Thursday is the last time in his career that Lance will have a chance to win on top of Mont Ventoux. There is no shortage of studs in this years Dauphine Libere. Guys like Kloden, Vinokourov, Botero, Landis, Julich etc will all be in the line up. You gotta think that Lance is going to try and gun this stage and win on top of Ventoux, which up till now has eluded him (included the often speculated gift to Pantani in 2000). Will this climb reveal Lance's true form and will he go sub 56, or will he fake it and save it for the Tour.
The stage is preceded by a 46 K TT on Wed. My feeling is that if Lance is truly on form and takes the TT and is not sandbagging it, he will try and win on Ventoux. If he is going to win it, he will need to attack on the first 12K before Chalet Raynard where the climb is super duper steep (like 12%). After that, when it gets up to the Provence moonscape, guys like Vinokourov have just as much of a chance of taking this stage.
The Saturday stage from Albertville to Morzine-Avouriaz should also be epic. Years ago, there was a super cool tri from Thonon les Bain on Lake Geneva to Morzine-Avouriaz (ie coming from the North vs the Sat Dauphine stage from the south). The bike was 20K of false flats and then 20K sstraight up to the ski station. The run continues skyward climbing continuously up to the apex of the ski resort. Very cool. I believe Simon Lessing won this race back around 1991 or so. Perhaps Francois can pull this trivia out of his hat to confirm.
Dev
The stage is preceded by a 46 K TT on Wed. My feeling is that if Lance is truly on form and takes the TT and is not sandbagging it, he will try and win on Ventoux. If he is going to win it, he will need to attack on the first 12K before Chalet Raynard where the climb is super duper steep (like 12%). After that, when it gets up to the Provence moonscape, guys like Vinokourov have just as much of a chance of taking this stage.
The Saturday stage from Albertville to Morzine-Avouriaz should also be epic. Years ago, there was a super cool tri from Thonon les Bain on Lake Geneva to Morzine-Avouriaz (ie coming from the North vs the Sat Dauphine stage from the south). The bike was 20K of false flats and then 20K sstraight up to the ski station. The run continues skyward climbing continuously up to the apex of the ski resort. Very cool. I believe Simon Lessing won this race back around 1991 or so. Perhaps Francois can pull this trivia out of his hat to confirm.
Dev
Last edited by:
devashish paul: Jun 4, 05 13:55