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McEwen scores win in Reims; Zabel in yellow
Durand comes up a few km short
You can always count on Jacky Durand. The 35-year-old bulldogof a racer just keeps on trying.
And try he did, with one of his epic trademark attacks early in Tuesday’s174.5-km stage from Metz to Reims. It didn’t work. It rarely does, butit was a good show for the French fans as the 2002 Tour de France camehome after three hot and humid days in Luxembourg and Germany.
Durand attacked just 6km into the stage and got reeled in with 6km togo. He didn’t win the stage – his last Tour stage-win came in 1998 – buthe did earn the day’s Coeur de Lion prize for most combative rider.
Australian Robbie McEwen (Lotto) scored the stage win that eluded himMonday in Germany while Erik Zabel grabbed the yellow jersey thatalso had eluded him. Lance Armstrong kept out of trouble in an otherwisecalm day for the three-time defending champion.
Long, flat shot
Tuesday’s flat stage across northeast France was one of those longtransition stages that the Tour endures along the way to bigger and betterthings. Durand attacked just after the day’s first of two rated climbsand Bangor’s Franck Rénier followed and the pair quicklybuilt up a 2:15 lead at the 29km mark.
Zabel was keen on grabbing the maillot jaune that he missed by justtwo seconds in Monday’s stage, but Lampre-Daikin’s Jan Svorada postponedthe party. Durand and Rénier gobbled up the points at the day’sfirst sprint at Verdun after 57.5km but Svorada shot ahead to grab thefinal position to protect the lead of teammate Rubens Bertogliati.
Zabel made sure he scored the points at the day’s second sprint at 100.5kmand again for the final sprint at 130km to move him into striking distancefor the jersey. The Durand-Rénier margin slipped from 11 minutesdown to 1:40 with 23km to go. The sprinters were hungry for another shotbefore Wednesday’s team time trial.
“It was hard today against the head wind,” Durand said, who faded tofinish second-to-last in the stage 1:30 back. “My dream is to win anotherTour de France stage. I will vow to keep fighting. I thought today wouldhave been good the day before the team time trial.”
Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, oy-oy-oy!
The Aussies have been lighting up this Tour de France so far, withthe likes of Stuart O’Grady, Brad McGee and Baden Cookefighting for stage wins. None more so, however, than Robbie McEwen.The Lotto-Adecco sprinter had this year won 17 races (12 of them UCI-sanctioned)coming into the Tour. He just missed another victory in Monday’s stagewhen he barely lost to world champion Oscar Freire (Mapei-QuickStep). He scored victory No. 18 in a tight run to the finish line in Reims.
Midway through the stage, O’Grady was off the back of the main bunch,suffering from an accelerated heart rate that shot as high as 235 bpm fornearly an hour.
“Because my heart was beating so fast, I had trouble breathing,” O’Gradysaid. “It’s a small thing that I could have an operation on to fix. It’sa shame it happened during the Tour. I have to recuperate tonight and hopefullyI can keep going.”
Several of O’Grady’s Crédit Agricole teammates came back to helptheir star sprinter stay in the race. Incredibly, O’Grady’s heart ratestabilized and he figured he could contest the finish and actually endup 10th in the field sprint.
Lotto did wonderful work to set up McEwen coming into the straight finishand keep him in good position against Mapei, FDJeux.com and Telekom.
“You could see today, the team really worked hard in the last 5km tokeep me in the front. The team has worked 100 percent for me, so I reallyshare this with the whole team. This is really a team effort,” McEwen said.
McEwen’s only other Tour stage victory came on the Champs Elyséesat the end of the 1999 Tour. He said this victory meant more to him.
“The one of the Champs Elysées was less expected and in differentcircumstances. I was leaving the team I was with and there was not a lotof pressure. This one is more was more pressure. People expected me towin here.”
McEwen also criticized crowd control at the Tour finishes. Hundredsof fans each day receive big green plastic hands from one of the sponsorsand McEwen said too many people hang over the fences and distract the sprintersas they charge to the line.
“I would like the organizers to do something about people hanging overthe barriers. You’re coming into the finish at 70 kph and you might getpunched in the face. It’s getting pretty dangerous. Maybe it’s a good ideato put another barrier behind the barrier,” he said. “All the green handsthere does put you off.”
Zabel finished second, but earned the points to grab the yellow jersey.With O’Grady’s problems and McEwen vowing not to fight for points if itmeans risking a stage win, the German seems right on schedule to take arecord seventh points jersey.
Lance poised for yellow
Three-time defending Tour de France champion Lance Armstrongcan jump back into the yellow jersey if his U.S. Postal Service team dominatesWednesday’s team time trial.
Armstrong said the team has been reserving its strength since forfeitingthe maillot jaune he won in Saturday’s opening prologue.
“Today was another good day for the team. We had no problems at alland it was good because we didn’t have to work too hard,” Armstrong saidafter finishing 33rd safely with the main group. “There were less crowdson the roads today and the roads were nice and wide, so there was lesspressure in the peloton.”
Armstrong sits in fifth place overall 17 seconds behind Zabel and theTexan could grab the yellow jersey for a second time this Tour if his PostalService team wins or at least finishes ahead of its rivals in the 67.5kmstage. But he can only be as strong as his fellow teammates as the teamreceives the same time of the fifth man across the line.
U.S. Postal’s directeur sportif Johan Bruyneel likes his team’s chances.“If someone came to me with this scenario before the Tour, I would havesigned it,” Bruyneel said. “We won the prologue and then gave up the pressureof defending the jersey. No one’s crashed and everyone is riding well.It’s perfect.”
Armstrong’s U.S. Postal Service squad has never won a team time trialat the Tour, however. Last year, the team suffered a crash when ChristianVande Velde slipped on a painted traffic stripe on wet roads, but the teamrecovered to finish fourth in the stage.
The Spanish ONCE team won in 2000 and last year, the French CréditAgricole team pulled off a surprise win. There was no team time trial inArmstrong’s first Tour victory in 1999.
This year, U.S. Postal is the favorite for victory. Driving Armstrongare strong riders such as 2000 Olympic time trial gold medalist ViatcheslavEkimov, Americans George Hincapie and Floyd Landis and Czech rider PavelPadrnos.
Bruyneel said he and co-director Dirk Demol have examined the courseand that the team will likely rider portions of the course in trainingWednesday morning.
Other top teams include CSC-Tiscali and ONCE-Eroski, winner of the 2000team time trial that put Frenchman Laurent Jalabert into the yellowjersey. Jalabert – tied with Armstrong 17 seconds back -- is now racingwith CSC-Tiscali and could end up with a repeat if his team outpedals thePosties.
“We expect to be at least in the top five. If we are having a good day,we should be able to make it to the top three. If everything works outfantastic, we might win it,” said Bjarne Riis, directeur sportif at CSC-Tiscali.“I think we have a team that’s good enough. I also see USPS and ONCE asthe top favorites.”
The Spanish ONCE outfit is also seen as a challenger for the win. Theteam comes with proven time trialists in Joseba Beloki, Igor Gonzalezde Galdeano and Abraham Olano. Still, team director Manolo Saizshrugged off the team’s chances.
“We don’t know the course. We haven’t ridden it yet. We will do as wellas we can, whether we win or finish 10th, we will see,” Saiz said. “Wedon’t want to put too much pressure on the team. I want them to be relaxed.”
Stage 3, 174.5 km, Metz to Reims
Weather: Partly sunny, clouds building in the afternoon, briskcrosswinds and head winds.
Stage winner: Robbie McEwen (Aus), Lotto-Adecco, 4 hours, 13minutes, 37 seconds, 41.283 kph.
Overall leader: Erik Zabel (G), Telekom, earned the yellow jerseyon time bonuses.
Points jersey: Zabel, retained the green jersey he won in stage1, but second-place McEwen will wear the jersey Wednesday.
Climber’s jersey: Christophe Mengin (F), FDJeux.com, won backthe polka-dot jersey by winning the day’s first climb, and taking thirdin the other.
Best young rider: Rubens Bertogliati (Swi), Lampre-Daikin, retainedthe white jersey he won in stage 1.
Best team: CSC-Tiscali has stayed atop the team standings sincethe prologue.
Peloton: All 189 riders remain.
UCI jury decisions
A French TV crew was warned about not following the rules for the media.
Injury report
Unai Etxebarria (Vz), Euskaltel-Euskadi, persistent pain inright knee; Francisco Cabello (Sp), Kelme-Costa Blanca, back painfrom earlier crash; Miguel Martinez (F), Mapei, pain in left foot;Mauro Radaelli (I), Tacconi Sport, insect bite to left arm; ChristopheAgnolutto (F) AG2R, pain in left thigh; Stuart O’Grady (Aus),Crédit Agriciole, accelerated heart rate; Samuel Sanchez (Sp),Euskaltel, X-rays taken after Monday’s stage revealed no serious injuries.
Coming up tomorrow
Épernay- Château-Thierry (TTT)
