Thursday, July 15, 2004
Scotsman.com Sport - Top Stories - Stage win means a lot to MoncoutieStage win means a lot to Moncoutie
JEAN LAFOND IN FIGEAC, FRANCE
IN the Cofidis team, he was always considered, "the other David". But following his victory in the 11th stage of the Tour de France yesterday, David Moncoutie has become ‘the man’ in the absence of Cofidis team leader David Millar, who was ruled out of cycling’s biggest race because of a doping investigation.
Moncoutie continued a wave of local success on the Tour, capturing the stage on the roads of his home region in the last test before the Pyrenees.
Five-times Tour champion Lance Armstrong and all the other favourites took it easy on the 164km run from St Flour to Figeac, saving strength for the two gruelling mountain stages today and tomorrow.
Moncoutie, 13th overall in the 2002 Tour, parted company with Spaniards Juan Antonio Flecha and Egoi Martinez with 10km left before the finish to clinch his first Tour stage victory.
"To win a stage on the Tour was a dream, but to do it in your home region is beyond belief," said Moncoutie, the son of postman who comes from the Lot region where the stage finished. "I was in a state of grace. I knew the course well and when I attacked I knew the two Spaniards would not catch me as there was a long descent ahead. It’s undoubtedly my best win."
"The last few weeks before the Tour were very hard but I knew I had nothing to worry about so I was able to concentrate on the sporting side. The Tour is hard enough if you concentrate on sport only."
Untarnished by the doping allegations swirling around Millar and French team-mates Cedric Vasseur and Philippe Gaumont, Moncoutie has always appeared as the squad’s Mr Clean.
But the rider who spent most of his childhood in this part of south-west France and raced to glory yesterday had never really lived up to expectations, despite being considered one the country’s brightest cycling talents.
"He’s a great rider but he never really delivered," said Cofidis team director Francis von Londersele. "Today, he produced the kind of great performance we would like him to come up with more often."
Moncoutie and Martinez had broken away after 50km and were quickly joined by Flecha, who had been very active in finishes in recent days looking for a repeat of his stage win in Toulouse last year.
The trio held a maximum lead of about eight minutes on the peleton which was being driven by Brioches La Boulangere, the team working hard to keep Thomas Voeckler in the yellow jersey a day longer.
Voeckler, not an exceptional climber, is not expected to keep the jersey past the two stages in the Pyrenees. "I get more tired with each day," admitted Voeckler. "If tomorrow I don’t feel better than I did today, I’m down for a hard time."
The young Frenchman leads sixth-placed Armstrong by nine minutes and 35 seconds in the overall classifications.
However, that is expected to change radically over a gruelling two days of climbing. Today’s 197.5km 12th stage takes the race to La Mongie, the ski resort where Armstrong seized the yellow jersey in 2002 and kept it the rest of they way to Paris. The US Postal team leader also won that year at the Plateau de Beille, where Saturday’s 13th stage will finish.
The American looked full of energy ahead of the two key stages and was seen sprinting towards the finish line on Thursday, perhaps trying to gain a few more valuable seconds on his main rivals for the crown. Armstrong crossed ninth in the stage, 5:59 back of the winner with his main challengers Germany’s Jan Ullrich and American Tyler Hamilton on his heels.
• Belgian rider Christophe Brandt, kicked out of the Tour de France after failing a dope test for methadone last week, believes the drug came from tainted nutritional supplements.
Brandt, his lawyer, a doctor and a witness consulted the chemist who had sold him two nutritional supplements prescribed by Lotto-Domo team doctor Daniel de Neve.
The chemist said he had worked with methadone on the day he had prepared products prescribed to cure Brandt’s recurrent liver problems.
"It’s a relief for me," Brandt said. "Even if I remain suspended by the Lotto-Domo team pending a decision by the Belgian Cycling League, I hope to avoid a sanction thanks to this new evidence."
Brandt was tested after the second stage between Charleroi and Namur and again last Friday. Both tests and their B samples revealed traces of methadone.
JEAN LAFOND IN FIGEAC, FRANCE
IN the Cofidis team, he was always considered, "the other David". But following his victory in the 11th stage of the Tour de France yesterday, David Moncoutie has become ‘the man’ in the absence of Cofidis team leader David Millar, who was ruled out of cycling’s biggest race because of a doping investigation.
Moncoutie continued a wave of local success on the Tour, capturing the stage on the roads of his home region in the last test before the Pyrenees.
Five-times Tour champion Lance Armstrong and all the other favourites took it easy on the 164km run from St Flour to Figeac, saving strength for the two gruelling mountain stages today and tomorrow.
Moncoutie, 13th overall in the 2002 Tour, parted company with Spaniards Juan Antonio Flecha and Egoi Martinez with 10km left before the finish to clinch his first Tour stage victory.
"To win a stage on the Tour was a dream, but to do it in your home region is beyond belief," said Moncoutie, the son of postman who comes from the Lot region where the stage finished. "I was in a state of grace. I knew the course well and when I attacked I knew the two Spaniards would not catch me as there was a long descent ahead. It’s undoubtedly my best win."
"The last few weeks before the Tour were very hard but I knew I had nothing to worry about so I was able to concentrate on the sporting side. The Tour is hard enough if you concentrate on sport only."
Untarnished by the doping allegations swirling around Millar and French team-mates Cedric Vasseur and Philippe Gaumont, Moncoutie has always appeared as the squad’s Mr Clean.
But the rider who spent most of his childhood in this part of south-west France and raced to glory yesterday had never really lived up to expectations, despite being considered one the country’s brightest cycling talents.
"He’s a great rider but he never really delivered," said Cofidis team director Francis von Londersele. "Today, he produced the kind of great performance we would like him to come up with more often."
Moncoutie and Martinez had broken away after 50km and were quickly joined by Flecha, who had been very active in finishes in recent days looking for a repeat of his stage win in Toulouse last year.
The trio held a maximum lead of about eight minutes on the peleton which was being driven by Brioches La Boulangere, the team working hard to keep Thomas Voeckler in the yellow jersey a day longer.
Voeckler, not an exceptional climber, is not expected to keep the jersey past the two stages in the Pyrenees. "I get more tired with each day," admitted Voeckler. "If tomorrow I don’t feel better than I did today, I’m down for a hard time."
The young Frenchman leads sixth-placed Armstrong by nine minutes and 35 seconds in the overall classifications.
However, that is expected to change radically over a gruelling two days of climbing. Today’s 197.5km 12th stage takes the race to La Mongie, the ski resort where Armstrong seized the yellow jersey in 2002 and kept it the rest of they way to Paris. The US Postal team leader also won that year at the Plateau de Beille, where Saturday’s 13th stage will finish.
The American looked full of energy ahead of the two key stages and was seen sprinting towards the finish line on Thursday, perhaps trying to gain a few more valuable seconds on his main rivals for the crown. Armstrong crossed ninth in the stage, 5:59 back of the winner with his main challengers Germany’s Jan Ullrich and American Tyler Hamilton on his heels.
• Belgian rider Christophe Brandt, kicked out of the Tour de France after failing a dope test for methadone last week, believes the drug came from tainted nutritional supplements.
Brandt, his lawyer, a doctor and a witness consulted the chemist who had sold him two nutritional supplements prescribed by Lotto-Domo team doctor Daniel de Neve.
The chemist said he had worked with methadone on the day he had prepared products prescribed to cure Brandt’s recurrent liver problems.
"It’s a relief for me," Brandt said. "Even if I remain suspended by the Lotto-Domo team pending a decision by the Belgian Cycling League, I hope to avoid a sanction thanks to this new evidence."
Brandt was tested after the second stage between Charleroi and Namur and again last Friday. Both tests and their B samples revealed traces of methadone.
