13th stage of the TdF 2011, from Pau to Lourdes. The riders started the stage from one of the most visited towns of the history of the race and arrived in a city that was visited by the Grande Boucle just once, in 1948 (on that occasion the winner was Gino 'the Pius' Bartali). Between the two cities, a giant called Aubisque was ready to create problems to the athletes.
In the morning the atmosphere around the buses of the riders who did well yesterday was euphoric and relaxed at the same time. Basso was describing how his son Santiago had told him off for not having won on Luz Ardiden, Cunego looked as happy as in the Giro 2004 and Voeckler was smiling while wearing the yellow jersey.
However, at the start of the race there were also people who weren't that relaxed. Some adventurers on wheels for example were already focused on entering the breakaway du jour, whereas Alberto Contador refused to give interviews to the non-Spanish journalists and Andreas Kloeden was ready to another day of sufference. The German rider eventually decided to end his Tour shortly after the beginning of the stage and even had problems in getting into the team car.
As soon as the stage began, the riders started to fight in order to enter the breakaway du jour. Everyone wanted to break free from the peloton because today's stage looked too difficult for the sprinters and too easy for the climbers. Therefore, those who wanted to win a stage thanks to a breakaway knew that this afternoon they would have had good chances of making it to the finish-line without being absorbed by the peloton.
After 56 kms faced at a very fast pace, the names of the lucky riders who formed the daily break were decided. And, between those names, there were also some surprises. Sprinters like Petacchi and Hushovd, strong all rounders like Pineau, Boasson Hagen, Fofonov and Tjallingii, time trialists like Bak and Gusev, a climber like Moncoutié and a brave engineer like Jeremy Roy: these were the 9 lucky men who rode peacefully towards Aubisque.
As the 9 men approached the climb, Lars Boom got retired, just like Isaichev and the already mentioned Kloden. Steegmans, instead, hadn't even started the stage because, after 10 days of pain, this morning he finally discovered that he has a broken bone in his hand. Therefore the Belgian decided to say 'Adieu!' to the French race, which so far has been extremely painful for most of the Quick Step riders.
When the Aubisque began, Thor Hushovd was the first rider to try and gain some time on his adversaries. But still, he was soon overtaken by Moncoutié and by Roy, who are less heavier than the Norwegian. The first rider to arrive at the top of the climb was Jeremy Roy who, at the time, had 2 minutes of advantage on Hushovd and Moncoutié. The other breakawayers instead had a bigger delay and therefore they had to say adieu to their dreams of glory with more than 40 kms to go. Dreams of glory which, at the time, had already started to dance in the head of Jeremy Roy.
Now, let's look at Jeremy Roy more carefully: his cycling-ID says that he's 28 year-old, that he's French and that he's been riding for Française des Jeux since he turned pro at the age of 20, although he could actually start racing in a professional way just when he ended his university studies 3 years ago.
Since the beginning of this year Tour from Passage du Gois, Roy has been looking for glory almost daily. Flat stages, mountains, hills, valleys: the Française des Jeux rider gave his best on many occasions and on many terrains. Until this morning, however, the rewards for his efforts had been just the most combative rider award and a decent amount of money (2000 euros), which he earned yesterday by becoming the first rider to ride atop of Tourmalet. As predictable, Jeremy wasn't satisfied by these prizes. In fact he wanted (and he still wants) a stage victory, which he would like to dedicate to his 1 month old baby.
Now, let's look at Jeremy Roy more carefully: his cycling-ID says that he's 28 year-old, that he's French and that he's been riding for Française des Jeux since he turned pro at the age of 20, although he could actually start racing in a professional way just when he ended his university studies 3 years ago.
Since the beginning of this year Tour from Passage du Gois, Roy has been looking for glory almost daily. Flat stages, mountains, hills, valleys: the Française des Jeux rider gave his best on many occasions and on many terrains. Until this morning, however, the rewards for his efforts had been just the most combative rider award and a decent amount of money (2000 euros), which he earned yesterday by becoming the first rider to ride atop of Tourmalet. As predictable, Jeremy wasn't satisfied by these prizes. In fact he wanted (and he still wants) a stage victory, which he would like to dedicate to his 1 month old baby.
While riding to Lourdes, Jeremy gave everything he had. He ordered his legs to shut up, he tried to catch his breathe several times and he tried to ignore the pain and the fatigue in his muscles. He was on his way to a stage victory in Lourdes, the city of miracles, the city where Bartali won more than 60 years ago: he couldn't believe it and he tried to make his dream last as long as possible. That's why he kept on giving it all, although he knew that two strong guys like Moncoutié and Hushovd were chasing hard behind him.
The World champion this afternoon was as determined as always - or, perhaps, even more determined than usual. Last week he had the honour of covering his rainbow jersey with a yellow one and he lived a great afternoon on Super Besse, as he managed to remain with the best grimpeurs of the world on a difficult climb. Then, on the following day, when he had to abandon the leader jersey, Thor probably realised that he still wasn't fully satisfied with his Tour de France: in fact, the icing on the cake was still missing. And for a guy like Thor (who has won at least one stage of the Tour every year since 2006), the icing on the cake could be just a great stage victory. His will to get a stage win made him enter today's breakaway and it forced him to chase Jeremy Roy with just one thing on his mind: the finish-line in Lourdes, where he could have won in front of thousandth of people, thus making all the Norwegians (and the Norwegian chronists in particular) go crazy once again. But still, in order to win Thor needed to annihilate his delay from Jeremy Roy.
With 20 kms to go, Roy still had a gap of 1 minute on his chasers. His ds was trying his best to encourage him, to make him grit his teeth once again because, in that way, he could have become the first Frenchman to win a stage in this year Tour. Jeremy grit his teeth and kept on pushing hard on his pedals, but the fatigue of the previous days soon started to claim its tribute. While Hushovd kept on pulling hard, Roy started to lose seconds. With 7 kms to go, he had just 20" of advantage on the Norwegian.
The final kms were extremely exciting - and heartbreaking. Hushovd was pulling and gaining time, whereas Jeremy was just losing seconds. 'Come on Jeremy, you still have a chance! Oh no, Thor is getting closer and closer and now even the wind has started to bother you! Poor Jeremy, come on! You deserve this victory and you can stil get it! David is not pulling, so it's a one-against-one battle! Come on boy, you can make it!', people were screaming from behind the barriers, from behind their televisions, from behind their computer screens. Unfortunately, those screams were in vain. With about 1 km to go, in fact, Hushovd overtook Roy with ease. Moncoutié followed the Norwegian, who soon dropped him as well, thus being able to cross the finish-line quietly, with his hands raised above the sky.
A few seconds after him, Moncoutié crossed the finish-line, whereas Roy was the third one to end the stage. Everyone's eyes were fixed on the brave French rider, which started to cry and which didn't feel better in spite of getting the polka dots jersey and the 'red number' as awards for his efforts. "Jerseys are only temporary", FDJ's ds said while talking about Jeremy's disappointment.
As Roy's sportive drama moved half of the cycling world, the other half was amazed by Thor's triumph in a stage between the mountains. By winning today's stage, Hushovd demonstrated that he's a perfect all rounder: this year he won the TdF stage featuring Aubisque, last year he won the cobblestones stage which cost a collarbone to Frank Schleck, two years ago he won on the little climb of Montjuic and a few years ago instead he triumphed on Champs Elysées. Calling Thor 'a sprinter' is unfair and we had a demonstration of that also this afternoon. 'We own the cycling world!', the Norwegian chronists screamed after Boasson Hagen's victory a few days ago. Well, with a rider like Thor, owing the cycling world doesn't even seem that difficult.
As Roy's sportive drama moved half of the cycling world, the other half was amazed by Thor's triumph in a stage between the mountains. By winning today's stage, Hushovd demonstrated that he's a perfect all rounder: this year he won the TdF stage featuring Aubisque, last year he won the cobblestones stage which cost a collarbone to Frank Schleck, two years ago he won on the little climb of Montjuic and a few years ago instead he triumphed on Champs Elysées. Calling Thor 'a sprinter' is unfair and we had a demonstration of that also this afternoon. 'We own the cycling world!', the Norwegian chronists screamed after Boasson Hagen's victory a few days ago. Well, with a rider like Thor, owing the cycling world doesn't even seem that difficult.
While the 'mors tua, vita mea' way of saying found another demonstration of its value in the battle between Hushovd and Roy, the Europcar team led the group on the narrow roads inside Lourdes. Voeckler looked a bit nervous this afternoon, especially when he asked Andy Schleck to help his team in the chase of Gilbert, who had escaped from the group at the end of Aubisque together with Bauke Mollema. In spite of that (and of the fact that the Belgian rider gained 2 minutes in the overall), Thomas managed to keep the yellow jersey in an easy way. Now the question is: will he manage to keep it also tomorrow? The question is difficult to answer, since Voeckler had one of the best days of his career on Plateau de Beille and is determined not to abandon the leader jersey. 'It's incredible how this jersey can transform a rider', Thomas said yesterday evening.
Unfortunately for him, tomorrow Voeckler will have to stand the attacks of the other GC riders, each of which hopes to win the stage and continue the tradition according to which, so far, all the riders who have won a stage ending on Plateau de Beille managed to be on the top spot of Paris podium a few days later. Will the tradition continue also this year? In case of a Schleck's victory, I really do hope so.
PS: Remember the 5 euros I betted on Hushovd yesterday? Well, unfortunately they were 5 imaginary euros. That means, no prize for me (just a big disappointment because I supported Roy in the last kms of race)!
(Pic by Bettini)
