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8 July 2005

9 July News ...

Cement Boys Mix a Win and Vino Turns On The Heat

Yesterday's stage 6 of the 2005 Tour de France was a ball-buster. The rain and wind turned a flat sprinters affair into an attack-fest. After 199K from Troyes to Nancy, it was Lorenzo Bernucci (Fassa Bortolo) who came out on top. Poor Christophe Mengin (Française des Jeux), who had been in a break for most of the day, took a spill as Alexandre Vinokourov (T-Mobile) and Bernucci were on the hunt. Vino had to slow up but the Italian made it through and on to his first professional victory. Bravo Bernucci!

The tifosi went nuts with excitement. Vino did not win but he put time on the Disco Cowboy, not a huge amount, but enough to make the 6X champion worry. (For more details on Vino's heroics, read the Dust Devil's Daily Wrap: The Stone Cold Assassin Strikes!) He finished seven seconds ahead of the other GC favorites and improved to third overall. Team CSC's David Zabriskie lost almost eight minutes during stage 6. The American did not crash and is still suffering from his crash during the team TT.

92nd Tour de France:
Startlist, Classifications, Tour Challengers, Discovery Channel Profile
Key Stages, Key Stage Descriptions, Stages and Maps, Overall Map
Photos, Dust Devil's Daily Wrap

Pietro Caucchioli, Giro d'Italia to the Tour de France

Pietro Caucchioli is one of the nicest cyclists around. Having spent the last few years with the Italian team Alessio, this year he made the switch to the classic French Crédit Agricole squad. For 2005 he took a leadership role in the Giro d'Italia and will be hunting for stages in the Tour de France. Pietro's past includes Giro successes and his future holds even more. BiciRace.com had the pleasure to speak with this rider from Verona, enjoy.

 

BiciRace.com:  Ciao Pietro. Do you have time now for a quick chat with BiciRace.com?
PC:  Sure!
BR:  Great! So, how are you doing? You've been busy!
PC:  Oh, yes. Yesterday I did the Italian championships. I was in the first group but I couldn't do the sprint, because I'm not a sprinter so... And tomorrow I leave for the Tour de France. Wednesday we will practice as a team for the TTT. Afterwards we are going to the start of the Tour.
BR:  Will you miss your little girl, your new baby?
PC:  Yes, I will. She is doing OK. She sleeps through the night and only asks for milk twice during the night. She's a beautiful baby. I have seen your website, and read about how you mentioned my baby in your news. I was very happy when I saw that. Thank you very much.
Read the entire BiciRace.com interview with Pietro Caucchioli.

T-Mobile Boys Confident After They Attack

Alexandre Vinokourov (T-Mobile) put the moves on the peloton in the closing kilometers of stage 6. Vino post-stage: "Mengin's crash certainly cost me the stage win. But I am still very pleased. We knew it would be a tricky and dangerous finish." Vino put a little time on Armstrong, helping his GC rankings and backing up T-Mobile's threat.

Jan Ullrich was pleased with his teammate, "Even if we didn't win a stage today, I'm really happy about Vino's second place. It will give Lance something to chew on, knowing that at the end of such a stage, he was forced to chase down someone like Vino. At least he now knows that we're here, and that our morale is good as we go into the mountains." T-Mobile is serving up some tough beef-jerky for the Disco boys. One only had to look at the shaking of Hincapie's head when he crossed the line to know that the American did not like the taste.

Bernucci Alone And In The Rain

"When I saw that the finish I did not believe it. I passed the line and saw that there was no one, that I was alone," Bernucci described his surprise after the end of a long day. The day gave him his first pro win, and it was the Tour de France (stage 6). "I don't know why it touched me, but it was an emotion indescribable."

All the missiles were firing in the final kilometers. Just as Bernucci approached the last corner he had to dodge an explosion in the form of Mengin (Française des Jeux). "I managed to get through, in the last kilometer ... I found the right spot at the right moment, and I managed a huge success." The Italian is usually seen helping Cancellara or Flecha, "I like to help and to be helped." Now at the end of the season, when Fassa's contract runs out Bernucci will be able to negotiate, "when they come to me to give me a new contract this will mean everything."

The Italian dedicates the win to his wife. She helped him get through his tough times this last winter. Bernucci had a terrible accident while training and now has clearly recovered.

Ivan Basso Weathers Storm

Ivan Basso was one of those riders who got held up behind the last kilometer crash. "In the last curve I put a foot down, but I did not crash. It was a great confusion, everyone stopped, there was not space to pass," said the Italian post-stage. It was a day for his CSC boys to keep him at the front and out of trouble, they earned their wages. Many of the GC riders are excited to get these first flat stages out of the way. "Also the next stage [today stage 7], same pace and course ... I can't wait for the hour to arrive in the mountains." Ivan Basso is feeling confident and is ready to unleash.

Armstrong Faces First Attacks

Armstrong post stage 6 was looking tired and worn out. The 6X Tour de France champion must be making plans for August and retirement after a rainy day that saw one of the first missiles fired on his defenses. "It was a hairy finish with lots of corners," said Armstrong. "The weather and the fact that the finish is in a town with crosswalks with white [pedestrian passages], it's really scary so I just tried to stay up front in the run-in." But the cowboy could not contain Vino, who launched in the closing kilometers. Vino made it through the crash and the Disco boys were blocked up. "In the last corner, it was nearly blocked by the crash, so there was nothing we could do. Now we have a new 3K rule ... you just have to pick your way through and try and get to the finish."

Bruyneel, team DS and tactician, helped the Disco boys home after a long day. Armstrong explained: "At this point in the race, after a 200K haul in the rain and wind that blows from the side, the riders are tired and more vulnerable. There was a relatively insignificant climb, but the group exploded, quite a lot of guys were dropped. Our DS was on the radio saying: 'now there is a turn left, and after there is another hard right.' He navigated so we could arrive safe and secure... ...The Tour has been hard so far."

Heras Happy with Tour So Far

Roberto Heras (Liberty Seguros-Würth) is back into the Manolo Saiz camp, after a stint with the Armstrong team. Heras knows how to read a grand tour, "I see Discovery with desire of controlling the pack and not allowing a breakaway gain a lot of time, as happened last year." But this year Roberto sees other teams stepping up too, "there are three teams, CSC, T-Mobile and Liberty Seguros-Würth, very organized and with possibilities of causing great damage in the medium and high mountains. ... There are more difficulties for Discovery, except if they are the strongest, but we have to wait."

Tour Jerseys, A Polka Dot Movement

Polka Dot (climber's jersey): Rabobank to Rabobank. Karsten Kroon takes over from his teammate, Erik Dekker, as the new leader in the climber's classification. Kroon (Rabobank) has the same tally as Stéphane Augé (Cofidis), but because the Rabobank rider won two of the four climbs in stage 6 he will wear the polka-dot jersey in stage 7.

Yellow Jersey: Stages like yesterday's stage 6 are the reason that Lance Armstrong and the Disco crew ride at front. But yesterday in the final stretches the crash happened at the front. The 6X champion was able to come home without losing time or the maillot jaune.

Green Jersey (sprinter's jersey): The day's escape took all the intermediate sprints on the road. Then in the sprint finale it was chaos and there was not a proper sprint. Therefore the sprinter's jersey stays with Belgian Tom Boonen (Quick-Step). Trailing behind the green giant is Thor Hushovd (Crédit Agricole).

White Jersey (young GC rider): The peloton finished together, for the most part, in stage 6. There is no change in the young rider classification because the white jersey is scored like the yellow jersey, based on cumulative time. Popovych (Discovery Channel) still leads thanks to the Clockwork Disco effort in the stage 4 team TT.
If you need to know more about the classifications, then read here: Tour de France Classifications

7 July News ...