Key Discovery TdF Domestique Injured

[gntlmn]

Victor Hugo Pena, a mountain climbing specialist and one of Lance's most valuable domestiques in the mountains, may not have adequate Tour preparation after injuring his back 20 km into the Paris Roubais over the weekend. This puts a bit of a chink into the Discovery armor for the Tour. Perhaps Pena will still make it into the Tour, but he is bucking serious odds now.

http://edition.cnn.com/2005/SPORT/04/13/cycling.pena/

 

[tcklyde]

Victor Hugo Pena, a mountain climbing specialist and one of Lance's most valuable domestiques in the mountains, may not have adequate Tour preparation after injuring his back 20 km into the Paris Roubais over the weekend. This puts a bit of a chink into the Discovery armor for the Tour. Perhaps Pena will still make it into the Tour, but he is bucking serious odds now.

http://edition.cnn.com/2005/SPORT/04/13/cycling.pena/

Pena rides for Phonak.

 

[gntlmn]

Pena rides for Phonak.

Aha! You're right. http://www.cyclingfx.nl/Renners_fotos/Victor-Hugo Pena.htm

He was a Postie last year and the first Columbian to wear the Yellow Jersey in the TdF. But he's not with them anymore, and I missed that. So did the guy who wrote that article.

Here's another of Pena in Phonak gear. Sorry, Mr. Pena!

http://www.floydlandis.com/gallery/Murphy-Heiniger-Photos/phon_8184

 

[musette]

He was a Postie last year and the first Columbian to wear the Yellow Jersey in the TdF.

One must remember that VHP was booted from the TdF team for Postal last year, and a then newbie of Benja Noval substituted for him. That was a great choice because VHP wasn't that useful to LA anymore and the time gains that Postal could have gotten from winning the TTT (where VHP would have helped LA the most, given VHP's bad climbing capabilities) were capped based on then newly added regulations.

So, VHP was a non-player in 04 TdF.

He was recruited largely for climbing; when that didn't pan out, Bruyneel significantly reduced his salary. VHP could not have properly been viewed as a "key domestique" even when he was on the Postal TdF squad. Clearly, of the eight domestiques helping LA, he was always in the "bottom half" in importance.