As torrential rainstorms once more swept across the Savoie region of the French Alps, the 1996 Tour exploded into life under the impulse of Telekom's Danish team leader Bjarne Riis. The 32-year- old's attack on the descent of the Col de la Madeleine set fire to the 1996 Tour, as attacks, tearful abandons, and crashes were frenetically announced throughout the stage.
In an extraordinary day of racing, race leader Stephane Heulot of GAN abandoned the Tour in tears at the top of the day's second col as he succumbed to tendinitis in his right leg. In addition, ONCE's Belgian star Johan Bruyneel disappeared horrifyingly into a yawning mountain ravine, only to miraculously remount moments later, while his teammate Alex Zulle, second in last year's Tour, crashed heavily twice on the day's final descent.
The sight of Bruyneel tumbling into space must have caused race director Jean-Marie Leblanc's heart to miss a beat, but the Belgian's fall was broken by a tree. "I'm happy to be alive," said the 1995 stage winner. "The guy in front of me moved out to the right, and I had to brake hard, but there just wasn't enough time and I'd gone too far to avoid the parapet. Next thing I knew, I was flying - I didn't know where I was going to land, but the branches caught me."
But this amazing drama was only the prelude to the moment that may yet prove to have been the beginning of the end of an era. Three and a half kilometers from the finish at the summit of Les Arcs, the ferocious pace set by ONCE's Aitor Garmendia at the head of a group containing most of the race favorites, proved too much for Spain's greatest-ever cyclist.
As Polti's Luc Leblanc caught lone breakaway Laurent Dufaux of Festina, a minute further up the climb, Indurain slipped inexorably towards the rear of a small group containing, among others, Berzin, Tony Rominger and Abraham Olano (both Mapei/GB), Telekom's Riis, Fernando Escartin of Kelme and Roslotto's Piotr Ugrumov.
At the same moment, ONCE's Zulle, who had fallen no less than twice on the descent of the penultimate climb, the Cornet de Roselend, began to struggle as shock set into his muscles. Immediately, the pair, first and second, respectively, at last year's Tour, were left to battle alone against the climb, with Indurain frantically signaling for a drink, as first Zulle and then even TVM's Bo Hamburger left him behind.
Ahead of them, Leblanc was already celebrating an excellent stage win, while Olano, Berzin, Rominger and Riis, seizing on an opportunity that has taken five years to come, set about distancing the great Spaniard. Two kilometers from the finish, Indurain appeared utterly exhausted, his mouth set in a taut grimace and his legs barely able to tap out a climbing rhythm.
Even with the realization that he was losing valuable time to his rivals, Banesto's leader typically showed few obvious signs of panic, but his team car was quick to drive alongside offering support and encouragement. For once, there was little that he or they could do, and the 32-year-old Navarran struggled painfully on in an attempt to limit his losses.
Olano, meanwhile, was driving the favorites' group with Rominger sitting tightly on his back wheel, before the 35-year-old Swiss jumped clear in the closing few hundred meters to take second place. Berzin came in nine seconds further back, alongside Riis and Escartin, but the blond 26-year-old had done enough to take the first yellow jersey of his career on a day which will long live in the memory of those who saw it.
RESULTS
1. Luc Leblanc (Fra) Polti 200 km in 5:47:22
2. Tony Rominger (Swit) Mapei/GB at 0:47
3. Peter Luttenberger (Aus) Carrera at 0:52
4. Richard Virenque (Fra) Festina s.t.
5. Laurent Dufaux (Swit) Festina s.t.
6. Abraham Olano (Spa) Mapei/GB s.t.
7. Bjarne Riis (Den) Telekom at 0:56
8. Fernando Escartin (Spa) Kelme s.t.
9. Jan Ullrich (Ger) Telekom s.t.
10. Piotr Ugrumov (Rus) Roslotto s.t.
11. Evgeni Berzin (Rus) Gewiss s.t.
15. Alex Zulle (Swit) ONCE at 3:29
16. Miguel Indurain (Spa) Banesto at 4:19
20. Johan Bruyneel (Bel) ONCE at 7:05
29. Laurent Jalabert (Fra) ONCE at 12:56
47. Chris Boardman (GB) GAN at 28:56
Abandons:
Leon Van Bon (Hol) Rabobank
Stephane Heulot (Fra) GAN
Stefano Colage (Ita) Refin
Claudio Camin (Ita) Brescialat
Zenon Jaskula (Pol) Brescialat
Mauro Radaelli (Ita) Brescialat
Christophe Capelle (Fra) Aubervilliers
Time eliminations:
Inigo Cuesta (Spa) ONCE
Points jersey:
Frederic Moncassin (Fra) GAN
Mountains jersey:
Richard Virenque (Fra) Festina
General Classification
(Berzin wears yellow jersey due to superior prologue result)
1. Evgeni Berzin in 40:47:53
2. Abraham Olano at 0:00
3. Tony Rominger at 0:07
4. Bjarne Riis at 0:08
5. Jan Ullrich at 0:30
6. Richard Virenque at 0:31
7. Laurent Dufaux at 0:37
8. Piotr Ugromov at 0:40
9. Peter Luttenberger at 0:59
10. Fernando Escartin at 1:02
14. Miguel Indurain at 3:32
24. Laurent Jalabert at 11:58
41. Chris Boardman at 28:14
A DAY OF LEGEND -- THE SEQUENCE OF EVENTS
199 riders on the start line in Chambery, in torrential rain.
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