Armstrong just misses yellow as Evans plummets
By AAP, 8 Jul 2009
- Tagged:
- alberto Contador, Cadel Evans, Cycling, fabian cancellara, Lance Armstrong, Michael Rogers, Tour de France
Lance Armstrong has dramatically missed out on the yellow jersey by the slimmest of margins, while Australian hope Cadel Evans has plummeted to be 35th overall after the Tour de France’s fourth stage.
Armstrong’s Astana team blew their rivals apart in the Montpellier time trial.
Astana came over the finish line of the 39km race against the clock 40secs ahead of the Saxo Bank team of Fabian Cancellara, who began and finished the race in the yellow jersey.
However Armstrong, the seven-time champion who moved up seven places from 10th to third after Monday’s equally dramatic third stage, has shown once again that he fully intends to stay in contention for an eighth Tour crown.
“It’s a little bit of a disappointment (to miss) but the yellow jersey is on the horizon,” said Armstrong.
“Astana did their maximum.”
Armstrong, returning to the race four years after his record seventh triumph in 2005, is now second in the overall standings at 0sec behind Cancellara, missing the yellow by two tenths of a second.
Evans’ hopes of heading into the Pyreneean stages of the Tour on a high took a knock when his team performed disastrously to finish 13th and he dropped to 2min 59sec behind Cancellara.
His Silence-Lotto team first lost climber Jurgen Van den Broeck to a crash inside two kilometres, a fact the Australian was unaware of as he tried to keep his team together for as long as possible.
Staf Schierlinckx was first to drop off the back as he struggled to keep pace and he was then followed by Belgian compatriot Johan Vansummeren.
Silence decided to slow up and wait for Vansummeren to rejoin them in the hope he would recover later in the race and thus help them close their deficit.
Evans, the runner-up the past two years, tried to play down the effects of a display which could leave them with work to do in the mountain stages which begin on Friday.
“The guys like Matt (Lloyd) and Charly (Wegelius) especially, they’re really not designed for this (event),” said Evans.
“They’re young riders and they haven’t had many chances to ride a team time trial.
“I’m a time triallist and they’re worried to disappoint me so it’s a lot of pressure for the guys.
“Vansummeren … what do we do there? Lose 40secs and wait for him, or lose a minute or lose maybe two more riders and two minutes. It’s pretty bad luck there.”
The best placed Australia is now Michael Rogers, who is 16th overall.
Ahead of three key stages in the Pyrenees, Armstrong and his team are in the driving seat.
Cancellara is not a real contender for the yellow jersey and so Armstrong, at this point, will be seen by some as the virtual race leader.
Adding some intrigue is the fact that Astana’s official team leader Alberto Contador, the 2007 champion, is now third overall at 19secs adrift while another two Astana riders, Andreas Kloden and Levi Leipheimer, are not too far behind.
The Garmin team of David Millar and Bradley Wiggins had earlier done well to finish in second, only 18secs behind Astana and relegating Saxo Bank to third.
Defending champion Carlos Sastre suffered his second big setback on the race, after losing time to key rivals in the opening stage time trial, when his Cervelo team finished eighth at 1:37 behind Astana.
The course took a costly toll on some teams, with Russian yellow jersey challenger Denis Menchov among those who crashed, while four Bbox riders crashed into a field.
© AFP 2012Recommend this story.
July 8th 2009 @ 10:20am
Jameswm said | July 8th 2009 @ 10:20am | Report comment
Uh oh
Evans is just about out of it now.
He will need one or two aggressive rides in the mountains, to take time off Armstrong and Contador. Possible, but on form from the last few years, unlikely.
He doesn’t really have the team to do it in the mountains, so it’ll have to be done solo.
He’ll then also need a sensational time trial ride later on.
July 8th 2009 @ 10:37am
Derryn said | July 8th 2009 @ 10:37am | Report comment
Evans is gone. He can’t make that time up on Armstrong and Contador. Some poor decisions by his team last night in the time trial. They had one rider fall and the team slowed up and waited for him. Then when another rider dropped off the back later on, they slowed up for him too. If they just kept going they could have finished with at least the 5 men required and in a time at least a minute faster. Armstrong is looking good, he’s my tip. A very interesting stage last night, but the team time trial can severely handicap good riders in weaker teams. Bit too much of an advantage to the good riders in stronger teams.
July 8th 2009 @ 11:19am
Jameswm said | July 8th 2009 @ 11:19am | Report comment
Who was that American guy who had a bad stage, then came back the next day and virtually time-trialled his way through a mountainous 175km stage to wrest back the yellow jersey? Was it Floyd Landis?
Of course, he was later DQed for doping!
Evans needs to do something like that – minus the doping of course.
I think Evans can make up up to a minute on the last time trial, but he’ll need to do something exceptional in the mountains to make up the rest. Possible but highly unlikely.
July 8th 2009 @ 11:27am
mattamkII said | July 8th 2009 @ 11:27am | Report comment
James – they are all on it. You just need to good stuff to win.
July 8th 2009 @ 11:28am
mattamkII said | July 8th 2009 @ 11:28am | Report comment
“the good stuff to win”
July 8th 2009 @ 11:56am
Jameswm said | July 8th 2009 @ 11:56am | Report comment
They reckon Evans isn’t.
Anyway, this Friday night’s stage will be awesome. High Category climb to finish at the top of the mountain. That will really sort out the wheat from the chaff. Evans will need to sit on Armstrong and Contador and make a move somewhere about half way up – try to break them – get a gap and go for it. You can make up a minute or more on stages like that.
The only other mountain top finish is the penultimate stage, which itself is only 2 days after an individual time trial. The day before the time trial has a stage with four category 1 climbs plus a category 2 climb, and only 15kms to the finish after the last category 1 climb. Evans is very good on the downhills.
A great course this year which will keep the interest right to the end.
July 8th 2009 @ 3:01pm
Greg said | July 8th 2009 @ 3:01pm | Report comment
Why does Cadel persist with such a weak team? They were of no assistance to him in last years’ mountain climbs; this year he loses 2 and a half minutes in the team time trial. Get a new team Cadel.
July 8th 2009 @ 4:57pm
Hoy said | July 8th 2009 @ 4:57pm | Report comment
Phil has always said that last year was Cadel’s best chance.
Sadly I can’t see him doing very well at this years tour.
July 8th 2009 @ 11:45pm
mattamkII said | July 8th 2009 @ 11:45pm | Report comment
is it just me or is Cadel a pretty odd bloke? Quality rider, no question but just kinda odd.
July 9th 2009 @ 9:23am
Jameswm said | July 9th 2009 @ 9:23am | Report comment
Not just you Matt. I think he’s intelligent and complex.
An interesting point was made in another article. High quality riders like Denny Menchov, Andy Schleck and Carlos Sastre are in the same position as Evans. They could almost form their own team to take on the Astana juggernaut. If those four are left at the end of a mountain stage with Armstrong and Contador, they could take turns at dropping those two Astana boys. There’s a good chance that sooner or later they’d crack, too, under sustained pressure.
Friday night’s stage will be truly fascinating, with the mountain-top finish.