Over the moon

Virenque conquers Mont Ventoux, wins back French hearts

Richard Virenque could not contain his delight as he climbed to victory on the lunar slopes of Mont Ventoux and won back the hearts of the French public, reports Cycling Weekly magazine.

WITH his right index finger outstretched towards the sky and a defiant smile on his lips, there was no mistaking Richard Virenque’s satisfaction as he crossed the finish line high on Mont Ventoux.

The 33-year-old Domo rider was not only delighted at winning the Tour’s most prestigious mountain-top finish of 2002; as the fifth Tour stage in Virenque’s troubled career, it was also the Frenchman’s first since he confessed to consumption of banned substances during his Festina years. That was in January 2001. The eight-month suspension that was the price of coming clean meant he could not ride the Tour last year. Now, after that enforced absence, the rider some fans call "Richard the Lionheart", and others nickname "Tricky Dicky" was back in the Tour and back in the public eye once more, and loving every second of it.

What it meant LANCE Armstrong said that Richard Virenque deserved his victory. “Climbing the Ventoux alone is very hard,” he explained and, whatever your feelings about Virenque, there can be no doubt that his performance will allow the once disgraced Frenchman to regain further credibility with the home fans. It is ironic that, while Virenque gave the public praise for cheering him on, Armstrong’s Ventoux experience of the fans was another story. “If I had a dollar for every fan that yelled ‘dopé’ at me, I would be a rich man,” the American complained bitterly. “Those people who get a bit drunk and stand on the side of the road insulting riders should stay home.” Criticizing parts of the public is perhaps unwise with three mountain stages to come: Eddy Merckx maintains that he lost the 1975 Tour because somebody thumped him. Whatever the reaction there, Armstrong’s stated objective is to win the Tour this year and, with Beloki now at four minutes, even the Texan is arguing that the time has come to race conservatively. He knows that he has this Tour nicely tucked away in his maillot back pocket -- the aim now is to keep it there until Paris.

However, just like in Paris-Tours last year, won by Virenque after an epic long lone break, on stage 14 the Frenchman worked tirelessly to step back into the limelight. One of the first of 11 riders to attack early on in the Tour’s second longest stage, Virenque collaborated generously on the long haul from the Mediterranean hinterlands into Provence. “Not like others,” the Domo rider muttered darkly after a break which finally added up to 202 kilometers off the front.

As Virenque also pointed out, none of the other breakaways -- Dariusz Baranowski (ibanesto.com), Alexandre Botcharov (Ag2r), Stéphane Auge and Christophe Edaleine (both Jean Delatour), Thor Hushovd and Anthony Morin (both Crédit Agricole), Marco Velo (Fassa Bortolo), Christian Moreni (Alessio), Mikel Pradera (ONCE) and Marco Serpellini (Lampre) -- were any threat overall.

Virenque himself had had a rough time in the Pyrenees for reasons he refused to make clear. In any case, after receiving the green light from U.S. Postal, the 11 built up a lead which reached 12 minutes exactly after 70 kilometers, but which was back down to 7-45 at Bedouin, the village at the foot of the Ventoux. Baranowski drove the hardest for the first few kilometers, before promptly being dropped as Virenque and Botcharov moved to the front.

Slightly less than halfway up the monster climb, only the Russian and the Frenchman remained in the lead. Another dig by Virenque saw Botcharov reel to one side of the road, and from then on the Frenchman had only the mountain to beat.

As if 21 kilometers of non-stop climbing was not hard enough, the temperature made it even tougher. The heat -- nearly 40 °C -- was already stifling in the forest, but when Virenque, with both mouth and maillot wide open, emerged onto the scree slopes with six kilometers left to go, it must have felt like he was entering a furnace.

With no radio, Virenque relied on quick glances at fans’ portable televisions for his race updates. In one of them, as he toiled on, he could see a yellow-clad figure in hot pursuit: race leader Lance Armstrong (U.S. Postal) was on the rampage once again.

Climbing even faster than Ventoux stage-winner Marco Pantani at the 2000 Tour -- the entire ascent took Armstrong exactly 58 minutes compared with the Pirate’s time of 58-53 -- the American had blasted off in response to a timid attack by Joseba Beloki (ONCE).

“I was waiting for someone to open up the race,” the Texan said afterwards.

ONCE had tried to do just that with their Portuguese rider Jose Azevedo, whose powerful accelerations whittled down the yellow jersey group to just Armstrong, Beloki, Ivan Basso (Fassa Bortolo) and Raimondas Rumsas (Lampre).

Armstrong was isolated for once, but Beloki’s timid dig fizzled out instantly as the American stormed up the road in search of his first victory on the Ventoux. However, the Texan had left it too late. Although there were seven kilometers remaining when he attacked, unless the Frenchman blew, Virenque’s advantage of 4-26 at that point was too great even for Armstrong.

As Virenque drew near the Tom Simpson memorial, the distance between the two riders, with Botcharov still in between, was approximately one kilometer. On the line, the Texan finished third, 2-20 back on the victorious Frenchman.

Never backwards at coming forwards, Virenque stated: “Winning is not new for me. This has been a lesson from me on how to be brave.”

Armstrong was disappointed not to have caught him, but nonetheless argued: “I didn’t come here to win on the Ventoux, I came to win the Tour.”

The American gained another 1-45 over Beloki, who struggled near the summit, enough to push the Basque beyond the four-minute barrier. Another Ventoux victim was Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano (ONCE), 21st on the summit, which has enabled Rumsas, rarely seen on the front but always shadowing the leaders, to move into third overall.

As for Armstrong, the Ventoux victory he wants so badly will have to wait. But as he himself said: “We’ll be back here before I ’m done.”

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