Touroscopy - Stage 16 Time to stand and deliver
Tuesday, 22 July 2008 13:01
The first thing to note about the Alps in the Tour de France is that they are two things. Big and consequential. Momentary lapses in concentration lead to high speed crashes and the end of your race. The riders in the Tour left Italy and came back to the race's homeland. The stage was big one and was marred by an awesome looking crash that left a rider bikeless and a heart in the mouth descent that did impact the general classification.
Losers
Denis Menchov - After a great day's climbing the stage ended on a 22km descent. Menchov, who was riding well did not do such a great job of this and lost 35 seconds to the other favorites. The Tour requires riders to be all round bike riders and this includes descending. It is a skill in itself and anyone who has ever ridden on Alpine roads let alone raced on them knows how treacherous and tough it can be to keep it upright. Rather than to push a bad situation Menchov decided to raise the white flag and finish in one piece.
Christian Vande Velde - The big man from the U.S was not having a great day out and this was compounded by a crash on the descent and more time loss. Vande Velde has ridden well this Tour but was never with the main yellow jersey group and looked to be struggling on the mountain. Never before has he raced for so long at the front of the field and this was all new to him. He will seek to try to recoup some time today but whether he has the legs to do so will be a story on itself.
Winners
John Lee Augustyn - This will go down as the near miss of the Tour. if you get a chance check this fall out. Augustyn goes through a corner, straightens himself up and tries to throw out the anchors to stop from going over the edge. That fails and he does. His slide down the mountain was incredible. Trying to climb back onto the road he was helped out by a spectator. Once back up on the road he was ready to go... except he had no bike! that was somewhere down the mountain side. A remarkable escape outlining why the likes of Menchov did not want to push on a descent like that.
Team CSC Saxo Bank - This team seem to have all the aces. They are strong on the valley roads and very tough in the mountains. Tonight we will see just how good they are. But they are having an incredible Tour.
State of Play
Well this is it. The final countdown in the Alps (cue cheesy final countdown soundtrack). The famed stage that when it was announced last year every rider circled. Some because it was going to be a day of misery and others because it was a target. The Tour this season is very even. It has been hard to split up the riders on the General Classification. If the Schleck boys and Carlos Sastre have any hope to win this Tour they must attack Evans and Menchov and take time. Of course what confronts the riders is torturous. Cols du Galibier and Croix de Fer lead on to the mythical Alpe d'Huez. The favorites have run out of time and mountains. There will be no guarantee that Cadel Evans can win a time trial however the other riders trying for the win will not want to go there and chance their legs against the man from Australia. Expect fireworks all day as the three climbs take their toll. Alpe d'Huez is 21 switchbacks of pain and to borrow a Paul Sherwenim, the riders will have to look deep into the suitcase of courage on this stage. We will know who will win the Tour this time tomorrow.
