Zabel back on track

Telekom leader claims first stage win of 2002 Tour

Neither rain nor bollards, or even Robbie McEwen or Oscar Freire, could keep Telekom’s Erik Zabel from his first stage win of 2002, reports Cycling Weekly magazine.

A REASSURING success for Erik Zabel (Telekom), another day closer to the Tour’s first long time trial for the main favorites, and some troubling injuries for Cofidis’ David Millar were three of the key features of stage six from Forges-les-Eaux to Alençon.

Not to mention unlucky Kazakh climber Alexandr Shefer (Alessio), of course, who left the Tour on a stretcher after suffering serious facial injuries in a crash some 25 kilometers from the line. As for Millar, the 25-year-old was struck by misfortune early on in the stage -- literally, as it happened -- thanks to a group of riders ploughing into the Scot after he was brought to a standstill by a mass pile-up.

“I went flying, ”Millar said, “skidding along the ground because of some idiots who didn’t stop quickly enough. That’s the Tour for you.”

What it meant Normally when a rider takes his 12th stage in the Tour and dons a green jersey that he already has won for six years running, you could forgive him for looking a shade bored with the proceedings. But instead, Erik Zabel’s huge grin at Alencon’s finish showed he was as pleased at crossing the line in first place as he was back in 1995. The skill with which he beat both McEwen and Freire in the rain-soaked final 100 meters showed once again that rumors that the German is losing his touch are unfounded. Furthermore, if you bear in mind that Mario Cipollini has been as successful at 35 as he was at 30, it’s reasonable to ask whether Zabel is en route not just to a seventh green jersey, but maybe even an eighth or a ninth. “Freire and McEwen are pushing me hard,” Zabel admitted, but -- unlike Cipo -- the Telekom leader has always made a point of finishing the Tour and, unlike the Spaniard and Australian, he can count on exclusive support in his bid for the points competition. Stage six was the first time in this year’s Tour that Telekom looked solid as a squad, and they even could afford to put Steffen Wesemann, himself no mean sprinter, in the break to keep events under control up ahead and discourage the rest. Regardless of whether this is as good as it gets for the pink team, in his own speciality and within his own limits, Zabel deserves just as much praise as Lance Armstrong; it’s a sign of the German’s success that he remains as newsworthy when he doesn’t win than when he does -- and Zabel has been making waves in the Tour for much longer than the U.S. Postal rider.

Millar injured

Although not as serious as his injuries at Dunkirk, the Cofidis leader still suffered a gash in his right knee and a bruised upper leg. Small wonder he quickly dropped back from the peloton to visit the Tour doctor Gerard Porte and get an assessment of the damage while out on the road.

Then, in the closing kilometers, as the peloton upped the pace to reel in six early breakaways, Millar came within inches of falling again when another crash in the rear of the bunch came too close for comfort. Although he was delayed, the Briton still managed to get back on to the bunch shortly before Zabel took the 11th sprint victory of his lengthy Tour career.

Only time will tell whether the injuries have serious long-term consequences for Millar’s Tour hopes this year. It seems a particularly cruel twist of fate, given he was just beginning to hit top form and had stayed out of trouble so far.

For Zabel, stage six could hardly have gone better. After Robbie McEwen (Lotto-Adecco) had begun the day by throwing down the gauntlet in the points competition and taking an intermediate sprint -- giving the Australian a temporary two-point advantage overall -- the German responded by winning the final charge for the line despite the Lotto rider’s fierce opposition. True, it was a close call, but Zabel made full use of his lead-out men Gian Matteo Fagnini and Danilo Hondo to accelerate at the best possible moment.

A hundred meters from the line, the German national champion and Zabel’s favorite Milan-San Remo lead-out man peeled off the front simultaneously, one to each side, to let Zabel through. Fagnini slightly blocked McEwen as the Australian tried to respond, although this time it looked unintentional, while Oscar Freire (Mapei-Quick Step) -- much stronger here than at Reims -- had his own problems attempting to get past Fassa Bortolo’s Serguei Ivanov.

Screaming across the line in the middle of the road Zabel finally took the stage by half a wheel, with Freire second and McEwen a very close third.

“There’s no denying they’re strong, but this time I won,” Zabel pointed out with a big grin. Barring Zabel’s sprint victory, the rest of the stage was a virtual repeat of what had happened 24 hours earlier, except this time the break of the day went clear at kilometer 115 rather than kilometer 109, and consisted of six riders rather than five.

Once bitten, twice shy

ONCE-Eroski, already considerably annoyed by an attempt to ambush Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano, maintained a high pace as the heavens opened and the race roared along Normandy lanes, and the six -- Constantino Zaballa (Kelme-Costa Blanca), Paul Van Hyfte (CSC-Tiscali), Massimo Apollonio (Tacconi Sport), Emmanuel Magnien (Bonjour), Steffen Wesemann (Telekom) and (surprise, surprise) Jacky Durand (fdjeux.com) -- barely picked up a two-minute advantage.

Then Telekom decided to lend a hand and the gap began to decrease fast. “ONCE are doing an expert job, much better than previous years,” one Telekom rider told CW . “They’ve got four guys doing the work and [Joseba Beloki and [Igor] Gonzalez de Galdeano sitting in the back. It’s all worked out.”

As intermittent rain came down, the addition of Lotto’s Hans de Clercq and Anthony Langella (Crédit Agricole), working for their Australian sprinters, combined to cause the break more problems. Finally, with 12 kilometers to go, the half-dozen eased up.

By his point the stage had bunch sprint written all over it, and not even the interruptions of a succession of traffic islands in Alencon’s suburbs could deter the Telekom team. This was Zabel’s first 2002 Tour stage, but you can bet it won ’t be his last.

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