1995 Tour de France – ESPN raw coverage of stages 14. 17 and Rest Day recap with commentary by Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen.
Hosted by Adrian Karsten.
00:08 Stage 14 intro
07:04 Stage 14 (Saint-Orens-de-Gameville to Guzet-Neige)
48:54 Rest Day recap
1:12:26 Stage 17 intro
1:20:30 Stage 17 (Pau to Bordeaux)
This coverage is raw and includes commercials and other programming.
Note: This video was created by ESPN. I do not own this content.
first round draft pick Kevin Carter defensive lineman from the University of Florida thanks for joining us for Keith i’m Dan bye-bye nobody controls the old man of these mountains not even the young men who know him very well his disposition can make or break the best in this sport everyone wonders how he feels today [Music] the finish line in Paris is still one week away but the only way to get to the Sha is to take the mountain roads hello everyone I’m Adrien Karsten welcoming you to ESPN’s exclusive coverage of the 1995 tour to France presented by Michelin so you think the tour has been tough so far just wait there are still some riders who believe that Miguel indrain is beatable now granted today we go into the Pyrenees it’s close to his home he trains here but it’s been a long time since this many riders have been this close this late in the race and for the first time in 5 years his team Bonesto is beat up lon Jaair has cracked him his once teammate Alex Zula in third place overall says this race is not over so today we go into the Pyrenees as we begin the last week in the 95 tour it follows 150 mi yesterday when Lance Armstrong turned in an all-American performance it didn’t take Lance Long to make his move at 24 miles into stage 13 he and Sergey Uchikov broke away and built up what became a 17-minute lead the contenders kept a union pace indrain and his Benesto bodyguards because of the pace this week more than a little bit beat up then just over 15 miles from the finish a three-man chase group took off after Armstrong’s lead quartet motorola teammate Frankie Andrea right there lance held the lead for 125 miles then Uchov kicked it in so the next move from Uchikov we’ve seen team manager up here a number of times and now he probably said you’ve got to try a kilometer from the top of the climb lance Armstrong straight on him here and that’s a good move and he looks cool and in fact behind race radio telling me that in fact the two riders Buena Hora and Kenya are watching each other they don’t want to make the move first and these two riders have got a great lead a street fight for a stage win one had the lead then the other ukov is going to ride close to the barriers on the left so Armstrong must come over on his right shoulder give him only one way armstrong now begins to make his move uchov goes immediately but goes right to the center of the road armstrong holding the back wheel of Uchikov very shortly armstrong is going to have the kick but I don’t think he’s got it uchukov has everything uchukov takes it on the line armstrong will be very very annoyed about that but he never had it on the line annoyed and then some for a young man who hadn’t won a stage since 93 disappointment after his day’s work i I was surprised how I mean they said he was fast but I didn’t think it was that fast how’s it feel to get so close to a stage vision in the tour after 93 it’s been a long time oh it’s terrible this is terrible i mean I really feel bad i can’t tell you how disappointed I am what’s so I was out there 200ks and every 200 of them every one of them i thought for sure I was going to win and took it second that’s devastating but you’re going to carry this tour right through until the end and there’s still a couple more chances there it is yeah I mean it’s a day like today was you don’t come across very often to go into a break and get 15 or 17 minutes and I mean those those days just don’t happen and I mean I’m always looking but it’s going to be difficult behind Armstrong’s effort the main field led again by team once the strongest team in this tour well here comes the main field being led by him Diaz Zabella of once with Neo Stevens just behind as they line up for the finish they’re all going to lead out and jalabar but I’ll tell you what this is for 12th place a number of riders have nipped up off the front of the pelaton in the closing kilometers they’ve already finished and they’ve got Bruno Cornier just in front of them diazala now trying to bring the lonjal to be the best of the rest there’s Cornier he might just hang on now it’s a final kick by Neil Stevens then he’ll swing away and then they’ll try and launch Lawrence Alab i don’t see or do I see no I don’t see in fact there he is popped out nowadu coming clear on the right to take on Roy Jalabar he’s going to steal a couple of points in the green jersey but it won’t really matter today and Jalab tried a little kick at the end overall Lance Armstrong gained a lot of time and respect he moved from 43rd to 26 alex Zula 244 behind Indra then teammate Jala well this is what happens when you win a stage at the tour little smooch for Uchikov this morning Lance Armstrong was looking ahead not back i mean I have to try and turn the disappointment into something positive and try and and the bike race isn’t over we got another week and okay the next few stages aren’t great because of of the big mountains but hey there’s more stages and and I’m not going to sit back and give them away i just have to fight and try and get another one little man Marco you know the leaders can’t pick on Pontani much anymore and maybe the best climber in the last 10 years up in the Pyrenees phil Liot and Paul Sherwin now well Adrian as you can see the weather here is low cloud and light misty rain at the moment it’s quite unpleasant but here in the high mountains the weather can change and often does very quickly but if it doesn’t change Paul Miguel Inuane won’t like these conditions he won’t be a happy man because he hates the rain and he hates the cold climates as well but the big advantage for Miguel Inrain today I think is the fact that all these climbs come in the latter part of the stage well don’t forget the once are well placed to attack miguel indrain today is 31 years of age he doesn’t seem to get any weaker but will they go today i have a feeling that they won’t they’ll wait till later in the week when we get into the big long stages in the mountains but you know what i think Miguel Indra will let the riders go the lesser riders of this tour to France as he hasn’t over the last few days but if they all come together at the bottom of this climb I think we better watch out for Marco Pantani at 34 years of age Tony Roinger over eight minutes behind in overall says he’ll race one more to France next year [Music] happy birthday Miguel for the 31st time he’ll actually be singing in the rain by the time they get into the mountains though that’ll be about 74 miles into today’s stage 14 102 total miles through indrain terrain his home not far from the French Pyrenees from the streets of San Orin we’re way down into the south of France almost to the Spanish border now as we go into the Pyrenees today we’re going to see some pretty heavy hills six climbs alto together the tough ones are going to come toward the end as you can see just wait till we get to the downhill turns on the cold day traffic and then we’ll finish on the Guz Mesh the summit there 5,000 ft here comes the Pelaton let’s get out to Phil the story so far the battle for the green jersey that’s the race on point for the most consistent daily finisher that goes on unabated and the sprint today the first sprint which came after 15 miles was won by Jamaladin Abdul Japarov so six points in that competition to him he was led out brilliantly by his teammate Eric Decker who hung on for second place thus robbing Lauren Jalabar of the points because Jalabar finished third he gets only two points so a four-point game for Abdu Japarov at the start of the day then they went on to a small climb the code to Nugared and that was a small breakaway group of Blar who went over the top ahead of Bo Hamburger the Danish rider the king of the mountains leader Rishard Bren he was third and the two breakaways were quickly reeled in and there hasn’t been another attack since all of the riders are together now and they’re passing through the feeding station here in the town of Fua as we head out of town sunflower fields forever all bowing their heads as the pelaton passes [Music] espn’s coverage of the 1995 Tour to France is presented by Michelin because so much is riding on your tires at 59 miles into today’s race we’re currently climbing the coat deer bay and once again team once is making a difference in this race they really are in the pink Phil and the once team always easy to pick out in a tour to France because they change the colors only for this race they wear the pink colors which is a color they choose for the tour to help out the organization because of course their strong yellow jerseys will clash with the yellow jersey of the overall lead of the race and to take note that another team also does that during the tour to France in fact the Merkatoni Uno team of Mario Chipellini they change also from a predominantly yellow jersey to a pale light blue and the pola dot jersey just about three men from the front nearest the camera there of Vishard Ven who’s now staying in touch he took a third place over the first climb today but there was a small breakaway at the time lord Brushar and Bo Hamburger Caster TVM riders but this time it’s going to be pretty easy I think as Rishard looks over his shoulder and a cool spit no problem at all as he goes over the top interesting though Paul that behind him was Tony Roinga and as soon as they got over the top there one of the Castrama riders decided now’s a good time to try and break clear the Modestos will have shut off the chase a little bit so we might just succeed in slipping away on the descent but Roming interestingly enough was up there in second place and now the long torturous descent and our television motorbike and this is the shot you’re seeing from it right now is going to have a problem staying away from the riders in this area today because quite frankly it is a very dangerous course now as we go into the heart of the Pyrenees the roads are narrow they’re much different the climbs here to the Alps and the scenery is quite different too very much greener down here there’s a lot of rain on this chain of mountains evidenced by the finishing line awaiting these men but look at this now can you believe this roinger who went over the top in second place is now having a go to see who’s paying attention phil Tony Roinger is in sixth position overall 856 down on Indra with this attack even if he can make up two minutes on the leaders who knows how well he could finish it’s an interesting move but I don’t think he’ll get too far away because very soon the bonest of Miguel will come to the front and put on the pressure well I would imagine so he’s going with some 66 kilometers still to go to the finish that’s about 42 43 miles and look at the reaction now as the race starts to crack and the Benestos get down to the job of hauling in Tony Roinger well they know that straight away they recognize the shape and the size of Tony Roinger straight away without even any mention from Miguel Indire put the pressure on and they’re going to chase him down as quickly as they can because despite the fact that he’s way down in the overall standings he is always a danger man so the day is starting perhaps a little early after all for the domestics of Miguel Injurain who has put himself about 12 men you can just see him peeping in at the bottom of our picture he sent the team up roinga has decided that this perhaps is not going to work but at least he’s made Benesto make the effort phil a good time to take a quick check of who’s wearing what jersey you mentioned Rishard Verank and his mountain climbing abilities have him in the polka dots lauron Alabar has had the green sprinters jersey for the past week now and of course Miguel Indrain’s yellow jersey identifies him as the overall leader of the tour to France back out on the course at about the 60 mile mark there is a three-man breakaway that has left the Pelaton let’s get back to the action with Phil Ligan and this is Martin Decker of the TVM team a team which has lost a lot of its riders in this race they’re only left with five men bo Hamburger was on the attack earlier today that didn’t work and so Martin Debbaka has joined this breakaway now into the legs of Dante and I think that the TVM team have had a little bit of a plan today to try and break this race up but nobody has been willing thus far to join them and now these three have got a small gap over the field around about 46 seconds and they’re heading up towards the first second category climb of the day the Port Delair and this is quite a difficult climb it’s an average gradient of 7% and it goes uphill for seven miles there’s Roan the teammate of the King of the Mountains leader Rishar Varen who has managed to score a few points on the small climbs today but we’ll try to be in the fight when they get onto the slopes of Guz and there it’s going up ever so slightly 48 seconds now the gap for these three riders but they are working well together that gap should improve for the moment it all depends how well they settle into the climb on the port where the weather by the way is at its worst because there is very low cloud at the top and very heavy rain at the moment although here on the top of Guz N the low cloud is persisting but the rain has eased considerably and all of the chasing being done by the Carrera team so Miguel Injurain finding friends in strange places today a little help coming from the boys in white the reason being of course they’re hoping that Marco Pantani will finish it all off when they get to the mountains now many of you often ask what sort of gears the riders use on the climbs well men like Cantoni the Pure Climbers will use probably a 39 inside chain wheel today and the cluster at the back will probably go through to a 22 back sprocket concentration on the men of Benesto knowing that if they keep their man in that leader yellow jersey all of the way to Paris then they will take all of the prize money because by tradition the man that wins the tour gives his share away and last year they won the best part of 2 and a half million French banks phil that’s not bad for three weeks worth of bicycle riding $196,000 split eight ways we’ll give you a commercial break to figure out how much that is per man [Music] we’re at 76 miles into stage 14 tony Roinger is still trying to do something with that breakaway he initiated about 5 miles ago let’s go to Phil and just look at this now tony Roinger is among the first riders to attack here on this second category climb and he is at the moment 27 seconds behind two leaders because Dante Reets has been dropped by Jean Robera and Martin Denka but clearly today Paul Tony Roinger has decided to come out and see exactly what he can do he’s been joined here by the teammate of injur Gonzalez Arieta definitely decided that he wants to show himself he’s had a very tough time in this year’s tour to France and I think he knows that the climbs are not too difficult today he can use the power that he’s got and he’s so far behind Miguel Indire that Indereain is not going to chase him down dramatically as he would do oh Paul he’s just going to control the pace but we’ve just been told there’s an attack at the front of the breakaway group the man to look out for Marco Pontani and he has flown away there he is the third man here and he never waits for anybody on the slopes he’s going straight past Tony Roa who I wonder who has just arrived and gone by this man is such a class above everybody else on the mountains and look at that there tony Robminger looked across to see if he could just accelerate a little bit to stay with Marco Pantani but Pantani just dances on the pedals and goes away and opens the gap straight away this man has got to be as you said a couple of days ago the best climber in the world and the surprising thing is Paul remember what he said about seven days ago this tour to France is not over and I will be on the finish podium in Paris well if he intends to be on the finish podium in Paris he has to attack early and on every day he is in the mountains to recoup his lost time he’s already caught the two leaders that were 27 seconds just a few moments ago he came up to them in the space of 1 kilometer straight away jean Siril Roan from the Fina squad has been dropped and now Martin Denbacha has got to try and hold on for as long as he can but you know the speed with which Marco Pantani goes uphill i’m sure we’re looking at 14 15 mph uphill on a slope like this is very difficult to stay in contact with paul Marco Pantani is one of the best climbers to come along in years certainly the best in the last 10 he’s number one in a classification for the best young riders those 25 and under and after yesterday’s fantastic performance Lance Armstrong jumps into the top five he’s at number four now at age 23 today’s stage marks the longest he has ever stayed in the tour riders position here a direct result of where they stand in the tour overall back on the road things really opening up this race all of a sudden has become so much alive the main field is exploding into little pieces on this climb amazing to know you know the last two years they’ve said Miguel Indrain is vulnerable in the mountains but nobody has dared to attack him but this year they’ve realized that and they’ve got the courage to go out there and try to do it it’s amazing the the pressure that’s been put on Indrain but Tony Roinger now is trying to pull himself back up you know this morning Rominger was 8 minutes 56 seconds behind Miguel Indrain in the overall standings but still Indrain sits back behind his teammates lets them do the work to limit his losses he’s waiting till he really does have to use his immense strength the Benesto boys are going to have a hard day now the last two hours of this race for them it’s going to be extremely difficult indeed but Marco Pontani will make it look easy Phil he is so strong for his small size phil I also know you’re interested in what’s going on back home in the Kingdom more specifically F Scotland it’s the 1995 British Open on ESPN defending champion Nick Price joins Jack Nicholas Blake Norman and that amateur Tiger Woods in first and second round coverage that starts Thursday July 20th at 9:00 a.m eastern live on ESPN [Music] with 15 miles to go to the finish now this is Marco Pontani’s turf nothing but mountain climbing with more than a minute lead on Miguel Drain and so we’re heading up towards the summit now of the Kanes and this man is still holding on to quite a lead but chasing him now is the Frenchman who did so well on the climb to Ald and there he is coming under the kilometer to go and the 25 km from the actual finish line today and this is Long Madwas of the Castama team what an improved rider he is in this year’s tour well he rode an excellent tour of Italy after he also started his season his preparation in the tour Dupont in America he has come along extremely well but you know he made a good move there and he’s starting to close down a little bit on Marco Pantani but there’s still another climb to go [Music] well 45 seconds is the gap at the moment so you’re right Paul radas is nibbling away and has closed a 10 seconds gap to this rider at the moment and they’re adding 3 seconds on here 48 seconds are saying on television we also are hearing what the race referees are saying out on the course and so we get time checks from two directions another piece of information coming from this group at the moment is in fact that Bjar Reese had to just change a bicycle and his two teammates Bruno Kinga and Gabrielle Colomo waited for him and are trying to pace him back into this group at the moment so that is an unfortunate thing for Ree because he was riding so well before and in fact just off the camera there I could see a rider hanging off the back of this group and it could well have been one of Reese’s teammates now a little bit of good news for Miguel and Join if he needs any is that Vincenti Apadio has rejoined this group after climbing very well on the slope so he’s got a couple of teammates back in that lead group this is the man who is blazing the trail today towards Gage he’s in some pretty rough weather at the moment as we climb back up again now on the Colz going back up to the almost the same height hardly any difference at all with that of the porto delay and that’s probably why we’re back into the rain and low cloud it’s amazing to watch this man pedal on a climb and you see he really is a typical climber as the climbers were in the old days of the 50s and 60s you can see his pedaling style he rides along for a short while in a in a small gear which will be 39 21 something like that and then as soon as he slows down he gets out of the saddle to accelerate and keep his speed up and that is the advantage that he has over the heavier men who tend to stay sitting down in the saddle and try and stay at one constant rhythm all the time and the main chase group now inside that kilometer as well but Pantani is going to go over the top of this the winner of another mountain in the King of the Mountains competition but it’s only third category where the first six riders over the top score points for that polka dot jersey so Rishard Barink will not be too worried about the escape yet [Applause] [Music] [Applause] he’s making such a tough fight of it Paul i mean he’s not really pulling away at all but every time somebody has tried to attack behind him they’ve closed the gap initially they’ve bridged 15 or 20 seconds they’ve started to eat into his lead and then they’ve cracked and gone back to the main field with Miguel ind and this man rides constantly all the time he’s every time he starts to slow down he gets out of the saddle he explodes he lifts his speed a little bit and then he’ll sit down again and ride for another four or 500 meters just about to go over the top of the coland yes he’ll take maximum points in the King of the Mountains but that’s not what he’s looking for he’s looking for time to move up the overall leaderboard there’s the clock counting down the time gap for us as we head up towards the summit here with the main chase group and still the constant rhythm and no panic now I’m not so sure in fact for whether Tony Roming is here because I haven’t caught a glimpse of him well he was in great difficulty as soon as Miguel induin accelerated on that last climb the poor dele but you know he’s had an awfully bad time Tony Roming in this year’s tour to France and I do feel that as some kind of psychological block he has against the tour to France or even against Miguel Indire because he is a strong rider he’s won the tour of Spain three times he’s won the tour of Italy but he just doesn’t seem to be able to click in when it comes to the big tour to France and all his victories of course have been when Miguel and Jerain hasn’t taken part which might well work on him mentally [Applause] so a minute gone by now since the passage 45 seconds they’re saying the gap was to Laur Madwas so he’s running just about half a minute ahead of this group here as Ven shoots away to take third place over the climb and that will give him a good score for the King of the Mountains phil Derank in the polka dot jersey but in today’s email bag a question sent to us on the ESPN net concerning the yellow jersey what is its significance and history in the tour well even though the first tour was in 1903 it wasn’t until 1919 that this symbol was introduced the tour organizing newspaper Le Auto today’s lep which means team was printed on yellow paper a marketing man suggested the jersey and now its popularity has increased for 76 years thanks for the question it came out of ESPN Net Sports Zone more mountain climbing coming up in Stage 14 when we return [Music] if you’re into computers get into PC Magazine call now and get your next issue of PC Magazine free plus reserve a free CDROM bonus here’s editor Michael Miller to tell you more as editor-inchief of PC Magazine I see my share of hot and not so hot computer products the trick is being able to separate the two i’m here at PC Magazine Labs where we review and test all kinds of hardware and software to help you know what to buy now what you should wait for and what’s next call for your free issue of PC Magazine now then get 21 more issues 22 in all for just $29.97 if you subscribe or cancel and owe nothing plus get PC Magazine’s Mega Pack CD ROM free with your paid subscription loaded with over 100 top programs plus a demo version of Alpha 5 and much more call now 1 8006410202 [Music] the tour to France continues today at 3 on ESPN [Music] well Marco Pontani is living on the edge wet roads within inches of the cliff at 55 milesPH his whole race is at risk it’s amazing to watch this man go downhill here you see as soon as he gets into a straight he gets out of the saddle he accelerates but he’s using all the road that he can to get round these corners and you know these corners are very very slippy but fortunately the roads in the Pyrenees have a lot of gravel and a very heavy pavement so he can grip quite well on these corners but you see he goes almost to the edge of the road there 20 kilometers to go now for Pantani i know one man who would have loved it today paul Greg Lemon well he was a great descender and took many risks he did and that’s sure if he’d been the yellow jersey today I’m sure he would have tried to get into contact with Marco Pantani on this descent because he was a good descender and he’s been one of the great descenders of the tour to France but this man at the front is doing a pretty good job for a non-escender the frightening thing when you apply your brakes for these sharp corners the film of water on the rim of the wheel it gives you that horrible feeling you actually suddenly accelerate before the brakes actually grip onto the rim and it always is a little moment for a half flutter definitely what the riders will do before they come into the corner they will start to apply their brakes gently for a short period before just to clear up the water on the rims then they realize that it’s going to come in and bite at the last minute pantani descending down now he doesn’t descend down a long way he drops down to about 780 m and then he starts the stepping stone climb up to the top of Guz it’s in two portions we climb the small Cela trap and then a very very short descent of maybe a kilometer and then he hits the climb up to the finishing line of Guzani’s taking all the risks necessary on this descent at the moment one thing you must remember though when he goes into the corners he’ll be applying a lot more pressure on his front brake rather than on the rear brake because if you do lock up the back brake it really is almost impossible in these conditions to correct you see there he’s not locking his wheels at all he’s he’s slowing down just to the right speed well this is a look at that chase group that includes Miguel in Drain now they’re currently behind Pontani by close to 2 minutes they’re continuing to lose time to a very courageous Pontani who seems to be affected very little by these conditions great shot here of Pantani getting down into his aerodynamic position it’s a very dangerous thing to do because you lose a lot of control on the bicycle but because he doesn’t have the weight of somebody like Indrain he uses that position to increase his speed in the straight lines on the descent i hesitate to add well he’s now 10 miles or 16 kilometers from the finish let’s go back up a notch and this is Buhara on the back sitting onto this group again which is spreading across the mountain on the descent and our cameraman will have to stay at the back of it until we start the climb and therefore we can’t exactly work out where Induain is but I’m quite sure somewhere up the road with the head of the charge well Miguel Indire will be to the front of this group because he himself is an excellent descender and he will be taking not too many risks but the speed that he’s going down is causing a lot of difficulties for these riders at the back this is Buenoh just in front of him is another Colombian Alvaro Mahia he’s trying to stay in contact but you see the gaps that are being left and once they get to the bottom they may well not be able to close those gaps on the climb but Paul as the weather conditions decrease Marco Pontani’s performance increases gets better he’s leaving the rest of the field in a fog during the last two years of the tour to France that man Miguel indrain has been unable to touch that man Marco Pantani when he’s been in position to win on these mountain climbs now back to the man who’s setting the style of the race today this great climber Marco Pantani remember he broke clear at the bottom of the portair and he’s been the leader over the top of the mountains ever since now he wants to complete a great day by being the first man to the top of Guz and it would be a second stage win for him in this year’s tour to France in the mountains and then we’d see what sort of time he gains interesting to know that Marco Pantani is one of the few riders who doesn’t actually use a heart rate monitor because he doesn’t believe in it he’d rather just ride as hard as he can he said there’s not much point having a heart rate monitor in the mountains he says because you have to ride over and above your threshold and just give everything you’ve got and this is Apio who’s setting the pace for Miguel in Jerain now and Mel Maris the rider on the right and Alex Tula the man on the left also in this group is the third place overall Lawrence Jalabar and Biana Reese the man who’s missing is Tony Roinger he’s now more than 3 minutes behind every time the road steepens a little bit part Pantani gets out of the saddle he accelerates he keeps the pace up he just realizes he’s got to keep his speed up for as long as he can he sits down in the saddle to rest his thighs just a little bit and then again changes gear and up again he’s really unbelievable this man he goes over the top there of the Cderel Trap just a slight descent before then he faces the final climb up to the gay but here we have Apartheio followed by Neil Stevens of Australia an inspired man indeed today this is what the once team is like they inspire one another and Alec Zula and Co are going to really thank again Neil Stevens tonight but this is the rider who’s riding for himself earlier down in the valley Clauddio Kia Puchi had a flatback tire we’ve not heard from him since but now we’re looking at the group here containing Lawrence Jalabar Rish Sharing Milt Shaw Mar to our right Alex Zula Ivan Goti on the far side in blue the only man missing from the royalty today is in fact Tony Roinger and Tony Roinger at the moment is 4 minutes and 30 seconds behind Marco Pantani which puts him almost 2 minutes behind this group of Miguel Indur now Pantani is on the descent you see he’s getting as low as he can on that bicycle trying to get as aerodynamic he wants to recuperate a little bit on this final descent before the slopes of Guz but he keeps his speed up all the time at the moment he’s probably touching 35 miles an hour on this descent before then he has to change his gears from the big gear he’s using now right to the opposite end of the scale here’s the dangerous corner he’s got to take a very sharp leftander and in fact he almost misjudged it he wasn’t expecting that but safely round he’s got a about 500 m downhill now before he starts the climb well you can see the rain beginning to build up on the lens there that means the last and steepest climb will become the most dangerous for Pontani marco Pontani the best young rider on the tour who won LAZ last week is proving he’s the best climber on the tour as well phil give us the distance to the finish the 5 kilometer point to the finishing line and Marco Pantoni being chased here by L Madwas and Madwas has been chasing in fact since the previous climb where he attacked on Micole Dets and it was on that climb where Pantoni consolidated his lead madras went over the top second 45 seconds back rishard Ven bringing over Miguel Injurine and his teammate Appalisio and the news on that climb was that Tony Robinger had been dropped and was 2 minutes 50 seconds behind but on the descent a very very dangerously wet descent indeed more problems for the television motorbikes they crashed in the Alps and they were down again in the Pyrenees but now we are with the chase group here on the final climb of the day and once again we’re sorry about the picture break up but it is the atmospherics in the Pyrenees they’re climbing up towards again more FOB as Aparicio who rejoined this group after a bit of a chase is now helping out Miguel in Jerane just two riders ahead of the yellow jersey on the climb well for the moment the time is not being pulled back on Marco Pantan he’s actually increasing his lead as he comes up the climb of Guzz he’s 3 minutes ahead of the yellow jersey group of Miguel Indrain at the moment and still in the middle there is Lauron Madwas a Frenchman from the Casarama team at 1 minute 25 he’s doing a superb ride but he isn’t getting anywhere near this man well Pantani went for a long one today he was seeking a big time gain um what he think do you think Paulie would he see a 2 minute 30 gain perhaps as a good time gain he would be happy i think it’s a lot more than he would have gained if he’d waited until the bottom of the Guzz climb to launch his attack if he’d waited till here he may well have been able to pull one minute out of the rest of the group but attacking so far from the finish that is why he’s able to open his lead up but you know I’m sure he will do it again in a couple of days time when we go into the big mountains cuz that really is his terrain once we go into the high Pyrenees where we start looking at 2,000 m the riders having a full rest day tomorrow no travel at all they stay here in the Pyrenees they’ll all be out on the bikes of course and then we have a real tough day up to Cotto which is where Miguel Inerain once won a road race stage of the tour to France now Pantani under the 4 km to go banner inspiration coming from the crowd but because the road up to Guzen Age was closed for quite a long time the crowd in fact not so thick on Guz nothing like we would have expected that’s a difficult area to get to because there’s not so many roads access roads into the Pyrenees and the tough climbs that are around here are extremely small but this is the man of today for Miguel Indrain Vicente Apario he’s done an excellent job he’s suffered so much but these men believe so much in their leader Miguel Indrain that they will fight and recover and come back into the group just so that they can help him for every last little bit of energy they have on that day and although it seemed on the port delay his injury was going to be in for a really tough session today he’s calmed the whole thing down and it’s even an added bonus because they’ve seen Tony Robminger crack wide open and fall away from this group today yarice is still there there he is in the red jersey champion of Denmark they’re under the 5 km to go banner rishard Ven is here lawren Brashar and there’s Cladio Kapuchi so he recovered well from that punctured back wheel paulo Lanfranki is the rider from Bashilia he’s been well to the front over the last couple of days in these mountains and there’s another Marco Pantani supporter letting him know what the gap is and it is in fact increasing dramatically 1 minute and 47 seconds and Biano Ree in fact is attacking again from the yellow jersey group well our camera was staying with the French rider but news reaching our ears that Abja Ree has attacked from that injur group and now we’re at the back of that group and let’s have a look yes somebody is certainly gone injurain again continues to make the tempo at the front as our Camelan scampers up to see Ree on the attack here on the climb of Genes well Bjanna Reese here obviously not attacking Miguel Indire what he wants to do is put Lawrence Jalabar into difficulty he saw that Jalabar was dropped on the last climb there and he may well have changed his bicycle to get a lighter bicycle to go into this final climb you know so that he could get away from Lawrence Alabar and move back up into third place in the overall standings he has to get 2 and 1/2 minutes though in the overall standings today if he can jump up to third place well even a slight reduction of the gap and finish it off in the next couple of days perhaps but look at that acceleration there’s been no reaction whatsoever inane isn’t going to start the reaction why should he because after all he’s 6 minutes ahead of Bjanna Reese and we’re looking at about 3 and a half kilometers to the end of this day of racing phil Marco Pontani’s climb is the story of today’s race the others in the Michelin race summary well 129 riders took the start for their first day in the Pyrenees field stayed together until the mountains in the last 40 miles tony Roinger unleashed the first serious attacks but wasn’t able to escape the pressure of Miguel indrain and the Bedesto team marco Pontani seem to have no trouble with that pressure has attacked and now three miles from the finish he is 2 and 1/2 minutes ahead of the yellow jersey now that should be enough for Marco to win if he can hang on back with his finish in just a moment one mile to go for Marco Pontani on the climb up guzain Nes trying to repeat what he did the other day on La Due back in the mountains this man has come into his own once again he’s going to steal a little bit of time today he’s being chased still by L Madwas and then we go back to the people who are racing for third place led of course by the man in yellow on his 31st birthday Miguel Injurain just behind him we have Alex Zula and now trying to get on I think it’s Ivan Goti now do you have to forget that I got started today and just 1 second behind Tony Roinger well those gaps will be minutes tonight because Roinger has been dropped from this group another man who’s been dropped from this group as well is Melchure Maui he may well have sore legs after their effort yesterday let’s not forget they were really at the front of the race for an awful long time and it looks now as if Indrain has decided it’s about time to get rid of the dirty washing because he’s putting the pressure on and again as he did on the last climb he’s blowing everybody away but don’t forget and we’re not too sure where he is but somewhere just ahead of Inane is the champion of Denmark Bjar Ree and that probably is why Inane has now decided to come after him so Pani continues to blaze his own trail at the mountain chased by Lawrence Madwas then by Bjanna Reese and then by Miguel and Miguel still has a Zula the shadow and he’s hanging on once more to the Spaniard this is Pantani tapping out the rhythm for the last time today as he looks for now the kite in the sky that will put him in the final kilometer done a superb job over these last two climbs every time he feels with his speed is slowing down a little bit he gets out of the saddle to use the gears as best as he can he pulls a bicycle from side to side getting every little bit out of his body from his arms from his legs from his back the last little bit of energy just to push him up this mountain john Leblanc a brave man in his shirt sleeves standing through the roof of the car there witnessing one of the finest exhibitions of climbing we’ve seen for a long time this is the chase behind very briefly but the pictures breaking up now the crowd well under control and I must say there is quite a large crowd here now they’ve come out of the woods and out of their tents they’ve had a wet night those that have stayed up here but they’re seeing a great performance again by Marco Pantani slips it up just one little sprocket there to try and continue at the pace there’s Inane Zul and they’ve caught Bion Reese there he is and he’s now just going to hang on so we’ve got the first second and fourth place here and the sixth place because got number 17 on the left he will now be up to sixth place in the tour to France he’ll have gone over Tony Roing up 2 km to go for this group and only two men up in front of them on the road that is Marco Pantani and Lauren Madwas who’s trying to hold on to second place on the stage and hopefully if he can moving a little higher in the overall standings because he started in 13th behind Rishard Birank and Cladio Kapuchi but these four men here are the men we’ve seen so much together in the toughest part of the tour to France lauren Madas on the final herpin bends of the climb of Gaz but he’s still not making any progress at all on Marco Pantani and he may well only just hang on by the chase back being caused by Miguel in Jerain the important thing is that Bjanna Ree is also in that chase group and Lauren Jalabar isn’t and so Ree closing in on the third place overall in this race today and that’s the sight he wanted to see 1 kilometer to go for Marco Pantani now it gets a little bit easier here and then it climbs up to the finishing line we’re heading up now to the corner where Robert Miller went the wrong way a few years ago and lost the stage of the tour to France because of it one thing we do have to say though that even if Marco Pantani does go the wrong way he’s got enough time in hand to come back on himself and still win the stage yes that time with Robert it was a threeman sprint with Philip Bubatier Masimo Gerato and Miller now this time it is just one man and himself marco Pantani remember Due of course he almost went into where they send the cars to park just before the finishing line but he turned round and went straight up to the finish without Due very similar thing could happen here it’s a sharp left into the finish well I have to admit we were so lucky in having this man at the tour to France he was nearly robbed of his start here but it’s so good to have him yes an injured knee which kept him out of his home tour the tour of Italy it’s meant he’s come to the tour to France quite fresh he started below form for sure and he said he wasn’t his old magic self but he certainly made amends now he came good in the Alps and it looks as though he’s going to be even better in the Pyrenees there are still two more stages in the Pyrenees to come after the day off tomorrow the final gear change for Marco Panton and he’s made the right turn as well now he can line up for the finish and he can collect his second stage in the mountains he won in the Alps on the revered Aldu and now he will win at Giz Ne a long day in the saddle almost 4 and 1/2 hours and Pantani still looking so good as he spins clear there’ll be good time gains for him today as well as he comes up through the mer to the line for the applause of a very appreciative crowd you know Phil everyone talks about how well Indorin breathes his way up the mountain but for his size Marco Pontani really is a cardiovascular monster indrain’s finish is coming up marco Pantani has already won the stage but the Frenchman Lauron Madis having the ride of his life can he hold off the man in the yellow jersey Miguel Indrain phil poor Lauren Madwas he rode so well and did so much but he’s hit the wall just before the top it’s not all over yet he might hang on because the road gets a little bit easier before they climb up to the line i don’t think he’s going to hold on today but he will be happy I think by the fact that he’s almost certainly going to move up in the overall standings he went to the Tour of Italy with a hope of finishing in the top 10 he didn’t do that finished 11th but this ride today may well push him up into the top 10 in the tour to France so France are finding themselves another big name in the sport here as well as Lala little bit of a downhill before they climb up to the line but you can see by the face of Madwas that he really is just hoping that line comes pretty quickly 400 me to go he should hang on now surely although it’s a pretty hard 400 m well he’s suffering 350 m to go you know he may well just hold on to that second place which he was hoping for he was hoping to get up into contact with Marco Pantani but nobody was going to touch that Italian today he flew up the mountains every time the road went uphill he was really lifting the pace and the last look over his shoulder maybe just chance for a little smile Lauron because you’re going to hold them off I think and there they are goodness me Injur is after him so to is Bion and on through the wheel of injury of course injury went very wide there ivan Goti is here at the back of this group now the big man bits his teeth 31 years of age out on the Mer comes L Madas the clock continues to count on they’ve made Panton he’s made good time gains but in will chase everything he’s trying to get Madas just before the line and look at this now madas has got nothing left at all but he’s going to get it oh just 2 minutes 30 and not 2 seconds has gone by before inane snatches third place followed up by Zula Goti and Ree in that order and this is the race now for seventh place the king of the mountains Ree Sharing bringing up Law on his wheel here so Ree hasn’t made quite too much gain el Diablo Cladio Kapuchi is in this group as they come up towards the line and Lan Franchi is here too for the Breila team with more points no Lauren Jalabar is going to take on the king of the mountains two Frenchmen fighting out for the lower places on the mountain today but Jalam wants to save time he gets it followed by Bren and Kuchi Lranchi fantastic story for Marco Fontani keep your hat out and keep that bald head dry there Marco great day not a bad day for Lauron Madisa when he gets back to the hotel tonight he can tell his team he beat Miguel Indrain the birthday boy in the yellow jersey alex Zula the man who said this tour is not over he was fourth today right alongside two and three tony Roinger came in 17th lance Armstrong and Frankie Andreo came in with the Grapedto the boys who decided that they had been dropped they all wanted to finish together overall the big story today is that Marco Pantani took a ton of time out of the leaders only 10 minutes and 7 seconds now behind Miguel Indrain in seventh position lance Armstrong 34th overall great day yesterday held back today day off tomorrow reloads for Tuesday i should uh be able to recover a little better for for uh the last four or five stages there i’m super motivated i mean I I really felt like uh yesterday was my day and and I uh I mean I was beat so [Music] uh but I don’t want to leave it like that i mean I I have something else to say I think for his 31st birthday Miguel Inrain got a brand new yellow shirt to add to the collection and a birthday cake as well felis KN anos the leader of the 1995 tour of France is Miguel Indrain the world’s greatest cycling event has now traveled 1,63 miles with 656 still to go be sure to join us when we wrap up the first two weeks of the tour tomorrow at 3 p.m eastern time on ESPN 7:00 on ESPN 2 yeah Marco for Phil Liot and Paul Sherwin and our entire tour to France team i’m Adrian Caren [Music] espn’s coverage of the 1995 so today the tour wants to take some time off well go ahead i’m ready for the Pyrenees i figure at this rate I could make the top of the cold day whatever by July of 96 [Music] today we’re in Tuloo in the sunny south of France as the riders take a deep breath and then attack the toughest days of all hello everyone I’m Adrien Karsten welcoming you to ESPN’s exclusive coverage of the 1995 tour to France presented by Michelin you know today is the traditional day off in the tour the day off between the Alps and the Pyrenees and after setting a record pace averaging over a 100 miles a day believe it or not this is exactly what the cyclists are doing they’re out riding their bikes because they don’t want to get out of the groove why for the first time in 5 years there are still some riders that believe in rain is beatable now granted the next couple days we go into the Pyrenees and climb those mountains this is real indrain terrain but there’s talk among the teams that if he has a weakness it is that he fades late in these stages so we’ll have to see what happens they’ll be on the attack and attitude and approach they’ve had ever since the early mountain stages that began back in Lla the signature stages of the tour to France the riders came in after a day off that followed the individual time trial that event Miguel Indrain has dominated since his win streak began back in ’91 but the rider showed no respect for that record alex Zula challenged the champion at the 62 mile mark of stage 9 indrain launched his own solo chase trying to protect his 2 and 1/2 minute overall lead but Zula had built up too much too fast too early he finished 2 minutes ahead of indrain serving notice that anything was possible wednesday stage 10 russian rookie Yavenei Merzine expected to be a threat to Indrain fell to fever and fatigue he came close to wearing yellow not much consolation in a time like this in this tour if there’s one mountain man it’s Marco Pontani this man is now going up the mountain in true glory on Alders have their moment of pleasure and this rider is so so nice to watch it’s unbelievable you see he keeps that gear down all the time every time he goes into the corner he accelerates quickly he gets out of the saddle and sits down again gets into his rhythm now all he has to do is time trial to the finish and they really has got an incredible position indrain had to react to this attack from the front and from behind alex Zula right on his wheel then a coronation king of the mountains the flags are waving up here by the finishing line marco Pantani the finest climber currently racing the circuit in the world of professional cycling has now proved it to everybody this man is a beautiful climber and he’s proved it on the best mountain of the tour stage 11 with a lot of the leaders picking the Union pace Ernan Bua and Max Shiandry decided to strike out on their own at the finish Shandri found a little bit left to win his first ever stage in the tour friday Bastile Day memories of Frenchmen fighting for independence while team once refreshed that memory their man Lauron Jalabar in green attacked Indra’s yellow but Miguel was really cool a master at controlling the face he just hung tough in pursuit but Jalabar close to his home in front of his family decided this was his time to take control he built up a 12-minute lead and that is the attack we expected it looks to me as though Pod Dems know the game is rid so look at this he sat on the back ever since the break started now he’s chasing Jalabar but he’s having a great deal of difficulty getting to the wheel of Lauren but the other riders have just been blown away by the attack of Lauren Jalabet he knew this was his climb and I feel fairly sure that he’s been to check it out beforehand because he too rode the midy leaf as did Miguel Endurain he has chance now to look over his shoulder and he sees the Potaro cannot get into contention he can’t close the gap on flying Floron Jalabar pantani Zula indrain himself tried to recover whatever time possible but Jalabar was not about to lose the tour’s chapter 12 a story book ending and now it’ll be a moment of glory for Lauren Jalabar this has been a magical tour to France for him he’s had the yellow he’s got the green and now he’s got the stage up goes the zip now he’s going to make it look as though he hasn’t tried all day what a great race it’s been for him because he’s been in the lead for most of the day today he’s enjoying this now who cares about a few seconds because this will be remembered forever lawrence crossing the line and salutes the crowd so a Frenchman wins this battle but the war goes on [Applause] what daddy did on his day off this is Papa Johan Mo who had his hands full this morning loading up the family camper for a summer tour around France [Music] espn’s coverage of the 1995 tour to France is presented by Michelin just so much is riding under tires the city of Tulus also known as Vill Rouge the red city and if you had a day off to see the sights in the south of France basically perfect now back home Americans embrace overnight sports sensations which is why they fell in love with Lance Armstrong two years ago but his long list of first evers and youngest evers has created some unrealistic expectations indrain may only be eight years his senior but light years his superior i mean they expect Lance Armstrong to be Miguel Ender and when they when they don’t realize that Miguel is 31 this is his 11th tour his first two he never finished he was in he was in the bottom half of the tour to France for a long time and now he’s only blossomed into what he is and and people don’t realize that at at the third tour and at 23 years old they expect you to to be with Miguel Enderine all the time and that’s just you just can’t do that in a in a race like this this is a man’s race and it’s hard for a kid to compete on Saturday Lance showed us he’s learning how to win he led the Pelaton for 125 miles and in every one of those miles he told us he believed he would win the quartet of leaders became a one-on-one battle with Sergey Uchov lance Armstrong straight on him here and that’s a good move and he looks cool and in fact behind race radio telling me that in fact the two riders Buena Hora and Kenya are watching each other they don’t want to make the move first and these two riders have got a great lead uchukov is along with Lance Armstrong they really have got to keep going together now because they’ll dive off this mountain before you know it they’ll be in the streets of Rebel Rebel sorry well I think you said that because Lance Armstrong really is reveling in the glory at the moment he’s so happy to be at the front of the tour to France he had a very hard time in the mountains he tried to stay with the lead as he tried to get across to Alex Zuler but at the moment this really is his terrain when this man feels he can get a victory he just wants to go for it and Armstrong now in the front and doesn’t want to be there so he now looks over to Uchukov to see if he’ll take the lead he’s forced Utikov into the first position on the road there’s the leftander it won’t be very long now before they can see at the end of this big long straightaway the Coca-Cola banner across which signifies the end of the stage and it’s going to be about now where Sergy Uchukov realizes he made a mess of that he shouldn’t have gone around the corner into the lead because Lance has him where he wants him now and he’s not going to come by him again until he goes for the gears and gives him just about all the speed he has left in those legs after what has been a tremendously long day in the saddle for all of the breakaway bikov is going to ride close to the barriers on the left so Armstrong must come over on his right shoulder give him only one way armstrong now begins to make his move uchukov goes immediately but goes right to the center of the road armstrong holding the back wheel of Uchukov very shortly armstrong is going to have the kick but I don’t think he’s got it has everything takes it on the line as far as I’m concerned i mean I was I got last place there was two guys there and I was second so I’m bitter very bitter very disappointed but like I said I’m trying to turn it into something positive so I think that this anger and this disappointment is going to it’s going to help me to recover i mean I I’m a fighter you know i have to keep fighting lance keep fighting and you’ll become the next American cycling hero the first one since this man now rolling along on four wheels who used to be more recognizable on two american Greg Lemon provided the greatest comeback in the history of this sport in 1989 two years after being shot while hunting he won the tour of France by the smallest margin ever the unforgettable memories on the Sha were almost a dream unlike the harsh reality of a disease that eventually shortened his career throughout my career I have had some obstacles to overcome but I am now confronting one that I’m not able to surmount i have been diagnosed with a muscular disorder called mitochondrial myopathy this condition does not allow me to perform at the level I must to compete in cycling therefore today I must announce my retirement from cycling so what’s left for Lamond in part the reflection on a career that didn’t end the way it should have i’m leaving the sport unsatisfied and I miss and I’ve missed it for the last three years i miss being in that great a shape being in the front being competitive being there to counterattack to I mean there’s nothing better than being at your best in the tour of France and it’s a game for three weeks that lasts it’s like a soap opera and you get to be the main actor that’s fun you know Greg you don’t have to tell us it’s fun we had just as much fun watching you by the way if you’re ever on a bike hike through Minnotonka Minnesota stop in at the Tour Cafe it’s the one with the signature yellow awnings [Music] we’ve bridged the gap between the first two weeks and 14 stages of the tour now we need to take another look at yesterday’s individual effort that has fans mentioning Marco Pantani as a potential tour champion he doesn’t even wear the polka dot jersey but everyone knows he’s the best Billy Goat here there he is the third man here and he never waits for anybody on the slopes he’s going straight past Tony Roger who I wonder who has just arrived and gone by this man is such a class above everybody else on the mountains and look at that there tony Romy looked across to see if he could just accelerate a little bit to stay with Marco Pantano but Pantani just dances on the pedals and goes away and opens the gap straight away this man has got to be as you said a couple of days ago the best climber in the world marco Pantani is a much different rider than Miguel Indrain yesterday Miguel kept his composure and let his teammates work him into the mountains pontani goes downhill with his own wild style hanging it out and hanging on great shot here of Pantani getting down into his aerodynamic position it’s a very dangerous thing to do because you lose a lot of control on the bicycle but because he doesn’t have the weight of somebody like Indrain he uses that position to increase his speed in the straight lines on the descent pontani picked up more than a minute on that descent so on the next climb Indrain had no choice chase and Indane is attacking here now he’s going to rip this field apart he’s going to have to go after Marco Pantoni those who can go should go now definitely that’s what he does he uses his teammates up until the very last minute when there aren’t any left with him he puts down the hammer himself and at the moment there’s one man just sticking right into the stickream of Miguel Indane and that’s Alex Zula just a little bit further back is Rishard Ver trying to stay in contact there but he’s having an awful hard time having an easy time of it Marco Pontani he won in the Alps on the revered Ald and now he will win at Guz Ne a long day in the saddle almost 4 and 1/2 hours and Pantani still looking so good as he spins clear there’ll be good time gains for him today as well as he comes up through the M to the line to the applause of a very appreciative crowd after 100 mountain miles in one day that’s the tour to France now here’s the Michelin race summary with 129 riders left here’s where they stand overall miguel Indrain is leading in the yellow jersey but in this last week he’s been attacked by Zula in second Jalabar in third Ree in fourth Pantani in seventh and climbing american Lance Armstrong 34th Frankie Andreo 93rd now talk about having your cake and eating it too at age 31 on your birthday leading the tour in the mountains close to home with the contenders close going into the last week miguel what are your thoughts i’m in great condition it’s just that my rivals have concentrated on improving their time triing so my lead is not quite as large as in past years well birthday cake may be about the only thing big Reese didn’t eat this morning look at him in truth these riders really have to be careful not to eat too much on their day off well by Thursday the Eiffel Tower begins to appear on the horizon but before our coverage of stage 16 ESPN will be in flight Scotland for the first round of the 1995 British Open defending champion Nick Price joins Jack Nicholas John Dailyaly Greg Norman and amateur Tiger Woods in live first round coverage Thursday at 9:00 a.m eastern we’ll be back in a moment [Music] learning to speak French 101 classes in session today’s teachers from credit leise Stefan and Alvain ladies where is the start a le deod [Music] these lessons are going to be okay today French lesson number two with Stefan the professor today we’re working on proper pronunciation see how we do here deouts le colors to leer that means all the colors you’d better try this one ah the comics something is a little more speed calvin and Hobs actually i’ve decided not to take these French lessons too fast so we’re still basically at the beginning alan in French how do I say tour de France t France t France gian I give you a name for today aren’t you kind think about this this is good now granted I’m a guy who likes to get his three squares a day breakfast lunch and dinner but you can’t get what you want to eat here in France if you don’t know what you’re asking for stefan what am I asking for [Music] le Alain how about just some soup dour the soup dour it’s just going to be easier to go on a diet well only after one week of French lessons the professors feel I’m good to graduate here comes the report card carol very well done [Music] secur now I know how indrain feels there you have it well I’ve also learned a few lessons in covering the tour from Phil Liot now if they gave a yellow jersey for professional playbyplay Phil would have been on the podium for the last 23 years our color analyst Paul Sherwin has as much respect for him as anyone well it’s good fun because I’ve known Phil for nearly 20 years myself because he saw my racing career when I rode the tour to France and we’ve worked together for 10 years and I think the fact that we have a very similar kind of humor we’re both from the same area in the north of England and it’s a rapid humor it’s a quick humor and I think we get on very well together and I think that comes across in the commentary you can see it’s a little bit disorganized the area where we commentate from here in a stage finish in Blac all the television went down there was nothing no pictures nothing at all phil picked up the phone to London we were going live i was on the race radio trying to explain to him what was happening and he commentated on the whole race without actually having any pictures and it was almost perfect almost perfect but no one comes any closer on this day off Phil and I took little time to talk ourselves without our headsets well any event that covers 2500 miles in 3 weeks you got to take a break and Phil and I figured the guys calling the race certainly should be no exception phil you’re calling your 23rd crew to France there’s a particular ring to that what has this event become over three decades time everyone’s talking about the pace this year in Drain’s potential fifth consecutive what is this event in your opinion well what it’s become is the fastest and the biggest traveling circus in the world of sport but to the riders it’s become their most important event at any season the pressure now for them to succeed is placed on them by sponsors if they win a stage of this year’s Tour to France they can virtually take the rest of the year off because you only remember the man who wins a stage of the tour to France and none of the other races he may win but over the years Aiden it become uh a happy family yes but I mean we’ve gone up in that family from 1,500 people back in 1973 to nearly 4,000 people now and it’s very commercial now this race makes a profit and as you see the riders push the pace a lot now in the old days they used to ride along talking you never see that anymore the other night we’re sitting outside of a restaurant having dinner as the sun goes down there’s this little boy in his pajamas right before his bedtime racing up and down the avenue on his bicycle is that the passion for this sport that we miss in the United States if we don’t endure it like people do here of course absolutely because the bicycle came before the automobile and indeed many of the roads now to the Pune were first used by the riders in the tour to France and this is a well chronicled event the history is well written and therefore everybody knows the background of this great race and you know while that goes on everybody’s going to feel the inner passion for it and if you’re a Frenchman a Dutchman or a Belgian you’re going to love this sport question sounds cliche sure you’ve heard it before greatest thing you’ve seen in 23 years of tour well the worst thing I’ve seen was when the Bass Separatist blew the car up in South Sebastian and we had to find a new car next morning we shovel that one back onto the back of a lorry but uh the greatest moment that I’ve ever had in a tour to France was of course Greg Lemon’s comeback but after that in 1989 when he had the 8-second margin that particular day the time trial I openly admit I was crying as I was falling with the result because it was such a happy moment and a sad moment lander pulled the race out of the bag under such great circumstance lauren Finan who lives in Paris had lost the tour by 8 seconds i felt happy and I felt sorry and I said before to show at time I said Paul we should announce our retirements today we’ll never ever commentate like that again something you haven’t seen that you still hope to before you’re all done again no doubt because I witnessed the first English speaking winner in Greg Leond i then had the pleasure of commentating on Steven Roach who was nearer home the Irishman in 1987 and what I want now of course is a British rider to win the tour goodness me Tommy Simpson died trying to win this tour back in 1967 now we have Chris Borman and he left the tour after only two miles this year but that boy has class and I think in the next two or three years he could be a winner of the tour of class phil I think your passion for the sport comes through it is fun honestly listening to you call this race the unfortunate part about it is that now we got to get back on the course appreciate it all right and back on the course we will be tomorrow for stage 15 potentially the toughest of the tour back here to to lose in a moment [Music] now which one of these picture postcards should I send to myself well whatever we’ve been getting a lot of cards and letters from a lot of you more the computer variety on ESPN Net Sports Zone we just looked at one from California question who took second in last year’s 94 tour well that was Potra Uggeroff of Team Gavis he’s not here this year because he broke his collarbone while training for the tour of Switzerland however his teammate Bernie Ree fourth overall probably one of the biggest surprises of this the 95 tour saturday stage 20 the final individual time trial the clock is all that counts whoever is left in the tour to France will have to keep their eyes focused on the 29 mi of road ahead to the finish line now Miguel Drain has been beaten in the final time trial the last two years in a row something for the tours contenders to keep in mind they’ll have to give all they have left probably a little more the final individual time trial we’re counting down that’s Saturday Stage 20 the day before the tour ends but perhaps one of the most important of the 95 tour you’ll see it on ESPN early Sunday morning at 3:30 a.m eastern time so the leader of the 1995 True France is Miguel Indrain the world’s greatest cycling event has traveled 1,63 miles with 656 still to go be sure to join us tomorrow for stage 15 when the tour resumes in Sanon and ends in Cereay coverage begins on ESPN at 3 p.m eastern 5:00 p.m on ESPN 2 well there you have it or voila let’s say here in France see you thought I was distracted during those French lessons huh all right in 24 hours the toughest day of all and it’s going to take me at least that long to get to the starting line see you i got to get a side basket and some streamers for my handlebars though you know a complete look espn’s coverage of the 1995 Tour to France has been presented by Michelin because so much is riding on your tires [Music] the tour has retired a number with one of the most moving gestures ever witnessed in cycling fabio Casartelli’s life may be over but today just watching his memory brings this tour back to life [Music] today this tailgate party picks up and heads down the road to Bordeaux leaving behind the mountains a lot of miles and even more memories hello everyone with Phil Liits i’m Adrienne Karsten welcoming you to ESPN’s exclusive coverage of the 1995 crew to defer to France presented by Michelin you know when the writers reach this level in their profession one day can make their career well Phil yesterday we saw these guys sacrifice themselves and a chance to win a stage for a friend and a life that was lost yes what we saw yesterday was a pelaton a big pack of great athletes who had a very big heart i hope we never see that again of course but yesterday they did it just right i think it was a huge sacrifice both mentally and physically and after yesterday’s memorial pace these guys are anxious to jump back in the saddle and crank up the speed but it’s going to be tough 150 mi at 100° at 100° and there is in fact quite a strong wind blowing but we’re now going to sea level the domain of the sprinters the men who haven’t enjoyed the past few days in the tour to France they hate the mountains they’ll be sharpening their legs this morning and I think we might see a great race today will be another challenge stage 17 after yesterday’s tribute to Fabio Casartelli yesterday morning in the city of Tarb cassartelli teammate Lance Armstrong coach Jim Aowitz and Frankie Andreo the Pelaton rode but did not race offering the stage to the memory of Casartelli the to France which has seen so many great battles since it was first brought to the roads of France in 1903 is now showing us all its other side and over these last few days you know Lance Armstrong has really experienced the emotions of the tour to France he knew what winning was all about when he won in 1993 in Verdon he knew what losing was all about when he lost a couple of days ago in Rell when he was sure that he was going to take that stage victory and then today he knows something that I don’t think any of us can ever experience on the roads of the tour to France they now fan out across the road and the riders holding themselves off at a respectful distance to an applause the tour to France has never known before the Motorola team remember Fabio Casatelli you know yesterday I really do believe that the riders of the tour to France paid the highest tribute that they could to their departed friend Fabio Casatelli but here in the relative calm of the start area it’s a lot cooler but the atmosphere has changed on the road to Bordeaux it’s normally the sprinters we see riding at the front fighting for victory but today I think the race will be different because the riders of the tour to France today would like to honor the race a swatch of black cloth tied to Fabio’s bike his legacy tied to this sport his teammates can finally talk about it yesterday was super hard i mean on the start line uh first you know beginning first 10 15 km of the race everybody was just I mean really broken up uh crying hard to ride uh I mean super emotional and then it was a super show of respect and the race was their whole day was in honor of Fabio and everybody rode slow which was it it was nice and then uh they allowed the motor team to go in the front and cross the line all together you know and then uh we decided not to go to the podium um cuz you know that’s where we want Fabio you know so like kind of the the missing rider and you know the hard part is just you know it’s going to be super hard when we get to Paris too not being there in Paris you know when we have to do that victory lap and uh we have that empty slot and so but you know I mean uh yesterday the beginning was the hardest thing i mean for sure it was all night every night it’s been bad i mean it’s not a fun tour anymore it was never fun in the beginning either but it’s it’s not uh you’re not so much looking forward to finishing you’re not so much looking forward to getting to Paris you’re not so much looking forward to you know you just kind of want to get away from everything now motorola’s team colors aren’t just red white and blue anymore all of the cyclists agreed on a show of solidarity but a few riders felt that the tribute should have been handled differently in third place overall Vanna Ree i don’t know maybe I’m the the only one who who thinks so but I think it was a mistake we did yesterday because first of all the day was too long for us for everybody it was a very hard day because to ride 8 hours think the whole day of this poor guy it was very bad i think we shouldn’t have started or just have done 100 kilometers then that’s it or we should have done the the the the stage normal because I think the best for everybody is to it’s hard to say but it’s I think it’s best to to leave it behind as quick as possible another rider who basically agreed with Ree Marco Pantani an old friend of Casartelli suggested that they raced yesterday and ride a memorial pace today during the actual hours of the funeral so with his memory in mind the Pelaton begins a new stage of their tour today applauded for their gesture on Wednesday stage 17 today from Po to Bordeaux yep that Bordeaux wine country 153 miles includes three bonus sprints which now become the highlight again because we’ll run out of mountains to climb today the most exciting sprint will be at the finish the word is that Miguel indrain initiated yesterday’s tribute in the Pelaton class there was very little talking all along the course yesterday so this morning Armstrong opened up a bit i I can’t sit here and tell you that I that I was his best friend or that I knew him like I know Frankie or like I know Sean but I can tell you that that what I knew I really liked and and he was a good guy and and he was going to be a part of this program and he was not only our our friend or our teammate he was our brother he was our uh somebody we can fight i mean he was just a great guy so it’s it’s very difficult it yesterday was was certainly the the hardest day of my career a young career that may improve in part because of hardship on the 1995 Tour to France [Music] espn’s coverage of the 1995 Tour to France is presented by Michelin because so much is riding on your tires guess what we saw today a sign pointing to Paris the tour has less than 4 days and 400 miles to go well mile 36 in today’s stage flew by as Lon Jabar crossed the bonus sprint finish line first ahead of guess who did Japrov here we go again two more sprints to come today in the fight for the green jersey you know before yesterday’s tribute ride we have been watching the fastest tour in history but the pace in this heat today has been slow but as we come along now towards the last 55 60 mi of today’s stage we do have an attack on the first serious attack of the day and Titty Marray of France has gone clear well as you well know Paul this is the hottest area of France it certainly is and today is really going to be hot hot hot all the way for the riders 100° Fahrenheit is actually what is expected this afternoon and not very much wind to cool down the riders with a a slight westerly wind of 10 km an hour which could cool them down and there is Ty Marie sorry about the little bit of picture break up it’s due to the trees and the buildings in the town we are now going through but Ty Marie here building his lead to just over a minute and this is the man who back in 1991 put on the record books the second longest lone break in the history of the tour to France it was 232 km which is just over 150 mi he was alone what a great memorable victory that was he also took on the leader yellow jersey for the second time that tour because he’d won the prologue as well in that year anyways lead’s going up Paul it’s almost one and a half minutes and it might be the opportunist break that Caster have been looking for it could be they’ve had a hard time in this year’s tour to France you know Jackie Duran won the first yellow jersey of the tour by winning the prologue in Samri but I think you know what will happen a little bit later we’ll see one or two of the sprinters teams coming to the front abdu Japarov was the last man to win here he’s on the novel squad at the moment his team may well come to the front to try and chase down but also the telecom team that have Eric Zarell another reputed spinter may well move to the front with still 60 mi to go paul one more note on yesterday all the riders were given the same finishing time 7 hours 50 minutes 12 seconds as Andrea Peron Casartelli’s roommate crossed the finish line first therefore Indrain Zula Ree Jalabar and Gotti as a matter of fact the entire overall standings do not change back on the course Terry Marie a specialist in solitary efforts usually wins his races with solo breakaways terry Marie knows only too well the task he faces now he knows he needs at least four minutes I would think and he’s going to hold them off into Bordeaux there’s no hills at all on the route today we’ve already seen Lalaba win that sprint to 58 km europe the two small climbs that came before that sprint Eric Deca won the first one ahead of Lauren Brashar and Cladio Kapuchi and on the second climb of the day at Olan Lauren Brashar was first this time Clauddio was second and Maros Palini was third you’ll note that the King of the Mountains 1995 Rishar Ven didn’t bother to contest those two climbs at all i don’t think he needs to worry too much about the few climbs that remain on the way up to Paris at the moment because he’s got such a lead in that competition that he really is already crowned I think as the winner of the competition the only other sprint of the day which is really worth a mention which wasn’t shown on our television cameras at all was the sprint which came at 50 mi 80 kilometers and it was called the Preme Luis Oka the man who rode at a brilliant race to win the tour to France in 1973 and of course the man who crashed out of the race back on the coldonte in 1971 well Lua died last year and the me in memory to him today there was a prize of £4,000 for the first man into AU’s former hometown of Copen Dmanac and it was won by Johan Museu of Belgium tarine now has to get into his rhythm and decide that this is going to be a very long effort for him today he’s still now got something like 67 kilometers to go before he gets to the finish and at the moment in the main field there is no reaction at all it’s still as we’ve seen many days in the tour to France so far the manesto squad at the front setting a tempo they’re not too worried about chasing down Ti Marie they will wait I think until later when the teams of the big sprinters come to the front and help them and there we can see Benesto driving at the front of the race and Miguel in feeling no pressure at all today it’s not the day to attack the leader of the tour to France it would be folly this is a day to offer to the others in the race miguel will be looking to the time trial on Saturday to try and increase his overall lead and so as we watch the Pelaton head towards the finish in Bordeaux today uh if we could just be permitted to say thank you for all your faxes phone calls that you have sent us since over these past two days which of course has been difficult for everybody on the tour to France they have been appreciated and when applicable we have passed those comments on to the Motorola cycling team anyway as the field is now regrouping just on 2 minutes behind the leader on the road at Tiny Marie it’s a good time for us to take a break stage 17 of the 95 to France continues as the Palaton chases Terry Marie in 100° heat maria has already won six stages of the tour to France today he is looking for his seventh quite this conversation going on here paul with Tari and Bernardo well Bernardo will be giving him the latest information on what’s going on behind he’ll explain to him the fact that there is no reaction from the main field at the moment and what he has to do is at this part of the race build up as big a lead as possible because once he gets nearer to Bordeaux the main speed of the race will speed up and they will actually pull him back 54 km to go at the moment so if he can get something like 6 or 7 minutes before the final 40 km he has a chance of staying away and taking the stage victory so that’s 33 miles to the finish and his lead is up to around about 2 minutes and 35 seconds so we’re in the town here of Lombong which a few years ago in the 1970s it was one of the stage towns when the tour organization used to run three stages of the race in one day we used to start at 7:00 in the morning have two stage finishes by 4 in the afternoon and then go on a third stage which would finish around 7:00 in the evening those were tough days not just for the riders but for the journalists as well and this is one of the star towns anyway the race now about 2 and 1/2 minutes behind the leader Titty Marie now you might like to know the oldest and the youngest winners of the tour to France over the years in 1922 Thurman Lambo was the oldest man to win the tour he was 36 years of age and the youngest rider ever to win the tour was Corn and he did that in 1904 when he was 20 and he wouldn’t have won but they disqualified all of the leading riders at the end for collusion and Cornet some months after the tour had finished found himself declared the winner in 1980 though interestingly to note Y Zutzmel won the tour when he was 34 years of age and that was on the occasion when Bernard Eno was in the yellow jersey at Po rather fittingly because we’ve left Po today and he retired in the evening and I can remember him calling a press conference i think it was about 9:30 at night to say he wouldn’t start next day because of a knee injury and as a result Paul Zutel wouldn’t pull on the yellow jersey next day would he no that’s something that seems to happen in the tour to France in fact Eddie Merks didn’t do that either when Luis Oka crashed out of the tour in 1971 but you know one of the amazing things about Lewis Okana is he was such a fighter and such a real man and he came from this part of France he loved to race in the heat and he went to the tour to France in 1973 when Eddie Merks didn’t start and he walked away with stage victory but I feel sure that if he had gone to the start with Eddie Mks that year that in fact he still would have beaten him but sadly we will never know and you might like to know too that Lauren Finong the man who lost the tour by 8 seconds to Greg Lamont on the Shoni back in 1989 he was very young when he won his first tour in 1983 he was only 23 years of age and then he went on of course when he was 24 to win the 1984 tour of France so I thought you might like to know that and uh we’re now watching the Pelaton they’ve just gone over the Gon which goes down to Bordeaux the riders are going a slightly wrong longer route on the main road here it’s a very tough run in as well because as they get closer to Bordeaux we get a little bit closer to the the Girond and the Garon and the wind starts to come down from the sea a little bit and that will push the riders across and we’ll may well see them forming echelons across the road as they speed up into town marie now in St maxim so the kilometers or the miles are ticking off quite quickly at the moment his lead is still just below 3 minutes on the road and the sun behind a little bit of a cloud at the moment but believe me it is extremely hot today and very very humid indeed now just to revert back to yesterday as we know the Motorola team were given the opportunity to go to the finishing line together and as a result the race was in effect neutralized yesterday so the race referees who we call the commissers decided there would be no official results yesterday and the winner’s time for the record books was 7 hours and 50 minutes but they did not name a winner although perhaps we should remember that it was Andrea Peron the Italian roommate of Fabio Casatelli who was projected over the line first by his Motorola teammates however the record book will never show that because no winner was officially decided all of the competitions on the route the king of the mountains and the green jersey points competition they did count and they did apply to the overall classification the winner’s time of 7 hours 50 minutes was applied to every rider in the race so in effect there was no change in the tour to France overall yesterday well Phil we put yesterday finally behind us ahead of us potentially the first stage win since 1992 for Terry Marie and this kind of heat can only mean one thing that NFL summer camps are open and that means the premiere of NFL Prime Monday on ESPN former Green Bay Packers wide receiver Sterling Sharp makes his ESPN studio debut with Mike Terico and the latest NFL news and information from the preseason right through the playoffs the premier of NFL Prime Monday at 7:30 Eastern live on ESPN [Music] and action romeo romeo where out thou Romeo again please again again aren’t thou bored step into a slim gym turn of the spice fb Juicy tape need a little excitement step into a slim gym adrien Carsten Phil Liot and Paul Sherwin watching Terry Marie who’s been out on his own riding through the vineyards of Bordeaux here in stage 17 for the last 25 miles but now the Pelaton is beginning to close the gap with about 20 miles left to go in the race back in on the course now with Phil and the Pelaton now in full cry and the gap is really tumbling down tid Marie is clear now by 1 minute and 28 seconds and just about 3 or four mile ago that lead was almost 3 minutes it was but you know they are decided today that they want the sprinters to have their chance it is a place where sprinters have always manifested themselves on the streets of Bordeaux in fact just outside here by Bordeau Lac and in fact it looks to me now as if Ti Murray is deciding to slow down a little bit more because he realizes that it’s not going to be long before the main field comes back to him and Ty Marray showing us just how hot it is out there today as he happily takes the the drink now you may have seen the big professional trick there because when he takes the bottle he didn’t let go of it jean Ry Bernardo he made sure his man took a good sling off it to increase his pace just a little bit it’s a professional trick that uh everybody normally turns a blind eye to right Paul well unless you insist for too long if you hold on to that bottle for more than about 10 meters the commisser will give you a nice big fine in the evening which would be have to be paid for in Swiss Franks ah poor Paul showing spent a lot of money that way right but I didn’t get caught very often Phil unless you actually snitched on me that was the unfortunate i would never I never have done that well talking about the bigger riders in the tour to France this year Paul what about Tony Robminger because I think he’d be quite disappointed again he’s come to a tour to France he’s had a second in the past but that was a one-off result he’s never really come into his own this year has he no he hasn’t you know but he hasn’t always been a great contender in the Tour to France he had one big tour to France i think he puts an awful lot of his energy and preparation into riding well in the Tour of Spain and also riding the Tour of Italy this year which he won for the first time well Romaninger has won three tours of Spain and that’s a record in itself he was the first Swiss rider for oh over 30 years to win the tour of Italy just before this race started but he’s always kept his great performances for races where Miguel Inuain is not riding i mean he is still the world number one and will be the world number one at the end of this race because he started this race with almost double the ranking points of Big M i wonder sometimes that it may well be that he’s got a psychological barrier against beating Miguel Indere beat his is a world hour record at the end of last year but the fact is he retired from the tour to France and went away specially to prepare for that whereas Indra wrote it off the back of his tour to France performance and indeed Rome has said today in fact that um the death of Fabio Casatelli has indicated to him that he would really like to just stay away from bicycle racing for a short while Phil let’s take a moment a short while to review the highlights of the race so far and the Michelin race summary 117 riders left the city of Poe today in a hot 150 mi ride terry Marie broke away at mile 106 his biggest lead on the field close to 3 minutes but now the sprinters are beginning to close the gap well moments ago Phil described that one of the elements of Tony Roinger’s career is frustration this is his fifth tour to France his best finish was second on the podium in 1993 but this is still Tony Roinger territory there was no frustration here back on November 5th of 1994 just beyond the finish line here is the Veladrome and this houses the fastest cycling track in Europe as Tony Roinger proved late last year on the hardwood surface in exactly 60 minutes Tony Roinger averaged 34.5 miles in 1 hour smashing the previous record established in the same place by Miguel Indurin [Applause] tony Roinger has said that his victory this year in the tour of Italy already satisfied his season that dissatisfaction comes in the fact that he has never beaten Indrain for the victory in any major tour [Music] right now Frenchman Terry Marie is doing what he loves best going hard with wide open road in front of him better enjoy it while he can because things are beginning to happen behind him in the Pelaton let’s get back to Phil Liot 20 km to go for the race now and Titty Marray is hanging on just about Paul he’s down to about 35 seconds and there’s the pelon not far behind the fact is it’s tumbling as we speak Phil because it’s now down to 25 seconds at the moment the main in fact 24 seconds is the confirmation all the teams of the sprinters are at the front trying to chase down Terry Marie but what could happen here is we’ve got four teams at the front chasing to try and bring back Terry Maria and what I think may well happen is they’ve chased so hard over the last 25 miles that we may well see a break situation form here the Telecom is mainly the team who have tried to bring him back they’re thinking of their spinter Eric Zabul but also the PY team have also chased very very hard today and they’re thinking of Giovani Lombardi and possibly Giovani Fedanza also a good spinter on the PY squad but as Paul Sherman has said there’s been a lot of work put into this the escape by Titty Marie has really done a little bit of damage to them they didn’t expect to have to chase down a lone breakaway I don’t think not so early and not for so long and there’s Terry Murray taking the maximum points as he goes through the sprint point there he’s got to keep his courage and keep going as hard as he can because behind him the main fielder flying along now at something like 35 mph and once moving up because they have the man in the green jersey who wants the second place on the line and look at him go he sprints with so much confidence he went away and got the spin to Sam at the start of the day clearly taking the second place here now and I really feel as though Jimalin Abdu Japarov has hoisted the white flag of surrender and Jallab now there’s no doubt that he’s going to win that green jersey when he gets to Paris he’s won it once before jimin Abdu Japarov has won it three times in the past and there’s a beautiful picture of the tour to France as the head round of what is a huge roundabout down there coming back together again and Miguel Injurerane has got himself out front saying “Well here I am guys the sun is shining.” He really has a superb tour to France this year the man who’s been at the front nearly every time we’ve come onto the run into the stage finishes miguel indrain wearing number one the winner of four to France so far and a quick look across by Eddie Bowman and a smile saying “We know you’re the strongest but today we have to do our job we want to take our sprinters up there.” And the rider we haven’t seen is now having a great day of racing he’s heading the line here gay Touchnik the Austrian number 91 playing the perfect team domestics he tries to pull the PY team back into the action the PY team until that nasty crash which involved Fabio Casatelli lost the first rider there of their team durk Baldinger the German rider who won the stage last year the tour of South Africa the report tour he’s in his first year as a pro and sadly he broke his hip in that nasty pileup and also going yesterday on the PY team in tears because nobody likes to abandon the tour to France was the French rider Eric Bouet so they’ve now lost two men on py until then they were rivaling banesto as the only two teams with nobody out of the race tim is now down to 21 seconds on the line there and in fact he’s really insisting he feels that he can hold on but I think at the last possible minute here he’s trying to just get a little bit more publicity for Castarama it’s rather like trying to hold the floodwaters back with your little finger I think because if you looked over his shoulder now he would see all of the tour to France chasing him down there’s no way the Caster armor team can now control this there is the confirmation of that sprint we’ve just seen the third man the leadout man for Jalabar was Melt Shaw Mari who is also finishing a great tour to France for him he’ll go home by the look of it now in sixth place in Paris although he’ll have a little bit of a fight in the time trial possibly with Fernando Escardine who’s in seventh place at the moment just 10 miles or 16 kilometers left to run for Tiny Mari so near and yet so far definitely you know the sprinters want to have their day today they haven’t had a chance to sprint since the 7th of July which really is amazing when you think today is the 20th they’ve been sitting around in the back of the bunch dragging their bodies over some of the biggest mountains in France just waiting for the occasion to do that on these stages today tomorrow and the Shanise which again should be a great day for the sprinters so that’s why they don’t want a lone man like Ty Marie to steal the day from them there’s Touchnik and the team behind here we have the Nobel and the Telecom and the PY they’re the riders they’re the teams left the few teams left with any spinters still in this race because this has been a strange race for the sprinters that first opening week which was their domain of course there were many crashes and we lost some of the best spinners there including Fabio Baldato then we went into the hills and out on the very first range in the Alps we lost Mario Chipellini who won two stages in that opening week it could be a difficult sprint actually Paul because apart from Abdu Jafferov and Jalaba and Zar and Giovani Lombodi I can’t think of anybody else really who could challenge them well there is one man I think maybe an outsider Frankie Andrea who finished second here when the tour to France last came to Bordeaux in 1993 although then it wasn’t a bunch sprint situation there was a group of 20 riders got clear at the end and Jamaline Abjaparov had actually slipped into that move but you know Frankie is a good sprinter he played fairly well in the first few days of this tour to France and maybe he’d like to try and get up there today and do something and dedicate it to his his lost teammate Fabio Casatelli i’m sure he would paul also as unforgettable that near win in the last stage of last year’s tour right on the Shaniz well we’re still 3 days away from that stage 18 tomorrow another 104 miles on the flats be sure to join us at 3 p.m eastern on ESPN 11:00 p.m on the dues for stage 18 more stage 17 continues in a moment we’re back with less than 10 miles to go to the finish terry Marie has really made the field work over the last 41 miles but his lead now is just seconds the pack now have the man in their sights it’s the psychological gap now they’ve got somebody has to make the final decision to reach him they do but Ty Maria also has to make the final decision to desist because he isn’t going to do that at the moment and he’s fighting all the way until the last minute really prolonging his agony hoping that maybe he’ll get into the town get into some corners and then the riders will sit up and let him go but you know now that they’ve got so close they’re not going to let you go Terry no what a great competitor this man has been over the years and you’ve never at the France has gone by when we haven’t known that Ty Marie was taking part in it now now he looks over his shoulder Paul now he sees the sight that always sends the shivers down your back because the riders are now right behind but he’s still not going to give up tilly Murray are trying to hold them off this for him his 11th to France and now somebody from Lamprey is trying to reach him now this is an interesting move because they don’t have a real spinter now they lost their spinter Jean Azar i wonder it might be Sir Pellini because he’s been very active today this is in fact the youngest rider in the race Sir Pellini who was a very close friend of Fabio Casatelli as well and he’s decided that he doesn’t want the race to be the sprinters race today and he waited for just the moment when they were about to catch Tari and he lurched himself out of that main pack so Solini having a go and he was also the youngest rider in the race last year but he didn’t make the finish last year well this year he’s one year older and he’s going to make the finish well it’s a superb move that’s the kind of thing that you have to wait for when a couple of teams are at the front and they’re doing an awful lot of work to close down on a rabbit that rabbit today was Ti Marie just at the moment when they catch it there’s a psychological closing down because they feel as if they’ve just closed the down the the job they’ve done what they needed to do and then that’s the moment to go over the top the pack still working very very well behind and trying to keep everything under control here paul and there is Ty Marray he looks as though he’s calling it a day and he’s going to have to hang on in fact now because uh having paid the price of trying to keep away he’s going to have to hope he can finish with the group has put an awful lot of energy into that move you know but it won’t be very difficult for him to stay in the main field now because he only has about 12 kilometers to go and he should be able to get into the slipstream of the rest of this group only 117 riders left in the tour to France this morning a reflection I feel on how difficult the race has been this year so the field is uh now in pursuit of a different rider Marco Zolini a lampre team who now a bit of a headless team because they lost their team leader Rachel Fondreas and they’ve also lost their sprinter Jean Verda phil those sprinters could make the difference as we head toward the finish line now quickly another Michelin race summary terry Marie still had a 21-second lead on the fast closing field with 9 miles to go but two miles later as Marie was engulfed by the Pelaton Marco Serpellini counterattacked and is now 10 seconds ahead of the field trying to hold off those shredders phil take us over the bridge pierre 23-year-old Maros Serpellini out in front he’ll be 24 next month so thinking back Linon 23 years of age when he won his first tour to France in 1983 well as the riders here come over the Garon and the the streets of Bordeaux it looks very much as if it’s all over for Marco Serpellini it was an extremely good move but the telecom riders still at the front they’re keeping the pace high but they’ve got to expect over the next couple of kilometers one or two attacks like that and that is what they will not want to happen and they want to keep it all together so that when they come into the final corner here Eric Zabel has a great chance of taking the stage victory a second one after the one that he took in Charlaw some time ago [Music] we’ve told you it’s hot this is traditionally one of the hottest parts of France in the summertime another tradition here a great sprint to the finish we used to have the finish here in fact and it was on this little stretch road where Davis Finny from the United States had won his stage we’re going of course in the opposite direction we came in this way around a little loop and came back the opposite way to finish but now we go straight through the city and out to the famous lake which is on the outskirts of Bordeaux and that’s where the finish is 8 kilometers still to ride and an awful lot of hard work that these riders at the front have to do if they want to stop any of those lone breakaways going as we get a little bit closer to the finish this is the German champion Udo Boltz riding at the front number 202 a little bit further down will be Yens Heer his teammate as soon as Boltz has done his turn at the front he will switch off and let his teammate come in and they will start to try put themselves into a formation that will take Eric Zel into an ideal position for the final sprint julio Bolts had a much quieter tour than last year he finished ninth last year had a great journey through the mountains much quieter this year but he is the champion of Germany and the rider now leading the pace through for the Nobel team is France Massen he’s riding to a finish in this year’s tour he retired last year and in fact that was the first race he had retired as a professional and he was very ill and very upset he had to do so a year ago he’s going to finish this year though well this is Jensen Heapner on the front from the telecom team and it’s quite interesting to see this mixture of teams as we’ve said earlier a lot of teams not a full compliment as they get nearer to the end of the tour to France and they’re having to find allies today to work together they all have a a job in hand they all want to get their sprints to the front before we get to the finish line and taking over now as a man from the novel squad this is Harvest Pizzix actually a lapin rider they’re probably the only one to finish this year’s tour to France after the withdrawal of Casper’s Oz and he looks like a sprinter his saddle looks as though they could do with lifting up a centimeter or so but he’s done his bit at the front and now Udo Bolts is back through again followed by Yens Heftner hener by the way in his first tour to France promised much he finished 10th in it he hasn’t repeated that defeat yet now Big Mig himself is intruded on the scene well he may well come on with a big surprise you know he’s always wanted to win a road stage of the tour to France six kilometers to go as they take the little road to the left which is one that I know extremely well it takes them away from the Guron and up towards the area called Bordo Leak where the great sports palace is here and where also there’s a great exhibition hall as well the riders know this finish because they’ve done it so many times before but maybe the man in yellow has got something up his sleeve and he’s just trying to beat the sprinters well you know we never talk about Miguel Duran as a sprinter but he can finish with a very fast sprint indeed if he’s motivated enough to do so we’ve seen him use his sprint in world championships when he’s raced for a medal place and he’s had silver in the world championships so he can sprint so if he’s decided he might want to well who knows but we’ve now got an attack being launched and we expected these attacks to come this is the Bashilia team who are now trying to get away quickly and the man I’d expect is probably Pirini fred it’s the MG team two riders from MG have gone once Flavio Vanzel it looks very much as if the other one was Ralph Yeman now there is a surprise they’ve sat at the back all the time let the other riders do it and two of them have gone together to try and fill this gap well this is Vanzel in the front he wore the yellow jersey briefly last year when the race left to Great Britain and Flavio hasn’t been seen too much of this year the other rider is Ralph Yerman a former Swiss champion and it’s amazing when two men can get away just like that Paul and look at the gap they’ve opened excellent teamwork you know they’ve gone together they know it’s too difficult to get away a lone rider against the organization of all the big teams there there are four teams chasing behind you know we have PY novel Telecom and possibly the once would come up a little bit later on they realized they had to go together and I’ve very rarely seen that in the closing stages of a stage of the tour to France so a good move as they now scamper across Bordeaux heading out towards the lake the gap is opening now and as Paul has already said the teams find organizing a chase a little bit more difficult now we’re on the other side of the two famous mountain chains in France because they don’t have the power behind the chase anymore well they don’t some of them don’t have splinters some don’t have the men to help the spinters they’ve left this tour now 5 km to go for these two riders now and there is a slight chance that they could survive you know because the two of them will work equally together where if if we’re on separate teams the one may well hold back a little bit they’ve got a 5second advantage over the main field at the moment and Vanzilla here digging extremely deep they know this is the hardest part there’s a slight climb over the river here as they come towards the finish in the Bordeaux Lac when they look over their shoulders the gap is starting to increase a bit they’ve got about 100 meters well Vanzilla took one look over his shoulder got that great feeling when he didn’t see anybody chasing and it’s continued the power this is a desperate escape now by two riders on the same team and I can’t remember this happening before coming into Bordeaux phil this just points out that no matter how late in the tour we get no matter how many miles are left no matter how many of the original nine are left teamwork is still important well in a rare move here two riders from the same team have broken away building up a 9-second lead Paul it’s an excellent gap but it’s very very difficult to hold off a big bunch that is chasing down at the moment but it may well be that the sprinters now have been taken by surprise these two men made an excellent move there as just getting rid of the bottle lightening the load there’s only about 5 minutes of effort left to go but behind you see the main field is really strung out they’re giving everything they’ve got to get up to these two men and there’s the gap you can see quite clearly from the helicopter position of the two rabbits who are trying to escape the hounds here they keep looking over the shoulders but they may as well just get on with it because if they’re caught they will have nothing left anyway and there’s the field now just behind them just on 3 kilometers left to go to the line two riders from the same MG team a team which is led by Buno incidentally Jeani Buno lost the Amsel Gold Race a classic race to Ralph Yman a couple of years back when they were on rival teams now they’re on the same team Paul but it makes no difference because the field the sprinters are being dragged back into this race today they refuse to give up what is their stage well that was excellent and it looks very much as if it was Neil Stevens the odds the on rider who’s come up there 3 km to go he’s decided now it’s time for to do their job for Lawrence so he may well be looking to finally take the green jersey up to Paris and if he gets a good placing today he may well have won it completely it’s been a marvelous marvelous tour for the young Aussie Neil Stevens well he’s not so young now but he’d like me to say that anyway as he now swings off the front he’s been the super domestic of he’s closed it right down for long jalabar the palty team are thinking of their man now the boys in the front here of Giovani Lombardi watch for the green jersey you can see him hovering about five or six men down the man we very rarely see at this stage of the race is the small tes task terror jamaladin Abdul Japarov but the attacks have been launched again and this time going clear now for the once team I think is Jaminho Diaz Dabala they really are putting the pressure on a Nobel rider was straight up there as well that looks very much as if it’s the long shape of Eric Decka getting in there he wants his man Jamaline Abdu Japarov to have a chance all over the road now at the moment there’s not very far to go we should soon see the 2 km banner Then the riders will be just around the far side of the park here and it will be great finish for the sprinters today they’re all over the road and you can see by the way the bunch fan then that somebody in the middle was trying to make a little bit more space and they pushed on a bit now this is the man that Porsche we mentioned earlier might try to go yes Muskibby he’s been joined by the biggest man in the race poly well they too have not waited you know they’ve decided we couldn’t get rid of the sprinters today they waited just for the moment when everybody was slowing down there’s always a moment in a sprint when there’s a slight slowing down of the main field and they’ve got a great gap at the moment but still the sprinters teams are at the front they’re putting the pressure on they know they’ve got to get back up to these two riders skiibby looks over his shoulder that’s how he lost the stage a couple of days ago when he was looking over too much so Skiby and OS Poli has gone polley now has gone through these two riders quite committed to work together here and hang on if they can they’re giving the sprintters the few that are left in this race a really rough ride to the finish well Poli is one man who can hold off the whole bunch if anyone in this field can he’s a member of the Merkatoni Uno squad of Mario Chipellini only four riders left in that squad he’s used to doing this he’s used to giving a big turn of gas at the end of a stage for his teammate Mario Chipellini today he’s doing it for himself they’re coming up now to the red kite 1 kilome to go well this could be the great escape in sight of the spinters because yes Bkibby is a good finisher in a group of two and OS Pley is prepared to work him right up to the line here we think the Nobel man joining is Vatislav Yakimov he was a good candidate for victory and I mentioned it earlier yakimov starts the spin now yakimov goes for the line and Poli tries to get on his wheel skiibby is the man in the middle here now but you have to slap Yakimov he’s twice a stage in the tour of France before he reached him at about 800 meters to go but Skibby is going to get his wheel it could be the Yakimov has gone just a little bit too soon chesper Skiby trying to get onto his back wheel and come out of his slipstream as Zarble and the boys try to wind up for the spinners behind Jalabird in green he is washed away but as they come up towards the line now Skippy starts the spin for the line the spinners on his shoulder now Japarov goes off to our right Jalabird is coming through as they come up to the line now lauren Jalaburn Zal Zarble Zarble comes up to the line what a finish by the sprinters eric Zel gets it on the line from Abdu Japarov I think my goodness me the sprinters took it in the end but what a race phil no one obviously had to tell the sprinters about the tradition here and the sprint to the finish in Bordeaux it was Eric Zabel just nosing out Jamaladine Abd Japarov one of the best sprinters in the world but he was all over the final 100 yards that could have cost him the victory we thought for a time that Miguel Drain might make a move but he finished 24th Fontani 25th terry Marie led for over 30 miles but could not win today’s stage we’ll be back well Eric Zabel’s all fired up has reason to be watch your step there Eric he just won today’s stage 17 he also won back on his birthday on July 7th phil just look at this for a finish eric Zel is on the right in the pink and then as Skiby dropped away from it giovani Lombardi couldn’t match him either and then came the Tashkent Terror shoulder tosh shoulder his bike going in every direction but the same way as him and Abdu Japarov couldn’t quite reach the side of Eric Zal the young man who celebrated his birthday in Charawir with a victory now gets a second stage win here and it was a clear one at that overall Phil Miguel in Drain still leads the 1995 tour to France in second Alex Zula bioni Ree must make up 3 minutes and 14 seconds over the final three days of the tour to pass Zula for second place remember how well he did in the first individual time trial well the second one is coming up Saturday in any language they love their indrain around here in this case it’s Spanish [Applause] all he has to do is survive really the next three days he has been beaten in the second individual time trial in the tour in the past couple of years for Lauron Jalabar well he’s doing the best he can to finally clinch the overall green sprinters jersey for 95 rob de Joparro did it back in ’94 they are rivals the leader of the 1995 crew to France is Miguel Indrain the world’s greatest cycling event has traveled 2,31 miles still 228 left to go be sure to join us tomorrow for stage 18 when the tour begins in Mong Ministeral and ends in Limoge coverage begins on ESPN at 3:00 in the afternoon 11:00 at night on ESPN 2 for Phil Liot I’m Paul Sherin and our entire ESPN tour to France team i’m Adrien Karsten [Music] espn’s coverage of the 1995 Tour to France has been presented by Michelin because so much is riding on your tires