Tour de France-Day 12-A Tragedy, A Triumph, A Whisper of Drugs

Austin American-Statesman ^ | July 17 | AP

[concentric circles]

French rider Halgand wins stage Galdeano, Armstrong still pace overall standings as mountains loom next

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Wednesday, July 17, 2002

PAU, France — French rider Patrice Halgand won Wednesday's 10th stage of the Tour de France, while three-time champion Lance Armstrong and overall leader Igor Gonzalez Galdeano finished in the main pack with the same time.

Armstrong was 40th, nearly 4 minutes off Halgand's pace, and remained in second place in the standings, 26 seconds behind Gonzalez Galdeano.

It was disclosed Wednesday that Gonzalez Galdeano tested positive for salbutamol last week, but organizers said he is cleared to use the restricted substance. Salbutamol treats asthma and is banned unless athletes have a prescription.

Traces were found in a July 12 test at the end of the stage from Forges-les-Eaux to Alencon, Tour spokesman Philippe Sudres said.

UCI, world cycling's governing body, "has long had a medical justification for this rider" to use salbutamol, Tour de France deputy director Daniel Baal said.

Halgand, who rides for the Jean Delatour team, surged in the final climb of the relatively flat 91-mile leg from Bazas to Pau in southwestern France for his first Tour stage victory.

He attacked in the final 3 1/2 miles, and beat countryman Jerome Pineau by 27 seconds. Halgand finished in 3 hours, 15 seconds.

Gonzalez Galdeano has held the yellow jersey worn by the race leader for six stages, and will wear it in Thursday's opening mountain leg from Pau to La Mongie, high in the Pyrenees.

The 98-mile ride features two difficult climbs and should see Armstrong make his first serious bid for the race lead.

Gonzalez Galdeano has been the talk of the Tour, suddenly touted as Armstrong's next big rival.

Armstrong is a little puzzled.

"I never feel safe," the Texan said Tuesday. "But I wonder sometimes where such confidence comes from, when there's been no precedent, or rather, where the buzz comes from."

While undeniably talented, Galdeano did not come close to scaring Armstrong in the Tour's key mountain stages last year.

He lost 4:03 to the U.S. Postal Service rider in the opening mountain stretch from Aix-Les-Bains to L'Alpe d'Huez. By the end of the 2001 Tour, he trailed by 13:28.

"I was reading all of this stuff — this is such a big war between Armstrong and Galdeano," Armstrong said. "And I thought, I've got to look at the Tour last year.

"I looked at L'Alpe d'Huez: four minutes. I looked at the final: 13 minutes. These are big chunks of time."

Riders face one exceptionally difficult climb up the Col d'Aubisque mountain pass on Thursday. The day's other major challenge is the ride to the La Mongie ski station on the Tourmalet, one of the Tour's toughest climbs.

Because of his traditional strength in the mountains, Armstrong remains the favorite to win the Tour for the fourth straight year, but he is still not completely comfortable.

"Sometimes I feel like such a momentum rider," the Texan said. "You get the momentum going, you feel good, you win a stage, you get the jersey, and all of a sudden you feel great.

"We don't have that. It's not that we're going backward, but we don't have any momentum."

Asked if that worried him, Armstrong replied: "No. Not yet."

[Toidylop]

Last year at this stage, I'll be surprised if Lance won't take the yellow jersey after tomorrow...

O V E R A L L   S T A N D I N G S

Pos.	N°	Name	Nat.	Team		Time
1	169	SIMON François	FRA	BJR	en	45h 34' 09"
2	074	KIVILEV Andrei	KAZ	COF	à	11' 54"
3	107	O'GRADY Stuart	AUS	C.A	à	18' 10"
4	001	ARMSTRONG Lance	USA	USP	à	20' 07"
5	021	BELOKI Joseba	ESP	ONC	à	21' 42"
6	031	MOREAU Christophe	FRA	FES	à	22' 21"
7	011	ULLRICH Jan	GER	TEL	à	22' 41"
8	024	GONZALEZ GALDEANO Igor	ESP	ONC	à	23' 34"
9	157	SEVILLA Oscar	ESP	KEL	à	24' 07"
10	151	BOTERO Santiago	COL	KEL	à	25' 52"

[drew]

Yeah, he needs the team to be strong now. It's ONCE vs. USPS, the mountains will decide the winner. Go Lance!

[Noumenon]

My longest ever commute was in the SF Bay Area - 24 miles and change each way from Fremont to the shadow of the Oracle building in Redwood City. The afternoon / early evening winds could be brutal, especially on the Dumbarton Bridge crossing.

I was at the height of my racing form then (about 10 years ago). Weighed 162 pounds and was rail thin. Now I'm 190+, fat (by that comparison, anyway) and slow. Rode with the California Pedaler bike shop team. Most of us were Cat 3 and Cat 4 masters. Biggest difference between Cat 3 and Cat 4 was bike handling. Believe me, the safest palce in a Cat 4 criterium was either off the back or off the front.

My racing days are long over, now. I'm too busy working and turning ammunition into skill.

[concentric circles]

Also, one needn't be coy to preserve energy riding in the pack, protected from the wind, vesus riding at or near the lead and bucking the elements, using the precious reserves of strength needed in a three week competition.

(Note to self: nice save, not using the phrase "breaking the wind" and starting a whole new tangent.)

[Toidylop]

...but he did average a cadence of 120

Lance seems to keep very high cadence during his time trial. I never understood why. Anybody know?

[Prolix]

You know, something just occurred to me. It seems that coverage of the Tour de France, where an American has a good chance of winning, has received minimal press coverage compared to the coverage of the World Cup - where the American team had absolutely no chance of winning. Is it me? Should I get fitted for a tinfoil hat? Has anyone else noticed a difference in coverage?

[Aeronaut]

Lance seems to keep very high cadence during his time trial. I never understood why. Anybody know?

Surprisingly, the higher cadence uses less energy (because you are in a lower gear than if you were pushing 90 or so at the same speed) It is also easier on the knees to spin faster.

[Toidylop]

Hah!!! I need to show my wife why I'm not lazy on the pedals. Just a smart way to burn the "extra" energy faster

[Tennessee_Bob]

Ooo Rah!

I used to ride about 25 miles a day round trip, in my uniform and combat boots, and then spend 8-10 hours a day being a jet engine mechanic in the Air Force. It wasn't the nice, flat city streets in Las Vegas, either. Road up Bonanza to the top of the street, then along the back roads to the back gate of Nellis. Did that every duty day for about three years.

Cyclists are girly boys...yeah, right.

[Big Dan]

Lance's style is a very high cadence. He has an amazingly high VOmax which lets him stay aerobic at pedaling efforts which cause other riders to go anaerobic.

This means that he is cruising at a manageable effort, at a speed which causes other riders to dig into their reserves to keep up, and building up fatigue poisons (lactic acid) in their muscles.

Look at the hurt he put into Jan Ullrich at Alpe d'Huez last Tour, even though Jan was arguably the biggest real threat in that Tour after Lance.

But nothing is for certain, Lance depends on his teammates for protection until the climbs, for shuttling food/water, as bodyguards to keep him away from crashes. No one can win the Tour alone.

[ml/nj]

the U.S. Postal Service rider

Is this why I'm paying $0.37 per letter now?

ML/NJ

[PrairieDawg]

He's turning the pedals in anger now and has opened up a gap on everyone!

MAN am I glad that I have OLN. Ligget's comments are priceless!

[Weimdog]

OLN rocks!

Phil and Paul are awesome. Too bad old Bob Roll isn't with 'em for the Tour. His commentary during the Giro was pretty good, but his commercials were classic.

I heard a rumor that Bob was arrested in the airport upon arrival for the Tour last year, anyone else hear that?

Go Posties! Go Lance!

[stylin_geek]

MIG, ARC some TIG. Certified for MIG, Aluminum pipe, also MIG full penetration structural. Nasty test, dual shield 3/32 wire, 1 1/2 plate, one edge beveled, horizontal, inclined just enough so the weld will not fall out when making a pass. 3 root passes, 5 cover, wait 20 minutes, another 10 passes or so, let cool, finish welding. Not to mention all the chipping and cleaning after each weld. Did a lot of welding with 7018 and Jet Rod. Never had to be certified for stick, though.

[stylin_geek]

I weigh around 165, and wind is brutal for someone my height and weight. (6'3") Although I did get a laugh when I had some guy go by me in a head wind, he probably out weighed me by about 50 to 60 lbs, but when we headed up a hill, in a cross wind, I caught him and dropped him like a bad habit.

You know, that is a darn good commute...especially around SF. Wow.

[stylin_geek]

Well, I would imagine if you went in for your annual physical when you were in, you probably raised some eyebrows with your heart rate and blood pressure. Also, so much for PT, I would think.

[PrairieDawg]

Weimdog,
Hi. It appears that Bob will be with the rest of the crowd before the end. OLN's website says:

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Bobke Goes to Tour de France!

Have no fear, your fearless Bobke is actually going to France on Saturday, July 20th to contribute in his own indomitable fashion for the last and best part of this year's Tour de France.

---

So he'll be there soon. Just in time for the mountains...

FRegards,
PrairieDawg

[Prodigal Son]

Mostly MIG and Arc myself. Couldn't never get the hang of TIG- just wound up burning up my gloves. I welded from the time I was 18 till I was 24 when I joined the Army. After the Army (2001) while living in N. Ireland I did a little stint doing some MIG welding for a small manufacturer in County Fermanagh. Like riding a bicycle (you never forget) except they had these new fangled hoods that I never had worked with- you could see through the shield when you weren't welding, then when you began to arc it went dark. I didn't realize at first that it had sensors and was reaching up and over something to weld and inadvertantly covered the sensors up- face shield was no longer dark. Scratch head, try again a couple of times. Blistered my eyes pretty good- a thing I had done exactly once when younger and decided never to let it happen again (pain is a good teacher) but that new fangled hood threw me. You live you learn.

[Noumenon]

Yep - the old power-to-weight ratio'll get 'em every time.