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LATEST NEWS: RIBLON REVELS FROM REVEL TO AX-3-DOMAINES
Road Bike Action and AFP
July 18, 2010
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Christophe Riblon claims his prize for winning the grueling Stage 14 of the 2010 Tour de France.
(Photo: Yuzuru Sunada)
At six years old, Christophe Riblon officially began his career as a cyclist when he
took his first racing license.
"When I was a kid I promised
myself I would go on to become professional and have a great career. I've made a fairly good job and picked up a few big wins
here and there. But here, it's just indescribable. I've dreamed of
this moment for 20 years."
This indescribable feeling comes to
the 29-year-old Riblon upon winning Stage 14 of the 2010 Tour de France.
The stage, which finished in the ski resort village of Ax-3-Domaines,
was the first of four in the Pyrenees. Riblon's win makes four for the
French in this Tour. Sylvain Chavanel's double for Quick Step in the
first week and Sandy Casar's cracking win for Francais des Jeux in the
ninth stage to Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne make up the other three.
 Riblon digs deep on his way to Ax-3-Domaines. (Photo: Yuzuru Sunada)
While France has enjoyed the spotlight of four stage wins, the hot
country still seeks the next Bernard Hinault who last won the yellow
jersey in 1985.
"I came into the race hoping to challenge in the
GC (general classification) but I just haven't been able to get it
together in the first two weeks," said Riblon.
"Even the last three days, it's been a nightmare. Last night I was
really down after my performance. It wasn't my idea of what I wanted my
Tour to be like, and I wouldn't have bet one euro on me today.
In Riblon's wake were a number of riders hoping to make up time they
had lost in the overall standings. But, with some help from the fans at
the roadside, he held firm to come over the finish line 54 seconds
ahead of Russian Denis Menchov and Spaniard Samuel
Sanchez.
"When you're in front and going for the win, you
transcend yourself," he added. "The most incredible thing are the people
at the side of the road. They just didn't stop telling me, 'you're
going to win!'.
"But still, I refused to let myself believe them until I was
inside the final kilometer."
Riblon, a star rider on the track,
joined an early breakaway Sunday and held off the threat of compatriot
Amael Moinard (Cofidis) early on the final, 7.8km climb to the race's
second highest mountain top finish.
 Andy Schleck and Alberto Contador at the finish of Stage 14 of the 2010 Tour de France. (Photo:Roberto Bettini)
Schleck speaks out about his Game
Andy Schleck is confident he can avoid making the same mistakes
he has made against Contador in the past. And that appears to mean he
will wait on the Spaniard to attack first.
"I've made enough
mistakes that have allowed him to drop me because I passed him," he
added. "But I've learned a lot from my mistakes." And as such, Sunday's
Stage 14 of the 2010 Tour de France was a veritable poker on bikes, a
cat and mouse game that went on in spite of the race unfolding around
Shcleck and his closest competitor, Alberto Contador. Schleck ultimately
finished the 184.5km stage from Revel to Ax-3-Domains with his 31sec
lead on Contador intact.
Schleck has stressed since he took the Tour de France lead on stage
nine last week that his tactics will be designed to reward him with the
yellow jersey in Paris. In 2009, Schleck finished four minutes behind
Contador.
Yet with the Spaniard being tipped to take significant time off
Schleck in the penultimate stage time trial next Saturday, the Saxo Bank
climber arguably cannot afford to leave the Pyrenees with a cushion of
less than two minutes. However, Schleck is positive about his
performance today and believes he has gained the mental edge on
Contador.
"This is just a guess, but I guess he's not happy. He didn't lose
any time but he didn't gain any either," said Schleck. "His plan was to
take the yellow (jersey) today. It didn't work, he didn't gain a single second on me and I even think I was a little better than
him."
Although fans would expect Contador to have to attack
Schleck to claw back his deficit, the Spaniard is in no hurry. And,
he arguably emerged the winner on Sunday having taken one step closer,
without conceding any time, to the 50km time trial next Saturday.
Schleck's obsession with Contador meant he stuck to the Spaniard
like glue when he tried twice, at 5 and 4 kilmoeters from the finish, to
shake the Luxemburger off his wheel.
Schleck even allowed
Spaniard Samuel Sanchez and Russian Denis Menchov to go on the offensive
virtually unchallenged, before reacting inside the final two kilometers
with Contador to limit their advantage to 14secs.
"For the moment, Menchov and Sanchez are not dangerous," explained
Schleck.
"We were more or less equal on the climb," said
Contador. "The way it was going it could have benefited other riders,
like Menchov and Samuel (Sanchez), who are very strong riders. So we
decided to race together in the end to limit our losses to them."
Contador claimed the climb to Ax-3-Domaines was not hard enough
for him to launch a worthy attack on Schleck. But there will be chances
aplenty in the coming days.
Monday's 15th stage from Pamiers
notably features the 19.3km climb over the Port de Bales before
finishing 21.5km later down in Bagneres-de-Luchon. The 16th stage
Tuesday will take the peloton over four climbs, including the imposing
Col du Tourmalet before finishing on a downhill again in Pau. After
Wednesday's rest day, a tough stage 17 finishes with a 18.6km ascension
to the summit of the Tourmalet - the race's final climb before another
potential decider on Saturday.
What happens in between is anybody's guess.
 Lance Armstrong in the 2010 Tour de France. Armstrong, founder of LiveStrong Foundation has had to deal with doping allegations for most of his career. (Poto: Yuzuru Sunada)
LeMond Speaks out Against Lance
Three-time
Tour de France champion Greg LeMond has received a subpoena to testify
before a grand jury in the investigation of possible fraud and doping
charges against Lance Armstrong, the New York Daily News reported Friday. The letter also orders LeMond
to appear at a federal courthouse in Los Angeles on July 30, the
newspaper said.
Greg LeMond warns the investigation of fellow
Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong should not be taken lightly, and
could even bring about the downfall of the world's most famous cyclist. Armstrong's fame came to him not only from winning 7 Tours de France, but also due to his battle with cancer and his subsequent foundation of LiveStrong.
A grand jury in the US District Court of the Central District of
California issued the subpoena, which requests testimony and documents
related to the four cycling teams Armstrong has led - US Postal Service,
Discovery Channel, Astana and RadioShack. Subpoenas were delivered to
LeMond, as well to other past and present teammates of Armstrong.
In an interview conducted in French with the Journal Du Dimanche
newspaper a seemingly embittered LeMond said, "up until now, he has
achieved great things, if you consider he did it fairly, which I don't
believe."
"For him, it's the beginning of the end." He added: "The federal
investigation is very serious, more than people believe.
Armstrong
is racing his final Tour campaign amid damaging accusations by former
teammate Floyd Landis that their former team, US Postal, was involved in
systematic doping practices. A federal investigation into Landis's
claims has been launched and is being led by Jeff Novitzky, the same
federal agent whose probe into the BALCO doping scandal brought about
the downfall of athletics star Marion Jones.
Landis first accused Armstrong of doping during this year's Tour of California after his team, the Bahati Foundation team, was denied a spot in the race. Landis continued his charge on the opening day of the 2010 Tour de France with a detailed story of the alleged doping in a Wall Street Journal article entitled "Blood Brothers".
The three-time yellow jersey champion LeMond has been an advocate of
clean cycling for the past decade, and subsequent questioning of
Armstrong's record-setting performances have led to the pair having a
turbulent relationship.
Some fans claim LeMond is bitter because Armstrong went on to
surpass his record for an American on the race, but he has not limited
his queries to Armstrong. Last year he questioned whether Spain's
reigning champion, Alberto Contador, was riding clean.
LeMond said he has taken no particular enjoyment from seeing
Armstrong suffer on what has been a disastrous farewell campaign. He
believes the Texan faces more pressing concerns than the multiple
crashes he has suffered in the past two weeks.
"Seeing him suffer doesn't affect me at all. I would even have
preferred it if he hadn't crashed," added LeMond, who won the race in
1986, 1989 and 1990.
LeMond goes on, "Given everything
that he has been accused of recently, I'm even surprised he decided to race the Tour. I don't know how he's managed to stay
concentrated on the race. It will be interesting to see if he
collaborates with the investigation."
Armstrong said earlier this
week he would be prepared to cooperate with any investigation, provided
it did not become a "witch hunt".
"Like I said, as long as we have a legitimate and credible and
fair investigation, we'll be happy to cooperate, but I'm not going to
participate in any kind of witch hunt," he said.
And while
Armstrong continues to question the credibility of Landis, who denied
for four years that he had doped before finally confessing two months
ago in a bid to "clear his conscience", LeMond has no doubts.
He claimed that friends of Landis were even being threatened by
Armstrong.
"Listen, Landis spoke out because Armstrong was
going after him. He made threats against his (Landis's) friends," LeMond
alleged.
"I believe Landis because everything he's said, I've already
heard. There's a major difference between a guy like Ivan Basso (who was
banned for two years for doping) and Armstrong. Basso doesn't threaten
people!
"When it comes to manipulating people, Armstrong is the undisputed
champion."
When confronted by the report on France 2
television after the 14th stage, Armstrong pointed the finger at LeMond
and his victory on the race in 1989.
"We will have the opportunity to tell the truth to the
authorities, and Greg LeMond will tell the truth about 1989 I hope,"
said Armstrong, who is now 38th overall, 39'44" behind Luxembourg's
Andy Schleck.
"Because he, too, needs to tell the truth. I have nothing to hide." |
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