THE RACE LIVE

The film of the stage

Guerini Responds When Opportunity Knocks

On a day that an escape was destined to succeed the two main groups which raced away from the peloton in the first 40 kilometers were a study of contrasting techniques. Giuseppe Guerini earned the reward of another victory in the Tour de France while his compatriot Salvatore Commesso really animated the action but netted nothing other than a fifth place for his aggression.
Guerini will be remembered because of his professionalism while Commesso is just another man who came close to a coup but effectively only succeeded in annoying his companions on a day they could have contested the stage.
The rolling terrain between Issoire and Le Puy-en-Velay provided the platform for the opportunists who still had enough energy to chase a victory on the eve of the only long individual time trial of the 92nd Tour. There is no doubt that this was a transitional stage. The rider in the yellow jersey already had his mind on the quest for his first solo victory in his final race. But before Lance Armstrong and his Discovery Channel colleagues could ease the pace of the peloton and allow a sortie to succeed, the right combination had to be found.
There was an attack in the first kilometer and the attempts continued for the first hour. Even Jan Ullrich was bold enough to try and sneak ahead but, as always, the Texan and his team-mates were attentive. Every move was rendered void until Sandy Casar surged forward after 30 kilometers. He was chased down by Guerini and Oscar Pereiro Sio. This trio was later joined by Franco Pellizotti and it became a quartet that Discovery was satisfied with.
Why not let them go? The best-placed in the general classification was Pereiro but the winner in Pau was no threat to the yellow jersey. He began the day in 13th place, over 17 minutes behind Armstrong. And so the bunch eased off the gas momentarily. That was the cue for Escape Number Two.
Kurt-Asle Arvesen was foiled by Paolo Savoldelli only two days ago when he was beaten in the sprint to the line in Revel. If at first you don’t succeed… then why not try again? That’s what the Norwegian did. And nine other riders decided they also stood a chance.
Arvesen was joined by Ronny Scholz, Bert Grabsch, Juan Antonio Flecha, Sylvain Chavanel, Peter Weening, Carlos Da Cruz, Alessandro Bertolini, the Discovery team’s policeman, Jose Azevedo and Commesso. With some cooperation over the next couple of hours they could have paced themselves up to the leading quartet. But Commesso had a point to prove. Instead of swapping off with even turns of pace, the Lampre-Caffita rider – the only fugitive from today who had previously won more than one stage at the Tour – insisted on attacking.
As soon as his companions caught up with him Salvatore would surge again. It happened time after time after time. And as the finish drew near, the effects of almost three weeks of racing was obvious. One by one, Commesso’s cohorts surrendered to his antics.
If the four riders ahead hadn’t worked in unison Commesso stood a chance of adding a third stage victory to his resume. Instead he earned fifth place, almost three minutes behind Guerini.
There were no attacks in the lead group until crunch time. It was clear that an accord had been reached during the 120 kilometers in which they cooperated like team-mates. Pereiro would take the climbing points and confirm his position as runner-up to Mickael Rasmussen in the mountains classification. As a pay-back he would roll through and take longer turns at the end of the stage. Something else motivated him today; if Oscar could remain sufficiently ahead of the peloton a second successive top 10 place in the general classification would be his. He missed out on the stage win but, like Cadel Evans did on the day Pereiro won in Pau, the Spaniard pushed his way into the top 10.
This is all likely to change tomorrow. The time trial in St-Etienne is going to shuffle the top order significantly but, barring disaster, the yellow jersey will not budge. Armstrong is expected to win his only stage this year on the fourth Saturday of the race. But the question remains: who will stand beside him on the Parisian podium in two days time? By this time tomorrow, we’ll know the answer.

Newsflashes

» Read all the dispatches