Cycling Tour de France: Up to a million people are expected to line the 21 hairpins of L'Alpe d'Huez for today's time-trial, the greatest set-piece of this Tour. They will see Lance Armstrong go off last of the 157 starters in the yellow jersey after taking his second stage win this year here yesterday, to end the young Frenchman Thomas Voeckler's dream spell in the lead.
The young Italian Ivan Basso talked a good race on the rest day, but on the hilly roads breaking up the Vercors plateau yesterday he and his CSC team threw away a rare chance to put Armstrong under pressure, as Jan Ullrich finally discovered his racing legs and the aggressive spirit that enabled him to push the American to the limit last year.
Like Eddy Merckx, like Bernard Hinault and like Miguel Indurain, Armstrong now has the power to mesmerise his opponents like rabbits in a car's headlights. Basso and CSC will not say it openly, but riders in the team are making it plain that their priority is to win a place on the podium in Paris, and they would rather not race aggressively and risk losing out.
Yesterday, they may well have helped Armstrong to take the yellow jersey, to the confusion and annoyance of Ullrich's T-Mobile team.
Ullrich, who had put in extra training on the rest day, leapt away among the beech and pine trees on the Col de l'Echarasson leading up to Vercors plateau. He devoured the mountain road like a man possessed, and rapidly gained a minute.
The German had started the day almost seven minutes behind, but had his team-mate Andreas Kloden marking Armstrong, together with Basso.
"I wasn't very concerned, we knew the course well and knew there was no real descent, so it was easy for two teams to work together," said Armstrong. "It would have been different if I had been isolated, but I had team-mates there."
He also had allies of circumstance in CSC, who were aware that Francisco Mancebo, one of Basso's rivals for a place in the top three, had been left behind and also did not want Ullrich to threaten Basso's second place overall.
As Ullrich rode through the remnants of an earlier escape which included CSC's Jens Voigt, the team manager Bjarne Riis ordered Voigt to drop back and tow Armstrong and Basso's group.
Ullrich was duly reined in, and at the finish in Villard-de-Lans Basso was not even capable of winning the four-rider sprint for the stage win.
"Of course it was strange - I'd say that if they wanted to win the race and Basso was good, then this was the day to go with Jan and chance everything," said a T-Mobile spokesman.
Ullrich's mentor Rudy Pevenage was more succinct, terming the unofficial pact "unsporting".
The Texan was clearly overjoyed at winning what the French would term a "royal sprint", that is one between the four strongest riders. Most of his stage wins are solo, either time-trials or lone mountain-top finishes, and he has not taken a sprint involving a group of more than two since his first Tour stage win 11 years ago.
The other priority was the eight seconds time bonus for finishing first to Basso's second. "Johan (Bruyneel, Armstrong's manager) was screaming in my ear that I had to win. Every second counts." That phrase, the title of his second autobiography, applies here in spades.
For others, the gaps were counted in minutes. "Allez Thomas, France is proud of you" and "Thomas, right to the end" read the signs on the roadsides, and yesterday the end finally came for the home fans' newchou-chou (darling), Thomas Voeckler, who was unable to stay with the leaders on the Echarasson as Ullrich's team-mates upped the pace.
Voeckler has slipped to eighth overall and may lose more time today and tomorrow now that the maillot jaune can no longer weave its magic. But his spell in yellow, 10 days, equalled Pascal Lino's tenure in 1992, which makes it the longest by a Frenchman since Bernard Hinault in 1985. He retains the white jersey of best young rider, but may be pushed hard for it by another Frenchman, Sandy Casar, and the Russian Vladimir Karpets.
French honour will also be upheld by Richard Virenque, who led over four of yesterday's seven climbs and now looks likely to win a seventh King of the Mountains prize, one more than joint record holder, Lucien van Impe.
Today's stage is dedicated to another climber with a controversial past, the late Marco Pantani, who was first to the ski resort in 1995 and 1997, and holds the record for the ascent. That was set in an EPO-fuelled era, but may well fall today.
As well as shaking up the overall standings, today's mountain time-trial - the toughest in the Tour since 1987's contre-la-montre up Mont Ventoux - will also challenge the backmarkers, who will have to fight to stay within the time limit, calculated at 33 per cent of the winner's time.
The Basque Iban Mayo, tipped three weeks ago by Armstrong to win today, will not even get to the Alpe. Having made it as far as the rest day in Nimes, he clearly decided yesterday morning that more rest was what he needed and he did not start.
... Stage 15: 1. L Armstrong (US) US Postal 4:40.30 2. I Basso (Ita) Team CSC same time 3. J Ullrich (Ger) T-Mobile 3 seconds behind 4. A Kloeden (Ger) T-Mobile 6 5. L Leipheimer (US) Rabobank 13 6. R Virenque (Fra) Quick Step-Davitamon 48 7. M Rasmussen (Den) Rabobank 49 8. J Azevedo (Por) US Postal 53 9. J Voigt (Ger) Team CSC 1:04 10. C Sastre (Spa) Team CSC 1:24. 92 M Scanlon (Irl) A2R at 23' 49"
Overall standings: 1. Armstrong (US) US Postal 67:13.43 2. Basso (Ita) Team CSC 1:25 behind 3. Kloeden (Ger) T-Mobile 3.22 4. Mancebo (Spa) Illes Balears 5.39 5. Ullrich (Ger) T-Mobile 6.54 6. Azevedo (Por) US Postal 7.34 7. Totschnig (Aus) Gerolsteiner 8.19 8. Voeckler (Fra) Brioches La Boulangere 9.28 9. Caucchioli (Ita Alessio Bianchi 10.10 10. Leipheimer (US) Rabobank 10.58. 90 Scanlon (Irl) A2R at 1h 44' 38"
Team standings: 1. Team CSC 199:34.26 2. T-Mobile 55 seconds behind 3. US Postal 6.41, 4. Phonak 26.39, 5. Illes Balears Santander 35.56, 6. Brioches La Boulangere 37.07, 7. Quick Step-Davbtamon 43.10 8. Euskaltel 46.13.
Points standings (green jersey) 1. R McEwen (Australia) Lotto-Domo 225 points 2. T Hushovd (Norway) Credit Agricole 213 3. E Zabel (Germany) T-Mobile 212 4. S O'Grady (Australia) Cofidis 204 5. D Hondo (Germany) Gerolsteiner 189 6. T Boonen (Belgium) Quick Step-Davitamon 128 7. L Brochard (France) AG2R 118 8. J Nazon (France) AG2R 116 9. A Kloeden (Germany) T-Mobile 94 10. L Armstrong (US) US Postal 93. 89. Scanlon 6 pts
King of the mountains (polkadot jersey) 1. R Virenque (France) Quick Step-Davitamon 177 points 2. L Armstrong (US) US Postal 102 3. M Rasmussen (Denmark) Rabobank 95 4. I Basso (Italy) Team CSC 91 5. C Moreau (France) Credit Agricole 78 6. F Mancebo (Spain) Illes Balears 77 7. J Voigt (Germany) Team CSC 71 8. A Merckx (Belgium) Lotto-Domo 65 9. A Kloeden (Germany) T-Mobile 64 10. J Ullrich (Germany) T-Mobile 57
Young rider (white jersey) 1. T Voeckler (France) Brioches La Boulangere 67:23.11 2. S Casar (France) FDJeux.com 7.41 behind 3. V Karpets (Russia) Illes Balears 7.54 4. I Camano (Spain) Euskaltel 13.25. 14 Scanlon (Irl) A2R at 1h 35' 10"
Scanlon on solidground
Mark Scanlon had another solid day in the mountains yesterday, coming home alongside the 2003 Tour of Spain-winner Roberto Heras as part of a small group which finished 23 minutes and 49 seconds behind Lance Armstrong.
The Sligoman finished in 92nd place, a respectable mountain showing for a first-year Tour rider. He is now 90th overall and 14th in the best young rider classification.
Today's time-trial to the top of the famous Alpe d'Huez climb is probably the biggest concern for Scanlon, the 15.5-kilometre race against the clock a short but tough test.
Today's difficulty lies in the fact that a cut-off point will be imposed, with all those finishing 33 per cent over the winner's time set to be eliminated.
The margin sounds considerable but with the fastest time expected to be around 40 minutes, anyone over13 minutes slower than this will be out of the race.
While the Lotto Domo team of sprint specialist Robbie McEwen are known to be apprehensive about the green jersey holder's chances, Scanlon's solid showing in the past two mountain stages suggest he should be fine.
He trained on Alpe d'Huez during a training camp in the area in June and so knows what to expect; today will certainly be difficult, but once past this hurdle and tomorrow's final mountain stage, his goal of reaching Paris looks increasingly likely. - Shane Stokes
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