2009 Tour de France – Stage 15 News, Notes and Quotes
Welcome back to Bike World News and our continuing coverage of the 2009 Tour de France. Alberto Contador declares, while Lance Armstrong concedes. Cadel Evans has his “worst day ever”. Andy Schleck will fight “until the last breath” and more.
On Sunday’s climb to Verbier, Alberto Contador made a statement about who is the strongest – not only in the Astana team, but in their entire peloton. In one fell swoop, he gained over a minute and a half on his rivals and put himself in a good position for the rest of the week.
Contador: “When I came out of the peloton, I attacked before I intended to, but looking at the situation I decided to have a go at it,” said the Spaniard. “I saw I was opening a gap and just kept on going. I’m extremely happy about the gap to my rivals.”
Contador: “This is a nice difference. It seems clear to me that my team mates now have to work for me.”
Contador: “Armstrong is a role model and… it is an honor for me to know that he will ride for me.”
Lance Armstrong: “I suffered. It was very hard. I was a little bit on the limit at the bottom, I think everybody was a bit on the limit…Alberto showed he is the best rider in the race.”
Armstrong has all but handed the yellow in Paris to Contador, saying “The race, for me that’s not possible. When somebody has so much pressure on him and shows he is the best you can’t deny it. Hats off to him.”
Armstrong: “There might be people out there that expect me to ride like I did in 2004-2005, that’s not reality. If I do another year, and I get a season under my belt, maybe I’ll get that race condition back. But right now, I didn’t have it.”
Johan Bruyneel: “Contador has shown to be the strongest. He is the best, there is no doubt about it.”
Andy Schleck came in just 43 seconds behind Contador and moved into the white young rider’s jersey. Schleck says that he will fight “until the last breath” to defeat Contador.
Schleck: “We have seen that Contador was the strongest, but it was only the first stage of the mountain and (not as hard). I know this climb well, it was perfect for Alberto, who also flew today. I feel good and (will) certainly attack again. Surely we will see a good race.”
Cadel Evans called Sunday’s stage the “worst day” of his Tour de France career. He fell back to more than four minutes off of the lead pace. “I don’t know what the time losses are or anything. I wasn’t death on a bike, but it was a real bad day for me. I had a terrible day, there was not much left in my legs at the end.”
Liquigas’ Franco Pellizotti defended his climber’s jersey today and hopes to keep it all the way to Paris, saying that is more important than a stage win to him right now.
Skil-Shimano’s Kenny Van Hummel has been the laterne rouge at the race for some days now. He rode Sunday’s 200 kilometers alone after being dropped on the first climb.
The Motivational Speaker of the Year Award goes to Rabobank’s Erik Breukink: “The Tour de France is over. This is the day we all knew would come. It is over, though we have another week.”
There’s a bit of a war of words going on between the Columbia and Garmin teams after it SEEMED that Garmin was doing everything in their power to deny Columbia’s George Hincapie the yellow jersey on Saturday. Columbia’s Bob Stapleton alleges jealousy on Garmin’s part: “We have won over 60 races while they don’t even have 10. Maybe they can no longer tolerate that our rider’s are in leader’s jerseys so often.” Garmin’s Jonathon Vaughters said, “Bob is always against our team. I don’t know why, but it goes a long way.”
Columbia-HTC’s Mark Cavendish lost some points and incurred a fine for an agressive move in Saturday’s closing sprint. Cav seemed to make a move to trap Thor Hushovd up against the barriers. Cavendish says that he has “lost much respect” for Hushovd, but concedes that there are worst things in life than the downgrade. Cavendish is now 18 points behind Hushovd in the green jersey battle. He conceded defeat for the green jersey, sayning “Obviously the green jersey is out the window, but now I just want to win on the Champs Elysees.”
Tom Boonen dropped out of the race before the start of Sunday’s stage. He was up all night with fever and vomiting. He rode the team bus to the start, hoping to feel better, but even had troubles there. His Quick Step team and roomate Steven de Jongh made it through Sunday’s stage before dropping out with the same complaints.
AG2R’s Vladimir Efimkin was another key rider to abandon on Sunday. He rode part of Stage 15 before dropping out of the race.
The initial investigations into the death of a spectator during Saturday’s stage have absolved the motorcycle driver, a member of France’s Republican Guard, of any blame. Reports say that the 61 year old woman moved directly into the path of the motorcycle as the peloton was approaching and the driver was not able to dodge her in time. Sunday’s race began with a minute of silence in honor of the deceased.
Andreas Kloden broke his self-imposed silence and spoke (briefly) to the German press. He says that he does not see Lance Armstrong and Alberto Contador as rivals, adding “If Lance or Alberto attacks, it is my job to protect them. In our team, I am not the captain, but the Joker.”
The Pope is expected to give a blessing to the race when it resumes on Tuesday. The race will pass just 3 km from the cottage in Valle d’Aosta where Benedict XVI is on holiday.
The UCI Cyclocross World Cup #2, originally scheduled for Russikon, Switzerland, is looking for a new home. Sources indicate that financial troubles of the original promoting group are forcing the race to be relocated.
Germany has included Heinrich Haussler of Cervelo on their roster for the World Championships, but Haussler, who holds dual citizenship with Australia has yet to make a final decision.
Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski and Heather Irmiger – husband and wife as well as teammates on the Subaru-Gary Fisher team, escaped with cross-country wins at the 2009 USA Cycling national mountain bike championships at SolVista resort in Granby, Colorado.
Team Type 1′s Ken Hanson and Aldo Ino Ilesic went 1-2 Saturday night at the 23rd annual Wells Fargo Twilight Criterium in Boise, Idaho.
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