Return of the ‘jour sans’ ?

Originally Posted by whiteboytrash

Return of the ‘jour sans’ ?

CycleSport February 2008

Imagine a Tour where we can be sure that the race is free of doping. Dream on, says the sceptic on your shoulder.

Imagine a Tour where the riders cant rely on their Italian Doctors medicine cabinet to offer a vital blood boast when all seems lost – that’s right, where uncertainly over their form nags at their minds. And yet, with all these new controls, will the 2008 Tour see the return of what all French fans know as the ‘jour sans’ – the bad day ?

The sudden inexplicable loss of power was once characteristic of the Tour, classification leaders dramatically losing their way as the rigors of three weeks if racing took their toll. The last time we saw anything like was in 2006 when Floyd Landis wobbled across an Alpine finish line in a state of collapse. But we then know what happened next, so lets move on.

In the 1989 Tour, every one of the favorites had a jour sans. LeMond crept all the way to the Superbagnerres in Fignon’s wake, while he favor was repaid Briancon. Fignon recalls watching his American rival suddenly lose power in the Pyrenees and agrees that the impact of doping has reduced the need study rivals and bluff your way through a race. “When you’re not going so well, the Tour crushes you,” he says. “When I rode I knew how to judge my rivals. If Greg LeMond got out of the saddle and slammed back into the saddle, that told me he was cooked.”

For the best part of the past 15 years, however, the jour sans had become a distant memory. Sure, there were a few moments – Ullrich on the Galiber in 1998, Indurain at Les Arcs in 1996 – but these were rare. For the most part, this generation barely faltered, unlike their predecessors.

“I hope that we will see a more human side to the Tour next year, a competition that people can understand and relate to, that doesn’t alienate them” says Christian Prudhomme. “We have had too many Tours of incredible speeds, where riders seem not to suffer. It doesn’t matter if the speed is 35 or 40 km per hour, it’s the quality and credibility that counts. “Now, with everything that we put in place, I am optimistic that more inventive racing over varied terrain and with better controls will end the era of super-teams with super leader, who rides who hides for most of the race and waits for each summit finish before grinding his rivals into submission. Its about the spectacle not the speed” Prudhomme says.

That philosophy might also be behind the relative lack of summit finishes on this years schedule. “Summit finishes are great to watch on TV, but to many of them tactically nullify the race because everyone plays a waiting game. Jean-Rene Bernaudeau says. “I want my riders to look at other opportunities. The good thing about this route is that its possible to do that, to keep the pressure on, unlike in the past where there were to many flat stages.”

All of which hints that maybe a spectacular collapse from a big name – a jour sans – might be making a comeback. And it’s not just the riders who will welcome that.