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Tour de France, France

Stage 12, Briançon - Digne-les-Bains, 187K

14 July

The Dust Devil's Daily Wrap
Moncoutié representing the French on Bastille Day

Stages and Maps, The Dust Devil's Daily Wrap

Stage 12 of the Tour went down just like I thought it would. With 2 hard days of Alpine madness fresh in everyone's memory, and 2 more mountain days just around the corner, it was a day for the GC big boys to ride tempo. Letting some of the other guys grab for the scraps of glory.

It's Bastille Day in France, and every Frenchman in the peloton wants to win on Bastille Day. Moncoutié delivered the goods today. He managed to stay away in front of a very disorganized breakaway group that he escaped from earlier.

Nothing incredibly earth shattering about today's affairs. One of the bigger stories playing itself out towards the other end of the race was the crash and ensuing abandonment of Manuel "Triki" Beltran. A key early mountain pace-maker in the Discovery squad, he will be sincerely missed. DC are no green-horns, though. I think they will be just fine without him. They know how to adapt and overcome better than any other team out there. If nothing else it's a very real reminder that the race ain't over 'til it's over. This incident could happen to anybody in the peloton!

You have to feel bad for Beltran too. Exiting the Tour on what is most likely the winning team of an unprecedented seventh victory. His heart must be broken! The disappointment I experience when I have a mechanical, and then cannot finish a training ride feels pretty bad. But to have to abandon the Tour de France ...? I can't even imagine how sad and heartbreaking that would be.

I don't think the majority of the public realize the true grit of these riders. Trick went down fairly hard, apparently hitting his head. He got up, dusted himself off and continued riding for another 10-15K, having confusion and problems even remembering he was in a crash. Then he advised to pull out by the race doctor. Incredible! The resiliency and pure determination these riders have is incomprehensible to average joe's like you and me. I tip my peaked cap to Manuel Beltran.

If anybody has any serious hopes of taking anything from Armstrong, they are going to have to act fast. And they are going to have to attack, attack, and ATTACK! Vinokourov was riding like a man who was scrambling for the scraps of the feast yesterday. Not somebody who was a serious challenger. I believe they will need to repeatedly get him in trouble. People like Rasmussen, Basso and Valverde are not so far behind that Armstrong can let them out of his sight. They need to attack and keep Tex on his toes. Remind him that there is still a race going on here.

But, deep down I believe that they would all rather ride conservatively, and keep their potential podium spots, than to risk an attack and possible failure. It's hard to say what I would do if I were in any of their shoes. But it would be refreshing to see somebody throw caution to the wind and go eyeballs out on the attack!

Marco Pantani, where have you gone?
- The Dust Devil