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Halgand's win overshadowed by tragedy on race route

Patrice Halgand’s fine win in Pau gave the French fans what they had been waiting for, but it was overshadowed by tragedy on the race route, reports Cycling Weekly magazine.

FOLLOWING the death of a young spectator early on in stage 10, not even the day’s winner, Patrice Halgand (Jean Delatour),was in much of a mood to celebrate.

In any other circumstances, Halgand’s success would have dominated the news, given that it was the host nation’s first victory in this year’s Tour, of which more than half has now passed.

The French had gone all out for some kind of victory this year in the long pre-mountain segment of the Tour. Knowing that their chances overall are limited, the local riders have made it into break after break, but without success. Finally though, Halgand, who attacked late on from a small group for a lone stage win in this year’s Dauphiné Libéré at Dignes-les-Bains, repeated exactly the same tactic in the much bigger context of the Tour, and once again his courageous tactics paid off.

What it meant REGRETTABLY, only the French had some good news on stage 10 of the Tour as Jean Delatour justified their last-minute inclusion with a convincing win by leader Patrice Halgand, the host nation’s first in the race. The death of a spectator cast a pall over the Tour organization, all too aware that this is the second time one of its vehicles has been involved in a fatal accident in three years. Efforts were made after the 2000 accident to improve general security and divert many of the race vehicles that sometimes clog up the course in the hours before the riders come through, but the latest fatality has led to more questions about whether current regulations are stringent enough. Perhaps the problem is whether those regulations are well enforced. The distribution of free gifts -- a temptation for young children and even some adults to run into the road -- is still too haphazardly controlled, for example. In any other context the news of Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano’s non-existent positive would have dominated the day’s events. Cleared by the Union Cycliste Internationale, it seems certain, however, that the Basque’s use of salbutamol makes it more urgent than ever to standardize criteria over which substances are doping products and which are not.

“When you’ve got riders like Stuart O ’Grady [Crédit Agricole] and Ludo Dierckxsens [Lampre-Daikin] in a break like today’s, who are much faster than me, then the only way to win is by attacking and hoping they won’t get it together to chase,” Halgand explained afterwards.

The Frenchman timed his move beautifully, attacking in classic style from the back of the group and scooting across to the far side of the road to maximize his advantage. Given there were just seven kilometers left to race, O’Grady, Dierckxsens, as well as the fourth rider present in the break, Jerôme Pineau (Bonjour), spent far too long waiting for somebody else to lead them back up.

By the time they put their heads down again Halgand was a barely visible blue speck on the long, straight roads taking the race towards the finish town of Pau.

The eighth-year-pro managed to maintain the day-long high speed of the race -- the final average of 48.932kph for the 147-kilometer stage made it the third fastest ever -- and with five kilometers to go the Jean Delatour rider already had a lead of nearly 15 seconds, and rising.

Come the finish, as O’Grady and others continued to squabble behind, with only workhorse Dierckxsens really willing to chase, Halgand’s winning margin was 27 seconds, while Pineau, hugely disappointed by his defeat, nonetheless delighted the home crowd by taking second for a French one-two.

Just under four minutes later, Robbie McEwen (Lotto-Adecco) followed fellow Aussie sprinter Baden Cooke (fdjeux.com) across the line for 13th place, moving across the road to close in his archrival for the green jersey, Erik Zabel (Telekom). The manoeuver, which was perfectly legal, was enough for the Brisbane-born rider to move into the lead in the points competition, overtaking the German for the first time, by one point.

“I like having the jersey now, but I’d like it more if I have it in Paris,” reasoned McEwen. “Now I have to stick close to Erik and make sure we go all-out for the first hot spot sprints before the mountains, because on the climbs we’ll be the first to get dropped.”

Breaking up

McEwen had begun his day’s assault on the green jersey by outgunning the German in the first sprint of the stage at Roquefort. Then, as the peloton roared along on the flat lands south of Bordeaux, at the end of the second hour 16 riders went clear, among them U.S. Postal dark horse Floyd Landis.

ONCE-Eroski had no choice but to respond to the move -- Landis was only three minutes back overall -- despite being represented in the break by domestique Isidro Nozal. The overly large group of attackers, knowing they were under pressure from behind, split in two after barely a couple of kilometers of freedom. Ahead remained Nico Mattan (Cofidis), O’Grady, Enrico Cassani -- the Domo-Farm Frites rider whose name teammate Richard Virenque failed to remember at the start of the Tour when interviewed -- Basque Pedro Horrillo (Mapei-Quick Step), and Ag2r Prévoyance’s giant Frenchman, Andy Flickinger.

Another six succeeded in bridging across: Constantino Zaballa (Kelme-Costa Blanca), Nicholas Vogondy (fdjeux.com), Pineau, Dierckxsens, Unai Etxebarria (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and, last but not least, Halgand.

With no Landis present, the peloton instantly eased up, and the 11 riders built up a lead of more than two minutes in as many kilometers. When it reached three, though, ONCE moved to the front again, but the thought of the Pyrenees 24 hours later deterred any sprinters’ teams from coming to the front and pulling back the move.

As Pau came closer,the stage was looking better and better for Halgand. An attack by Mattan 21 kilometers from the finish on the day’s last remaining climb served as a springboard for the Delatour rider, together with Pineau, Dierckxsens and O’Grady, to go clear. Then, as the Pyrenees loomed ever larger on the horizon, Halgand sped away once more for the biggest victory of his career.

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