque (Fra) Quick Step-Davitamon 2
16 Magnus Backstedt (Swe) Alessio-Bianchi 1
17 Christophe Mengin (Fra) Fdjeux.com 1
18 Jimmy Casper (Fra) Cofidis РLe Cr̩dit Par T̩l̩phone 1

Young rider classification

1 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 33.03.36
2 Sandy Casar (Fra) Fdjeux.com 4.06
3 Matthias Kessler (Ger) T-Mobile Team 10.49
4 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quick Step-Davitamon 11.17
5 Jérôme Pineau (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 12.14
6 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Fassa Bortolo 12.19
7 Michele Scarponi (Ita) Domina Vacanze 12.22
8 Mark Scanlon (Irl) AG2R Prévoyance 12.26
9 Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau (Spa) AG2R Prévoyance 12.35
10 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 12.41
11 Filippo Pozzato (Ita) Fassa Bortolo 12.48
12 Sylvain Calzati (Fra) R.A.G.T. Semences – MG Rover 13.10
13 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Illes Balears – Banesto 14.13
14 Allan Davis (Aus) Liberty Seguros 15.09
15 Iker Cama̱o (Spa) Euskaltel РEuskadi 15.10
16 Sebastian Lang (Ger) Gerolsteiner 15.31
17 Michael Rogers (Aus) Quick Step-Davitamon 15.51
18 Sergio Marinangeli (Ita) Domina Vacanze 16.29
19 Jimmy Engoulvent (Fra) Cofidis РLe Cr̩dit Par T̩l̩phone 16.49
20 David Loosli (Swi) Saeco 17.00
21 Nicolas Portal (Fra) AG2R Prévoyance 17.04
22 Anthony Charteau (Fra) Brioches La Boulangère 19.47
23 Fabian Wegmann (Ger) Gerolsteiner 20.48
24 Christophe Edaleine (Fra) Cofidis РLe Cr̩dit Par T̩l̩phone 22.09
25 Yuriy Krivtsov (Ukr) AG2R Prévoyance 23.34
26 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) Fdjeux.com 24.17
27 Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) AG2R Prévoyance 29.07
28 Benjamin Noval (Spa) US Postal p/b Berry Floor 32.12
29 Sébastien Joly (Fra) Crédit Agricole 51.11

Teams classification

1 Team CSC 97.05.12
2 Alessio-Bianchi 2.04
3 Brioches La Boulangere 3.16
4 Fdjeux.Com 6.12
5 US Postal presented by Berry Floor 10.41
6 Phonak Hearing Systems 11.54
7 Cofidis Credit Par Telephone 12.01
8 T-Mobile Team 12.25
9 Illes Balears-Banesto Santander
10 Rabobank 12.55
11 Liberty Seguros 13.35
12 Quick Step-Davitamon 15.01
13 Ag2R Prevoyance 15.21
14 Fassa Bortolo 15.27
15 Gerolsteiner 15.49
16 Domina Vacanze 15.53
17 Lotto-Domo 17.21
18 Saeco 18.10
19 R.A.G.T. Semences-MG Rover 22.00
20 Euskaltel-Euskadi 25.10
21 Credit Agricole 25.57

Glen and I rode up to Montrose today from Pasadena this afternoon. What a fabulous day it has been. Glen’s progress on the bike has been good and today he was able to climb a couple of hills that previously he has not been able to do. Good for him. Maybe we will do that Big Ride across America together yet.

The Seventh Stage of the 2004 Tour de France.

Pozzato scrambles for Tour win; Voeckler gets another day in yellow
By Rupert Guinness
Special to VeloNews
This report filed July 10, 2004

by Graham Watson

Pozzatto pulls off a last-minute win in his debut at the Tour
Filippo Pozzato did for his Fassa Bortolo teammates Saturday what their celebrated-yet-absent leader Alessandro Petacchi could not: Win a stage at this year’s Tour de France.

With Petacchi back at home nursing injuries from a crash in the fifth stage to Chartres, Pozzato’s stage 7 victory gave the Fassas much cause for needed cheer going into week two of the Tour

“I didn’t think it would be my day, but I was hoping to win the stage.

After Alessandro left the race yesterday it kind of gave us the freedom to go out there and do our own thing,” explained Pozzato, who joins prologue winner Fabian Cancellara in handing his team a stage victory.

Pozzato, 22, won the 204.5km stage across Brittany from Châteaubriant to Saint-Brieuc by outsprinting Spaniards Iker Flores (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and Francisco Mancebo (Illes Balears-Banesto).

The three were part of a last-minute group of seven that escaped off the front of the peloton in the closing kilometers. Indeed, the margin was so tight that some of the escapees were caught just on the line by a hard-charging peloton led by Norway’s Thor Hushovd (Crédit Agricole).

Ensconced safely in the peloton were all the main overall contenders – Lance Armstrong (U.S. Postal), Tyler Hamilton (Phonak), Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile) and Levi Leipheimer (Rabobank) – and, of course, the yellow jersey, Frenchman Thomas Voeckler (Brioches La Boulangere), who still has the biggest smile of anyone in the race.

For Pozzato, it was his first Tour stage wins and biggest since he graduated from the old Mapei team’s Under-23 program to the Fassa Bortolo elite line-up last year.

He quickly made his mark there last year, winning five races, including Tirreno-Adriatico; but Saturday’s win will certainly raise expectations for his future objectives.

By winning Saturday’s stage, Pozzato vindicated his boss’s decision to not race him in the Giro d’Italia where Petacchi won nine stages, opting instead to save him for his Tour de France debut.

The decisive break formed with four kilometers to go. In it were Pozzato, Flores and Mancebo, Frenchmen Laurent Brochard (AG2R) and Breton Sebastian Hinault (Crédit Agricole), and Italy’s Michele Scarponi (Domina Vacanze) and Paolo Bettini (Quickstep).

Pozzato, Flores and Mancebo got their jump after they chased down a furious attack by Brochard and surged ahead with a five-second lead with one kilometer to go. But that was no easy kilometer, since it included a hard 600-meter rise to before hitting a false-flat run to the finish line.

It was Mancebo who braved the first chance for a win by leading out the sprint with 250 meters to go, but Pozzato was too fast and charged past the Spaniard from 50 meters out.

The outcome was something of a surprise, considering a bunch sprint was forecast, but many in the battle weary peloton, still carrying wounds from the previous day’s mass pile-up near the finish, may have been happy to see a small group get away.

Judging by the sentiment of Hamilton (Phonak) who fell and hurt his back at Angers on Friday, a bunch sprint was something he and most did not want to be a part of Saturday.

by Graham Watson

Dekker and Marichal off the front
Hamilton has proposed to Tour race director Jean-Marie Leblanc that for stages with bunch finishes, times should be taken with two or three kilometers to go to allow the non-sprinters’ teams to avoid dangers like what the peloton experienced at the stage six finish at Angers.

But Saturday did not pass without incident. There were several crashes, the worst at 127km with three riders, including Swiss Sven Montgomery (Gerolsteiner) who broke his right shoulder.

by Graham Watson

CSC split the peloton with a vigorous pursuit
Thirty kilometers later, at least one GC contender – Crédit Agricole’s Christophe Moreau – was caught off guard when the CSC team surged to the front of the peloton in anticipation of a major wind shift as the day’s route ran along side a wet and windy Cap Frehel. While Moreau and points jersey leader Stuart O’Grady were caught off guard, other contenders – Armstrong, Ullrich, Hamilton and Iban Mayo (Euskaltel) – were in the right spot when the field split apart under relentless pressure from CSC.

Also in the action up front was Armstrong’s teammate George Hincapie whose leg-breaking turns at the front have been his trademark all Tour.

by Casey B. Gibson

Postal joined in the fun, too
At the time, a two man attack of Dutchman Erik Dekker (Rabobank) and Belgian Erik Marichial (Lotto-Domo) was still out in front, having been on the attack for more than 100km on the narrow, bumpy and undulating Breton roads.

With the CSC/Postal drive powering the front group, the Moreau/O’Grady chase group lost nearly a minute and was forced to desperately chase for the next 20km.

It had already been another tough day in the saddle for O’Grady after his stage five win in a break and second place in stage six. His points competition lead had already come under attack after starting the day with a two point lead over Australian Robbie McEwen (Lotto-Domo).

O’Grady temporarily lost his hold on the jersey on the road when McEwen bagged four points for his third-place finishes at the second and third intermediate sprints at 71.5km (Montfort-sur-Meu) and 129.5km (Plancoet). With McEwen up in the front group, O’Grady’s hold on the jersey seemed less than certain.

Luckily for the Cofidis man, the front group slowed when the day’s two early escapees were caught and the wind shifted as the course turned toward Saint-Brieuc.

The peloton regrouped and then both O’Grady and McEwen did their best to contest the field sprint on the charge to the line seconds after Pozzato’s win. O’Grady managed 10th and McEwen 13th, enough of a margin to allow him to keep the jersey for another day.

by Graham Watson

Voeckler finished 10 seconds back in the pack with the overall contenders
For Voeckler, the day proved a stiff test of his ability to hang on to the yellow jersey.

“The stage went off quickly and when the two-man attack went we were quite happy because none of the guys were contenders in the general classification,” said the 24-year-old Frenchman.

“But with around 50km to go when we approached the coast it started to get a lot harder. We knew already that CSC might try the same stunt they had tried in Paris-Nice. But the Boulangere team worked well today. I’m very happy with the guys. We’re trying to conserve as much energy as possible and we’ll be trying to hold on to the jersey for as long as possible.”