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Stage Notes: To wait or not to wait; Zabel in green

Published: Jul. 12, 2007

Should the peloton have waited for Alexandre Vinokourov when he crashed in the heat of the battle with about 25km to go in Thursday’s fifth stage?

There was some suggestion that the group should have eased up to allow the peloton’s top rider to rejoin the group, just as the peloton did in previous Tours such when Lance Armstrong crashed after tangling his handlebars on a fan’s musette in the 2003 Tour.

“I remember back in the old days when a big champion like that would crash, the peloton might wait, like what happened with Armstrong in other Tours,” said stage winner Filippo Pozzato. “I had a moment when I thought that our team should slow down, but the other teams kept pouring it on. I guess those days are gone.”

Circumstances in the heat of Thursday’s battle made any gestures of good sportsmanship all but impossible.

The peloton was revving up the chase in earnest to neutralize the day’s main breakaway.

Team CSC, intent on keeping Fabian Cancellara in the yellow jersey, was getting help from Liquigas and Lampre to finish off the attack.

Sylvain Chavanel (Cofidis) and Philippe Gilbert (FDJeux) were still dangling 1:40 off the front as the peloton approached the day’s final hurdle with the Cat. 3 Cote de la Croix when Vinokourov hit the deck.

Had the peloton waited for Vinokourov, the break would have likely stayed clear and Chavanel would have probably taken the yellow jersey. With so many interests in play, that certainly wasn’t going to happen.

Team CSC director Kim Andersen testily rejected suggestions that his team actually ramped up the speed just about the same time Vinokourov crashed.

“Stop that BS. We were not at the front when he crashed – it was Liquigas. Our riders didn’t even know he crashed. And no one waited when (Carlos) Sastre crashed,” Andersen said, referring to Sastre’s crash about 5km before Vinokourov’s. “The whole team was waiting for Carlos. We only had two riders at the front.”

Astana called its entire team minus Andreas Klöden and Andrey Kashechkin to try to pull him back to the main peloton, but it was a doomed effort as the leaders roared up the lower pitches of the final climb with each chasing their own destiny.

Rabobank led the way up the short but steep climb while Vinokourov dropped his teammates in a vain attempt to try to regain contact with the leaders. He was even paced up the climb by an Astana car (which didn’t receive a fine from the race jury), but Vinokourov rolled across the line 83rd at 1:20 back.

“We couldn’t help but notice that it appeared that the others went full-gas when Vino crashed, but we can’t blame them. All is fair in sport,” said Astana sport director Marc Biver. “We gave him six riders and they an extraordinary job and went full-gas for kilometers to try to bring him back, then Vino was left on his own. What do you want me to say? That’s the beauty and cruelty of this sport. The time of 1:20 is a little and a lot. Now we have no choice but to attack.”

Zabel back in green
A day after telling VeloNews that he “too old for this shit,” Erik Zabel snuck into the green jersey after finishing fifth in Thursday’s rollercoaster stage into Autun.

The 37-year-old Zabel has had a very consistent Tour, finishing second in Tuesday’s stage and fourth on Wednesday, but it hasn’t been without controversy.

The German veteran admitted last month in an emotional press conference that he took the banned blood booster EPO during the 1996 Tour. Zabel was one of seven former Telekom riders who’ve come public with their confessions of former doping abuse.

“My confession was a liberation for me. I thought my career was going to end and now I take advantage of every day that I’m in the race,” an emotional Zabel. “It’s an honor for me to be in the peloton.”

Zabel takes a four-point lead over Tom Boonen into Friday’s rolling sixth stage. He says he doesn’t want to think too much about what could be his seventh points jersey if he made it all the way to Paris in green.

“I am very honored to have the green jersey,” Zabel said. “I will take it day to day, but Paris is a long way away.”