Wasps' sting

ONCE beats U.S. Postal in team time trial

The Spanish ONCE squad, nicknamed "the Wasps" due to their yellow and black jerseys, left Lance Armstrong’s US Postal team feeling suitably stung after an impressive team time trial performance, reports Cycling Weekly magazine.

HALFWAY through the 67-kilometer team time trial, French television dubbed the ONCE-Eroski squad "the Wasps" -- and they certainly inflicted a stinging victory over Lance Armstrong and his U.S. Postal team, which saw the Spaniards' GC contender Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano change from his yellow and black team colours to straight yellow.

“We had no accidents, no crashes, no punctures -- and we lost,” Armstrong snarled after crossing the line, while his Spanish rivals were busy celebrating their first maillot jaune for two years and second team time trial victory in three Tours, as well as moving four of their riders into the top five overall.

“It was the best team time trial we’ve done,” insisted Armstrong, who clearly remembered Postal’s near-debacle last year, when a touch of wheels between Roberto Heras and Christian Vandevelde brought both riders down.

But, while there had been no doubting the Texan’s strength -- he even occasionally opened up a five-meter gap on the front of the string of blue riders -- overall the American squad simply could not match their leader’s power. That was not all. Armstrong’s turns, up to twice as long as the rest of his team, were another sign of his superb condition.

What it meant COMPARED with last year’s team time trial, the 2002 event produced more of a stalemate than anything else. ONCE may have taken the maillot jaune, and confirmed their status as the most powerful Tour squad -- collectively -- but a 16-second margin is hardly huge and puts pressure on the Spanish team while they hold the lead. In the long-term that could be a double-edged sword. ONCE are faced with an uncomfortable dilemma. If they defend the jersey, they risk burning out their riders. But if, as happened two years ago with Laurent Jalabert, they opt to let the sprinters’ teams and breakaways take over, then the chances are they will take a hammering in the media for failing to defend the lead. On paper, Armstrong can continue to wait for the first long individual time trial, but only up to a point. ONCE-Eroski know as well as the Americans that if there is a really dangerous break, it’s up to U.S. Postal to put in the spadework to bring it back. So a lot of Spanish fans will be delighted to see their first yellow jersey since the days of Indurain. But, in the long-term, stage four has changed nothing.

However, in team time trials it is the collective effort that counts, and ONCE’s more evenly balanced squad, coupled with their use of one line instead of Postal’s reliance on two -- more draining for weaker riders -- eventually took them to a 16-second victory over the Americans.

The Spanish team ’s directeur sportif, Manolo Saiz, had certainly insisted on forging a strong group mentality, even to the point of refusing to let his team ride the route. Instead they watched a film of the course on video in the team hotel that morning. “That way they didn’t panic, they just sat around and discussed as a group who would be best on the front at what point, ”Saiz told CW . “It’s a new technique, but it paid off in spades.”

“This jersey doesn’t belong to me,” Gonzalez de Galdeano modestly claimed. “It belongs to the team. As Manolo Saiz said to us immediately afterwards, not one of us had done better or worse, it’s been a group effort.

“Last year we were scared to go all-out from the gun, but this time we knew we had to give it some welly from kilometer one. It may sound exaggerated, but we didn’t want to risk losing out.”

ONCE’s success came on a course which, while not as hard as last year’s course on the Voie Sacrée near Verdun, still had something for everyone: firstly a 20-kilometer section on fast, well-surfaced roads past numerous vineyards; then a steady 2.6-kilometer draggy climb; thirdly a section which dipped and swooped for a further five; and, last but not least, 20 kilometers containing a fast descent and more exposed flat sections.

The first sign that the Spanish squad could defeat the Americans came at the first checkpoint, where Armstrong and his troops were already a good 20 seconds slower than ONCE.

After the mid-stage climb of Dormans and the undulating section, the margin was just a second smaller, despite the Spanish losing one of their key men, Mikel Pradera, in the meantime because of a puncture.

However, an unexpected challenge to the ONCE team emerged from CSC-Tiscali. Last to start in the central square at Epernay, the French Champagne capital, it was radioed through that the Danish team were six seconds faster than ONCE at the first checkpoint.

Local TV commentators were already gleefully speculating how long Laurent Jalabert would be in yellow. “Till Monday,” one ventured. No such luck -- 20 kilometers further on, CSC were still six seconds up on the Spanish, despite the Danes losing Arvis Piziks to cramp. But disaster struck when a second CSC man, Michael Stanstod, punctured.

“I don’t know if it was because of the helicopter noise, or whether it was a straight cock-up, but some riders followed pre-stage orders to simply leave whoever punctured behind and other’s didn’t,” a furious Jalabert revealed afterwards. “It was really stupid.”

What had been a well-coordinated single CSC line suddenly disintegrated, as half the team slowed and the remainder accelerated away. Stanstod was nowhere to be seen, so CSC directeur sportif Bjarne Riis told the squad to continue. For the remaining 20 kilometers, though, there was no recovering the team’s original pace.

Spanish team co-leader Carlos Sastre was looking rough beneath his white aerodynamic helmet, and, despite specialist Tyler Hamilton’s efforts to up the pace in the final kilometers, CSC were lucky only to lose 46 seconds to the Spanish. As directeurs and riders all gave different reasons for their defeat, the brutal truth was that CSC’s hesitation cost Jalabert what would have been his third maillot jaune.

But Gonzalez de Galdeano, the first rider from south of the Pyrenees to wear the maillot jaune since Miguel Indurain in 1995, was keen to limit the enthusiasm. “It’s a great result,but overall it means virtually nothing,” he said. “Armstrong is still the favorite, he’s almost unreachable. What it does tell me is that now I can bank on a solid time trial on Monday.”

Beyond that, though, the Tour still looks very much like American property.

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