THE RACE LIVE

The film of the stage

Triumphs Of Aggression & Spirit

A day of rest allowed Oscar Pereiro Sio to regain his composure after an epic escape which netted him second place at the final mountain top finish of the 2005 Tour de France. The man who was voted the ‘most aggressive rider’ on the day to Pla-d’Adet earned the same prize again in stage 16 but the Spanish Phonak rider also achieved the coup of a stage win in his second attempt at the French race. It was, however, the rider who finished the stage from Mourenx to Pau in fourth place who really animated the stage.
Cadel Evans claimed first-place points at the top of the final ‘hors category’ col this year and demonstrated that there’s plenty of depth in Australian cycling. The former mountain bike star’s team-mate Robbie McEwen may have won three sprint stages already this year, but today it was Evans who ignited the action in the mountains. He was part of the first real escape of the stage that tackled the feared Col de Marie-Blanque and the Col d’Aubisque and Evans confessed that it was his last real chance to gain any real advantage in the race for overall honors. No, he can’t wrestle the yellow jersey off the shoulders of Lance Armstrong. Not even Ivan Basso, Jan Ullrich or anyone else with far more Tour experience is capable of doing that. Cadel’s ambition was to elevate himself from 11th overall to the top 10.
“I just wanted to get as much time as the course allowed,” said Evans afterwards. “It’s not every day that you can steal more than three minutes from Armstrong.”
By the end of the stage the Davitamon-Lotto rider earned more than that. Evans gained three minutes and 24 seconds on the real protagonists and worked his way up to seventh in the general classification. “All I wanted was time,” said the rider who was caught on the descent of the monstrous Aubisque mountain by Pereiro Sio and later by Xabier Zandio and Eddy Mazzoleni. “I might have missed out on the stage win but I wanted to do something today to show my respect...”
Cadel didn’t have the words to finish the sentence. Like the rest of the Australian cycling community, he was in mourning today. Only 24 hours before he crested the Aubisque with an advantage of over four minutes on the yellow jersey, a car ploughed into six female cyclists from the Australian national team while they were on a training ride in Germany. Amy Gillett died at the scene of the tragic accident and all five other women are in hospital with devastating injuries after a head-on crash caused by a young driver.
“I simply haven’t got any words to compensate for the loss,” said an emotional Evans after the stage.
Pereiro Sio who helped pace George Hincapie up the climb to Pla-d’Adet two days ago caught up with the stage leader today on the Aubisque descent. And in an ironic twist, it was on this stretch of road that Evans almost ended his chance to make his Tour debut only six weeks earlier. The 28-year-old crashed while doing a reconnaissance ride of today’s stage at the end of May and broke his collarbone. “On the final big descent of the final stage in the Pyrenees I hit a patch of gravel and lost control of my bike,” he said of the incident that hindered his preparation for the Tour. “I broke the same bone that snapped three times in 2003 but thankfully it’s not too bad this time. I’ll be back in time for the Tour.”
It’s understandable, however, that the Australian was a little cautious on the desccent. “I just wanted to get down the hill safely. I’m actually pleased that Pereiro Sio caught me because I think he knew the roads well. It’s good to have someone to follow when you’re going as fast as we were.
“Once we were at the bottom, I did a 75km time trial to the finish. The other guys were interested in the stage win, but I wanted time. It’s unfortunate that I had to do so much work only for someone else to get the win, but I’m satisfied with my day. Seventh overall sounds much better than 11th.”
Australian cycling fans needed something positive after what happened in Germany although nothing can compensate for the loss of life.
Racing can conjure many emotions and today we got a taste of inspiration from a rider with plenty of promise and a team which willing to support him. Cadel might not have won the stage but he has elevated his status in the hearts of many fans in his home country.

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