Going into today's stage, Didier Rous's (Bonjour) victory in the Midi Libre
was anything but a sure thing. The final stage from Le Vigan to Sete (157
km) featured several climbs at the finish, and Georg Totschnig (Telekom)
trailed Rous by only four seconds on GC. Rous, however, held on to win the
race. Today, he finished twelfth behind Rodolfo Massi (Cantina Tollo), who
bested Andrei Kivilev (Ag2R) by nineteen seconds and Nicolas Dumont (Besson
Chaussures) by thirty.
Massi, who was recently cleared of all charges in the doping scandal that
rocked the 1998 Tour de France, attacked just a few kilometers into the
stage. Alexander Vinokourov (Telekom), Christophe Moreau (Festina), Kivilev,
Gilles Maignan (Ag2R), Nicola Loda (Fassa Bortolo), Dumont, Michele Gobbi
(Mobilvetta), and Francisque Teyssier (Jean Delatour) joined him. The break,
which had dropped Moreau and lost Vinokourov (he had crashed), led by more
than five minutes at 90 km. The bunch, however, cut the lead to two minutes
by 130 km. Massi rode away from his companions on Mont St. Clair to win the
stage.
Totschnig was expected to attack Rous but was not strong enough to do so. In
fact, Rous took four more seconds out of the German. Tadej Valjavec (Fassa
Bortolo) finished third on GC at 1:12.
The Midi Libre was the last chance for some teams to qualify for the Tour de
France. Twelve teams have been selected on the basis of the UCI team
ranking. The last three will be chosen on May 31. Of the teams whose fate
has yet to be decided, Bonjour's victory in the Midi Libre appears to have
garnered it a spot. Jean Delatour's position is less certain, but it had
some early season success that should give it consideration. Big Mat Auber's
situation is a good deal less certain. Memorycard is unlikely to qualify for
the Tour, particularly because Kelme deserves consideration.
The Midi Libre has become a major tuneup race for the Tour. Many riders who
will ride in the Tour sharpen their fitness at this race. Bobby Julich
(Credit Agricole), who finished third two years ago but crashed out last
year, seemed fit until the next-to-last day, when he lost five minutes. (The
time loss may not mean anything. Julich might have used the race as training
and might not want to push himself beyond a certain threshold.) Jonathan
Vaughters, Julich's teammate, also seemed fit until the next-to-last day. In
1998, Rodolfo Massi (Ag2R) was the Tour King of the Mountains until the
French police shanghaied him away from the race; the Italian seems just as
fit now. Stuart O'Grady (Credit Agricole) appears to be ready to fight for
the green jersey.
One rider appears unready to ride the Tour: Jan Ullrich (Telekom). The man
who is perhaps the most talented rider of his generation is having his
annual battle with excess weight. He claims to be recovering from influenza
and has claimed to be recovering from a number of other ailments this year.
He was more than half an hour behind Didier Rous on GC when he abandoned.
Clearly, he is not close to being ready for the Tour. If he does not find
his fitness, he will not start the race, much less win it or place in it.
Telekom will certainly be displeased about that.
