Commentaire:
The
long awaited "vertical" time trial in the mountains,
an almost unheard of event, unfurled today bit by bit, rider
by rider, saving the best for last--the battle between Isidro
Nozal, winner of the previous two time trials (by a large margin),
and Roberto Heras, who has gained around a minute on Nozal in
each of the 3 mountain stages this week.
Would
the Vuelta deliver, at last, the high drama so many of us have
expected and waited for during 3 long weeks?
We've
had drama in the sprints, particularly as delivered by Zabel
& Petacchi in their battle for dominance. And certainly
there has been drama in many of this tour's stages. One only
has to recall Cardenas "stealing" the race from Mercado
in the last few hundred meters of the Sierra Nevada, or the
day of the decisive gaps caused by high winds and so well played
by U.S.Postal in the 12th stage in the plains of LaMancha, to
know that one has been a witness to some great moments in bicycle
racing.
But
what about the big drama, the big question, as to who will wear
the Gold Jersey, especially in
Madrid?
After
the big 3 days in the Pyrénées, there was a slight
feeling of stagnation as Heras, inexplicably, chose not to attack,
allowing Nozal to actually increase his lead to 3'28".
After the 2nd individual time trial in Albacete, where Heras
rallied heroically to limit his losses to Nozal to 1'45",
he was even further back overall at 5'13".
Many
were already predicting smooth sailing for theOnce team's new
leader, and that he as much as had the grand prize in the bag.
Others criticized the Vuelta for being just plain boring, or
a "non event" in the words of one jounalist.
How
could it compare, after all, with the centennial version of
the Tour de France, with
its epic battle between Ullrich & Armstrong?
But
to be honest, bike racing is not always exciting. Remember the
years of Miguel Indurain's dominance in the Tour de France?
Would he never stop winning in such a calm, unperturbed and
predictable manner? For predictability, in fact, one could cite
several recent Tours de France where it was a given, a week
or two before Paris, that Armstrong would win.
To
not string this out any further, we can now say unequivocally
that the Tour of Spain has delivered in the drama department.
Heras is now in gold going into the last day's race home to
Madrid. Today Heras surpassed all expectations, not only in
besting Nozal by 2'23", but by winning the stage as well.
There
had been some great and surprising performances as the day went
on. As expected, Millar rode well to set the standard early
in the day. Before too long, though, he was bettered by Jeker
by a full 54".
Darrio
Frigo, who has been struggling visibly for days,rode strongly
to finish 19" behind Jeker. Laiseka was even faster, just
17" down.
As
the day progressed up the general standings, though, and we
encountered some of the best climbers of this tour, it became
clear that this was a mountain man's time trial.
In
all there was over 10km of ascension, passing over rough cobblestones
in the mountain towns and reaching an astounding 17° pitch
in parts of the first half. Flattening out and even descending
beween the 5th & 6th kilometer, the course again climbed
steadily, though less steeply, to arrive at 1,629 meters (length
11.2km).
Most
of the top riders today were climbers, such as Cardenas &
Valverde, both of whom had posted the best time before Heras'
turn came.
In
the first half of his effort it didn't seem that Heras would
make up enough time to catch Nozal; after all, he neede 2 full
minutes. At the halfway point, at the rate they were both riding,
Heras would have gained a minute on Nozal.
The
second half, after the 1km long let off, was another story.
Heras, truly in his element, only seemed to get stronger and
stronger as he literally ate up the course. As he neared the
finish line, still standing on his pedals, he looked fresh and
ready for more--and of course he was smiling.
Nozal,
on the other hand, had nothing left in the critical 2nd half--evidently
he had spent too dearly during those 17° portions... He
was visibly slowing, looking near the end as if he were riding
under water. Clearly this was the kind of situation where he
would have benefited from the support of his solid core of Once
teamates, as he has in recent mountain stages.
This
may yet occur tomorrow: that is to say, with a 28" lead
now over Nozal, Heras still has much to fear from the awesome
Once rolling machine. With its proven tactical superiority,
Once may well be capable of inflicting damage on Heras, particularly
in light of a diminished U.S. Postal team (i.e. Hincapie's abandon)
that hasn't in any case always been cohesive during this tour.
As
that drama unfolds tomorrow, there's another surprising twist
to this Vuelta. The battle for the polka dot jersey has been
a two way affair between Petacchi & Zabel, where the lead
has ping ponged between the two. It started to look different
yesterday as Valverde came within 1 point of Petacchi and 19
behind Zabel. After today's sterling performance, Valverde now
holds the leader's position with 152 points to Zabel's 151.
In
more ways than one this 2003 edition of the Tour of Spain bears
a remarkable resemblance to the already historic Tour De France
2003.
Stage classification
1
- HERAS 25'08"
2 - VALVERDE à 14"
3 - CARDENAS à 14"
4 - JEKER à 22"
5 - Santos GONZALEZ
General
classification
1
- Roberto HERAS 65 40' 33"
2 - Isidro NOZAL à 28"
3 - Alejandro VALVERDE 2' 25"
4 - Igor GONZALEZ de GALDEANO à 3' 27"
5 - Fancisco MANCEBO 4' 47"
Mountain
1 - Cardenas 204
2 - Osa unai 112
3 - Horrach 101
4 - Rasmussen 100
5 - Perez 72
Points
1
- Valverde
2 - Zabel
3 - Petacchi
Combined
1
- Valverde 8
2 - Cardenas 13
3 - Heras 14
4 - Rasmussen 21
5 - Nozal 27
Teams
1
- IBANESTO
2 - ONCE
3 - KELME
4 - COFIDIS
5 - MILANEZA
La
foule en délire pour soutenir le jeune coureur espagnol
de la Once.
Les barrières et Nozal qui s'en tire plutôt bien
pour le moment même s'il perd du temps sur Heras après
4 km d 'ascension
Cardenass, arrive au sommet avec le meilleur temps devant
Fabian Jeker qui a longtemps tenu la dragée haute à
tout le monde, David Millar ayant assez vite été
devancé par d'autres concurrents s'alignant sur le
nouveau temps de référence.
Heras écart
La foule massée dans les derniers km soutient Heras
avec la même passion qu'elle le fait pour Nozal.
Délire et foule espagnole très remuante au passage
de Heras qui a maintenant rejoint Nozal au général.
L'infortuné Isidro NOZAL vient de perdre son maillot
et n'a pratiquement plus de chance de reprendre du temps sur
Heras, car on vient d'attaquer de nouveau des passages moyennement
pentus. Bien que les 3 derniers km soient globalement plus
faciles, on voit bien qu'il n'est pas dans l'allure pour reprendre
du temps, qui continue de lui filer entre les coups de pédales.
Valverde étonne tout le monde en s'adjugeant la première
place ex aequo avec Cardenas.
Heras en ORO dans la VUELTA 2003, il a gagné son pari.
