Erik at last

Telekom team leader finally captures maillot jaune

Robbie McEwen sprinted in on top of the world, but it was the men in pink who breathed the biggest sigh of relief, as Telekom’s Erik Zabel finally took over the maillot jaune, reports Cycling Weekly magazine.

AT last. Erik Zabel took 48 hours longer than planned to get into yellow, but Germany ’s top sprinter finally took his first maillot jaune since the day Chris Boardman crashed out of the Tour on the road to Cork in 1998. The stage victory at Reims went to 2002 win merchant Robbie McEwen (Lotto).

Grabbing the yellow thanks to two third places in hot spot sprints and a time bonus for second was not a glamorous way to take the lead -- and Zabel’s least favorite strategy -- but you could feel Telekom’s collective sigh of relief.

Telekom’s plan "A" for their leader had been to go onto home soil on stage one in yellow,but their strategy was foiled by Lampre’s Rubens Bertogliati and his sudden acceleration on the streets of Luxembourg.

Then plan "B" , taking the stage and yellow in front of German fans in Sarrebruck was ruined by a combination of Oscar Freire’s (Mapei) charge and Zabel’s two domestiques, Danilo Hondo and Gian-Matteo Fagnini, messing up the final lead-out.

However, plan "C", taking the yellow before the team time trial pushed the sprinters out of the running, finally worked out, at the last possible opportunity.

What it meant POOR Credit Agricole. Last year’s team time trial win and Stuart O’Grady’s and Jens Voigt’s first-week spell in yellow, plus the Australian’s Tour-long battle for the points, must feel like a very long time ago now. O’Grady’s high heart rate on stage three -- which went up to 225bpm at one point -- was just the latest hurdle for the green team, who had problems even before the Tour started, with Christophe Moreau’s training accident. Then there was Moreau’s poor prologue and stage one crashes, Thor Hushovd’s near elimination on time because of cramps on stage two, and 24 hours later the sight of O’Grady surrounded by his teammates, talking to the Tour doctor, and trying to keep the lid on a heart problem he first had back in the 1996 Olympics. All credit to the Adelaide-born rider for fighting back and taking 10th in the bunch sprint, although even Credit Agricole sources have said a repeat of the 2001 team time trial win was unlikely. Credit Agricole who, as Chris Boardman’s lifelong pro team still get a lot of sympathy from British fans, will need a lot more days like stage three -- flat, calm and not too fast -- if they want to recover. Otherwise the mountains, still a week away, will come all too soon for the men in green.

“It’s good to be back in the lead, even though I ’ll probably lose it tomorrow in the team time trial,” Zabel said afterwards.

Asked if he was still feeling satisfied despite not having taken a Tour stage, the Telekom leader, who won’t have forgotten the period between 1997 and 2000 when he didn’t win one for over two years, snapped back, “Of course I’m happy.” Well,maybe.

Fastest in the world

McEwen, though, looked pleased as Punch to become Australia’s sixth ever Tour stage winner, and even though he did not forget to criticize the race organization for allowing spectators carrying giant green PMU publicity hands to come too close to the action, he still insisted: “You can ’t always say it, but today I was the fastest sprinter in the world.”

The manoeuvre which took McEwen to victory consisted of an effective acceleration around Zabel’s left, first bringing him towards the left-hand side of the road.

Simultaneously, stage two winner Freire attempted to latch on to the Lotto rider’s wheel, but the double world champion failed completely. Then, when McEwen found himself being "punched" by the giant hands, the Australian national champion moved into the center of the road once more.

“I wanted to put my hands in the air to celebrate with my white champion’s jersey,” he said, a shade ruefully, “but because Zabel was so close behind I didn’t get the chance.”

Nonetheless, the Brisbane rider’s first Tour stage win since the Champs-Elysées in 1999, and one which has justified his Belgian team’s presence in the Tour, has raised his confidence sky-high.

“I haven’t forgotten the green jersey by any means,” McEwen said. “In the first stages I wanted to save all my energy for the stage wins rather than pushing too hard in the intermediate sprints. Now, though, another stage victory would be great as well.”

McEwen also had words of encouragement for his fellow Australian sprinter, Stuart O’Grady, who suffered on the stage from a high heart rate. “Bobby Julich (Telekom) told me about it with 15 kilometers to go, I hope he’s going to come through OK,” McEwen, third in Luxembourg, second in Sarrebruck, and now first in Reims, told reporters.

Going it alone

The rest of the stage included that classic first week Tour feature, an attack by Jacky Durand, who convinced fellow-Frenchman Franck Renier (Bonjour) to join him on a long break through the hilly terrain close to Metz and down onto the plains surrounding Reims.

There’s no denying that sometimes Durand’s attacks have paid off -- although a decade has now passed since the FdJeux.com rider’s 222-kilometer escapade in the Tour of Flanders was rewarded by the biggest win of his career -- but this time an 11-minute margin with 100 kilometers to go was not going to be sufficient.

Telekom ’s steady pace behind increased when two Lotto domestiques joined the pink train at the front of the peloton and, on the fourth-category climb of Biesme, slightly over halfway through the stage, the duo’s lead had shrunk to 7-50. Zabel was completely unopposed as he snatched third in the intermediate sprints, enabling him first to draw equal with Bertogliati overall and then gain a two-second advantage on the Swiss.

But Renier was still in yellow "on the road" and it was a long haul for Telekom and Lotto on the long, flat roads outside Reims before they finally reeled in the French duo with some eight kilometers left to race.

Ten minutes later, Zabel was donning the maillot jaune. “A lot of riders would like to be in my place today,” the German, who is also steadily building up a solid grip on what could be his seventh consecutive points jersey, pointed out.

 

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