"Look out for the Tour!" screamed French sports daily L'Equipe this morning, after yesterday's soporific stage to Le Puy, which saw this year's race favorites take the equivalent of a day off. L'Equipe wasn't alone in hoping that today's stage to Superbesse-Sancy would see a renewal of the battle for the yellow jersey, although the suspicion was that the first two weeks had been so fatiguing that few would be willing to take the initiative.
While Bjarne Riis' perfectly drilled Telekom team was again intent on controlling affairs for their 32-year-old Danish leader, his rivals gave confusing signs as to their capabilities. The climb of the Col des Fourches saw Miguel Indurain hanging slightly off the back of the main field, but when the surprise attack came from Evgeni Berzin, Abraham Olano and Jan Ullrich, the Spaniard soon appeared at the front of the peloton, producing a turn of speed, with teammate Orlando Rodrigues, which quickly reeled in the short-lived but dangerous break.
Meanwhile, Tony Rominger continued to "hide" among the main field, following Indurain's wheel, who in turn spent most of his day glued to Riis' wheel. Since his crash at Valence three days ago, the 35-year-old Swiss has clearly not been happy, even though he has yet to show any real signs of weakness, but Mapei directeur sportif Juan Fernandez revealed how low Rominger's morale had been after his fall.
"He's fallen three times since the start of the race, so that night he'd had enough," explained the Spanish former professional. "I had to struggle for two hours that evening to get him around. We had to boost his morale and we did -- there was never any question of him stopping."
Italian star Claudio Chiappucci, by showing himself in the day's main break, proved that he wasn't such a forgotten man. "El Diablo," second in the Tour in 1990 and 1992, has been having a bleak time of it in recent months. At 33, Chiappa is in the twilight years of his career admitted. "I was ill at the Giro and had to take a long course of antibiotics and I haven't really got over it yet. My worst day on the Tour was the stage to Les Arcs, when I was half an hour behind the front of the race. I found myself with a group of riders that I've never ridden with in the mountains before."
But the feisty Italian, in 55th place, 50:55 behind Bjarne Riis before today's stage, still retains his devilishly fighting spirit. "I'll come back -- people expect a lot of me," he asserted. "You'll see -- I've still got some wins in my legs."
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