| Stage 8 |
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07.15.01
An attacking group of 14 riders created a piece of curious history today when their winning time was enough to eliminate the rest of the field from the Tour de France. In appalling conditions, the two main winners of the cold, wet and cruel 222.5km stage from Colmar to Pontarlier were Stuart O’Grady and Erik Dekker. The Australian was reunited with the yellow jersey after finishing fifth behind Dekker on a day when the entire stage was contested in pouring rain. And while he acknowledges that his days in yellow will end when the mountain arrive in two days’ time, he confirmed his ambitions for the sprint prize – claiming enough points to inherit the green jersey. No, he can’t wear two prize jerseys in the ninth stage, so Erik Zabel will spend another day in the jersey he lost today. Zabel’s surge to finish second in the peloton in 16th place earned him 10 points... but finishing 35 minutes and 54 seconds behind the winner, offers little glory. Indeed, there were 161 riders today who finished almost 36 minutes behind the winner of the stage. And, in so doing, shouldn’t officially be allowed to start the ninth stage – thanks to their deficit being over 10 percent of Dekker’s winning time. But a Tour de France with 14 riders offers little appeal, and the organizers will have to make an exception to the rule tonight.
There were 14 riders who were prepared to race – and race hard – despite the conditions. Erik Dekker thrives on day-long escapes. The 2001 Tour is proving to be one of the most unpredictable in years. Stuart O’Grady is far from finished in this year’s race despite taking a 24-hour sojourn from the joy of wearing the golden glow of race leader. And, finally, this summer-time fete is yet to see a decent dose of sun! The stage was won by a savvy Dekker who benefited enormously from the help of his team-mate, and the winner of the second stage, Marc Wauters, in the final 10 kilometers. It was the Belgian who wore the yellow jersey early in the Tour who split up the 14 rider break which formed at the fifth kilometer. Wauters attacked with about 50 kilometers to race. He was joined in waves by Knaven, Aitor Gonzalez and, of course, Dekker. These four never played cat-and-mouse games in the final 10 kilometers; rather they hammered each other into oblivion until, finally, the Rabo-punch came from Dekker in the final 50 meters. Take a squizz and the general classification on the result sheet to try and grasp the rest of the story. Armstrong, Ullrich, Beloki et al haven’t featured yet. And tomorrow they’ll more than likely shelter in the bunch again… and be grateful for the fact that the rules were bent for their benefit today. Otherwise, the predictability of this Tour would be a little easier: one of 14 is, after all a lot easier than picking one winner from the 175 who are on track to take the start tomorrow. |
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