Posted: July 10, 2005

Cycling: TOUR DE FRANCE TIMES - Volume 3, No. 8 (July 10, 2005)

By James Raia
www.ByJamesRaia.com

Publisher's Greeting

Mickael Rasmussen (Rabobank) of Denmark rode to a long solo win in for the first Tour win of his career, while Jens Voight (CSC) of Germany took the overall lead in the ninth stage from Gerardmer to Mulhouse on Sunday.

Rasmussen rode to an epic win after breaking from the peloton after only four of the stage's 171 kilometers. Voight finished third in the stage and assumed the race lead from Lance Armstrong. Armstrong had held the lead since his team claimed the team time trial in stage 4.

The loss of the yellow jersey wasn't a serious matter. Armstrong's team conserved and didn't chase the leader. Voight now holds a 1:50 margin over Christophe Moreau (Credit Agricole) of France, with Armstrong third at 2:18.

"It wasn't our objective to defend the jersey today," said Armstrong. "Wearing the jersey is always special, but the objectively is to wear it in Paris."

Armstrong and the peloton finished 6:04 behind the leader. Armstrong's expected closest challengers remain Alexandre Vinokourov (T-Mobile) of Kazakhstan (5th, 3:20), Ivan Basso (CSC), Italy (7th, 3:44), Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile (Germany) 8th, 3:54.

Bobby Julich (CSC) of Reno, Nev., is the second-highest American in 6th at 3:25 . . .

Monday is the first of the Tour's two rest days.

For today's full results, visit the Tour's official web site: www.letour.fr.

News, Notes & Quotes

David Zabriskie (CSC) of Salt Lake City, the race leader for the first three stages, abandoned early in the ninth stage. Zabriskie was never able to recover from the bruises and disappointment of his crash in stage 4. He lost appreciable time in stage eight, but was optimistic just prior to Sunday's stage. But he couldn't make a go of continuing his first Tour . . .

The race is down to 175 riders (from 189 starters), after four riders in addition to Zabriskie abandoned. The departures included Jaan Kirsipuu (Credit Agricole) of Estonia. Kirsipuu suffered with Zabriskie in the eighth stage . . .

The rest day headquarters will be in Grenoble. Several teams will have press conferences . . .

Gerardmer was still abuzz Sunday, the morning after one of the poorest controlled mountain climbs in recent Tour history. Crowd control was minimal, the passage on roads was minimal and several riders got stuck in the mass of humanity.

Postcard From The Tour

A professional cyclist may log 1,000 hours and 15,000 miles a year on his bike. In other words, there are few things more intimate than a Tour de France rider and his relationship with his saddle.

Cyclists don't talk about it often, but it's the myriad problems that can develop from riding hours on a small seat that takes as many riders out of races as crashes or illness.

During the Tour de France stage 4 team time trial last week, Dutch cyclist Bram Tankink broke his seat and had to ride the final three miles while standing.

Others cyclists have suffered serious problems when their saddles have broken during races. And riders' careers have been severely curtailed because of lingering problems of a sensitive kind.

Many years ago, pro riders used chunks of raw meat in their cycling shorts as padding. Current cyclists rely on various special short inserts and preventative lubricants. Yet problems still routinely occur.

Lance Armstrong uses a Selle San Marco Concor, a seat first popular 20 years ago. While some pro riders' choices cost several hundred dollars, Armstrong's model retails for about $60. He uses it for simple reasons — it fits well and provides few issues.

More from: Tour de France Times

© Copyright 2005, James Raia

Posted with the permission of James Raia.

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