Sport

Knaven is the joker in pack

CYCLING/Tour de France: This is set to be the fastest Tour ever, which has excited a certain amount of controversy

William Fotheringham Bordeaux
Fri Jul 25 2003 - 01:00

CYCLING/Tour de France: This is set to be the fastest Tour ever, which has excited a certain amount of controversy. Up to yesterday, Lance Armstrong's average speed for close on 1,800 miles was just over 25 m.p.h., a little quicker than the record he set in 1999.

Writing in the newspaper Liberation, which casts a somewhat cynical spotlight on the Tour, the trainer Antoine Vayer has expressed surprise that speeds are higher than they were in the mid-1990s, held to be the high summer of drug abuse in cycling.

Yesterday the stage winner Servais Knaven whizzed through the pinewoods of the Landes at a speed which would have seen off a velomoteur: close to 29 m.p.h. for 113 miles. He and his nine breakaway companions sped away from the peloton the second the flag dropped on the outskirts of Dax.

Yesterday, the 10 to break away included representatives of five of the teams who have drawn a blank so far: Bram de Groot of Rabobank, Paolo Bossoni from Caldirola, Ivan Parra of Kelme, Leon van Bon of Lotto, and David Millar's Cofidis team-mate Mederic Clain.

READ MORE

The chase was intense for the first 25 miles on flat roads. The leaders included several who fit the vague description rouleur, the sort of cyclist who is at his ease in this game of long-range cut and thrust: iBanesto's Vicente Garcia Acosta; De Groot and the Italian Salvatore Commesso. Knaven was the joker in the pack.

The pressure is off Quickstep, who have won more money in this Tour than any other team, and the Dutchman waltzed ahead 10 miles out, whereupon the nine played into his hands by ceasing to work as a unit.

The sprinters' green jersey is being hotly fought this year: there are seven men in with a chance of overall victory, tightly packed behind the leader Baden Cooke of Australia.

Cooke's fdjeux.com squad played a tactical blinder, placing one of their riders, Christophe Mengin, in the escape, which meant they could sit back in the knowledge Mengin would be able to go for the stage win and they would have to play no part in the chase, saving their energy for supporting Cooke in the sprint.

This was only partly successful: Mengin did not have his wits about him when Knaven fled the coop, and Cooke lost out in the sprint for 11th to his two biggest rivals, last year's points winner Robbie McEwen, and the six times maillot vert Erik Zabel. But he still has the lead, by a mere six points, and, as he said yesterday, this particular contest will go to the wire on the Champs Elysees on Sunday.

Guardian Service

17th STAGE (181 kms from Dax to Bordeaux): Leading places: 1. S Knaven (Neth) Quickstep three hours 54 minutes 23 seconds, 2. P Bossoni (Ita) Vini Caldirola 17 seconds behind, 3 C Mengin (Fra) FDJeux.com, 4. L Van Bon (Neth) Lotto, 5. S Commesso (Ita) Saeco, 6. V Garcia Acosta (Spn) Ibanesto.com, 7. P Luttenberger (Austria) Team CSC, 8. M Clain (Fra) Cofidis, 9. B De Groot (Neth) Rabobank all same time, 10. I Parra (Col) Kelme 1:55, 11. R McEwen (Aust) Lotto 8:06, 12. E Zabel (Ger) Team Telekom, 13. B Cooke (Australia) FDJeux.com, 14. Hushovd (Nor Credit Agricole, 15. F Guidi (Ita) Team Bianchi, 16. G Glomser (Aus) Saeco, 17. D Nazon (Fra) Brioches, 18. J-P Nazon (Fra) Jean Delatour, 19. L Paolini (Italy) Quick Step, 20. A Flickinger (Fra) AG2R, 21. S O'Grady (Aust) Credit Agricole, 22. B McGee (Aust) FDJeux.com 23. S Casar (Fra) FDJeux.com, 24. J Enrique Gutierrez (Spn) Kelme, 25. R Aldag (Ger) Team Telekom, 26. T Liese (Ger) Team Bianchi, 27. J Ullrich (Ger) Team Bianchi, 28. L Armstrong (US) US Postal Service, 29. H De Clercq (Belg) Lotto 30. I Basso (Ita) Fassa Bortolo all same time.

Leading overall (yellow jersey) standings: 1. Armstrong 74:40:28, 2. Ullrich one minute seven seconds behind, 3. A Vinokourov (Kazakhstan) Team Telekom 2:45, 4. H Zubeldia (Spn) Euskaltel 5:16, 5. I Mayo (Spn) Euskaltel 5:25, 6. T Hamilton (US) Team CSC 6:35, 7. Baso 8:08, 8. C Moreau (Fra) Credit Agricole 11:12, 9. F Mancebo (Spn) Ibanesto.Com 16:05, 10. C Sastre (Spn) Team CSC 16:12.

Points standings (green jersey): 1. Cooke 169 points, 2. McEwen 163, 3. Zabel 157, 4. Hushovd 146, 5. O'Grady 133, 6. Paolini 126, 7. J-P Nazon 119, 8. B De Groot (Neth) Rabobank 99, 9. Ullrich 98, 10. Vinokourov 91.

King of the Mountain (polka-dot jersey) standings: 1. R Virenque (Fra) Quick Step 324, 2. L Dufaux (Switz) Alessio 187, 3. Armstrong 168, 4. J Miguel Mercado (Spn) Ibanesto.Com 133, 5. Moreau 132, 6. Mayo 130, 7. Zubeldia 125, 8. Ullrich 124, 9. Hamilton 116, 10. Paolo Bettini (Ita) Quick Step 100.

Team points: 1. Team CSC 221 hours 36 minutes and 33 seconds, 2. Euskaltel 16 minutes 57 seconds behind, 3. Banesto.com 18:53, 4. US Postal Service 23:52, 5. Team Bianchi 1:08:57.