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Lieutenants will factor heavily as Discovery, Astana prepare for battle in Pyrénées
Cadel Evans, a rider from Astana and a rider from Discovery Channel. That’s how the Paris podium could look in a week’s time.
At least, that’s what a selection of team directors and riders is thinking after Saturday’s highly anticipated stage 13 time trial in Albi. However, whom the Discovery Channel and Astana riders might be, and the order each might finish, is far from certain.
With the Tour’s first long TT in the books, the battle for the general classification became clearer as the riders brace themselves for three difficult stages in the Pyrénées, beginning with Sunday’s hors-catégorie ascents of the Port de Pailhères and the finish atop Plateau de Beille. The climbing continues Monday with five categorized climbs, followed by a rest day and Wednesday’s final climbing stage, which culminates at the top of the hors-catégorie Col d’Aubisque.
Sunday belonged to Astana, which placed three riders in the top four and won the stage. Things didn’t go quite as well for Discovery, which managed to place three riders in the top nine, with Yaroslav Popovych in sixth, Alberto Contador in seventh and Levi Leipheimer in ninth.
Heading into the Pyrénées, Discovery and Astana occupy four of the top six positions on general classification, with Contador in third and Leipheimer fifth, while Astana’s Andreas Klöden sits fourth and Andrey Kashechkin is in sixth. Just 2:12 separates Contador from Kashechkin, while Astana’s team leader, pre-race favorite Alexander Vinokourov, sits in ninth, 5:10 behind race leader Michael Rasmussen.
In between Rasmussen and the Discovery/Astana block lies Evans (Predictor-Lotto), The Australian, who placed second in the time trial, sits second on GC exactly one minute behind Rasmussen. And while few are pegging Rasmussen to reach the final podium in Paris due to his weakness in the time trials, Evans, fifth last year, is nearly a unanimous pick to reach the top three.
Asked to pick five riders he thinks have the greatest chance to make the podium in Paris, Discovery’s George Hincapie answered, “Cadel, Vino, Contador, Klöden … and hopefully Levi.”
Astana’s team manager Marc Biver agreed. Asked who he views as Astana’s main concern, Biver didn’t skip a beat.
“Cadel Evans is the biggest threat,” Biver said. “Cadel is dangerous because he is very regular on the Tour. He has proven that in the past. He is strong in the mountains and good in the time trial. He’s a guy who is very solid on the bike. I believe very much in Cadel Evans.”
For Predictor, the strategy is simple, particularly now that ace sprinter Robbie McEwen is gone. The team will ride solely for Evans, with American Chris Horner, Italian Dario Cioni and Belgian Mario Aerts supporting Evans in the mountains.
For Discovery and Astana, multiple options could both open doors — and complicate matters.
Discovery Channel came into the Tour with Leipheimer as its designated team leader. However after three days in the Alps and the first of two decisive time trials, his teammate Contador sits third overall, 1:06 ahead of his American captain. Leipheimer told VeloNews he would have no problem with his younger teammate finishing in Paris higher than him on the general classification.
And with Klöden, Vinokourov, Evans, Rasmussen and Leipheimer likely watching each other closely in the mountains, the door could well be opened for young lieutenants like Contador or Kashechkin, who are both riding in their second Tour. It’s a new situation for a squad that just two years ago had a simpler objective, to ride solely for Lance Armstrong. Now the team has an established contender and an upstart climber in the best young rider’s jersey who could potentially ride away with the Tour.
“Both Levi and Contador are still up there,” said Discovery team director Johan Bruyneel. “It’s good to have two riders, especially because we don’t have to control the race, and its better if we have two riders who are dangerous. I can see an aggressive, attacking role for Levi from now on also. We’ll try to create situations where he can advantage from the team. If that means to attack with one of them, or both of them, or even Popovych, I think we have a lot of cards to play.”
Bruyneel also listed Evans as “one of the big favorites,” alongside the ever-present Astana threat. Asked about the possibility of Kashechkin assuming a wild-card role, Bruyneel said he is less worried about the young Kazakh rider than his elder compatriot.
“The three Pyrénées stages are so much harder than the Alps,” Bruyneel said. “Anything can still change. Even Vinokourov, I don’t count him out. He’s been used to riding on the defensive and attacking. He even won the Tour of Spain last year after he lost a lot of time in the first mountain stage.
“Now apparently he’s back again, and he’s got a strong team, so we have to pay attention with Astana,” Bruyneel continued. “I think Klöden still remains the leader of this team. He has the best track record and he looks to be in great shape. I can still see Vinokourov attacking because he has nothing to lose. He comes back from a big crash, and he’s the kind of guy that can do incredible things.”
Leipheimer was philosophical about Saturday’s time-trial performance, saying he struggled to find his rhythm early on and played it conservative on the course’s primary descent.
“On the downhill I took it pretty easy, but it’s better to lose 20 seconds than to crash,” Leipheimer said. “Go fast, crash … you lose the same amount of time, but at least you don’t have to go home with road rash.”
Looking forward to the mountains, Leipheimer said he embraces having a lieutenant that is also a threat such as Contador, calling him the “best climber in the race.”
“We will keep doing our own race,” Leipheimer said. “We have the full support of the team. We don’t have the lead, so it’s not like one has to sacrifice for the other. [Contador] looks good, and if I were the other guys I would be worried because I don’t think anyone in the race can climb with him. I think Rasmussen has got to be getting tired. I don’t know if anyone can go uphill with [Contador].”
Asked about Astana’s young lieutenant Kashechkin, Leipheimer said he felt the Kazakh could absolutely ride away with the Tour — under the right conditions.
“Whatever the situation is, if [Kashechkin] goes in an early break and gains a lot of time, [Astana] aren’t going to chase it down,” Leipheimer said. “The important thing is that the team wins, that’s how it is on any team, and they will take what they can get.”
With Contador sitting higher than Leipheimer after two weeks, it’s fair to question just who is the team leader, and who is the lieutenant. Contador said that’s not the case, and that he recognizes his place.
“I'm surprised by how well I performed today,” Contador said. “I can't believe that I finished on top of many rivals. I'm not going to be happy with what I have right now. I'm going to keep fighting. I want to enjoy this moment. But Levi is the sure bet for this team. He will be stronger than me in the final time trial. I still would like to try to win a stage. I don't believe that I am the new Spanish hope for the Tour.”
Perhaps not, but Contador has already become one of the revelations of this Tour.
Astana team manager Marc Biver said Kashechkin also knows his place on the team, even if he, like Contador, sits higher than his team captain.
“I think Kash is a great talent for the future in our team,” Biver said. “It’s very clear Kash will have to help whoever he needs to help, either Klöden or Vino. That’s his job and he has to do it. Except of course if we face a situation where both Klöden and Vino are on a bad day. Then we have to play the card of Kash.”
“Kash is the future, Vino is the present,” Biver continued. “I don’t think he has a couple more years as a Tour leader, therefore we have to bring Kash to a position where he can learn, get a lot of experience from Vino and Klöden, and as he said himself, in 2010 he will win the Tour.”
Unlike Discovery, Astana has a wild-card lieutenant and two proven GC leaders. And although Klöden sits 2:36 ahead of Vinokourov, the German crashed for the second time of the Tour Saturday, while Vinokourov’s overpowering performance shows he’s clearly recovered from his stage 5 crash. Whichever rider moves to the fore, Biver told VeloNews Friday that Astana would ideally take the yellow jersey on the stage 19 time trial, and only be forced to defend it for one day, on the Champs-Élysées. His tone hadn’t changed after Saturday’s time trial.
“For the moment we don’t know what the tactics will be,” Biver said. “We have the privilege to have two leaders. We will manage the tactic day by day and during the race. Not many teams have two guys able to win the Tour. Therefore we will not put any pressure, any stress to those guys. They have the green light, and depending on the race situation we will decide.”
