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Astana’s bad day at the office

Published: Jul. 12, 2007

Alexander Vinokourov knew he was going to have some tough days at this year’s Tour de France. The Astana leader just didn’t expect his first to come so early, or in the abrupt manner that it came.

The tough Kazakh hit the pavement hard with 26km and the Cat. 3 Côte de la Croix de la Liberation remaining on Thursday’s stage 5. Though he was paced by six teammates, Vinokourov could not regain contact with the peloton and lost 1:20 to the race’s GC contenders.

It was the second disaster for an Astana team leader on the stage, following Andreas Klöden’s crash into a ditch 75km from the end of the 182.5km stage from Chablis to Autun that featured eight categorized climbs.

Klöden, now second on general classification, remained briefly on the ground before he remounted his bike and was paced back to the peloton by Astana teammates Daniel Navarro and Paolo Savoldelli. Team management later revealed that although he finished the stage with the front group, Klöden had a hairline fracture of the coccyx and is a questionable starter for Friday’s stage.

Runner-up to Lance Armstrong in 2004 and the Tour’s third-place finisher last year, Klöden had sworn his allegiance to Vinokourov but was expected to ride for a top GC spot should the Kazakh fall short.

Calamity struck again when Vinokourov crashed on a descent while traveling at more than 60 kph as the peloton continued its pursuit of a two-man breakaway over tight, winding roads. Vinokourov blamed the crash on a problem with his chain, which caused him to launch over his handlebars and land on his right side, tearing his shorts open and banging his knee on the pavement. Television pictures showed a TV motorcycle on its side just behind Vinokourov, apparently laid down while trying to avoid the fallen Astana rider.

Just 10km from the base of the Côte de la Croix de la Liberation, the timing of Vinokourov’s crash couldn’t have been worse. With CSC and Liquigas sharing chase duties to reel in breakaway riders Sylvain Chavanel (Cofidis) and Philippe Gilbert (Française des Jeux), the peloton didn’t flinch upon hearing that Vinokourov had crashed. Instead, CSC’s Christian Vande Velde and Stuart O’Grady rode a hard pace at the front of the pack. A Team CSC spokesman later said the team hadn’t been informed of Vinokourov’s bad fortune, and that CSC was simply riding to protect race leader Fabian Cancellara’s yellow jersey. With Chavanel and Gilbert still 1:40 up the road when Vinokourov crashed, CSC had every reason to chase to defend Cancellara’s yellow jersey; however putting time between its GC hope Carlos Sastre and Vinokourov may well have served as a double impetus for CSC.

“It’s the Tour de France, you cannot change that,” said Sastre. “It’s bad luck for Vinokourov and his team. For sure they will try something another day. But Vinokourov is a really strong rider. He showed last year he can do many things. For sure, he hasn’t lost the Tour today.”

Only Astana’s other GC hopefuls Klöden and Andrey Kashechkin remained in the front group, as the rest of Vinokourov’s teammates dropped back and rallied around their leader, riding a desperate team time trial to bring him back to the main bunch.

“We rode as hard as we could,” said Astana rider Antonio Colom. “But eventually Vino had to go it alone.”

It wasn’t to be, however, as Vinokourov found his way to a group of riders dropped on the Liberation climb and crossed the line 1:20 behind stage winner Filippo Pozzato.

“It’s a pity no one slowed for Vinokourov,” said Pozzato, who also gained the most from the fast pace, as he timed his sprint to perfection, pipping three-time world champion Oscar Freire at the line. “There used to be respect for the champions of the sport. Maybe that respect is gone.”

Following the race, Astana general manager Marc Biver said that while Vinokourov’s crash may have endangered his podium aspirations, the team’s more immediate concern surrounded Klöden’s ability to continue in the race.

“I’m worried about Klöden, who seems from the first information from the doctor to have fractured his coccyx,” said Biver. “That’s obviously not good news. We don’t know about Vino. He left with the second doctor, so we don’t know anything yet.”

While stage 6 will fall on Friday the 13, Astana’s day of disaster seems to have come one day early.