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Cycling gods prove fickle on road to Valkenburg
Kessler gets his win as Valverde's Tour hopes crushed
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The cycling gods were both generous and horribly cruel in dealing out their judgments on the Tour de France peloton in Tuesday’s stage 3 from Esch-sur-Alzette to Valkenburg. Generous to those like stage winner Matthias Kessler (T-Mobile) and Belgian world champion Tom Boonen (Quick Step-Innergetic), whose fourth place and time bonuses earned him the overall lead.
Fittingly, Boonen’s feat has come in time for him to wear the yellow jersey in Wednesday’s stage through his home country before the Tour re-enters France. “[Wearing the yellow jersey in Belgium] is something that might happen once every 10 years. It will be very special,” said a smiling Boonen in the Dutch town of Valkenburg after the 216.5km stage that took place in sweltering 98-degree heat.
And luck did play a part in Boonen’s fate. After disappointing sprints in stages 1 and 2, he managed to overcome a softening front tire and still sprint to fourth place. Although, when asked how he feels about the first four days, now that he has the yellow jersey, it was clear Boonen still felt it could have been better.
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“If I had won everything it would have been better. But now that I am in the green and yellow (jerseys) I am satisfied,” he said, attributing his winless record so far in this year’s Tour to the sort of tactical mistakes that “everyone makes in the first week” of the 23-day event.
The gods were also smiling for T-Mobile. After losing leader Jan Ullrich to the Spanish doping inquiry last week, the German team bagged the stage win at Valkenburg while new team leader Michael Rogers took second place and moved into second overall.
Kessler’s stage win avenged his near miss on Monday when he was swallowed up by the pack in the final 100 meters. “Yesterday, I had a good feeling, my legs were good. Today was the same, so I had to go again,” said the 27-year-old German they call the Pit bull.
Again, Kessler’s bravado came in the closing kilometers. But unlike Monday, when he attacked with 5km to go, this time he broke free from the pack on the renowned Cauberg climb with just 2km to go.
“I gave everything on the last climb,” explained Kessler, who also revealed that he has been talking with Ullrich since the 1997 Tour winner left the race last Friday. “I have been in contact with Jan. He is one of my best friends, but it was contact that I’ll keep confidential between me and him.”
Kessler finished five seconds ahead of his Australian teammate Rogers who surprisingly out-sprinted the others in a 47-strong chase group that included most of the race favorites. The 12-second finish-line bonus taken by the three-time defending world time trial champion pushed him into second overall, only one second behind Boonen, and four seconds ahead of American George Hincapie (Discovery Channel), who moved into third.
Rogers’s strong finish ahead of Italian sprinter Daniele Bennati (Lampre-Fondital) augurs well for Saturday’s 52km St. Grégoire to Rennes time trial.
Valverde out
While Rogers and Kessler were celebrating, there were plenty of others ruing how unjust Tuesday’s stage had been.
The biggest victim, who would not be blamed for becoming a non-believer in cycling’s Gods, was major Tour contender Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d’Épargne-Illes Balears). The winner of last year’s mountain stage to Courchevel fell in the middle of the pack with 18km to go, breaking his right collarbone.
Valverde knew his fate as soon as he stood up. Clutching his right shoulder, he hobbled to the roadside and lay in the grass while Tour medico Dr. Gérard Porte treated him in vain. His departure by ambulance robbed the Tour of its fifth major contender, following the pre-race exits last Friday of Ullrich, Ivan Basso, Francisco Mancebo and Alexander Vinokourov.
But Valverde was not alone in his pain from crash injuries. Also forced out due to crashes were Dutchman Erik Dekker (Rabobank) and American Fred Rodriguez (Davitamon-Lotto), who crashed at the same time when they hit a pot-hole in a Belgian street with 55km to go.
Also, there was a long tally of riders battered and bruised by other crashes in the crucial but nail-biting, hectic last third of the stage.
These victims included American Chris Horner (Davitamon-Lotto), who lost 8:05, and Australian Stuart O’Grady (CSC), who fractured a vertebra in his lower back and finished 11:35 down. Horner will return to the peloton on Wednesday, though O'Grady was still listed as questionable on Tuesday evening.
The platform for such a dramatic stage was set once the lead of a daylong five-man break was brought to heel when the race hit a crucial series of six climbs in the last 90km.
The Jens Voigt assault
It was Germany’s Jens Voigt (CSC), traditionally one of the most reliably aggressive of Tour protagonists, who threw the first hand grenade with his attack after 15km. While Voigt is never short for inspiration, his parents were at the race start and finish to support him. No doubt that gave him the added impetus to show them what he is best at.
With Voigt in what still became an extremely brave but sadly futile bid for a stage victory were Spain’s José Luis Arrieta (AG2R), Venezuelan Unai Etxebarria (Euskaltel-Euskadi), and Frenchmen Christophe Laurent (Agritubel) and Jérôme Pineau (Bouygues Télécom).
Their lead reached a maximum of 6:10 after 100km at the town of Bovigny in Belgium and 8km after crossing the border from Luxembourg, where the stage began.
Passing the summit of the first climb, the 3.6km-long Côte de la Haute-Levée that forms part of the Liège-Bastogne-Liège classic course, their lead was 4:35. But then the peloton, previously led by yellow jersey Thor Hushovd’s Crédit Agricole teammates, started chasing, this time driven by Phonak and Davitamon-Lotto — keen to get Australian sprinter Robbie McEwen in position for back-to-back stage victories.
After the tempo accelerated the five leaders saw their lead drop steadily. When it fell to 4:20, those in the break knew it needed re-booting.
Voigt sparked the last dig by the attackers just before entering the Netherlands. His surge ignited a number of attacks by his companions — the first coming from Laurent. But it was wasted. He was caught and by the third climb, the Côte de Petit-Rechain, with 51km to go, their lead was 1:55.
Meanwhile, in the pack, the problems started. First up, Spaniard Iban Mayo (Euskaltel-Euskadi) punctured and was forced to stop and change wheels. Three of his teammates dropped back to help lead him back, but the timing of his mishap could not have been worse with the peloton sensing a bunch sprint and winding up its chase pace.
The most dangerous attacks after Kessler’s winning move were made by Arrieta. A close friend of absent team leader Mancebo, the Spaniard bolted away soon after a first escape was brought to an end; and with 10km to go had 40 seconds on Voigt and Laurent and 1:15 on the chasing peloton that had suffered several crashes.
But by the foot of the Cauberg, Arrieta had no fuel left in the tank, contrary to those in the pack who were charging up the famed Amstel Gold Race hill with fire in their bellies.
In the mix were Dutchman Michael Boogerd (Rabobank), Philippe Gilbert (Française des Jeux), Boonen, Rogers and German Erik Zabel (Milram) — all vying for the stage win and time gains.
However, they were all surprised by a strong attack from Kessler that Gilbert tried to follow. The German was 10 seconds clear over the Cauberg summit. His move was as strong as the one he made into Esch on Monday, but this time it was timed perfectly — both for him tactically and his team emotionally.
And, no doubt, the gods were on his side this time.
1. Matthias Kessler (G), T-Mobile
2. Michael Rogers (Aus), T-Mobile, 00:05
3. Daniele Bennati (I), Lampre, 00:05
4. Tom Boonen (B), Quick Step-Innergetic, 00:05
5. Erik Zabel (G), Milram, 00:05
6. Luca Paolini (I), Liquigas-Bianchi, 00:05
7. Oscar Freire (Sp), Rabobank, 00:05
8. Eddy Mazzoleni (I), T-Mobile, 00:05
9. Georg Totschnig (A), Gerolsteiner, 00:05
10. Fabian Wegmann (G), Gerolsteiner, 00:05
Overall
1. Tom Boonen (B), Quick Step-Innergetic
2. Michael Rogers (Aus), T-Mobile, 00:01
3. George Hincapie (USA), Discovery Channel, 00:05
4. Thor Hushovd (Nor), Credit Agricole, 00:07
5. Paolo Savoldelli (I), Discovery Channel, 00:15
6. Daniele Bennati (I), Lampre, 00:15
7. Floyd Landis (USA), Phonak, 00:16
8. Vladimir Karpets (Rus), Caisse d'Epargne-I.B., 00:17
9. Serhiy Honchar (Ukr), T-Mobile, 00:17
10. Matthias Kessler (G), T-Mobile, 00:17
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