Articles - Lance on Safety Issues

[Churchill]

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/Co...965&call_pageid=968867503640&col=970081593064


Jul. 11, 2004. 01:00 AM


Lance's safety prescription
Armstrong: Spills can be prevented Race `needs time trial in first
week'



SAINT-BRIEUC, France-Lance Armstrong says Tour de France organizers
could do more to calm jumpy riders and avoid spills that could mar his
record hopes.

For a second straight day yesterday, the five-time champion offered
unsolicited pointers for Tour managers. He suggested that a time trial be
held in the often-nervy first week, to thin the number of race favourites.

Sending riders out one-by-one against the clock would leave just the
fastest with a realistic chance of winning the three-week Tour. Laggards
would fall by the wayside, reducing the field of contenders. That, in turn,
could leave fewer racers jostling each day at the front of the race - a
recipe for crashes.

"The race needs a time trial in the first week because it's too
nervous without it," Armstrong said. "It's safer for the event to establish
some order in the group and we're still another week away from figuring out
who the hell's going to be in the front."

A day earlier, Armstrong had said the finish of Friday's stage was too
narrow. A pile-up left some riders badly hurt.

As the 32-year-old battles for a record sixth title, young riders are
stealing the show.

Outpacing two last challengers, Italian hope Filippo Pozzato bolted to
victory in yesterday's 204.5-kilometre ride from Chateaubriant to
Saint-Brieuc in Brittany. At 22, Pozzato is the Tour's youngest rider.

French champion Thomas Voeckler, 25, holds the overall leader's yellow
jersey.

Armstrong, who aims to recover the lead by Tour's end in Paris on July
25, was 55th yesterday, 10 seconds behind Pozzato. Armstrong rival Jan
Ullrich of Germany, the 1997 Tour winner, placed 30th, in the same time as
the Texan.

Overall, Armstrong remained in sixth place, nine minutes and 35
seconds behind Voeckler. Ullrich is still 55 seconds behind Armstrong.

Pozzato's win was the first bright spot for Italians. Two top Italian
sprinters, Alessandro Petacchi and Mario Cipollini, withdrew with injuries
this week. Gilberto Simoni nearly quit yesterday after an injury in the mass
crash Friday.

A dozen riders have withdrawn so far from the Tour, mostly with
injuries. Tyler Hamilton, an American with Phonak, was embroiled in Friday's
pileup and hurt his back but is racing on.

"I wasn't feeling so hot," said Hamilton.

Armstrong was bruised but not badly hurt in a tumble Friday.

"I thought you'd have more spice in the race, but I think guys are
tired and stressed from all the crashes," he said.

Belgian Christophe Brandt became the first rider to fail a doping
test. His team said he was sent home after testing positive for a heroin
substitute. Brandt suggested a lab error might be to blame and was awaiting
results of a follow-up test.

Associated Press

 

[Churchill]

http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.asp?ao=118521


Armstrong: Bruised, but far from out

France

10 July 2004 10:46


Lance Armstrong knows his bid for a record sixth Tour de France victory
could all end in one crash. So he wasn't pleased when dozens of riders went
down in a pile in front of him.

The crash at the finish in Angers was the final straw for a five-time
champion already bruised up in a tumble earlier on Friday in an otherwise
smooth ride in balmy weather through western France.

Exasperated, he suggested that organisers of the three-week race should put
safety first.

"You saw the big crash at the finish, this is stressful," the 32-year-old
said. "Coming in, they've got the barriers really tight, and you've got 200
guys racing through there at 40 miles (65 kilometres) an hour."

"I don't know what ... they're thinking, but you're going to have crashes."

Belgium's Tom Boonen, a former teammate of Armstrong riding in his first
Tour, won the sixth stage in a sprint ahead of the spill that took out and
held up dozens of riders, including the Texan.

Only the evening before, Armstrong had told reporters about the strain of
knowing that his ambitions at the Tour -- the race he works so hard to
win -- could all end in a bout of bad luck.

"In this race, I'm always scared, always nervous," he said. "The last two or
three days for me, personally, have been really, really nerve-racking."

Down but not defeated, Armstrong scraped himself up off the asphalt and
resumed after his fall 20 minutes into the 196-kilometre ride from Bonneval
to Angers.

In the rain-soaked first week, other riders haven't been so lucky.

Italian sprinting specialists Alessandro Petacchi and Mario Cipollini
withdrew from the race before Friday's stage. Petacchi, who roared to four
sprint-finish wins in the 2003 Tour, injured a shoulder in a crash on wet
roads Thursday.

Former world champion Cipollini fell on Wednesday, aggravating a leg injury
from the Giro d'Italia in May. That same day, Iban Mayo -- once considered a
threat to Armstrong -- fell out of contention after he crashed and lost
crucial minutes.

While he wasn't hurt, the spill was Armstrong's biggest scare in his bid for
an indelible place in the annals of sporting history.

"It was a typical early race crash," Armstrong said. "There's nothing you
can do. You hit the brakes, but bikes don't stop that fast, so I just went
over."

"It wasn't bad, a little bit on the arm, a little bit on the hip," he said,
listing his bruises.

In another stroke of good fortune, the second spill that held him up almost
within sight of the finish happened close enough to the line that he wasn't
docked valuable time.

Under the rules, competitors held up in a crash in the final kilometre of a
stage are given the same time as Boonen, the winner: 4 hours, 33 minutes, 41
seconds.

That meant that while Armstrong finished 34th, German Jan Ullrich -- his
most feared rival -- was 26th but didn't make up time on the defending
champ.
Frenchman Thomas Voeckler of Brioches La Boulangere maintained the overall
lead. Armstrong remains 9 minutes, 35 seconds back in sixth place, and
Ullrich trails him by 55 seconds.

Barring any mishaps, Armstrong is confident he can recover the leader's
yellow jersey by the end of the three-week race in Paris on July 25,
expecting Voeckler to eventually buckle under the pressure of leading.

Taking the yellow jersey made the 25-year-old French champion a homegrown
hero overnight, but he still shows deference to the leader of the pack.

Ensnared in Armstrong's crash, he rolled over the champion's feet -- and was
quick to apologise.

"I hope I didn't twist his ankle," Voeckler said.

Crashes are nothing new. Riders accustomed to grueling mountain climbs and
punishing weather often take tumbles, and are competing here with bandaged
chins, black eyes and stitched-up wounds.

This year, a mix of nervous, aggressive riding and narrow roads made slick
by rain have caused several collisions and spills in the first six stages.

The daily medical statement issued by Tour organisers on Friday listed a
dozen riders who had a variety of injuries, including broken ribs, injured
knees, and cut wrists and necks.

Tyler Hamilton, a former teammate of Armstrong's, hurt his shoulder. But it
was of little worry for the thick-skinned American: He thrilled crowds a
year ago by riding most of the Tour with a double-fractured collarbone --
even winning a stage and
finishing fourth in Paris.

The Marblehead, Massachusetts native still has psychological scars.

"His morale is not so good because he's thinking about last year," Phonak
team manager Urs Freuler said.

Several Armstrong teammates have also been entangled in crashes.

Spaniards Jose Luis Rubeira and Manuel Beltran are riding with stitches
after falling.
Another Armstrong teammate, Viatceslav Ekimov of Russia, arrived back at the
team bus Friday with a trickle of blood down his right knee.

Armstrong's US Postal Service team has made no secret of its strategy of
keeping to the relatively safe areas at the head of the main rider pack --
and others are trying to mimic it.

The problem: Not everybody can do it.

"The US Postal's habit of always trying to remain ahead to protect Lance
Armstrong has been copied this year by other teams," said Boonen, a
Quickstep rider. "The roads are sometimes narrow, so naturally there isn't
always enough space." - Sapa-AP