Dessel Tearing it Up!

[JRMDC]

Cyril Dessel of A2R continues his high level of form at the Tour L'Ain, a four-day stage race in France with teams of six riders. He finished first in stage 1, 12 seconds clear of a group of 11 riders, and has finished second in today's stage 3, apparently a climbing stage (the queen stage? and where did that phrase originate from?), to one Noam Lelarge of continental team Betragne Jean Floch, gapping a chase group by over 40 seconds. On top of that, he was third in the 85 rider field sprint finishing stage 2.

He leads the overall by 22 seconds over Lelarge and over a minute on everyone else. Since stage 4 has three cat 2s, after the last a descent, then a modest uphill finish, I presume he will hold on to the overall. Among the riders competing for the third spot is Beltran of Discovery and Calzati, also of A2R (whose team also includes John Gadret, who was very strong going uphill in the Giro). Patrice Halgand of CA wears the climbing jersey.

Details at www.tourdelain.com, a poor website, very late to update and confusing (you can't tell that the overall has been updated for stage 3, but not the points or climbing rankings, unless you are following the race). I haven't done any French -> English translation because one has to work, eat, etc. So I don't know what happened, only how things ended up.

Why am I posting this? I don't know, maybe I am thinking of Voigt and the suspicion here revolving around his recent performances. I know nothing about Dessel's past. The L'Ain field is not strong, and it appears that AG2R brought some muscle to it.

Or maybe I just want to see more racing discussion on the forum (but I don't have my head in the sand).

 

[whiteboytrash]

Dessel rode an awesome stage to Morzine... no one noticed amid the Landis affair but Dessel actually lost it on the final decent, crashed, got back on his bike and rode to the finish.... at the end of the stage he is seen slumped next to the team bus on all fours having a 'hurl' with his team pouring water all over him... he was so spent and rode out of his skin.... Pereiro was the same, shaking his head and trying to break a smile but blowing his lips out.... Rogers came in shock his head and near fell of his bike and started muttering "no tactics, no tactics" to the journalists sticking mikes in his face.... finally someone asked him "what do you mean, no tactics ?" he said "you can't have tactics on a stage like that, you can't race against that, there are no tactics, you just try and finish"...... camera pans back to Dessel, now he is sitting on the ground with a large bottle of Evian and pouring it all over himself, towel wrapped around his neck.... the guy is a legend and big chance win some races next year... and of course clean because all the French are clean and publish their medical records..... thanks for the post..... thank-god for EuroSport where you get to see everything even when the stage finishes….. WBT out.

Cyril Dessel of A2R continues his high level of form at the Tour L'Ain, a four-day stage race in France with teams of six riders. He finished first in stage 1, 12 seconds clear of a group of 11 riders, and has finished second in today's stage 3, apparently a climbing stage (the queen stage? and where did that phrase originate from?), to one Noam Lelarge of continental team Betragne Jean Floch, gapping a chase group by over 40 seconds. On top of that, he was third in the 85 rider field sprint finishing stage 2.

He leads the overall by 22 seconds over Lelarge and over a minute on everyone else. Since stage 4 has three cat 2s, after the last a descent, then a modest uphill finish, I presume he will hold on to the overall. Among the riders competing for the third spot is Beltran of Discovery and Calzati, also of A2R (whose team also includes John Gadret, who was very strong going uphill in the Giro). Patrice Halgand of CA wears the climbing jersey.

Details at www.tourdelain.com, a poor website, very late to update and confusing (you can't tell that the overall has been updated for stage 3, but not the points or climbing rankings, unless you are following the race). I haven't done any French -> English translation because one has to work, eat, etc. So I don't know what happened, only how things ended up.

Why am I posting this? I don't know, maybe I am thinking of Voigt and the suspicion here revolving around his recent performances. I know nothing about Dessel's past. The L'Ain field is not strong, and it appears that AG2R brought some muscle to it.

Or maybe I just want to see more racing discussion on the forum (but I don't have my head in the sand).

 

[JRMDC]

Cool, thanks. The detail on the flavor of the stage is great!

I did notice (aka, read ) that Dessel crashed but got back up and made a great placing. I think it was in one of the text feeds.

Dessel rode an awesome stage to Morzine... no one noticed amid the Landis affair but Dessel actually lost it on the final decent, crashed, got back on his bike and rode to the finish.... at the end of the stage he is seen slumped next to the team bus on all fours having a 'hurl' with his team pouring water all over him... he was so spent and rode out of his skin.... Pereiro was the same, shaking his head and trying to break a smile but blowing his lips out.... Rogers came in shock his head and near fell of his bike and started muttering "no tactics, no tactics" to the journalists sticking mikes in his face.... finally someone asked him "what do you mean, no tactics ?" he said "you can't have tactics on a stage like that, you can't race against that, there are no tactics, you just try and finish"...... camera pans back to Dessel, now he is sitting on the ground with a large bottle of Evian and pouring it all over himself, towel wrapped around his neck.... the guy is a legend and big chance win some races next year... and of course clean because all the French are clean and publish their medical records..... thanks for the post..... thank-god for EuroSport where you get to see everything even when the stage finishes….. WBT out.

 

[bobke]

Cool, thanks. The detail on the flavor of the stage is great!

I did notice (aka, read ) that Dessel crashed but got back up and made a great placing. I think it was in one of the text feeds.

Yeah even we here in the US saw Cyril do an Ullrich on the descent.
Good stuff that he was OK cause it looked gnarly at the time.
Thats what happens when you are overcooked and the muscle fatigue sets in, the loss of control becomes magnified at 40-50 mph.
Ouch.

Who the hell is Cyrill Dessel BTW?
results or anything like that before his teammate Mancebo got kicked out for doping.
Oh yeah where is Moreau these days, speaking of people having a great comeback.

 

[poulidor]

and of course clean because all the French are clean and publish their medical records.....

About the french and their medical records: in track-and-field european championships, a french woman is not allowed to compete by herfederation because of her medical record is not "good" but she was not tested positive.

 

[mitosis]

Yeah even we here in the US saw Cyril do an Ullrich on the descent.
Good stuff that he was OK cause it looked gnarly at the time.
Thats what happens when you are overcooked and the muscle fatigue sets in, the loss of control becomes magnified at 40-50 mph.
Ouch.

Who the hell is Cyrill Dessel BTW?
results or anything like that before his teammate Mancebo got kicked out for doping.
Oh yeah where is Moreau these days, speaking of people having a great comeback.

Yeah, why couldn't he do this in Le Tour? He is French isn't he?

 

[Durangodave]

Dessel was my man in Le Tour... after he took yellow and I heard of him for the first time ever.

Seems to be plenty of room on the bandwagon.
.

 

[bobke]

Dessel was my man in Le Tour... after he took yellow and I heard of him for the first time ever.

Seems to be plenty of room on the bandwagon.
.

Who would ever name their son "Cyril?"

 

[Durangodave]

Who would ever name their son "Cyril?"

Dunno...
Its an angram for "lyric."
I like it better than "Floyd."
.

 

[Dead Star]

Dessel is former Phonak, don't forget.

 

[JRMDC]

Dessel is former Phonak, don't forget.

It can never end! What a mess...

 

[Durangodave]

Dessel is former Phonak, don't forget.

But he is French and Pure and Good!
.

 

[Martin Jackson]

Dessel was my man in Le Tour... after he took yellow and I heard of him for the first time ever.

Seems to be plenty of room on the bandwagon.
.

Agreed. He's got a very nice style on the bike, and he's determined. You could see that several times when he was fighting for the stage win and a high gc placing in the Alps.

For the record, I haven't met him... yet.

 

[JRMDC]

The Tour L'Ain finishes up, with climbing jersey winner Patrice Halgand of CA taking the final stage win in a two man break, over teammate Christophe Le Mevel. Dessel takes the overall and the points jersey, Noan Lelarge of Bertragne Jean Floc'h and Xavier Florencio of Bouygues Telecom complete the podium.

Hmm, wonder if they raced the finish, or if the team decided for Halgand. I would think that, all other things equal, if Halgand were getting a jersey, they would allow Le Mevel the stage win. Hmm...

The french writeup seems to say they sprinted, but no other details.