1995 Tour de France – Prologue/Stages 1/2/5 with Adrian Karstan

1995 Tour de France – ESPN raw coverage of prologue, stages 1,2 and 5 with commentary by Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen.

Hosted by Adrian Karsten.

00:00 Prologue intro
04:42 Prologue (Saint-Brieuc)
23:41 Stage 1 intro
29:50 Stage 1 (Dinan to Lannion)
47:45 Stage 2 intro
51:00 Stage 2 (Perros-Guirec to Vitre)
1:12:07 Stage 5 intro
1:19:57 Stage 5 (Fécamp to Dunkirk)

This coverage is raw and includes commercials and other programming.
Note: This video was created by ESPN. I do not own this content.

for over a century the wheels have rolled through the French countryside in the greatest bike race in the world a tour to France for 3 weeks 189 riders will test the mountains they will test the clock but most importantly they test themselves in the most unforgiving event in sports their reward for all this suffering and pain well to win the tour to France is a great achievement but to win several is the stuff of legend like five-time winners Jacqu Anatil of France in the 60s and Belgium’s hero Eddie Mks in the 70s the next decade Frenchman Bernard Eno won five followed by America’s three-time champion Greg Lamont now in the 90s but new age Spaniard Miguel Indrain returns to the tour as the winner of the last four races and is poised to rewrite the record books today the timehonored tour to France enters a new age the age of indrain today in Britany on the northern coast of France the 82nd tour rolls off with the prologue a preview as to what it will take for the world’s most conditioned athletes to survive hello everyone I’m Adrienne Karsten welcoming you to ESPN’s exclusive coverage of the 1995 tour to France presented by Michelin over the next 23 days and 2300 miles our commitment is to cover it all because this time we’ve come to France to cover history since the very first tour in 1903 only three men have ever won this tour five times but never consecutively if this summer Miguel Indrain can do it it will be a first his fifth last year the tour was designed to admittedly defeat Indrain well it did not this year’s more traditional course makes him the far and away favorite most of the flat stages come early this year there are nine total we’ll take a trip through Belgium for the first time since ’92 then a getaway day to fly to the signature stages the mountains first the Alps then the Pyrenees by the time we head back north everyone left will have become a veteran the real veteran of the tour to France has to be the man to my right Phil Liot phil as you join us to call your 23rd tour consider this fact you have watched all three win five jean Conatil Eddie Mks Bernard Eno but if Indrain wins that fifth consecutive this summer can we call him the greatest ever many people will but remember we are living through a different era now cycle racing has changed but also remember what the others did apart from winning the tour five times Eddie Murk still holds the stage race win record he’s won 34 stages of this race bernard Enino he’s in second place with 28 stage wins and like Jacquiel they’ve all won the classic single day races in the case of Merks and Eno they’ve also been world champions now Miguel Inuain hasn’t been a world champion he hasn’t won a single day classic and during his four tour victories he’s only in fact won eight stages all of them time trials yes he’s very consistent but I don’t think yet he’s the greatest but he’s 31 years of age during this tour and you know he can ride two or even three more years what if he’s to win the next two years then Adrian he will be the best yeah the young and the old you know there’s a new generation out there ready to make their move since Greg Lamman’s departure last year and his retirement certainly the greatest American rider ever well that’s left a hole a void for the men in red white and blue boys really Lance Armstrong has got to complete the tour this year I think to move into that hero status he’s my favorite in red white and blue who are you going to keep your eyes on well I’m a little biased too because last year an English rider Chris Borman won the prologue time trial and wore the leader yellow jersey and he could do the same today in this prologue time trial although of course perhaps doesn’t suit him quite so much but Borman’s improving every year he’s now beginning to climb well in a couple of years we could talk of him as being a winner of the tour to France another name to watch out for not just in the prologue today but also for the overall in Paris is Alex Zula he’s now mature and he’s just finished second in the tour of Switzerland phil it’s going to be fun to watch completing our ESPN team a former pro himself again this year providing the very unique view from the rider standpoint is Paul Sherwin adrian I don’t think I’ve known a tour to France in recent years where there’s been so much change in the hierarchy in the run-up to the event just two weeks ago Petra Ugram the man who finished second last year broke two ribs in the tour of Switzerland but his misfortune may well smile well for his teammate Ujini Berine he comes to the tour to France for the first time and you know there’s a big conflict between them in the Tour of Italy just recently and one team with one leader may well be good for them paul today 189 riders roll out for the prologue the better times to come as we await the faster riders but of the early riders the former French champion from 2 years ago Jackie Durand at 9 minutes even holds the time to beat but look at this rain beginning to fall now in the streets of San Bu here along the northern coast of France the weather blowing in off the Atlantic it’s going to make the course treacherous but this man Lauren Jalabar knows all about the dangers of the True to France the fact that Jalabar is even back here in the saddle in 95 nothing short of a miracle remember almost a year to the day ago stage one of the 95 tour 200 yd from the finish one of the most disastrous moments in tour history jalabar goes face first into the streets of Armenier loren Jalabar in pink 6 weeks of rehab he’s now back on the circuit here at the 95 France so the first 4 and 1/2 miles of this year’s 2300 in the prologue with the weather now going to become very treacherous the bikers going over 40 mph checking on the course now with Phil Lett and Paul Sherwin and now we come to the arrival of La Jalabar and how conditions have changed since the start of this prologue time trial from the second hour of racing the thunder came in from the west and torrential rain has hit the race and it’s turned this course into a greasy pitch lawrence Alaba not sure yet whether he’ll go for the green points jersey or the yellow jersey but right now it’s the best ride since the weather went bad a very good ride plus 24 seconds on the early leader Jackie Giron well Phil if the rain continues to come down the times may go up what will happen for Lance Armstrong a disappointment for America last year hopes to finish in the top 10 here in 95 his effort begins in a moment [Music] ESPN’s coverage of the 1995 Tour to Bronx is presented by Michelin because so much is riding on your tires with Phil Liot and Paul Sherwin i’m Adrienne Karsten back in the wet and windy streets of Sombreu France in the start house the best hope for a yellow jersey for the United States former world champion Lance Armstrong yes dropped out last year but has improved his time triing over the winter months you know no one will forget last year’s individual time trials he heads out onto the streets now against Miguel in Durant having started 7 minutes ahead of Big Mig he was blown off the road by the Spaniard but two months ago he won the tour to pod and with that win he feels he has become a contender here well this year I I think it’s different because I expect to finish and that’s going to be the the primary goal and and uh I would like to repeat what I did in 93 with a stage win but at the same time I’d like to repeat what I did in 94 with improved climbing and improved time traveling this man won last year’s prologue chris Borman came out of nowhere to shock the cycling world but unfortunately dropped out of last year’s race now nothing short of finishing is acceptable stopping the tour this year is not an option for me uh I I impose that if you like but it’s not an option to finish in Paris is is crucial if I finish in 100th position uh or in the top 20 it it’s the most important thing is to finish cuz I have to see it all i have to experience it and then I have to learn from that experience for the future back on the course Lance Armstrong trying to prove he’s improved here’s Phil and Paul but Armstrong looks as though he’s very determined he’s extremely determined there you saw a quick look at his watch to see what the time split was at the moment he would have got time checks from his teammates out on the course that was Frankie Andrea who’s in fact lying in seventh place overall at the moment but this is the hardest part of the course for the riders as they come over the top of this climax when so many of them have started to crack but information coming at the moment chris Borman is riding extremely strongly out on the course well that’s good news for the British Paul but right now we’re looking at the American the former American champion indeed a former stage winner and a former world champion and now he’s putting in the final effort that he hopes will give him a good time that will stand well against the lucky early starters on this race this evening over the little brow and heading in towards the finish in the last 15 days he’s had some fantastic performances in the time trials he was fourth in the prologue of the tour of Switzerland just recently and fifth in the mountain time trial of the tour to France and he’s only got two or 30 hundred meters to go when he takes this final corner to the cobble section the tricky chicane comes out of it well now spins for the lines very good time this by Lance Armstrong considering the conditions he really has learned to time trial 933 42nd place overall a good time bill you have to wonder what Lance could have clocked on a drive pavement the rain slowing the cyclists by 45 seconds now Alex Zul excellent time trialist but at 27 still looking for his first big win he’s been second in Switzerland second in Spain still has a lot to prove to himself up ahead of Zula on the course Chris Borman setting a lightning fast pace but look at this he tries to take the corner too wide his wheels go out from underneath him and he crashes into the wall the car having to slam on the brakes to avoid hitting Borman chris not getting up quickly that’s a bad sign the course very treacherous now [Music] the weather has turned dramatically and it’s turned this prologue time tile into a skid pan the early starter Jackie Diron the 27th man to lead in lovely warm conditions is the leader on the board with a time of exactly 9 minutes but the biggest story on the course so far today is that Chris Borman the young racer from Great Britain who won the prologue stage last year has crashed possibly injured himself we’ll have more when we return with ESPN’s coverage of the prologue stage here in Santa this just moments ago chris Gorman his 95 tour lasted exactly 90 seconds as he crashes now Phil and Paul watching other riders playing it cautiously this is Tony Raer out on the course and you can see as he goes round this corner how carefully the riders are taking when they come onto these little pieces of cobbles and that may well be what the organization the tour to France will be obliged to do today because there has been so much of a difference between the early starters in this time trial and the riders who are starting now but Jackie Duron who will have to be brought back from his hotel where he’s been for an hour or so now and will be very surprised if he’s watching television that he’s still the leader on the board but to my knowledge Jackie Duron has never in his life as a professional won a time trial race and the former champion of France in fact he’s won the road race championship the last two years which he lost that title just a few days ago which passed over to Eddie Sen a teammate of Chris Borman this is Rom out on the course now a man much uh much more likely to produce a good time in bad weather he is a tough rider but my goodness me he never expected conditions like this the arrival now of Vitio Fondreest on the lap pray team which confirms in fact that Chris Borman isn’t around because he started behind Chris Borman out on the course so Borman still may be standing at the side of the road i know the race doctor will be out there as quickly as possible but we’re waiting now for Chris Borman to come maritzio Fondre started 2 minutes behind him so Borman losing an awful lot of time it may well be that he hasn’t got up and started the tour of France at the moment we just can’t get in these conditions any information out on the race route well look at this fondreest who won the time trial stage of the Kellogg’s Tall of Britain last year way down the overall situation look how delicately two this is a really downhill herpin right bend he continues to turn after this bend as we swing back here with our French television to see the start of Marco Pantoni who nearly lost both wheels on that blue square of paint every rider has slipped as they’ve left the s house antoni nearly gave us a double lap coming up in a moment the man who has only won 10 stages in his tour to France’s career but eight of those 10 have been in time trials like today’s prologue miguel indrain is next we’re back in Salu with Yavghi Berine a relatively unknown Russian until he beat Indra in the 94 tour of Italy he’ll get a big chance here in just a moment in 95 but first here’s St paul and right now we’re looking at the arrival of Alex Zula who Paul and I were feeling this was a man who could string a surprise but of course the weather has done that already zula who finished second in his home tour the tour Switzerland and now heading up in the merc of the evening here in Britany and Zula has not enjoyed his ride a bit but his time is going to tell us just how well he will stay up among the leaders remember Jackie Diron and there’s his time this is an extremely fine performance by Zula he’s going to finish in one of the best times since the rain come down but that is only good enough for 26th place at the moment 9 minutes 23 seconds and this is Edini Bersan the rider who is riding his first tour to France having last year won so convincingly the tour of Italy where he beat Miguel in and now he’s facing him here in the tour to France and all these riders realize now how dangerous it is out on the course borman still hasn’t come up to the finish line here he only has to finish the stage there because in the prologue time trial you cannot be eliminated he just has to be able to try and get up but we’re getting confirmation now in fact that Corbin hasn’t restarted and in fact he will not cross the finish line here so he has abandoned the tour to France well this is unbelievable but uh our computer here the Finnish competition simply says big surprise with Chris Borbin who will not cross the finishing line and they will give us more details soon but it sounds as though Borman has withdrawn from the tour to France after a matter of two miles or three or four kilometers and that is all down onto the keyside now as we cross the valleys to climb back up to the finish and this is Tony Roa in full cry this is probably the fastest section of the course after you come off the descent it is flat the only flat bit on it officially is 25 m above sea level and then they climb up the hill towards the finish which will bring them up to around 300 m above sea level well Rome of course will not be concerned about the great tie by Jackie Giron he will be more concerned about the time that Miguel Injurain will do or indeed this man last year’s King of the Mountains Rishard Verank and Ven is finding his form he’s had a very good race just before coming to the tour to France he is now on form he’s looking very very strong on the climb here he’s posted some fantastic performances you know he beat Miguel Indurrain on two of the mountain stages of the recent Dopane Liber in France and he really has announced himself as a great challenger this year he says “I will go out and I will fight in on all of his own terrains but this year I feel as if I’ve proved improved enough in the time trial to actually be a manage the challenger for the overall standings.” Well it’s an old tradition to save the best for last and the true to France’s prologue is no exception everyone else has had their chance but so many cyclists have come close to this man only to be swatted away insistent calculating tranquil but always very explosive the list of last year’s victims begins with one of the greatest racers ever greg Lamond just couldn’t keep up with Big Mig rookie Chris Borman was left just shaking his head claudia Kapuchi exhausted indorin’s pace literally made him sick tony Roinger sick and psyched out rashard Veron came close to the mountains he had a chance but that’s about all you’re going to get from this guy his concentration is zen-like sees himself doing everything before he does it nothing matters except right now this moment further out on the course Tony Roinger as the rain continues and Phil a question because of the rain can these results be protested by the teams of their coaches well knowing Chris Borman’s team manager Roger Leger who has been tour he’ll be into the jury room tonight and the meetings could go on quite late I think as they try to persuade them to either anull this event or allow Chris Bman back in but if you don’t finish this stage I’m not too sure quite how they will get round at those rules anyway the arrival of Rominger now the man who is second favorite in this year’s tour to France to Indigrain and now we’ll get some real idea as to the quality of this man’s performance he goes over the cobblestones and on screen now it’s a good ride it’s going to be alongside Zenasculus as Tony Romier comes home but again 26 seconds lost to Giron 30th place for Tony Romiger 926 his time so he is 18 seconds better than Zen and Yascula as immediately we switch out now back to the keyside which is about halfway along this 7 kilometer course and Induain quickly out of the saddle because this is one of the areas where he can limit his losses or indeed make time he won’t take any risks at all in the corners and this is where he’ll try and put his power to good use you know when it comes to the final climb up here that is when Indere may well be able to pull something back but it doesn’t look at the moment as if anybody is going to dethrone Jackie Duron as we said he started in 27th position on the day and he really had the advantage of having a totally dry course but Indrain is not going to go down without a fight he’s riding like a man possessed at the moment he’s totally concentrated you can see he’s looking all over the road trying to cut every last little bit that he can but at the end of this long straight he will turn to the left and then have to start the long climb back up to the finish line and it takes 3 km for him to reach that and Indrain looking extremely strong at the moment as did Tony Roinger a little bit early but you see those times are all still off the leaderboard of 9 minutes which was set so early in the day by Jackie Duron the former double French champion so in continues to ride in front of a vastly thinned crowd here which has been standing behind those barriers 10 deep all day and as soon as the action started the rain came and many of them have slipped away well again on the finishing line here now where Borman has not arrived the journalists are saying that he has been taken to hospital but there is no confirmation of any of his injuries at all but they are saying that Chris has been taken to hospital that is such a shame Phil because he built himself up for this event he abandoned the midy league this is Marco Pantani the young man who was a revelation of last year’s tour to France a superb climber he won’t be liking the conditions out there at the moment but I feel he’s come back to form he had an awful accident early in May when he was knocked off out training by a by a motorist and then he came back in the tour of Switzerland and he absolutely leapt up the mountains the same way as he was doing in the Tour to France last year and won a stage just before the end and that’s when he decided he was good enough to come back and ride the tour to France this year well this is a real true climber one we haven’t seen the like of for many many years in the tour of France he will excite us when we go into the Alps and the Punes for sure and his time in the time is not bad either 9 minutes 50 seconds only 104 for Marco Pantani but he survived the day and hasn’t conceded much time at all to Rome Gascula or Alex Zula so Miguel Indrain’s quest for five straight has begun his finish of the prologue in just a moment adrien Karsten Phil Leot Pollure went back on the wet and windy streets of Sandreu France in Britany this Miguel indrain the one of two riders left on the prologue course pick up the call with Paul Bersin now coming up towards the finish that leaves just Indrain out on the course of Gini Bersin will this be the man to challenge Miguel Injurain right through the three weeks of this year’s tour to France well we’re going to get some idea now Paul as he rolls up towards the finish soaking wet he doesn’t look so good here looked to me as if he was slipping a little bit in those corners and today is a day that the mechanics have to play their role as well to make sure that all the tire pressures are exact because if the tires are too hard that’s when the bicycle will slip all over the road here as he comes up to the line he’s well off the leaderboard he’s over 10 minutes well this is a disastrous time for little bears and 1007 only 156 of the 188 riders who have now finished the their stage of the tour to France the other man is this man here who has won the last four tours to France out of the last three prologus he’s won two of them finished second in the other and I feel he’s not going to win this one now but he’s done a very strong ride indeed he’s way up on Evi Bersant and you know Injur could take a minute here out of Bersan and what a way to start the tour proper tomorrow a minute to the good over somebody like Bersin and also he may well get a 30 second advantage only Tony Roinger roinger finished in 9 minutes and 26 seconds and Miguel Indrain has not weakened at all on this climb he’s really still going along as strong as ever but he’s lost so much time on those corners you know everybody has lost time there’s the team manager right up behind him there giving him that information but that is the face of a Miguel Indrain who’s extremely concentrated we have to wait now for the time split the time to come up on the screen in front of us and this is Miguel Indrain and what is going to be the time so now we have Miguel Injurain turning into the home straight here in Zambria in the most atrocious conditions I can remember for a prologue since 1978 miguel Injurerane is now sprinting for the line and this is the man who is going to show us what times are but it’s way outside of Jackie Giron who will win the prologue time trial inane himself 931 and finishes only 35th with that time of 9 minutes and 31 seconds so Phil and Paul these really are the results of two races we saw today the first 18 racers in dry conditions the other 170 in conditions like this frenchman in the first four places jackie Durand who won a stage last year well he is the first one to wear yellow here at the 1995 tour to France around some terrible conditions here along the Atlantic coast jackie Durand with his happy countrymen standing there to support him how long can he wear yellow will begin to get the answer on Monday at 2:30 p.m eastern when ESPN’s coverage of the 1995 Tour to France continues with coverage of stages one and two for Bill Liot and Paul Sherwin and an unhappy Chris Borman I’m Adrien Karsten espn’s coverage of the 1995 Tour to France has been presented by Michelin because so much is riding on your tires since the day these boys were old enough to ride a bike they’ve wanted to come to France to seek their fortune sometimes they really strike it rich other times they lose it in one big gamble the fortunes the misfortunes of the true to France always best to save something for a rainy day [Music] [Music] stage one of the tour to France 145 miles through the streets of Britany on a day when almost anyone could wind up wearing yellow hello everyone with Bill Liits i’m Adrien Carson welcoming you to ESPN’s exclusive coverage of the 1995 tour to France presented by Michelin Phil i think day one of the tour taught the cyclist something and that is to expect the unexpected jackie Duran never expected to be in the yellow jersey chris Borman never dreamed that his tour would last only a mile and a half and Miguel in Drain I don’t think ever figured that he’d be in 35th position as a Pelaton rolls off today consider the conditions that continue and the neutral terrain i think this proves anything is possible of course that’s why this is the tour to France this is a great sporting competition miguel Injer will be the first man to tell you “Yes he is a favorite but he wouldn’t see himself as a favorite until he gets to Paris because too many things can go wrong.” Chris Borman never expected after just one and a half miles to be in a hospital bed with a broken ankle and a broken wrist and yesterday too amongst the big names who lost time in those terrible conditions was Evini Bersin he lost 67 seconds primarily of course to injur so his tour is now a big uphill battle still the hottest thing in French fashion these days yellow shirts today’s model Jackie Duron but the price of fashion came pretty high he had to ride the 4.5 mile prologue course in 9 minutes flat which he did american Frankie Andreo was one of 18 riders of the 189 total who got to ride on dry streets through Sombreu frankie finished in seventh position 5 seconds behind the leader Duron but then the weather blew in off the Atlantic much improved time trialist Lance Armstrong tried to keep his powder dry chris Borman the prologue champion from last year would they be strong enough to beat Big Mig armstrong about to come out of the gate you see the rain coming down trying to prove to the world and to himself as he comes in brighteyed and bushy tailed that he really will be a contender this year it’s a very good time this by Lance Armstrong to the conditions he really has learned the time trial 533 in 42nd place overall a good time then came Chris Borman who promised himself and us that anything short of finishing the Truda France this year was unacceptable stopping the tour this year is not an option for me i I impose that if you like but it’s not an option to finish in Paris is is crucial to finish in the 100th position uh or in the top 20 it’s the most important thing is to finish but not finish so fast perhaps the overeager secondyear man at the tour to France lost control of himself and his bicycle goes crashing into the gate his tour to France lasted about a mile and a half conditions on the course treacherous but Alex Zula also crashed but came up with the courage to finish and Zula has not enjoyed his ride a bit but his time is going to tell us just how well he will stay up among the leaders remember Jackie Jiron and there’s his time this is an extremely fine performance by Zula he’s going to finish in one of the best times since the rain come down but that is only good enough for 26th place tony Roinger the greatest overall competition to Miguel in Drain only 3 seconds behind the favorites disappointment for Yavani Berine who finished a minute seven out of yellow that behind Jackie Durant he was to be a big threat to Miguel indrain coming into the 95 tour as big Mig initiates his quest for a fifth straight through France championship big in is now spinning for the line and this is the man who’s going to show us what times are way outside of Jackie Durant who will win the prologue time trial in himself 931 and finishes only 35th so Jackie Durant is surprised as anyone to be wearing Hello Tony Roing that brings us to Tony Roman and today’s stage one knowing that he’s within reach of the man in 35th position Miguel Indrain lucky got to go it was dry instead when it was wet so we’ll see what happens andreo rather cautious but confident as well 188 racers today because with an ankle broken in two places a right wrist broken Chris Borman flat in his back instead of on the starting line today you know Chris should realize that he wants to go for the tour to France and wants to be there in the end you can’t look at Miguel Linder he rode a regular bike didn’t even use arrow handlebars anything no special wheels just went out there and just got through it lance Armstrong speaking for most of the racers here today this is Yavghani Berzine a rookie a disappointment for him in his first day his first tour here’s Paul Sherwin thanks Adrian definitely Uji Berine was a big loser yesterday but the main contenders for this year’s overall tour to France Miguel Indrain and Tony Roinga are still only separated by 5 seconds another man who had some bad luck yesterday was Alex Zula despite a crash he still managed to finish in front of Miguel Indrain well you know in the back of their minds today Tony Roinger and Miguel Indign will be thinking about the climatic conditions they’ll be thinking about the crash of Chris Borman yesterday making sure that they can stay at the front of the pack and out of danger so on the main drag in Den time to cut the ribbon and crank it up thank you Mr mayor rarely do you have a chance to see two countrymen who are teammates wearing two of the three jerseys espn’s coverage of the Trudon continues in a moment espn’s coverage of the 1995 Tour to France is presented by Michelin because so much is riding on your tires stage one of the 1995 tour to France sprint number one of three in this 145 mile course from Dinan to Lanon it’s going to take the 188 riders about 6 hours to cover this course there are three hills and we said three sprints now the purpose of these sprints is to strategically place and add excitement to these flat stages and with the Pelaton running so closely in time they become very significant trying to keep pace phil and Paul I tell you what it’s going to be a tough ride now for the Castama riders and managed by Shil Gimar who’s trained more Tour to France winners than any other team manager he was behind the great Greg Lamont initially and also Bernardino and Lauren Pinon but you know he wasn’t expected to lead the tour after the prologue that’s for sure and the last lap went to Sil Gimar last night he not only had the winner on the overall classification he also had the second place rider as well Ti Lauron but what it does mean now of course is the Casterama team are going to have to work very hard to control this race as it moves across northern France the race route very briefly taking the riders into Belgium join this week where there’s a big time trial where Inrain will be expected to ride well then it descends down to the Alps across the bottom of France into the Pyrenees before going all the way back up via Limoge into Paris on July the 23rd long way indeed and they’re sitting in the slipstream of his teammates the surprise leader Jackie Jerome but he’s not a surprise winner in many ways because he has won the classic race the tour of Flonders after one of the longest breakaways in that single day classic race he’s also won a stage of the tour of France in Kor last year where the weather was extremely hot what a contrast to a day and not to mention his two national French titles at the front there terry Marie the man who I think did one of the best rides yesterday because he finished in 9 minutes and 19 seconds which considering the time the climatic conditions that he raced under that was the fastest of anyone in the latter part of the race so the field all coming back together the boys in pink are the Spanish on team and Alex Zul as I said earlier he fell yesterday and nobody actually found out until this morning and the journalists were very surprised indeed but he remounted so quickly that they estimate his loss to be around 10 seconds so he really did a marvelous ride in those atrocious conditions at last evening castama are going to have a hard job over the next few kilometers to try and try and control this main pack because it’s very difficult terrain they have to face it’s up and down all the time providing great platforms for anybody to try and attack and break clear and sadly the race continues without Chris Borman but there are indeed two British riders in this event max Shiandry who although he lives in Italy and and feels he’s very much an Italian he has a British passport and a British racing license yesterday he was 52 seconds off the winning time he rests in 113th place and Sha Yates riding his 12th tour to France that equals the record of Barry Hoben as a British Isles rider having ridden 12 tours sha Yates 49 seconds off first place yesterday his overall position at the moment 103rd and I’m quite sure that a lot of the fans out there of Sha Yates will be happy to know that he will be racing again next year many people thought that it would be his last season but he’s decided to give it a go he’s got such great form at the moment coming into this race that Yates has decided that he will race up until the end of 1996 and for the the second consecutive year he’s told us it’s going to be his last year and so there is the man who is leading in yellow for France getting French off to a great start in this year tour to France and quite clearly fired by that Mayo on his shoulders and quite clearly too he is prepared to hang on to the lead as long as possible he made the best of the bad weather yesterday but the race altogether we are 80 km from the finish or that’s about 50 mi so we’ll take a break welcome back to the 95 Tour to France up at the front of the Pelaton team Castarama one of 21 here showing that cycling is as much a team sport as an individual sport the boys you see up front are protecting this man in yellow Jackie Duran who by virtue of his performance yesterday won the yellow jersey really Arman Deas Quas heads the team roster as the team leader but their best all-around rider is Jackie Durant castama is a French do-it-yourself home repair store they have announced they’ll no longer sponsor these riders so perhaps this great performance so far is their last harrah back out on the road Phil Liot and Paul Sherwin 219 kilometers covered at the 233 scheduled there’s the flashing girl line to tell us where we are little Hill coming up and the rider on the left in the green jersey is is Titty Long who was in second place overall today in fact he keeps looking over his shoulder to see what the position of the yellow jersey Jackie Duron is because he actually there’s a great spirit in this Casarama team that a few years ago they had a few problems in there was a fight in the team because there were so many riders close to the yellow jersey and in fact one of them stole a couple of bonuses and took the jersey away from one of his teammates but somebody has left out this may well be Fedanza of the the poly team who’s trying to get those 6 seconds bonus which will be a good move for Jackie Duron the overall leader at the moment as Fedanza jumps clear of the rest of the field and there’s an once rider chasing him down and the py rider it is Giovani Fedanza he’s a great spinter but these boys are coming back at him very very quickly here 50 m the line and Fedanza’s made a big mistake there as he loses out to the py rider who takes it and it looks to us as though Jalabar himself has shown us he is a very very good uphill sprinter now there’s a bonus that’s gone the way of a race favorite lalabar taking the 6 seconds on the line and not very far away there as well i think Miguel Indire was the man who chased down Jalabar himself he’s obviously a little bit worried about Jalabar there moving to the front miguel Indire himself chased down Jalabar who looks over his shoulder to see what damage was done on that climb up to the bonus sprint place there and it sees the big men flexing their legs paul not only injuring on the right alongside the pink jersey but the Motorola colors that blue and red in front is Alvar Valvala Mckia who is expected to ride well in the mountains also coming out to play at that small time bonus spin leaving us now just the big finish and to remind you a 20 second bonus for the win followed by 12 for the second eight for the third these early days those bonuses matter it can mean the difference of leading the tour of France for the one and only time in your career or not that’s why they chase the seconds another man present there as well always looking for an opportunity to attack was Claudia Kiochi he’s always waiting but now it’s one of the composite team here the the Telecom ZG riders who is trying to jump clear and looks very much to me as that’s Andre Ferato who’s taken the opportunity of a slouch slowing down after the sprint there looks over his shoulder and he’s now got the gap and the official confirmation there makes interesting reading of that special sprint jalabar won the 6 seconds time bonus fedanza indeed got the second time bonus of 4 seconds but the third place rider was L Brashar of the Festina team and he takes a 2cond time bonus now he lies fourth overall in the race so he is now only 2 seconds off the yellow jersey of Jackie Gerard that’s going to make interesting reading as we get a little bit closer to the finish because I really feel that if riders aren’t careful with those tricky little corners coming through the town here in Lanor it may well cause a split in the Mayfield and that could cause in the last few meters of this race a change in the overall standings so this tour of Britany now coming to a close and one has to feel sorry for the the Breton because this is the sporting area of France who loved the tour to France very much so and they have gone to great lengths to make this visit a success here they have turned out despite the weather in their tens of thousands to watch the event yesterday there was 150,000 in Sria although I have to say when the rain came down it thinned out rather rapidly in the last half hour of racing there’s Neil Stevens in the pink jersey coming to the front again a man who’s not afraid at all of doing any work they’ve obviously spurred on by the fact that Jal came out of the pack like that to take that sprint bonus there and realizing that Jal will have a chance in the finish today because it is a very strong man’s finish it’s a tough 500 m climb once you’ve negotiated the dangerous corners coming into the town there’s Hujini Bazine obviously I would think disappointed about his ride in yesterday’s prologue time trial but a man I think we will see a lot more of as the race progresses oh we’re going to see a lot more baseball on ESPN tuesday July 4th a triple header the Texas Rangers battle the Cleveland Indians the New York Yankees take on the Chicago White Socks and the San Francisco Giants meet the Cincinnati Reds an American pastime triple header on the 4th of July more Francis Pastime in a moment it’s as far as Michelin science has ever gone our biggest breakthrough since we invented the radial technology that brings us to a new level of performance in good weather and bad in the rain in the snow technology so advanced it even saves gas the new energy tires with radial XSSE technology from Michelin it’s science that goes beyond magic second day of rain second day of the 1995 tour to France through the Britany region where the weather’s been coming in off the Atlantic how much will it affect the racers well for Lance Armstrong riding very comfortably in the middle of the Pelaton has high hopes of finishing in the top 10 here in France in 1995 188 riders started stage one chris Gorman flew home to England for surgery after Sunday’s crash the Castama team effectively controlled the race the entire day dutchman Eric Decker broke away with 50 mi to go but never gained more than 2 minutes now all the sprinters teams are at the front setting up their fast men for the finish there we are just 6 km now from the finish the domestics will shortly feel their job is done let’s expect to see their team leaders the big sprinters arriving at the front of this race and we shall be in for a treat but it’s the last 3 kilometers which are very difficult and the last kilometer is an excellent line for the sprinters it’s uphill but it’s straight but the journey through the town of Lanon before they arrive in that last kilometer is very very difficult indeed another piece of information coming one of the riders actually out of the back of the main field with the crash there’s Roberto Conti the man who won the Ald stage last year in the tour to France but the action all happening here at the front and I keep seeing the shadow of Francis Mororrow the man who is in third place overall this morning he may well be looking for an opportunity to try and leap out of this pack because for him it would be a great way of saving the withdrawal of Chris Borman yesterday and it looked as if there was a slight slowing down into that corner and this is what’s going to happen all the time now as we come into the town of Lanor people will take risks and that is when we could well get crashes again there’s another crash being announced at the back of the main field there in fact it’s Fabian Jcker of the Festina squad who’s gone down we just saw there from the helicopter a little bulge in the bunch and in fact riders and here we can have a look at it again now watch the center of the picture they make the corner there’s a shunt again in the middle as riders fall down one of those there is on the far left of our screen dead center now and the riders managing to slow down and get round the tangle of machinery down there and this is because of the slippery road although the rain has indeed stopped the road is still very very dangerous another rider who was slowed down by that crash there was also Zen and Yascula the man who came into the tour to France at the very last moment when Aki were brought in to replace the group team from France that was actually dissolved last Tuesday so he’s a man who was looking to ride well in the overall standings and it just goes to show and tell you how important it is to ride near to the front of this main pack which is why in fourth position there is Miguel Indrain riding at the front because he realizes how dangerous it is he doesn’t want to lose any time in a stupid little crash like that in the final few kilometers of a race so just inside 5 kilometers to go Poli the man who went for a big adventure across Montu last year to win a stage which isn’t bad for a non-climber in provenance and there he is now doing his real job in the to being a workhorse of Martinelli but one or two riders have gone around the other side of the carriageway and they are in a spot of difficulty now I don’t know how they got there but they have shot off on the wrong side of the barriers and I’ve never seen that in my life before Paul well that’s the first time I’ve seen that very often you come up to a roundabout like that and you know the riders know that they can split and get back around the other side i think the rider who went down the wrong side of the road there was in fact Francis Mororrow and he’s been looking all the time for an opportunity to try and slip clear of this pack because he realizes it would be a great chance for him to try and get the yellow jersey it would be superb for the GAN team having lost Chris Borman yesterday now he’s going to have an awful time trying to get back in and this is going to happen all the way into the racer you can see in fact the main pack is starting to splinter a little bit back there and still it’s always Matoni at the front and they really have total confidence in Mario Chipellini but Wilfred Nelson the sprinter from Belgium won’t be too far back in this punch coming up we’ll have the exciting finish to stage one [Music] one kilometer from the finish line in stage one looks like a sprint to the finish the yellow jersey of Jackie Durand in the thick of things and Jackie Duran at 1 kilometer to go is right up there with the front runners they now try to lead out the men who should win the sprinters themselves wilfred Nelson is the rider in black on the far left of our screen he is the rider who indeed crashed on the finishier johan Museo is the big man in the center with the white crash helmet on but the sprinters now lining up and still we are looking for Mario Chipellini to see if he can pull out the sprint that will really matter here too this is going to be a very formidable sprint now and in fact Wilford Nellison is coming up on the left hand side as they start the climb up towards the finishing line now nelson I don’t surely Nelson the sprinter isn’t going to find it on this hill but they’ve slowed down and that’s going to favor Wilfrid Nellison abdu Japarov is up here as well in the white so too is Laura Jalabar jalabar is tucked in there nicely as well and Eric Zel is the rider from the telecom team there is Chipellini he’s there now with the long hair and waiting in fact it looks to me as though in fact Chipellini has sat up and dropped away that’s the big man in yellow who’s fallen out of it and the in fact the Merkanton Una riders don’t realize they’re wasting their time now well maybe they do because they got off the front nellis is now going have to japer off this is a terrible climb for sprinters jalabar is starting to spin abdu Japarov has got his wheel fabio Beldo has come in third place this is going to be some sprint now jalabar taking on Belda i don’t think Abdu has got it this time beldu is bursting for the line now fabio Beldo is going to take this stage his first tour to France he gets it victory jalabar will be second and somewhere in third or fourth will be Abdu Japarov but Phil it was Fabio Beldato the Italian just edging out Loren Jalair in the final 100 yards and Jamaladine Abd Japarov in third miguel Indrain was 12th as you get another look at Fabio Beldato and American Lance Armstrong giving us the high sign our best hope in red white and blue and giving the flowers a toss Jackie Durant with his finish today in the middle of the pack he stays in yellow overall but look at Frankie Andreo the American who’s who moved up to fifth position now so the leader of the 1995 tour to France remains Jackie Duran the world’s greatest cycling event has traveled now 150 mi with 2,19 still left to go stay tuned for stage two as the tour starts in Perosk and ends in Vitra coverage begins at 3 p.m eastern on ESPN and 7:30 on the Deuce but worth one last look the intense happiness of Fabio Baldatu for Phil Liot and Paul Sherwin I’m Adrien Carsten we’ll see you later on with stage two [Music] espn’s coverage of the 1995 Tour to Thoughts has been presented by Michelin because so much is riding on your tires [Music] now why is this man smiling well if you were Jackie Don France’s overnight national sports hero you’d want to wear the yellow jersey too no wonder 180 guys would love to take his place [Music] the tour continues from the sunny beaches of Britany where stage two another long one promises more brief but memorable moments of glory hello again everyone with Bill Leget i’m Adrian Karsten welcoming you to ESPN’s exclusive coverage of the 1995 Tour to France presented by Michelin you know a lot of people follow this tour to France to watch the signature happenings who’s going to fall out of competition up in the French Alps who will take their place on the podium after that very last lap around the Shaiz when they finally get back to Paris to me Phil these are the days when the memories are made when a man like Jackie Durant a Frenchman is now racing around his home country wearing the yellow jersey the ultimate prize in cycling i’ll tell you Aan as we know the tour of France is a real maker of men because it produces such very strong riders but when those champions become French then of course they’re well received here now Jackie Duron no question about it is a surprise leader of this year’s tour to France but he’s not a bad bike rider he’s won big classic races as well as winning the French championship on two occasions but he’s never readily been accepted by the French but now he’s leading the tour to France now he has on the Golden Police Fleece now he will be yes the weather’s been very bad but this race so far has been excellent for the French especially for Jackie Phil today’s stage two another 145 mileer the day before the team time trials how do you ride today here’s Paul Sherwin sir Gimar Jackie Don’s team manager played an excellent tactical game yesterday not only did he cut down the team’s chasing towards the end because he knew that the sprinters would come into play and chase down the lone leader Eric Dea but he also saved the team some energy before we go into the team time pal tomorrow but this other ally the bad weather which stopped a lot of riders from wanting to attack has changed today the sun has come out but the wind has turned to come from the riders backs which will make the race a lot more faster and a lot more aggressive with the team time trial coming tomorrow though one or two of the teams that helped the Casarama team towards the end may make it a little bit more precarious for Jackie Durong to stay in the leader yellow jersey all American Frankie Andreo in anything but a precarious position fifth place overall potentially a threat in the sprints today lon Jalabar a year ago in one of the worst crashes in tour history now looking stronger than ever everyone wants a shot of or at Miguel Indrain looking for five straight lance Armstrong wants a shot at him he’s only two seconds down on Indrain overall this is the sport of cycling’s big dance Celtic style [Music] stage two of the 1995 tour to France just like stage one exactly 145 miles from the starting line in Perosk in northwestern France to the town of Vray now in today’s 145 mile race the key moments are going to come at three time bonus sprint points so named because riders can reduce their overall total time by precious seconds the first one is going to come about 10 mi in second one halfway at about 90 mi then that third important time bonus sprint about 10 mi before the finish here we are at that first sprint riders kick it in with about 300 yd to go it looks like Jamaladine Abd Japra first Mario Chipellini second and that’s Lauren Jalabar coming in third now he was only 7 seconds out of first place overall by taking third he has two seconds deducted from his total time which tied him with American Frankie Andreo for fifth in the overall standings on the road up ahead a lot more action on the stage 2 course including a change of scenery here’s Phil Liot now as the riders leave Britany and they’re leaving Britany with the good look of the French continuing because it does appear that there might be a new wearer of the yellow jersey tonight because Jackie Giron who is leading the race this morning is now finding he’s lost time in the bonus sprints there are three of them along the course today and the man who has profited most is Lauren Jalabar he finished third in the first sprint today after some 10 mi where he earned a 2 seconds time bonus and in the second sprint which came after something like 80 mi of racing he won that and gained a 6 seconds time bonus as a result he is now in the lead on time by a single second ahead of Jackie Girro if the situation remains unchanged all of the way to the finish today then there will indeed be a new leader in the tour to France and it will be La Jalabar [Music] well Phil let’s go back and take another look at that second time bonus sprint we’re about halfway into the course now jalabar in the center of the screen in the pink uniform with the Italians Lombardi and Baldo pushing him but by throwing his bike forward he wins the sprint and a little revenge from Bald who beat Jalabar yesterday a six-second time bonus for Jalabar perhaps the greatest story of the 95 tour so far a year ago today that terrible crash has had his best season ever here in 95 espn’s coverage of the 1995 Tour to France is presented by Michelin because so much is riding on your tires welcome back to ESPN’s coverage of the 1995 tour to France with Phil Liot and Paul Sherwin i’m Adrien Karsten and an opportunity now to put the 24 days of this tour in perspective exactly 365 days ago that man Loren Jalabar was the victim of perhaps the most disastrous crash in the history of the Truda Bronx watch the left side of your screen the rider highlighted in pink Jalabar goes face first into the streets of our menier France stage one of the 94 tour 6 weeks later Jalabar left the hospital and this experience behind him one rider one year the lowest and highest moments of the tour he could be in yellow by day’s end but he’ll need his team’s help mariana Roas on the right of our picture setting the pace and the boys from the on team are now trying to bring this race back together because they have the confidence that Lawrence Jalabar will have the legs to build on his 1 second lead that he has so far on the road today that illness of Eddie Swaner may well be because of the bad weather we had over the first couple of days and that would be interesting to see if it does have an effect on any of the times that are produced in tomorrow’s team time trial you can see at the moment a lot of the other teams starting to move up to the front now cladio Kapuchi always at the front towards the end of a race looking for an opportunity to try and steal back some time but the work still being done by the on squad as we go back to Masson france Mass the winner of the Absel gold classic race in his own country years gone by and uh I remember Eric Vanderorden when he was champion of Belgium winning Kyu Bay in atrocious conditions but he won it on his own and that’s the finest way to win the best single day classic in the world and Vander coming in at the very very last minute for his Italian team and it looks as though it might be a good omen because he has some good form these little rises though must seem like the Alps right now because they have been full out they have been at their maximum effort because the race hasn’t let them escape riders have been at the front actually for over 30 kilometers because they escaped with some 65 km ago you see Eric Vander there just looking across his left shoulder as they took that left corner to see if he could get a quick time check on how far behind the main field was at the moment that this now as we come into the town gives them a chance to open up a little bit of a gap there we get an aerial shot of the main field they’re in the same town and it may well be that these two riders will just hold on to take the two bonus places well this is the town of Bour and we are 21 kilometers from the finish now as we approach the sprint but it looks as though they will survive in the last kilometer for the small bonus times which is not their aim of course they want to keep on going for the victory on the day and the on team behind would like to bring them back into the fold if they feel they I think they might feel if they can just get to this spin and keep a gap on the big field then the main field might just back off a little bit and take a rest period they might get clear again well that would play into the hands of the on because there are still the big bonuses at the finish line as we come under the banner with 20 km to go it must be just around this corner when these two riders will see the banner for the hotspot sprint well it wouldn’t surprise me in fact if these two don’t even sprint for the banner in 500 m time because although there is a prize for the first two riders it’s not this prize they’re hunting vans has the lead at the moment then Eric Vanderod vanderodon in his days was a great sprinter as well as a great time trial rider but he’s lost a little bit of that I suppose you do when you get a little bit older so that’s one of the first things to go and the thing that a rider like Eric Vander has also probably lost is his ability to climb but he has really started to ride well in the last couple of years especially went to it and this is in fact a good move by Jackie Droy tried to surprise Lawrence Jalabar because he could get the two seconds back but straight away there’s an once rider on him and the on rider must beat him because the third place gets two seconds and that’s Jalabar who’s jumped him straight away while Jalabar knows the mental mark he followed the yellow jersey and goes by with the greatest of ease while in fact it’s France Massen who takes the first place from Eric Vander but this is going to put Jalabar 3 seconds ahead in the tour of France because he is taking the third place bonus of 2 seconds at the sprint he’s doing just enough to make sure that Jackie Giron does not keep up on him that’s the white line two seconds in the bag so Laura Jalabar now leads the tour to France by 3 seconds with the finish still to come what a great tactic so the race is coming slowly together i’m sure they’ll all be together in the next few kilometers and then we’ll be down for the big finish we’ll take a break [Music] stage two of the tour continues with Francesco Pratini of the Gavis team a young man who had two big wins in races earlier this year about 6 miles left to go to the finish 10 km banner flying overhead and Fatini is trying to uh bring the gave this team back into the action they were the team of the early season last year but they haven’t done quite so well this year as Paul just said Fatini was the surprise winner of the World Cup event the Grand Prix Frankfurt in Germany but apart from that they haven’t featured like they have in previous early season races another man there from TVM looking for a gap that was Jess Paski I think trying to slip clear a man who always looks for the gap at the end of a race like this he’s not a superb sprinter but he won a a brilliant stage and a a hilltop finish a couple of years ago which was took everybody by surprise and he just managed to hold off and whenever you get to the end of a race like this Skippy’s looking for a break well Paul those sprinters will have their chance later as the race continues close to the finish but we have a chance now to profile team once as they pull along and protect their man Lauron Jollibear you know of the nine riders on this team there are seven different nationalities from three separate continents they’ve always had a highly scientific approach to their riding all their work you’re seeing here will be downloaded into a computer later tonight their team leader Alex Zula looking good in 15th position overall their sprinter and really their co-leader is Laura after last year’s crash he had his best spring ever and is now a contender for yellow the best Billy Goat is from Colombia in all mountain country he is Aleo Renone watch him in the Alps the team sponsor once is an acronym for a Spanish lottery that benefits the blind as we pull back from the Pelaton and note that all 21 teams have been riding pretty tightly but there appears to be a split in the Pelaton now Paul two large groups what’s happened here is the the on team have been at the front at the front putting an awful lot of pressure on and the wind is coming from the left hand side and that’s caused a split in the main field this is called an echelon when the riders use all of the road to shelter each other but what happens then is that you get caught at the back of the echelon and that’s when the split forms one or two riders here trying to get across but on doing an awful lot of damage at the front well this is their specialtity the team time trial they’re having a dress rehearsal here for tomorrow’s big team time trial when all the teams come out to play just in their team formations all 21 teams when they race down to Alons but today the once team are all at the front there’s the Lini Bersam from the gay team and this is Yani Buno who’s paying uh a lot of attention to the front of the race today on the back there in the lamprey colors that’s the blue and the mo is Yan Zera who was my tip for the victory yesterday but he fell off as he approached the finish and didn’t get his shot at the gold medal well everybody has a a chance today but at the moment it looks very much as if the once have moved over to the left of the road to give a little bit of shelter to the rest of the riders in here and everybody starting to come back together the ball figure just going off the picture there was Marco Pantani a little bit further back another balding figure which seems to be the message of the day these days of Arman Delesque and the attacker game from Fratini he’s just been brought back once and he’s gone again well Gay Whis are deciding they’re not going to fall into the sprinter’s hands but the sprinter chases just look at the strength of Lawrence Jalabar he knows he’s in yellow he’s launched another attack to mark this attack by Fratini jalabar has had a marvelous marvelous season and taken away completely at the tragedy of one year ago this year he has won 14 races and that despite the fact that midway through the season he decided to take a layoff of 5 weeks so he wouldn’t become stale he came back just as good as he was when he left tremendous achievement by Lon yellow there and now Paul he’s chasing everything he realizes that he’s in the position to take the yellow jersey he doesn’t want anybody to get away from him his teammates have done all the work but you see the pressure of the on squad there really has caused a lot of turmoil in the back there and Jalabar may well have got a gap at the moment well it’s a gap i I estimate of about 10 or 12 seconds that that little group has gone away from the main field you can see uh well you can’t see but almost can see from our cameraman who have the most difficult job on the tour to France keeping away from the riders and showing us these incredible pictures from their back seat position on the motorbike but there is a group here and we’re in the last 6 km now or just about there’s a group here of maybe 30 to 40 riders so there’s over 140 riders left behind in the last 6 km and there was no terrain to break them up this has been done purely on speed a lot of tire legs there Paul definitely but again it’s because of this crosswind that has pushed all the riders into the right hand gutter and the speed so far one of the men caught out there in the red white the red yellow and black jersey was Lauren he’s sorry was Wilfred Nelson he’s in the back group there so this is Claudia Kopuchi l Diablo you can tell him by the helmet on the front there he’s trying to put the pressure on l Diablo will always look for an opportunity to attack there’s no way that he’s ever read the handbook on what to do in cycle racing when he feels good he just goes for it well I’m often asked which is my favorite rider i don’t really have one because they’re all so good but I do like to see Cladio Kuchi annoy everybody because he throws in the odd spanner in the works whenever he can the riders hate him for doing it and they really do shout at him over the dinner table at night but they can’t stop him he’s so impetuous but there is that other man who’s rather impetuous now in the pink jalabar well Phil as popular as this event is the largest sporting event in the world this year is not the tour of France but rather the Special Olympics World Games in New Haven Connecticut more than 7,000 athletes from 140 countries competing in 19 different sports live tomorrow at 11 a.m eastern time on ESPN more of the Tour to France in just a moment big man insatiable quest thirst for change searches without fear drawn by the light the alluring red light for big man always gets his beer mysteriously smooth red light big man’s beer big man where have you been all my life uh looking for beer earlier today back on the beaches of Britany we talked about brief but memorable moments of glory this man Jackie Duran the Frenchman may have had all of his the Michelin race summary well stage two started with 188 riders duran rolled off in yellow but the time bonus sprints proved very crucial laura by placing third in the first sprint and first in the second made him the virtual leader of the tour on the road but positioning in the pelaton continues to be important let’s go back to Phil this is Frasim still wearing the polka dot jersey of the King of the Mountain and will be by the end today on the same team as Jackie Giron but the yellow jersey is off the team now but at least the polter jersey will stay possibly for one more day and who knows he’s going clear there’s the split in fact I think they’re coming back it looks very much to me as if it’s starting to close up you see the way the front part of the breakaway there has spread across the road it means there has been a slowing down and the fact that one man like Franisim is managing to ride across that gap on his own means they’ve slowed down considerably in front py team having a go another Italian team on the attack the Italians are dominating world cycling just at the moment this is no exception derek Baldinger the German rider on the Italian team and these constant attacks are going to create a ripple reaction which might well keep the big slice of the pelaton off the back of the chase inside 10 km to go now and everybody wants to get clear i think in fact that was the 5 km banner so we’re a lot closer to the finish and this is Balding who’s trying to go clear at the moment but once they come into the town they will have to negotiate quite a steep climb which one or two riders may try and use as a a launch pad to get themselves off to a lone victory 4 km for the main field paul we should point out here that not in this group of 37 breaking away is the American team Motorola Frankie Andreo Lance Armstrong and Andreo is only 5 seconds behind the leader now tomorrow is the team time trial so the pressure is really going to be on the guys in red white and blue color today’s flag blue white and red for the leader Lon Jabar block Eno the five times winner of the tour to France has said that Laura shouldn’t imagine himself to be a sprinter he should look at himself as to be a real classic rider who could win the tour to France and you know Jalabar well if he finds himself in yellow as he seems now certain to do tonight he has got to respect the reputation of Bernard Eno and consider whether he can in fact go for the victory in the tour of France and not just for the green points jersey phil very good point of course Eno a fivetime winner miguel indrain looking for his fifth consecutive that would be a first but this day belongs to Lauron Jalabar his day in the sun his day in yellow we’ll be back in a moment excitement building now as we approach the finish of stage two in the Toyota France two men out in front of the rest including former world champion Moritio Fandriest yes but Skiibby has gone to the front well I spoke to the Dad television earlier today and I said “Well your riders haven’t won much so far.” They said “Don’t worry we’re going to win plenty of stages.” Well now Skiibby has made the move and they’re inside a kilometer and a half from alive in Bongria this is going to foil the splinters i think they may well have just moved at the right time they’re working very well together there’s no animosity they realize that they can’t look at each other and wait and try and cheat one out of the other they’re giving everything they’ve got but right behind the main field is boring down upon them i think they’ve got about 50 m lead at the moment that may well just be enough because just at the top there you can see there is the Flamou the red kite they’ve got 1 kilometer to go so it may well be that they’ve gone just a little bit too early cuz this is a long hard climb and in fact this looks like Andre Schmill the lotto rider who’s come back in there smile at the lotto boys we saw the Lotto team warming up the chase and they got nothing out of it yesterday but now Schmill has come and this time Andre Schmill’s gone through he led the World Cup last year he was a brilliant winner last year at Patty Dubet and he’s just taken it on the fly he’s going into the last 7 or 800 meters now and the reaction coming from on safe for Jalabar because the first three riders will receive bonuses of 2012 and 8 and Jalabar is trying to conserve his new lead in the tour of France spin is trying just to conserve a few yards in the tour of France as he comes up on the right of our picture and the spinchi is right behind him now martineel is coming through chipellini is in there as well and so is Abdu Jabro they’ve got him on the line they’ve got him on line martinelli Chipellini Abdu Japro that’s the coard also but Chibellini is coming clear now and Chibolini is going to get it tigard is taking him on board now as comes the green jersey too of Beldo now Abdu Jafferov tibellini gets it chibolini gets it on the line well Chipellini’s pace led the pellets on across the line about half hour ahead of schedule lombardi second Tom Joper off third indrain and Roinger side by side as a matter of fact in 22nd and 23rd jeal great sprinter great allaround rider now yes he can claim that by today’s performance frankie Andreo now must become a leader to help himself and his team if we do a good team time trial yeah I have I do have a chance i tried uh some of those sprints yesterday and tried doing something today but I’m just I’m not that fast with Abdu and Chipolini and those guys and so uh Jabar’s yellow jersey is going to be a hard team to beat but this is well for me it’s definitely my last chance so all or nothing tomorrow exactly one year after disaster Luron Jalabar really kicked it in today 5 seconds ahead of second place frankie Andreo drops from fifth to 10th roaming inrain pretty close at 11th and 15th leader of the 1995 tour of France is Lauron Jala the world’s greatest cycling event has now traveled 296 miles with 1,963 still left to go be sure to join us for stage three as the tour starts in Mayan and ends in Alens coverage begins on ESPN Wednesday morning at 12:30 a.m eastern and 6 p.m tuesday on the deuce mario Chipellini wins stage two lauron Jalair wins the yellow jersey tomorrow one of the hardest one-day events in cycling the team conrial i’m Adrien Carsten for Bill Li and Paul what is the yellow jersey worth consider the physical price you pay in one mile you’re as good as gold in the next your value in this market could crash but if you invest so much time and energy just to wear a jersey it’s worth whatever it takes the riders won’t have much time to take a look at the scenery in stage 5 it’s a long hall and the favorites have their orders stay out in front stay out of trouble hello everyone with Phil Ligits i’m Adrien Karsten welcoming you to ESPN’s exclusive coverage of the 1995 Tour Def France presented by Michelin now Phil what was it that we suggested back at the start line of stage two expect the unexpected here we are today less than a week into the tour and Ivon Gotti a man who has never won a race in his professional career is wearing the yellow jersey basically because Lanjab with a second year in a row was flat on his back yesterday after another disastrous crash it’s unforgiving it’s unpredictable it’s professional cycling and Adrian it’s the tour to France this is a very cruel event and in his opening five days Lauren Alaba has again found every emotion you know we said yesterday before the start that he would increase his overall lead and until that last two miles of yesterday he had done just that he picked up a couple of seconds on the time bonus sprints he was in fact leading the tour to France by 10 seconds and the day was almost done then he crashed and he finished up 50 seconds behind the new race leader but you know Lawrence Jalabar is a pretender anyway to this year’s tour of France he never anticipated winning it the Spanish on team Jalabar’s team they’ve got their hopes pinned on Alex Zula nazula is up to fourth place overall so they may have lost the war but they haven’t lost the race yet phil a lot of these riders already fatigued.60 mi today so almost anything it’s possible it could be dangerous as we saw in stage 4 before racing begins proper introductions please miguel Ingarin meet Mr lauron Bear indra likes the look of that jersey [Music] after things got rolling Ivon Leeno of team gone broke away 11 miles into stage four about 45 miles later Castarama’s Bruno Tibo and Kelman’s Francisco Cabello attack and finally drew back in Laden those three led all the way to the brand new Normandy Bridge for a $6,000 bonus was on the line and there is Tibu tibu is now going for the money and Cabo and away Tibu is he’s got it he’s over the line there he was £4,000 the team who he’s delighted with that then team Merkatoni Uno trying to put their main man up front Mario Chipellini they’re setting the pace at the front of the Pelaton lance Armstrong making a move of his own he finally won the last climb of this stage 2 and 1/2 miles to go to the finish disaster at the front of the pelon they realize that Mario Chipolini has got a chance to win this stage and it looks today as if it will go and there’s somebody gone down in the corner oh my goodness me that was the roundabout we were warned about and they’ve gone straight on into the barriers the majority of the riders on the right of the road and that is a terrible crash and I have a feeling Phil there it may well be the yellow jersey went down there lawrence was the yellow jersey on the right hand side he’s outside the 1 kilome sign so it may well be he’s going to lose it today this is terrible jalabar has gone down so too as Lin Nellis how ironic both of the riders who crashed on me a year ago are down again jalabar is away there’s one rider there injured quite seriously i think he’s staying on the ground but Jalabar will lose time and almost certainly the lace lead the rules are quite specific if you are inside the final kilometer you do not lose time but he wasn’t he was 2 and 1/2 kilometers from the finish shannab could only afford to lose 10 seconds here and he is out of the yellow jersey what a shame but Jalabar knows that racing in this tour does not stop he gets back up and in the saddle now the sprint to the finish y Reese who has a real chance of being the race leader now the game is third or fourth in the line here and look at this now as the American Una rider swings off but in fact it looks as though Chibolini is boxed in he’s trying to get through now chibolini coming through with that blue helmet but he’s going to have to fight to get through now he’s waiting and waiting now he’s coming chibolini is going to take his second win mario Chibolini hits the line first and takes it quite convincingly the rider who will take second place there was just behind him was Eric Zaml of Telecom and Abdu Japarov stole the third place on the line that was the order over the line of the story today that’s about Lawrence Jal here he comes now he will have lost his lead in the tour of France today because of that crash which occurred about 2 and 12 kilometers from the line it could have been a lot worse about 50 seconds behind Laange Alabar in yellow crosses the finish line mario Chipellini we’ve talked about what an allaround biker he has become great sprinter on this day during stage four he won the stage and the green jersey as the best sprinter ivon Gotti looks rather stunned a little bit uncomfortable for the first time in yellow lon Jalabar looking a little bit stunned himself but getting a lot of support from the rest of the Pelaton very courageous effort and he experienced what happened to his machinery we caught up with Lance Armstrong another rider who was successful enough to avoid the crash summed up the events in one word it’s dangerous finish there’s a big crash behind it so Mario Chipolini one of the hottest riders on the tour right now edges out eric Zavo at the finish line to win stage four indrain in Roinger avoided the crash and finished side by side and the fact that Ivon Gotti was even a position timewise to wear yellow goes back to Saturday’s prologue a good time on dry pavement luck or lack thereof in this event here’s Paul Sherwin well those are the fortunes and misfortunes of war lauren Jalabar losing that yellow jersey yesterday may well give the once squad one or two days to recuperate so that could be what Alex Zula needs before they go into the second part of this tour to France and the big mountains that’s why I also believe that the team of Berzine and the team of current yellow jersey Ivan Goti won’t use all their power to keep this race together bezi knows that he needs a strong team when he goes into the mountains to try and dethrone Miguel Indrain which is why they may use Barney Ree who’s just one second behind in the overall standings as a decoy to go in a breakaway towards the end and that would take the pressure off them and make the other teams chase well the man to Ivon Gotti’s right is the man Paul is talking about garnney Reese a Dane whose responsibility now is to protect the yellow jersey one of the two Americans in this race is talking cautious today’s going to be crazy too there’s a left a right and a sweeper coming around and when that happens guys go all over the place so it’s going to be crazy unless we have tailwinds it’s going super fast but we have our 11s on that later about 6 hours later Frankie that’s how long it will take for the favorites to reach Dunkerk lily Von Gotti right up front with the big boys now miguel Indrain 180 riders roll off on one of the longest stages of the 95 tour they’ve got to survive number five 162 mi now we drove this course from start to finish today it really is a great track the pavement in fantastic condition out on the road you’ll see some families who in some cases have waited 30 years to watch 30 seconds of excitement three time bonus sprints four relatively easy climbs along the English Channel up to Dunkirk close to Belgium the wind could become a factor blowing across the Pelaton at about 18 mph we’re up at the finish line of the first sprint here comes Mario Chipellini in the green jersey he wins so deduct 6 seconds from his total time also give more points toward keeping that green jersey a Japarov second jala Bear is third now at about 130 mi into today’s race Phil Liot and Paul Sherwin are standing by with the call gentlemen as we look down on the big pelaton a little bit of a surprise this Paul because they gave his team all his appears trying to defend that lead of 1 second for Eangoti because we have a rider who has escaped for approximately 50 kilometers about 31 miles from the finish here and the rider who has escaped the pack is Ralph Yerman the Swiss rider who’s now 29 years of age and has a lead of just on 2 minutes but he needs another 4 minutes and 40 seconds to take that jersey away from Goti so I’m wondering why the Gabies team are actually doing so much work here well because probably it’s a tailwind at the moment and everybody feels quite fresh they’re pushing the speed along quite high the speeds of 45 and 50 km an hour today the wind is coming from the back but also they’ve had a lot of help from the novel squad of Jamaline Abdul Japarov who lost his lead yesterday to Mario Chipolini so they’re not having to do all the work themselves and there are several other teams coming up as well and the Nobel team also thinking as Paula says for their little sprinter because he is sprinting well let me take you to the early skirmishes today because we’ve had four climbs and on those climbs and now we have a new leader in the King of the Mountains competition poor old Frantois Simon the leader since the race started I’m afraid has continued to stay out of the action because of sickness and today it is Dimmitri Kishv who has ridden so well he was second over the first small climb second over the second climb then he won the climb of the Koter and then he was third over the last climb of the day at about 100 miles covered and that has given him the lead in the King of the Mountains by a single point ahead of the winner of the title last year Rishard Veren and in fact Connesv the very first ex-s Soviet rider to win a stage of the tour to France back in 1990 now becomes the first Russian rider to lead the King of the Mountains competition he’ll receive that polka dot jersey when he gets down to the finish today but the field now concentrating on the attack of Ro he broke clear at around 100 miles coming in fact he was the winner of the last climb of the day and he went clear of the field there was no immediate reaction he then built up a lead of some 2 minutes and that is the situation now as the field here try to bring him back bill will be back for the final 25 miles still a long way to go in stage 5 espn’s coverage of the 1995 Tour to Bronx is presented by Michelin because so much is riding on your tires we’re just over 130 mi into today’s stage five ralph Yerman is out in front of the Pelaton by over a minute team Gavis and team Noville lead the Pelaton in pursuit and this is Ralph German a Swiss rider who has had a very very good professional career in fact Ralph turning professional back in 1987 and in that first year as a pro he scored a win in the tour of Romany a stage victory in a race in Switzerland so that gave him a name in his own country and this year he has won the tour of Luxembourg which is a small warm-up race often used by the Motorola team as well Paul before they come down to the tour to France so he has good form and this is a this is a good gamble but it’s definitely a good gamble i think it’s got a lot to do with the fact that they lost their sprinter Fabio Belda this morning so the MG boys would like to increase the morale in the squad just by launching Yemen into the attack he does have extremely good form at the moment because he actually finished second on two stages of the tour of Switzerland which is the big stage race that most riders use as their final preparation for the tour to France and he’s the kind of man who can stay in front for a long time but there are the teams of the sprinters I feel don’t want this stage to escape them because very often we’ve seen the novel squad of Jamaline Abd Japro at the front and as we get nearer to the finish we’ll see the Merkatoni Uno boys of Mario Chipellini who may be looking for his third win in this year’s tour to France well Paul briefly mentioned there the uh the abandonment today of Fabio Baldato the rider who won the first road race stage of this race into Lanon and that is a really sad exit to the tour to France for him and indeed for us the most exciting ride of Baldato but after that crash yesterday in La Arbor he was the worst injured in that pile up into the barriers there just about a mile from the finishing line he in fact that evening had 12 stitches put into his face and he was in trouble right from the start today and in the end he climbed off and said I can’t go any further and while I’ve been telling you this little tale up on our video screen here at the finishing line comes news of the abandon of the champion of Belgium who was also injured in that crash yesterday wilfred Nellison so Nellison who went out of the tour to France last year with a crash on the first stage now goes out again after a crash this year a really bad look indeed for those two very good riders and a sad move also for the Lotto squad from Belgium because now they’ve been robbed of two very strong riders and they’re going to have to count on Andre Schmeil who is not much of a sprinter but he’ll be looking to try and get away in little breakaways and you can see looking at the main field here the novel squad from Holland coming to the front helping the Gaywe boys to keep the speed up and the time starting to tumble now 1 minute 29 was the last check all the many faces of the 95 Tour include that of Fabio Beldo if you remember a couple of days ago he won stage one yesterday this is just after the crash got back up on his bike band-aids and all he started stage five today stitches and all but had to abandon about halfway through that’s the true amount who’s wearing what well Ivon Gotti has had a difficult pro career but wearing the yellow jersey makes it all worthwhile mario Chipolini won yesterday’s stage as well as the green jersey as the tour’s best overall sprinter and Franis Simone the mountain climber doing the best job on these early hills he gets polka dot all right let’s get back out on the course now with Bill Lig you can see the speed of the field here now they’re passing through Santo which puts them around about 50 km slightly less from the finishing line in Dunkerk and they really have they shown no respect for the distance at all today the longest stage of the race we expected them to come in behind schedule but quite to the contrary they have raced this very quickly indeed they were averaging for the first two hours of the race slightly over 25 mph and they’ve improved on that as the day has got longer the finish a lot better for them in Dunkerk and a lot less hazardous I think than it was for the arrival yesterday in La Abra mario Chipolini has been in the thick of the action for the sprints along the road and of course all those spins also count towards the green jersey competition and he’s in the lead in that competition on the same points at the start this morning as Jimin Abdu Japro the only reason they gave the green jersey to Mario Chipolene to wear today is because he has won two stages and Abdu hasn’t won any that competition will hot off over the next couple of days too but the big question mark about Mario Chipellini is he didn’t finish the tour to France two years ago when he was riding so early he had the green jersey he didn’t finish the tour of Spain this year when he was leading the points competition there so maybe in the back of Jimin Abdu Jaffro’s mind he’s thinking about the fact that Chipolini may get a lot of points in the first part of the tour but he hasn’t finished the major tour for a long time yes indeed and he’s never finished the tour to France and I think Abdul Japarov better reign in not doing so again this year because he really is spinning so very very well indeed he’s had 16 wins now this year but with the leader of the tour on the road Ralph Yerman the former champion of Switzerland last year finished 73rd overall in the tour to France he is an above average climber this rider and if he did gain time today he could expect to have view his race with a little bit long term long-term more so I think than Ivon Goti the Italian leader by that single second this morning and a telltale sign there for any rider the fact once you see those cars the press cars starting to come by you you realize that the main field is starting to blow down against you they’re going alongside the river a here at the moment which is a strange name aa and the main field picking it up and it won’t be very long before they will have roman in their sights so with big O Bonte keeping the action keeping the game of his team very much in the picture the yellow jersey for the moment at least still rests with their man Ivan Goti we’ll take a break [Music] the 95 Tour to France on its home field the French Flanders as stage 5 continues you know there’s a lot of action up at the front of the Pelaton but with the individual time trial coming up on Sunday no reason for the favorites to get into any trouble including Yavienni Bazine he’s only 27 seconds off the leader sunday a good opportunity to make up that time the cool confident Miguel Indrain for now enjoying a nice quiet ride in the country up ahead American Lance Armstrong trying to learn how to win the tour to France our teammate covered the tour for the first time the year Lance was born here’s Phil and the long pelaton in beautiful opening country open countryside here now and wheeling in Rob painfully slowly but he is coming back towards this field and I feel the fall and I really don’t think that he’s going to survive now to Dunkerk i feel that he definitely won’t because his time gap is now down to round about the 1 minute mark i did just notice his teammates from the MG Maficio team moving up to the front to try and discourage the riders at the front from lifting the pace too highly and it may well be that it will prolong his pain for just a little bit longer the mass field riders all staying together with the exception of Rolf Gman on this long but very quick stage because the wind has largely been helpful to the race today and the sun has broken through at last after a rather overcast start and that always lifts the motivation of the field this looks like Leon Van Bon at the front for the Nobel team and he’s uh helping the Gay boys here because he wants to close this breakdown as well to give Abdu Japarov a chance at the finish and also their other good sprinter who’s having his best start to the tour for many years Fedric Monasan monasan by the way had the most unluckiest start to the tour last year because he didn’t start he fell off the presentation podium and broke his ankle and didn’t actually go to the start line at all well one or two ideal ways to see the tour to France in this area is by boat and this man here is obviously studied his room map well early this morning and decided this would be a great way to get away from the crowds well that was a brief glimpse of Ralph German who’s doing well to hold off this concerted effort now by the big pelaton german the classic winner a couple of years ago when he pipped Jeani Buno at the end of the Amsel gold race in Holland and really it should have gone to Buno the better finisher but he made a complete mess of the sprint on that occasion and Ralph Yman took full advantage of it and he got himself a classic victory Buno in the race this year as the Italian champion as indeed I think he was when he lost the Amsel gold he was indeed he’s been twice the Italian champion a superb rider and I think he may well be a bit better this year in the mountains cuz he just seems to have changed around a little bit he’s changed teams he had so many problems with his team last year the pulsey team and the change seems to have actually had a benefiting effect on his whole morale well there were 21 teams with nine riders each at the start of the tour and now there are only in fact 10 teams left in this race who still have a full complement of riders and this really to these characters after only five simple road racing stages and a prologue time trial so goodness knows what we can expect when we move down to the Alps next week after that time trial on Sunday in Belgium but uh Inane said this morning Miguel Inerain that he felt already there were a lot of riders in this race feeling very very tired and he was wise to keep out of trouble yesterday that’s for sure that’s sure i think that’s reflected in the number of crashes that have been whenever you get a tour to France where there are a high number of crashes it reflects the fact that there is a general fatigue in the whole main field and that’s what’s happened over the last couple of days going through smoothly on the outside there Mark Bouters a rider who found his form in America’s Torupont this year and passing through nearest camera there was his teammate France Massen but the gay boys are happy to keep this pressure on Gabriel Columbbo who occupies a high overall position number 15 working with Noville so it does seem Paul that these two teams have got their act together and are quite happy to keep the pace up as well definitely the time split now is down to 38 seconds for Yemen and it won’t be so long there’s confirmation before we see Yemen coming back into the pole but Abdu Dapperov was one of the big losers in yesterday’s sprint because he didn’t score any points in the final dash for the line and that is how Mario Chipellini managed to move up i think today Jamalin Abdu Jaffro would like to put in a good finish to try and get that green jersey back again because he doesn’t like giving it away and he has held that three years he’s won that green jersey in the tour to France and he would like to go away again with another victory and a beautiful part of Northern France this is This is about the closest the race will come to Great Britain this year last year when they arrived in this area of France they jumped onto the new shuttle train underneath the English Channel and popped up in Brighton where they rode two stages in Great Britain and how successful they were with 3 million spectators watching the two days of racing on British roads but not this time they’ll be turning away tomorrow and heading towards Belgium and Shalua fill that for stage six another 126 mi but the days for the Flatlanders are beginning to roll away as the 95 tour continues [Music] we’re rolling through the French Flanders in stage five swiss rider Ralph Yerman is still out front but the Pelaton is closing quickly now as we close in on the final 20 m let’s go back on the course with Phil well the bunch were together for that second sprint but very shortly afterwards the last climb of the day only a small fourth category climb that proved to be the springboard for Ralph Ye of Switzerland to go clear on the coat de Ubi after 161 kilometers he went ahead now lying 128th in this race almost 7 minutes behind actually picked up a time gain of over 2 minutes but as we watch these pictures now the big field is closing in rapidly the last time check we had was just 25 seconds and I think we’re going to see the lone figure of Ralph German being reeled in now not just by the gay team but also by the Noville team both riders both teams have different reasons for bringing back Yemen for Yemen’s lead at the moment is a mere 200 meters having had at one time nearly 2 minutes lead over the main field and I do feel that the Noville squad from Jamaline Abdu Japarov have been doing a lot of work because of Abdu has been very close to winning the stages so far he lost out yesterday because of that crash and I think what he would like to do is get the whole field together to Dunkerk to try and get some points back and get the green jersey for the most regular rider back off Mario Chipellini this here is Rolman about to end his day at the front so it’s been a good try but winner of the tour of Luxembourg this year he’s not going to win this stage of the tour to France today because he has had to surrender to the chase and you can even and an attack by Motorola immediately looks like Steve Bau’s gone b has ripped away now that’s a good tactic wait until the base have chased down a man who’s away and when they think that’s it lads we can have a rest then launch an attack and Bar has done just that superb move it was taken directly out of the hammock the counterattack as soon as somebody gets caught then you should just go straight over the top an excellent move by Baron this looks like Nicolola Loa from the MG squad from Italy who’s got onto Bower’s wheel and that would be good the teammates of Ralph Yemen who’s been in the front for so long but behind what they will do now is start to organize themselves and chase these riders down slowly well how quick has that change now as Steve B has put in an attack here and Loa has taken his wheel phil an opportunity now to continue our team profiles today team Noville their objective is to carry Jamaladin Abd Jabra into the conquest of his fourth green sprinters jersey supporting him a group of very fast flatland riders as well as two good climbers to take Abdu through the mountains the team is directed by a former great rider from the 70s Yan Rash respected as a master tactician nobel their namesake is an American computer software company now you can see the light blue jerseys of the Merkatoni team of Mario Chipellini coming to the front the PY riders there too nobody wants a breakaway today it seems as if everybody wants to get to Dunkerk as quickly as possible and let the sprinters have another day so we now have three teams contributing to the pace now meratoni Uno the team of the big sprinter Chipellini then we have Noville for their sprinters Abdul Japarov and Monkas and Gavies are there purely because it’s their duty on their team is the yellow jersey of Goty and we can see now those three teams well represented Merkatoni Uno are the riders in the yellow crash helmets and the gap is 24 seconds so it is edging forward a little bit mostly because of the power here of Steve Bower a former yellow jersey of the tour to France and a fourth place finisher overall too in Paris and the other rider Nicola Loa riding his first tour to France and doesn’t seem too happy and Bower in fact is very unhappy because he’s clearly said one or two I would think selected Italian words there Paul to ask him to come past Phil at the front of the Pelaton racers pushing the pace especially team Gavis trying to keep their rider that man in yellow Ivan Gotti right where he belongs later on tonight ESPN’s thunder the skull USA national race from Winchester Speedway in Winchester Indiana you’ll see defending champion Tony Stewart driving his car that’s tonight at 7:30 Eastern live on ESPN more of the tour to France in just a moment adrien Carsten Phil Liot and Paul Sherwin keeping our eye above stage 5 of the 95 Tour back out on the course and the Gab’s boys are having another little rehearsal here for their team time trial racing because they’re all doing their share of the work ivan Goti in yellow by a single second from his teammate Bjani Ree off to the right there he’s ridden a very very good stage indeed ren it like a champion he’s ridden always near the front we mustn’t underest this young rider yes it’s true uh we don’t speak of him at all over the years gone by because he’s never won a professional bicycle race but he has been a very consistent rider especially in multi-day races he has had some great results in big-time stage races finishing quite frequently in the top 20 so don’t underestimate this young man when he has a strong team like Gay behind him then of course he can rise to the occasion and he could lead this tour for a while he could do especially with a team like Gay around him and he is a reputed climber he has ridden well in the mountain stages of the Tour of Italy in the past and also in the Tour of Switzerland as an amateur in 1990 he actually finished second overall in the amateur version of the Tour of Italy so he is a good stage race rider he may well even hold on to this jersey until we go through to the time trial on Sunday but one man who might take it off him is his own teammate Barney Rice who is just one second down in the overall standings and Barney Rice is a clever rider and he’ll look for a small breakaway towards the end not to steal the jersey off his teammates but just to assure it and make sure it stays within the Gaywiz camp paul will you keep your eye on Steve Bower Nicolola Loa and their 22nd lead on the Pelaton we’ve got a moment to take a closer look at Biani Ree of Denmark part of team Davis ree 31 years old sixth time in the tour to France he’s known as a prototypical tour rider for his strength and consistency he climbs sprints time trials very well fifth place overall in 93 a stage winner in 94 in Alb France myi Reese today’s Coca-Cola racer profile phil Wicket’s got a new friend and there’s our friend the devil who always stands inside the last 20 kilometers and a little bit of a a reaction the other day from the riders caused a crash actually one of the riders hit a reservation looking across at the Devil and that was Chitaio who was left sitting in the road but it looks as though they are thinking twice here about continuing i think they looked over their shoulders there and they noticed that they weren’t opening up any gap at all and figure that the moment they really are making a useless effort you see both riders have been trying for the last 10 15 km to get a gap and it’s all come back together as we look at them now so the attack has come back with 17 kilometers left to go and now everybody’s going to start throwing the power into the moves they’ll try to break the grip of the sprinters well this man in the white jersey at the front is Francis Morrow and every time we’ve got towards the finish recently he’s tried to get clear he was the man that we saw on that first open stage there who went down the wrong side of the barriers and lost a chance of taking the yellow jersey but yesterday he he attacked 20 km from the end and try but it was just so tough with that headwind and the climbs towards the end that he got reeled in and he’s a man from the north of France and would love to try and win here well earlier on today one of the riders from the region a Bruno Tibbu was allowed to go ahead and meet his family on the roadside a great tradition with the tour riders providing you promise not to attack they will allow you to leave the big field and go and say hi to mom and dad and the family but then you must wait and let the race catch you up again and there’s a tire here gone down and this is a puncture to the caston and Giron is well it really has turned out these last couple of days not to be his talk the first two days in yellow yesterday he decided to drop off and nurse back to the race two injur sick teammates and lost nearly 14 minutes in the process and now he’s punctured when the race is completely flat out that was unfortunate for him but it was a pretty quick wheel change and I think he’ll be back in the main pack before the finish unlike Lauren Jal yesterday who came down with 2 and 1/2 kilometers from the end and was unable to catch back i think Duron will be credited with the same time as the main field because there are one or two cars behind the the race here and you can see as they come by Duron will actually use the slipstream of those cars to get back into the main fold the commissers the race referees will look the other way as long as he doesn’t exaggerate too much right i think the rule states you’re allowed about 50 yards behind the car and then you must move out and get on with the return to the pelaton and they will look the other way i think that’s a very fair and just thing to do simply because a puncture really isn’t the fault of a rider they don’t apply that rule by the way if the rider comes off the back of the main field because he is tired then they are very strict then if you try to take pace from the car you can be disqualified from the tour so Phil Jackie Durant of team Castama having his problems here today after wearing yellow a few days earlier tomorrow he joins about 170 other riders for stage six 126 more miles we’re going into Belgium tomorrow our coverage begins at 3 p.m eastern 11:00 p.m on the Dukes we’ll be back with more on stage 5 in just a moment 89% of top athletes pled prefer more carbos with 33% more carbos than Gatorade it’s powering and action romeo Romeo where out thou Romeo again please again again aren’t you thou bored yeah step into a slim gym turn to the spice fb Juicy Tape need a little excitement step into a slim gym in this stage five the riders pace has been about 45 minutes ahead of schedule and they’re still getting faster this is the same thing that happened yesterday right before the crash oh and this has been a crash again and look at this because this is Giron on the floor now now what on earth has happened he was chasing and all of a sudden and here’s what happened giron trying to get back to the main field has overcooked the corner here and lost it and gone down and my goodness me again lucky that the following car did not hit him well that is a terrible shame for Jackie Jiron it is amazing how riders are falling off in this year’s tour to France well that was dramatic for Jackie Don he was the man who saved his two teammates yesterday and you can see the morale of this team two riders have stopped straight away that’s Emanuel Man who’s waited for him to try and pace him back into the field but what a disastrous start to the tour to France the Castama team from France are having after the wonderful start when they had the yellow jersey they’ve had every sort of bad luck thrown at them in the last three days manion waiting there for Giron another ironic twist in the tale of this year’s tour because yesterday Giron waited for Man in fact that was Yellow Knaid who got away there it looks like Yan Brenil a man from Belgium on the on squad and Ujini Berine and that is extremely dangerous i can imagine there’s going to be an awful lot of alarm bells in the main field at the moment because Beerine is pretending to do the work of his teammate the policeman and he may well walk away and get a few more seconds on the rest of the group here well this is a move really because the other big rider in pink there is Johan Brunil and the fourth rider Ponies Marorrow the man we were talking about setting the pace at the front so we got Pis Maro of Gan Berzine of the Gavies team Brunil of Once and Naidam of TVM and when you have four different teams on the attack that means you’ve got four teams trying to block the reaction behind there’s Naidam going again former winner of the prologue and a number of stages five in all in the tour to France over the years this is a cheeky move and hats off to Bersie for doing it phil let me quickly bring us up to the minute with the Michelin race summary of the 177 riders that started today we’ve now lost two more as Fabio Beldado and Wilfried Nillison both dropped out steve Bower and Nicol Lotus Breakaway lasted for 15 mi they’ve now been caught and with less than 10 miles to the finish surprisingly Yenni Berine is on the attack 27 seconds out of first place well 24 seconds off the yellow jersey of Goti Johan Brunil in pink in the lead but the field have quickly calculated who those three riders are up there with Naidam and decided it was too dangerous to allow any leeway at all but that was a nice move by Evini Berí and that to me is a man who has thoughts on doing something in this tour to France and Injur will have taken note of that just a little rattle of the cage of Miguel Indrain there just a little bit of psychological warfare to say you’ve been looking at Tony Robinger for the last couple of years but don’t forget to think about me when we come to the mountains i’ve beaten you before i’ve beaten you in the tour of Italy and I’ve come back this year in the tour of France to try and dethrone you from the top paul look at Miguel Indrain at the front of the Palon don’t be deceived by this this man is the master of playing mind games remember Brazine’s attack up front he’s just matched him we’ll be back [Music] well as always in professional racing the closer the riders get to the finish the faster they go they’re picking up what is already an unbelievable pace what a superb finish for the sprinters again because it’s a very long straight road but they will have to really judge it correctly because the wind is starting to come off the seat and it could well be that we’ll see these riders sprinting down the left hand side of the road and that is again when we could get an awful accident and if you just watch the riders in the half of the bunch here see how they’re all trying to reassess their positions and move forward anytime the pace eases just a little bit they scamper up the front to try and resituate themselves because once the race changes direction very often they’re swept away to the back this is something you don’t see very often in the tour to France over the last three or four years we’ve never seen the Pinesto squad in the first 10 days of the tour they’ve always sat back they’ve let the teams of the sprinters do the work on the flatter stages but over the last two days when we’ve come into the final kilometers Miguel Indire’s team have been omnipresent at the front they’re doing an awful lot of work this is Francis Morrow again trying to get clear this man wants his stage he wants to get a stage victory gan have lost Chris Borman they lost the French champion Eddie Sier and now Francis Moro is the man who wants to get clear and get a stage victory and again those big long legs of Francis Moro world champion pursuit and it looks as though he’s got one of the py riders behind i think he’s Oh there’s been another pile up in the back now what is going on this is another touch of wheels again at the rear of the field and one of the men in that crash is Arand Suez the number one favorite from the Casarama squad the slightly balding rider just in front of this man here and he was going to have an awful hard time he’s being pushed by his teammate at the moment he’s got to get back in and not lose any time and Delas Quas only just returning from a broken collarbone as well and he is down once more this is amazing but the riders quite clearly are nervous and not paying attention because it is a real scrabble to hold on to this big field today they are going so quickly and yet the streets are wide paul you can’t criticize the route today the reason is I think Phil because a lot of these riders are tired and they’re looking for as much shelter as they can as soon as the speed slows down though it’s Cladio Kapo Diablo himself who says “Okay boys it’s my turn now.” Cladio may have heard the sound of twisting metal from the back of the field and decided he’d have a little dig well here he goes strangely enough the man who actually closed down the gap there in third position again is Miguel Hinderin i have never seen him riding so consistently near the front in the flatter stages and I mean his 11th place yesterday was quite incredible and this is Eric Vander now having an attack at the front two but you don’t really attack straight off the front of a group like that Eric because the whole field can see you do it the best place to attack three or four men down the line and come out with a little bit of a surprise and immediately I think it’s in Jerane himself who’s moved up there and limited the attack of Vanderaden and I think Miguel has got himself back on the Most certainly there’s a slight slowing down in the main field now as you can see them bunching at the front of the main pack there coming into the corners around the port of Dunkerk area won’t be very long before we see them down on the finishing line and the man at the front in the red white and blue jersey of Benesto is Miguel Indere Paul he is the master of the pelon playing it smart right out front out of trouble we’ll be right back with less than 5 miles to go small cluster of riders is trying to get ahead of a Pelaton to avoid the final blast to the sprint here’s Paul Sherwin there’s a small group going off the front here and I think that blue and yellow jersey there is the shape of Eric Vander and the Belgian who we’ve seen attacking an awful lot over the last few days and he was a rider who only was called into the tour to France the eve of the start because of uh replacing one of the riders in the event so Vander comes through and that looks like Olaf Ludwig the big sprinter who’s now powering away you see his left leg bandage max Chiandry one of the two British riders in the race and this is now a very very interesting move indeed because I think a Giovani Fedanza splashed through the camera there from the PY team who is a very good spinter but Chandry should handle him in the spin shouldn’t we Paul shandre is an excellent sprinter especially from a small group like this but Olaf Ludwick was one of the fastest men in the world and we’ve got now a breakaway of sprinters so this is quite incredible eric Vanderden has seen the gap he’s seen them looking at each other and he’s decided I’m not waiting i’m going to try and go it on my own and this is an excellent move by Vanderen chandry didn’t want to work there cuz he was with Ludwick and Vanderen may well get the gap well my goodness me vander has flown away now they’re going to have to reorganize themselves very very quickly here as Vanderod goes towards the finish with 4 km to go this is his big effort now and the field are having to chase him down it’s going to be extremely difficult for Eric Vander to stay away on roads like this because you can see they’re very long and very straight and the whole field have got their hair in front of them they will chase him down as much as they can the sprinters will try and organize themselves but there seems to be an awful lot of chaos in the main field today merkatone Uno who have controlled the races over the last few kilometers in the last two days seem to have left it to the other teams and the main field spreading out all over the road chipolini will be in there somewhere looking for a lead out well if you spot Chipellini before we do he’s the rider in the green jersey as leader of this race on points but to keep it today he must finish ahead of Jamaladin Abdul Japarov in the finish because they are equal on those points score there’s the figure of Eric Vander sorry about the little bit of picture breakup you’re experiencing this is due to the live microwave linkups that we do to the helicopters to bring you these pictures and Eric Vander I’m afraid we’ll be seeing a breakup of different type now stars in his eyes I would think because the race is all around him at the 3 km to go point well it’s all over there for Eric Van if there could have only been one or two more corners he could have used the fact that he was a lone leader in front of this whole pack to open up a little bit of a gap but the speed with which everybody was coming he could not resist for too long giani Buna the Italian champion trying to go clear now followed by one of the on riders looks very much as if that might be the shape of Neil Stevens the Australian rider who’s done an awful lot of work on the stage so far yes I’ll go with that it looks as though Stevens has got the wheel of Queno to try and pull him back into the field because Jalaba is Steven sprinter and he’s the rider he would like to see make the most of this but Inane again is still mixing it he is lying in third place there he is watching everything you know and Inane has never won a road racing stage of the Tour to France since he started his winning sequence of the tours in 1991 all of his stages have come in time trials and I wonder if he wants a road race win well I wonder if he does because he’s actually had a couple of bunch sprint wins this year in some of the lesser races in Spain and it may well be that Miguel thinks he’s strong enough to take on the sprints at the moment 2 kilometers to go he’s riding at the front he’s riding like a man possessed as if he is looking for that stage victory but he can’t rival the speed of a man like Mario Chipellini neil Stevens at the front at the moment in the pink jersey followed by Yatislav Ekimov the Nobel Rider from Russia little Neil keeping the pace as high as possible so he must watch out for the arrival soon of Lawrence Jalaba because that’s why Neil Stevens is doing all of this the brilliant Australian champion who won the title for only the second time in his career down in Melbourne Australia in January this year phil in trying to do two things here match Berzine’s effort in his breakaway earlier and pilot the Pelaton to keep himself safe we are in downtown Dunkirk the English Channel has become the shores of the North Sea let’s go up to the finish line with Phil Leot in the final call chipellini is on the left side of our picture as we look at the riders but they’re giving him a rough ride in the heart of the pack at the moment as they come for one kilometer to go now and again the riders are trying to break up this pack but it’s all over now the sprinters are going to have the day there’s Chipellini he always waits waits waits he times his finish to perfection he’s about fourth or fifth down the line now and Chipellini is going to have to read this one to perfection again it is a pure spin’s finish very very straight indeed and Giovani Lombardi is also going to try and get in on the act now as he comes up towards the front he’s being led out too there Unu have the lead out man for Chipolini chipolini lies in fourth place as he follows his lead out rider across the road he isolates the other two on the left who sit up now the spin has begun here johan Museo is leading out for the line chibolini still sits there waiting and Zar is on his back wheel too eric Z is going to take him on mom Castan is coming as well so this is going to be a great sprint now abdu Japarov is now challenging Chipalini winner will take the green jersey as he comes to the line i think it’s Plyavens who’s coming too in the TBM color the Plyavens gets it there’s a turn up for the bucket and he doesn’t believe it he’s gone past our comedy position his face is a picture he doesn’t believe he’s just won a stage of the tour to France what a great victory and Chipolini the first word to say Paul who on earth was that who on earth was that Phil that was Jiron Bllye Levens 23 years old a tour to France rookie most other pros think he could become one of the fastest sprinters in the world because the Pelaton finished together Andreo holds on to 10th position but look at Lance Armstrong 162nd and lost a lot of time bill after 162 mi how about another look at the finish and here is the sprint finish it seemed as though Abdu Japroof was going to get one over on Mario Chipellini but then watch the left as BL of TVM this newcomer to racing as a professional really did turn on the finish in style they scrambled for his wheel both Monkasan and Abdu Japarov while on the right of our picture was Mario Chipellini in green and Zorel off to the right it was a clear win for the young man from Holland and that is a feather in his hat phil how about we put ourselves right on the finish line clearly winning Jerome Blly Levens from Holland overall Ivon Gotti hangs on to the yellow jersey as the overall leader of the tour to France vi Reese only one second back and Miguel Indrain sitting easily in 10th place andreo in 22nd armstrong dropped way back lance Armstrong had a pretty tough day today had some high hopes coming in because he won the last mountain climb in yesterday’s stage but look at the left elbow left bloody his mechanic had a few words with us uh I think he hit it pretty hard he had a lot of abrasion on him wasn’t an easy crash we’ll see how he recovers team Motorola more red than white and blue this is Shawn Yates he went down today too with no one but himself to blame yeah he’s very nervous very fast i mean mine was a stupid crash lance was in a big crash and we were waiting for him and I was just looking around i touched the guy through the front and I I lost balance and came down so it was really stupid it was my fault totally one wearing the smiles today ivon Gotti for the second day in a row takes his place on the podium as the overall leader of the tour of the France that jersey fits a little bit better today world’s greatest cycling event has now traveled 601 miles with 1,658 still left to go be sure to join us tomorrow for Stage 6 as the tour starts in Dunkerk and ends in Charlewa coverage begins on ESPN at 3 p.m eastern time 11:00 p.m on ESPN 2 you think your favorite sport is intense take a look at this after 163 miles 23 years old Jerome Y levers for Phil Li and Paul Sherwin i’m Adrien Carsten we’ll see you tomorrow [Music] espn’s coverage of the 1995 to France has been presented by Michelin because so much is riding on your tires [Music] the 43,000 people of Northwest Airlines