1995 Tour de France – ESPN raw coverage of stages 10,11,12 and 13 with commentary by Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen.
Hosted by Adrian Karsten.
00:10 Stage 10 intro
07:01 Stage 10 (La Plagne to Alpe d’Huez)
48:09 Stage 11 intro
54:05 Stage 11 (Le Bourg-d’Oisans to Saint-Étienne)
1:35:50 Stage 12 intro
1:41:22 Stage 12 (Saint-Étienne to Mende)
2:20:17 Stage 13 intro
2:26:54 Stage 13 (Mende to Revel)
This coverage is raw and includes commercials and other programming.
Note: This video was created by ESPN. I do not own this content.
[Music] justice [Music] [Music] 21 turns the greatest ride in cycling [Music] today one of the world’s greatest stadiums is sold out to see the classic climb up La Dezz and to maybe get a glimpse of a man on pace to make history hello everyone I’m Adrienne Karsten welcoming you to ESPN’s exclusive coverage of the 1995 Tour to France presented by Michelin here at the start line of stage 10 today there is an agreement between the reporters and the writers and that is that no matter what we predict or how well they perform there are just some things you can’t control you know we stood here yesterday and we talked about the fact that for the first time in 5 years there are some riders who actually believe they could beat Miguel in Durant and that prediction looked pretty good for a while as Alex Zula blasts off riding 60 mi by himself building up a 5-minute lead he actually owned the yellow jersey on the road at that moment Miguel Indrain took control of this tour minutes later Zula looks over his shoulder and now he’s holding off Indrain it was absolutely unprecedented you know Bernard Eno and Eddie Mertz the last men alive who have won this tour five times were going down the course in a car together yesterday and right at that moment they looked at each other shook their heads and agreed never in the history of this sport have we seen strength like that it happened on our first day in the French Elves that effort of his yesterday has practically made the yellow jersey his to lose the rising star of the Truda France the Danish champion Biani Ree Dansk Yan the riders who jumped on Indra’s overall lead right off the starting line once Alex Zula another Dane Bo Hamburger and Federico Munoz [Music] but Lance Armstrong missed that breakaway bus he spent a lot of energy trying to catch up but couldn’t the Pinesto bodyguards escorting in drain setting him up to spring him loose but then a breakaway as promised team once went on the attack he now leads by 3 minutes and 35 seconds ahead of the main field and injurain is trying to limit his losses here this had been a tremendous attack by today Alex Zula really has found his wings yavghi Berzine the rookie learning how to ride this tour was being taught a lesson at the back of the class at the summit of Cormet de Rosaland alex Aula leading by more than four minutes well everything looked downhill then Indrain took control inane is causing a lot of trouble here and I think you know slipping away from our picture has gone the Danish champion i think Ree suddenly hit the wall and just dropped to the back of the group he’s gone from here well he decided now I’m alone i’ve got to give my own time trial zulle’s had enough time at the front and he really has put the pressure on he’s going to ride his time trial now zula had the yellow jersey on the road it took him 3 hours to earn it and a fraction of the time to lose it the end of one of Indra’s greatest rides ever it was over 5 minutes at the bottom and it’s going to be just around about two at the top and he’s grasping every second of it indire knows he’s under pressure this year but they’re not going to beat him without a great fight with that performance Indrain multiplied his lead six times from the previous day in second place overall Alex Zula his effort almost forgotten because of Indra’s keep your eyes on Bji Ree today he’s in third with thousands of Danish fans on La Dez you’ll see the name Rishard Vanc the man right here painted on the road up and down the mountains today he’s the favorite to hold on to the mountain climbers jersey right on his wheel team Motorola’s Alvaro Mahia he’s a climbing teammate of Lance Armstrong now Armstrong tried to make some moves of his own yesterday but once again found himself in the exhaust of Miguel in Drain he’s learned more than a few lessons from that man i was just thinking I could do the descent uh a little faster and have a little breathing room for the next climb because I knew that it was going to be hard but then once I saw that Zula was gaining so much time I knew that that Vanessa was going to start chasing hard from behind so I just sort of rode around tempo and waited for them to catch me which was not long and they were going they were going hard on a crystal clear day from Aim Laa to the summit of La DuZ two men who have been up there many times Phil and Paul well thanks Aiden you know the party’s already begun here on Ald on the way up this morning i don’t think I’ve seen so many people waiting on the climb as there is this year but for Miguel Inuain of course his celebrations begun yesterday we said yesterday that we thought a team could take him on paul the on team did what we thought they attacked him but they couldn’t beat him well they couldn’t but don’t forget that while Alex Zula was at the front of the race you had three other riders sitting back and to me Lawrence Jalabar looked extremely good we hardly ever saw Melt Mari he was sitting back there waiting so the once squad did what we expected and they may well try again today well it’s even harder today the climbs are steeper and they’re tougher and of course the finishing climb here is revered everybody wants to win here now who’s going to win well that’s difficult for me to say because it depends on how the race develops i would say logically it would have to be somebody like Risha the climber or even Marco Pantani who showed yesterday that he’s back in form but this really is a shrine for the climbers so I’d like to see a climber winning here well I’m a brave man i’ll go for the indrain phil if you’re so courageous why don’t you come down off the mountain and saddle up alongside the man signing autographs Miguel Indrain a little Italian with the big ears and the good-look haircut Marco Pontani he has the climbing talent to win today’s stage [Music] alex Zula wearing the yellow cap of the leading team in the tour team once you wonder what he has left after yesterday at the base of La Planet 164 riders are ready for the signature stage of the tour to France after 88 miles and two exhausting climbs they’ll begin perhaps the most memorable 12 mi of their careers the ascent of La D [Music] espn’s coverage of the 1995 Tour to France is presented by Michelin because so much is riding on your tires [Music] there’s a brotherhood of bicycling into which all these riders will have been initiated at the end of this day indoctrination begins 30 mi in on the Cole de la Malane let’s join Phil Lickot now and perhaps not surprisingly on the lower slopes of the K de la Madelane at the field are all together yet even at this pace Paul one or two riders have fallen back including Jaci Giron and the man who was eliminated yesterday Fedri Monasan of the Nobel team he’s a Frenchman but because he crashed on the descent and was eliminated by only 20 seconds rather kindly the referees let him back in the race today well he’s off the back at the moment you can see even though the riders are going along on this climb at the moment at a fairly a small tempo in fact many riders already suffering at the back dropping out and that I think is because yesterday was such a tough stage with a lot of riders being eliminated well the King of the Mountains competition we’re now in the heat of the battle for that competition the leader is Rishard Ven he wears the polka dot jersey just to explain to you how the riders gain points in this competition until we reach the Alps the there were only small hills sprinkled around northern France and Belgium and they were categorized fourth and third category now we’re into the region of the second category climbs the first category climbs and today all of the climbs are categored as the French say outside category which puts them even higher than the first category they call it all category now what that means is the points for the first man over the top today will be 40 points and then the first 15 riders over the top all score points and on the smaller climbs that we’ve seen earlier in the tour well they only score points for the first three riders over the summit in the case of a third category climb it’s the first six riders and the man with the most points of course at any time in the race he wears the polka dot jersey and that’s on the shoulders today of Vishar Verena and in fact Verena has said quite openly that his great ambition is to win the stage to Al Duez when he’s wearing the King of the Mountains jersey well he’s got the jersey all he’s got to do now is win the stage phil for him to win this stage Verac would have to ride well all the way from start to finish starting was easy finishing is the problem 100 miles total in stage 10 three mountains and as Phil mentioned they’re all or category which means their difficulty is off the scale a lot of mountains yes but sprints as well jamaladin Abd Japroof is trying to take the green sprinters jersey from Lauron Jalabar he won the first sprint at about 12 and 3/4 m in after the cold de la Matalane comes the cold de la Cuadair and by the time they climb La Due an estimated 150,000 fans will cheer them up the mountain french Spaniard talents it’s really quite a sight and now they’re into the final kilometer there hasn’t been an attack anywhere on the climb at all but now the pace is visibly quickened and the back end of this big pelaton is now stringing out visharing coming up alongside his teammate Lon Duo there in the polka dot jersey looking for a chance to try and snatch the points closing up a little bit further behind him as well now claudia Kiauchi not sporting his helmet today because of the terrible heat on this race the valleys are actually around about 30° C that’s a big problem for the riders on these mountain stages the difference in temperature but at the moment is at the front he’s got his teammate there Lauren Brashar who’s going to try and lead him out to try and keep maximum points for the moment he doesn’t have anybody challenging him in that competition and Dwayne just keeping out of trouble there sitting around at the back look not too far away from where he can see what’s going on at the front first time the riders climbed this hill was back in 1969 but nobody in the race this year has ever gone over the top of this mountain in first place before but now the big spin is starting and Rish is going to consolidate his lead in because this is the first big or category climb of the tour today and there are three of them and he’s going to get maximum points first time over the top as Ven goes over the top first and a good spin there but the others did not really challenge him they more or less gave a little present of that a very slow start to the day at 24.7 kilometers per hour at the moment just over 15 mph but Phil fast on the way down and they’re going to hit 60 mph still two more climbs to come back in a moment welcome back to stage 10 we’re about 60 mi in just short of the summit of the Cole Dea Quad Affair the second of three tough climbs today well as we expected the attack started right down in the valley in the town of Sanjon de Moren and that really is the base of the long climb of the Cold Laadair and now we’re something like six miles from the summit and this little group has consolidated itself and surprisingly Paul the riders placed in fifth and sixth overall lawren lying sixth and Ian Goti from the gave his team lying in fifth place have made this escape well it’s a superb move and you know it was actually set up by the Festina squad of Risha Virang because they launched a couple of riders clear at the bottom of the climb that was Jeka and Dufo and then they jumped across in one at a time and then they formed at the front and it’s a dangerous move for a lot for Miguel in Indane well Indurrain is heading the field at around about a minute and 35 seconds behind at the moment one or two riders in between some being dispatched backwards from this breakaway when the pace got a little bit too hot for them and some trying to get up here the latest riders to join us up here johan Brunil has just come up to us and so too has Ivan Goti and before him it was Fernando Escartine and the rest of the riders in this breakaway Rishar Ven Labar Juo number 54 he’s a member of Ven’s team Simony from the Aki team Federrico Munoz who rode so well yesterday over the early climbs and Alberto Ellie so that’s the escape and uh as we watch the leaders here we have to tell you that Berine has abandoned the race today at when they passed through the feeding station berí who apparently is ill decided to stop and alongside him too was a Mitzio Fondreest Italian rider who really hasn’t enjoyed this tour to France at all i don’t think he wanted to come to the tour to France he was a little bit obliged by the team sponsors because Lampre were bought in at the last minute to this tour to France they were one of the five wild cards given a chance after their performance in the tour of Italy and that was an obligation by the Tour of France organizers and his own sponsor setting the pace then Munoz just behind we’ve got the big tall ride of Brun but he’s not a bad climber and he’s had a good tour of the France in the past seems to be covered now from riding along with Miguel Injuen as he did on Saturday on the stage in Belgium down to to the finish there in Shalwa lauron Dufo the Swiss rider at the front here setting all the pace at the moment he’s doing a great job for Rishard Bena and what they’re trying to do is put Miguel Indrain under pressure the and they’re doing a good job because there’s the latest time check 1 minute 45 seconds and Indrain at the back hasn’t panicked at the moment but it’s all the time putting pressure on his team because they have to stay at the front and they have to keep setting the pace paul reidentifying the rider to the left in the polka dot jersey rishard Veron the 26-year-old Frenchman who won a heroic stage in the Pyrenees during the 94 tour on his way to the best climbers title in fifth place overall look at him he’s smiling now he knows he’s got the victory it’s a lap smile oh goodness with the pain right now i think that was a smile he realizes that he’s got this stage in the bag and it’s a beautiful victory for him up at the top of the Pyrenees here looking down over the valley below he’s saluting the crowd already popular Frenchman Rishard Durank hopes to take his place one day as a yellow jersey contender but for now he takes his place in our Coca-Cola racer profile back on the course we’re continuing up the second climb let’s get back to Phil well we’re over halfway up the climb now and in fact this group has swelled and it might be getting a little bit too big but here we have Alvarameir from Motorola coming on board now he’s being trailed by Aparitio the teammate of Miguel Inuain who has not helped at all in the pacemaking and he’s been given a free ride up to the leaders there are now 15 men in this front group paul was quite an astounding thing to see on a mountain stage because a lot of these riders are also members of teams who feel that they’ve got a chance of dethroning Miguel Indrain indrain has let so many riders go clear and that is dangerous because from this descent of this climb they’ve got a long valley to go to reach the bottom of the Aldoz and it will be very difficult to close down before the bottom of the climb almost certainly now it’s going to be a great showdown on the climb of Aldz because Jalabar and Goti are in this breakaway and they’re gaining time in group is timed at around about 1 minute 45 1 minute 50 seconds back and there’s nobody now in between his group and the leaders because met here has just joined on the back he one of the leaders coming up the top of this mountain but the leaders in US Women’s Golf are showing up at the US Women’s Open starting tomorrow live on ESPN at 100 p.m eastern the 1994 Women’s Open champion Patty Sheen is shooting for a total purse of $1 million that all starts tomorrow live at 1 my very first experience driving a car I got a a 49 Chevy out of my dad’s recording yard got it running and uh went out and played in the desert in New Mexico you could be the fastest guy out there everything could be going your way and then all of a sudden poof it’s gone you know 200 miles an hour you’re covering a football field per second and you have to uh figure out where you’re going before you get there before we took a break from the race Phil reported that Yenni Bersine the young leader of team Gavis had dropped out of the tour this is a shot from our motorcycle cam coming right up behind him fatigued with a fever his tank just hit empty so ends the 95 tour for the 25-year-old Russian rookie meanwhile Miguel Indrain’s team Bonesto is chasing down a big breakaway that includes Lauron Jalabar and Rishard Varane let’s get back to Phil and as we expected the slopes of the Cder has split the field to pieces the attacks were started down in the valley by Lauren Brashard and one by one riders reached him and built up a leading group of some 15 in that leading group Ivan Goti the former leader of the tour on the Gaywish team and the green jersey of Lala both those riders lying sixth and fifth respectively overall then Alvaria join and this is the breakaway johan Brunil came here but Miguel Inuain has reacted at the back when his lead dropped to rather the deficit came 1 minute 50 seconds down then he started to counter with his team as a result he’s now in a group of 15 riders chasing and Tony Roinger has been dropped by the injur group well it appears that Roinga just cannot survive the tour to France the last couple of years it really has put a lot of pressure on him i think being the number one favorite coming into this event and it may well be that psychological pressure that he just can’t take and the list of abandons today has grown steadily now there are 10 riders out of the race today starting with Mario Chipolini who didn’t start this morning already gone now eric Vanderarden Mitzio Pondriest abandoned at the feed at the same place in fact as Eini Berzine berzine apparently was ill all day yesterday and he got as far as the feeding station today and climbed into his team car mark Voters has gone mario KZ has gone jackie Giron the first leader of this tour to France has also given up today phil it’s amazing the climbers in this race just keep the pace going in the Michelin race summary Rishard Vank defends the polka dot jersey with 151 total points after winning today’s first climb alex Zula is beating Miguel in rain at least in this category and Big Bo Hamburger proving that a man over 6 ft can climb a mountain as well more mountain climber points coming up on the Cole de la Quadair setting the pace for Festina and hoping that Vishar Varane will finish it off with more points on this all category climb the second of three today in the tour to France Udo Bose seems to have found his legs today he lost time yesterday but the champion of Germany who rode so well in the mountains last year has come good today it is amazing how the form turns around in just 24 hours when you’re in the mountains some riders are just made for the tour to France and some riders you only see when they come to the month of July because they spend the whole of their season preparing just for this one race and that is a very difficult thing to do and it’s also a very dangerous thing to do because you can lose a whole season if you come to the tour and you don’t perform this is the spin for the summit now and Risha Ven is going for it again so he’s going to make it two out of two or is he little Muny is going to have a go at him but I think Ven has plenty in hand munoz is second and third over the top is Escartine I think it was so the three riders go through but the group basically stays together they’ve been racing for almost 4 hours today and they’re going to be coming over the top it looks to me as though we’ve got one of the Benestto riders here in a spot of trouble that was Aparishio he was dropped off the top there as we came into the final few kilometers of that climb but that’s not too bad because at least when he comes into the valley at least it gives Miguel Injur another teammate to help him so these riders shed by that leading group but with the long descent they might well rejoin it before they go down to Bazon and then they’ll start the climb of Al Dez [Music] looks like beat Viet coming up the Swiss rider and a very good finish in the tour Switzerland just before this race began in fact he’s being picked up now by the injur group [Applause] [Music] in just monitoring it first and he knows that he’s going to wait I think for the climb of outdoor and then give us one of his spectacular chase downs but as they come up towards the summit the leaders are over the top beat Zeberg leading through the yellow jersey group a minute and 30 seconds back miguel Inerain and the field so he’s got a little bit of work to do on the way down if he wants to be with the leaders when they start the climb of Al Dez and we’ll be there as well see you in a few minutes [Music] as we approach today’s final climb up lowz the Americans looking pretty good lance Armstrong has done a better job overall this year climbing and time triing he’s 36th overall and Frankie Andreo in the top 10 early in the tour has dropped back now but he’s no quitter count on him in Paris now back out on the course of Phil Liot and this breakaway at the moment is still clear there are 13 of them surviving the passes now between the mountains heading towards Borg Glazam the yellow jersey group is led by Inerain’s team Benesto and indeed Carrera a minute and 20 seconds back well Indrain has played a superb game today he’d let these riders attack him and he never panicked at all he kept all his team around him and he’s just kept that gap at exactly the same distance for the last 30 km ron Jalabar one of the two riders with most to gain in this breakaway the other one in fact is just behind him in the blue jersey there that’s Ivan Goti and Johan Brunil offering Alvar here a drink risha Varen the king of the mountains leader very well satisfied with the way this race has gone so far today maximum points on both climbs for him and now they’re on the flat valley road where the temperatures are at the hottest before they reach the small town of Bazon which is absolutely jammed to the hilt today with spectators watching for the passage of the tour and tomorrow of course it will start in the town the impetus really seems to have gone out of this breakaway at the moment and it’s probably because they’re thinking about what is facing them now they’ve got a a 13 km climb to the summit of Aldz and the riders know exactly what it’s like they most have ridden the tour to France before they know how difficult it’s going to be and they know that behind the race is really starting to speed up because in fact this is Bberg one of the Swiss riders on the Carrera team and he’s working now with Bonto and bring the group together so that Marco Pantani I think would like to launch an attack and Paul wouldn’t he like to wear one of these jerseys the yellow jersey in the back of Miguel in Durain tailor made for the man after yesterday’s performance Jalabar got a scare from Jamaladin Abd Japra off Abdu won both of today’s time bonus sprints but Jalabar wears it for now and We profiled Veron’s talent in the polka dot jersey now the climb up the monster named La Duz the unofficial world championship for climbers this is Mario Ellie of team MG who leads the ascent phil this is the chase group led by Dufo dufo has done an incredible job today for Rishard Ven because he initially started this breakaway early on the slopes of the colder laadair they pushed the effort all the way over the top and formed this group which was originally 15 riders over the top there he’s done all that work and he’s still finding time to go to the front and chase for Rishard Virink and here’s the ever faithful Zerard Rue coming back up to the front now for Injurain yesterday he made the pace for as long as he could before he blew and left in to really save the day to give you an idea of just how much he tried yesterday on that final climb of Lana which is an 18 kilometer climb 12 miles he lost 26 minutes on his leader Miguel Indurin now Alberto Ellie the start of Aldures is the steepest part of the climb and they very very quickly concede far down into the valley as they go up these herpin bends and it looks as though Ellie has got the gap initially but now his escape is being limited by the tempo riding of Johan Brunil on the right and also I think at the back there Paul me and Boltz have gone it looks as very much as if they have done and all that is because of the work that’s being done here by Lauren Duo at the front the gap at the moment is 15 seconds for Alberto Ellie but down the field down the the climb here the work of Pinesto really is starting to eat into the lead so a little bit disappointing for motor they were hoping Queen Alvame here will climb up towards a top three finish in the mountains he certainly seemed to have done the right move today when he joined this leading group with Apario but I’m afraid he has lost ground on these early slopes maybe they’ve hit it a little bit too quick but look at this now this is a gap of 11 seconds built 11 seconds on the mountain over the group he’s just left is quite a big gap it is it’s awfully difficult to close down that 50 or 75 m and there it is park Pantani the man that I expected to attack and he has gone and he’s followed there by Lauren Madwas the Castama rider this man really is the most incredible climber I’ve seen in recent years hit by a car 3 months ago Paul here he is attacking the most famous mountain in cycling that’s the province it is also stage 11 which we will bring you tomorrow 124 more miles through the French Alps from Borg Disan to San Aten coverage begins at 7:30 p.m eastern on ESPN 11 p.m on ESPN 2 but to get to stage 11 you have to finish 10 which we will do when we return the pros are climbing La Due but there were a lot of amateurs out here today making the climb as well and if they made it to the top they got a certificate sound familiar Phil well you know I also tried to ride out and I gave up two miles from the top so I got no certificate but this man I don’t think anybody will ever climb it as quick as him this is Marco Pantani now on the lower slopes of Alduez he’s still in pursuit of the breakaway which has been clear since the top of the cold quad the fur and that breakaway is reducing in number mia has been dropped for Motorola so too Udo Bolton Telecom the German champion and the gap is closing injurain’s group we’re looking at down here we think is just over a minute behind the leaders but Pantani has left the injurane group and in about 2 kilometers has flown across to the leaders i think they’re going to get an awful surprise when he comes up to this group and you know what he will do he’ll try and go straight by them immediately and continue in his lone effort magnificent piece of climbing by a pure climber we talk of Lucian Vanimp and Fedrico Balamontes the two riders who are six times each won the king of the mountains competition they were real climbers too but the others are strong men like Rishar Ven but Pantani makes it look so easy this is Ian Goti at the front now the former leader of the tour of France this year blown now is Johan Brunil and gone backward pantani relentless in his pursuit is cutting his way through to the front the riders you can see there just in front are the leaders of the tour to France at the moment this is Ivan Goti van Goi is being swallowed by Jalabar and it looks very much to me as if Rishar Veron has cracked the man who is supposed to be the climber jalabar is a non-climber and he’s being able to drop Vank on a climb this is quite stupendous well Ven has had a second breath there Paul i think he’s just nipped onto the back wheel of um of Jalab this is Escartine is with them as well goti on the right of our picture well they were right the Italians they said you may not have heard of Ivan Goti but if we get into the mountains with him he’s a very good climber he’s proving that now he’s right there and Escartine is thinking of attacking but they better look over the shoulders because it’s not the yellow jersey of rain this time but this is the most talented climber in the world and he’s onto the back of them as Gotti goes off the front Phil the action on the climb up to always some of the best of the tour like in ‘ 92 and Andy Hamston perhaps the greatest moment in the tour that year the crowning moment in his career the only American to ever win here but he’s not here this year because he gambled by changing from Motorola to team Bonesta and didn’t make their cut but he will always have his performance in ‘ 92 to hold on to to the present indrain’s right-hand man Gerard Ruer his commitment is such that he will sacrifice himself to keep his man in yellow gerard Ruer continues at that nice little tempo injurain is hoping that he’ll shortly be seeing the green jersey of lonelab he’ll be totally unaware of what is happening on the climb and we have seen Pantoni rip away from that field and ride past every one of them now he’s found himself a little bit more of a tough ombre here in Ivan Goti who is going to sit there as long as possible goti has really blossomed in the tour to France this year as soon as the the incline increases that’s when Marco Pantani will make his move and increase the gas a little bit just to try and get rid of Goti because he knows the best way to win here would be alone and it is such a risk if he was to drag Ivan Goti all the way up here to the finish line because then it would go down to a sprint and that is very dangerous after a long stage like this but it won’t happen now Paul because it’s all over the Elastig snapped and Goti too is now being dispatched back to the rest of the tour to France this man is now going up the mountain in true glory on Al Duz where climbers have their moment of pleasure and this rider is so so nice to watch it’s unbelievable you see he keeps that gear down all the time every time he goes into the corner he accelerates quickly he gets out of the saddle and sits down again gets into his rhythm now all he has to do is time trial to the finish and they really has got an incredible position i don’t know if you can hear the applause there were at the finishing line of course and they’re watching the big screen here they’ve now just seen Pantoni shed the last man they’ve just given him a big round of applause and the Italian flags are now waving at the finish they don’t think he’ll be seen again now till he crosses the line and I would say they’re probably right phil the final miles on the climb of La Due marco Pontani trying to accomplish a first his first ever stage win in the tour to France miguel indrain and Alex Zula side by side chasing a number of riders on the attack including the man in third position overall and there’s Bjarice the first time we managed to see him around about 55 seconds behind and with him is L Madwas he is now ahead of the injur group and he’s trying to pick up Rishar Ven Jalabar and Escartine and in fact he has done it he’s come flying up he’s now caught the three of them along with Madwas well that’s a superb move by Bian i think yesterday he suffered in the mountains a little bit like one or two other riders because of the fact he’s rode that superb time trial he had the the rest day which really messes up a lot of riders because it changes their body rhythm it changes their biological clock but Reys has got his mountain legs on him today and he’s trying to get up there but up the road 50 seconds at the moment is the lead of Marco Pantani the lone Italian and in between the two groups we’ve got the other Italian Ivan Goti now in it looks as though he’s having to take control of things himself because he won’t want Bare Reese to get too much out of this he’s Don’t forget he’s now got the riders in uh second third sorry second no let’s start again he’s got the rise in third fifth and sixth ahead of him on the road now and he will not like that well Esartine has cracked and the man setting the pace now is Ba Reese but notice how Lawrence Zalabet every time there’s an acceleration he can go with the move and he stays there he can’t set the pace himself because he isn’t a climber but he can follow the wheel superbly leartine is losing the wheel but I’m not too sure he’s not just holding his strength as best he can he might come back when the slope’s level a little bit ven is not having the great climb he’s expecting either he’s lost a little bit of gap too phil the one man who hasn’t lost any gap at all is Miguel Indrain he just keeps on pushing the pace other highlights in the Michelin race summary 153 riders left in LA today quickly a 15-man breakaway when on the attack lauran Jalapar Rishard Verank and Ivon Gotti in that group held a 92 lead on Indrain’s main field now Marco Pontani appears to be conquering the climb he’s waited for since the tour started but there are a couple of riders who won’t let him go without a fight the final turns up La Due but there you can see on the top the buildings of Al Duz they know now they’re about 5 kilometers maybe from the top slightly less and Bjanna Ree is now man setting the pace here it’s going to be another outstanding performance by the Danish road racing champion on a day that the man he was always arguing with Evini Berzine has retired from the tour to France apparently ill well Ree will be happy with this performance and the team manager Emanuel Bombini in fact Berzine is in the car watching his teammates there that is quite incredible in fact I’m not quite sure that that is permitted under the rules well it isn’t because the rules are riders who abandon the tour must retire from the tour in a following vehicle which is not their team car but uh anyway it gave us a chance to see the two men at least as close together in person if not in friendship 1 minute 10 now pantani riding away to a superb victory that befits the greatest mountain in the tour to France Aldu these riders are hanging on in there though and the man who’s hurting the most now is Vanna Reese that was a very strange move there by Ivan Goti because he actually attacked the group of Bjan Ree and I would have thought that the two would try and work together to peg back the lead of Marco Pantani but Miguel Indrain doing a superb job himself trying to get back up there but he’s being followed all the time by that pilot fish Alex Zul the man who’s lying in second place in the overall standings at the moment there’ll be no help from Zula either not why Lawrence Jalabar is here his on teammate and Ian Goti still willing to work here and Banna Reese Well with Epin Berine if only Berserine had had the form and could have been in this group instead of in the car and then I think in fact in might have had a few problems and they would have had a superb team if Bazine had been on form because with three of them riding the way that these two riders are at the moment they really could have put him under a lot of pressure rish Vir coming back again he really wants to stay with this group he’s fighting everything in his body he really hasn’t got a lot left but he will come back every time 5 kilometers to go for Marco Pantani so Pantani is leading by a minute and 12 seconds from the Biona Reese group and just 20 seconds behind well not even that now he’s come up so quickly we’ve only just had the time check and this man has continued to fly towards that group so very shortly Miguel Lingerain will be in the second group on the road and he won’t be overly concerned about the whereabouts of Pantani that’s why he’s a master he’s learned to dose his efforts he doesn’t panic when a break goes away he waited like he did yesterday until he came to the final climb and then he turned on the engine and he pulled himself back into the race as he has done so many times in the past now Miguel Enderain has caught these riders up what a fantastic ride this man is doing and Zula is alongside him now is Injurain going to try and ride them all off again he just pops his cap there as he goes past the rank oh a double take there by Jalabar who looked and then he was expecting to see Ven on his shoulder and he saw the yellow jersey right alongside him phil it’s individual performances like this that make La Due such a legend in the sport of cycling back in a moment [Music] approaching the summit of Leel Duez marco Pantani being chased by a group led by Miguel Indrain he and his group back about a minute and a half phil the gap still around about a minute and a quarter no further time checks coming from out on the race but Pantani is not being approached by Injurain at all 1 minute 32 we now have it won’t be too long now before Marco Pantani gets into the streets of Aldz and then he’ll know and have the time to savor the victory that is going to be his the greatest victory that any climber I think could want the Aldu and Injur still forcing the pace while behind injur Lala still hanging on in there and the Carrera team extremely happy with the way things are going now 2 kilometers to go and we’re on the approach to the town at the top of the mountain and just look at the people here and believe me this is nothing to what awaits Pantani when he goes across the village to the finishing line this is a section now which is barriered because you may remember the tour to France a few years back when the Colombian climber Fabio Parah was almost brought to a standstill because of the people and the motorbikes around him but now it’s Pantani making his way to the summit jalabar hanging on to the back wheel here of Ivanotti who has had a great climb himself about DuZ will keep his high overall place as indeed will laabar fifth and sixth overall in the tour this morning these two [Applause] indrain has got the same face that he’s had for the last couple of days exactly the same face he had on that stage going into Laz where he put 50 seconds between himself and his rivals and that really could well have been the writing on the wall because the next day he slammed them all in the time to apart from this man in the Danish national champions jersey Banner Ree who finished just 12 seconds behind Enderin but he’s so concentrated and so determined to get this fifth victory that I think you know he’s going to walk away with it the first three riders in this year’s tour to France proving just why they are the first three riders in Zula Ree in that order overall in that order on our pictures now ivan Goti is just behind them he will climb up into fourth place overall tonight he’ll go at least ahead of Tony Rominger and it just depends on the time losses of Roinger jalabar could be up to fifth or at worst holding his place of sixth overall sulle seems to be struggling a little bit at the moment but you know just to be able to stay in contact with Miguel Indrain is of no mean achievement and now we’re into the town itself just to go across the square shortly and then they run into the finish they’ve been pedaling now for over 5 hours today for this trip of 100 miles 164 km 162 and 1/2 and there is the kite in the sky now 1 kilometer to the summit for Marco Pantani and it must be a tremendous feeling for this man he won a stage of the tour of Switzerland just before the tour to France started that was the warning that he was refining his form now he’s confirmed it today in alduz on what is one of the most beautiful days there’s lalabar he’s on the wheel of Ivanotti and he’ll be fifth and sixth on the road these two it’s a superb performance by a man who’s renowned for being a sprinter to get up to the top of the aldoz in that but here is the man who’s leading the race at the moment Marco Pantani he gets just a little time to recover because this is the flatter part of the course here he’s got three or 4 hundred meters before he takes the lefthand turn into the avenue which has been so magnificent over the last few years with some great victories on the slopes of the Aldozi and Jalabar hanging back from the group but here is Marco Pantani now crossing the center of Alp Duez and the crowd kept back by barriers this year so it’s a very orderly approach indeed but look at the strength in this man’s legs now he’s being pulled on by inspiration by the fact he is going to win the most famous day in any tour of France and be first up to the top of Al Duz we’ve seen so many great names come up here since FTO copy first one back in 1952 but he’s overshot the corner that’s the way the cars go marco he’s got the time he’s not so much worried about that now and good job his brakes worked as well but he’s now lined up for the finish and now he can spin home the Italians are gasping they saw that now they can welcome him as only Italians can the flags are waving up here by the finishing line and Marco Pantani the finest climber currently racing the circuit in the world of professional cycling has now proved it to everybody this man is a beautiful climber and he’s proved it on the best mountain of the tour marco Panton he salutes the crowd there’s the Italian flag on the right and he’s gaining time although that won’t be important to him and that is why Miguel Inerain isn’t too worried at the moment well that was a superb performance by Marco Pantani who’s been absolutely mobbed out here by the Italians they’re absolutely going crazy they’re so happy to have an Italian victory at the top of the Alz because it is a shrine for cycling it is a shrine for climbers and Miguel Indrain today realizes that he too has put in a superb performance he’s worked extremely well with his team he used them as he has done over the last couple of days and he’s going to come up here for second place on the road but those are the top three men in this year’s tour to France and Miguel Injur now is being obliged to lead out the sprint so Alex Zula and Bjar Reese are going to take him in the sprint I would think but in he doesn’t like the people around him can be very very determined indeed and annoyed if they try to jump him so just let’s see what sort of a spin he can pull out he knows the way up to Aldz he’s done it many times before he took it tight so he would force them to attack them on one side of the road zula is warming up for a fine finish here after winning yesterday but I’m not sure that even Alex Zula can come on to Miguel Injurain now it is an uphill finish here ever so slight but it’s hard after this climb inane you see determined to the end he’s going to make it second looks over for the rest zula is third there’ll be a separate time for Bj Reese marco Pansani the little Italian who was third overall in last year’s 94 tour has just won his first stage ever in the tour to France we’ll be back in a moment [Music] what more can Miguel Indrain do well he wants to win a stage in the 95 Tour biani Ree nothing to hang his head about he lost time yesterday but is third overall alex Zula no one expected another stellar ride after what he did yesterday phil this looks like another rider almost missed the turn like Pantani and this is a problem for Ivan Goti there and he’s been left on the corner and this is the sprint well it’s not a sprint this is seventh place now so more points for the green jersey on a day when Jallabo was not expected to score what a great two days he’s had in the Alps scoring on both occasions seventh for Jalabar and Goti has got going again hasn’t made a difference to his finish i don’t think he’d never match Jalabar in a sprint and so Goti is going to finish in eighth place but it’s cost him a little bit of time and he better look over his shoulder too because Rishar Bren is also anxious to get King of the Mountains points and he’s going to take Goti right on the line so Barink gets eighth goti gets ninth fulfilled the support that American fans have for their lead rider is as big as his home state lance promised himself that he would finish the 95 tour something he’s never done in Paris but now with your leader probably dropping below 40th position where is the motivation you know we’re on our on our mission and our objective to finish the race and I think that he’s well within that with within that range to do that um so so I don’t think that uh Lance is doing anything except right now really taking in a lot of information and and hoping to be able to use that next next year smiling a little wider Marco Pontani by a minute 24 he beats Miguel Indrain and Alex Zula two guys in stature much bigger than Marco lance Armstrong way down in 56th position but he did finish LaZ 18 minutes behind frankie Andreo 89th in the field marco Pontani doesn’t have to bend down too far to get a nice little kiss on the cheek and a bouquet of flowers rishard Vank still one of the favorite Frenchmen trying to hold on to the polka dot jersey as the mountain climber these two men finished side by side this is the only way we could slow down their pace today no need to look back Miguel you hang on to the yellow jersey by 2 minutes and 27 seconds over the man just behind you in that shot Alex Zul biani Reese dropped a little bit more time 6 minutes back in third position in fourth position Tony Roinger usually in Drain’s closest competition showing signs of having trouble marco Pontani moves up to seven leader of the 1994 Tour to France remains Miguel in Drain tomorrow we’ll cross the halfway point we’ve gone 1,087 mi we still have 1,172 to go coverage begins in prime time at 7:30 Eastern on ESPN 11:00 over on ESPN 2 marco Pontani’s first ever stage win in the Tour to France for Phil Liot and Paul Sherwin and our entire ESPN Tour to France team I’m Adrien Carsten espn’s coverage of the 1990 next Sports Center at 11 we’ll see you tomorrow night at 7 Eastern i’m Charlie Steiner and I’m Robin Roberts coming up next a tour to France enjoy and take care the men of the mountain bigger than ever miguel Indrain’s intensity is growing now he needs to work on his lead vani Ree turning in one of the biggest efforts of the tour even a little man Marco Pantani showed us the climb of his career but there’s also a big hole to fill for Lance Armstrong the American favorite [Music] today stage 11 we go from the French Alps into the Mid Mountains and this could be a dangerous day for the leaders trying to keep control of this race hello everyone with Phil Liot i’m Adrien Karsten welcoming you to ESPN’s exclusive coverage of the 1995 Tour to France presented by Michelin today as we pass the halfway point take a look at who’s on top of the Tour to France you see Indrain Zula Reese Phil three big strong athletes nothing against the little guys like Pontani but we’re watching the evolution of the sport 20 years ago when you were watching Eddie Murks another big man go for his fifth tour he was the exception now the big rider is the rule it is the rule and the reason being is because the big teams earned big money eddie Merks is the first to remind us all he didn’t earn the big money that men like in Banna Ree and Alex Zuler receive today but for big money the teams expect big results that’s why this race is running at a full mile an hour quicker than any previous tour to France now Inane isn’t leading by the margins we would have expected him to be leading he’s only leading by 2 minutes 20 seconds over Alex Zula who openly says this tour is not over the honor now is the undisputed leader of the Gavish team and I think he’ll want to improve his position as well the tour is an endurance race today in an endurance stage and if the lower place riders are going to make a move now’s the time to do it yes because this is a dangerous stage for Miguel and Jeran we’re out of the big mountains we’re in the smaller mountains around the back of Setien now in the past many riders have crashed on the descent down into the finish there in the city he must stay out of trouble it’s the sort of day that some riders might choose to attack maybe some of the motivation comes from yesterday another classic climb up to the top of LaZ on yesterday’s first climb up to the cold de la Metal lane Rishard Veron in the polka dot jersey added to his lead in the climber category our cameras caught tour rookie Yavghi Berzine fighting a fever and fatigue he lost that fight and abandoned his hope to make it through the mountains rishard Verank went two for two in the climbing competition first to the top of the coal de la quad affair short time behind Miguel in Drain the man in the yellow jersey kept control of the pace in the Pelaton not letting anyone make a move until he decided it was time then as the most famous climb in cycling began the little Italian attacked he is the best climber of the to France discovered for maybe 10 years he is absolutely magnificent and if any man could go across to the group Dennis Pantani pentani kept passing riders through 21 hairpin turns back in the Pelaton Indrain had control he also had Alex Zula on his wheels the two closed in on the chase group behind Pantani indrain then decided it was time for him to make his move the victim Luron Jalabar now is Injur going to try and ride them all off again he just pops his cap there as he goes past Ven a double take there by Jalabar who looked and then he was expecting to see Ven on his shoulder and he saw the yellow jersey right alongside him pontani continued the ride of his life after getting hit by a car and crashing three months ago here he was to win his first tour stage and the unofficial World Climbing Championship oh did we mention 21 turns marco must have lost count somewhere on the climb go left young man go left [Music] here’s a look we may get used to through these next few stages indrain looking Zula right in the eye let’s go lance Armstrong now knows what it’s like to climb La Due an initiation necessary to someday perhaps win the Tru of France as Phil said Miguel Indrain’s 2 and a half minute lead on Alex Zula certainly isn’t what we’re used to yarni Reese and Tony Roinger are six and 8 minutes back respectively and American Lance Armstrong is in 42nd overall the Reese had half of Denmark down in Bor Guazan this morning cheering their national champion [Applause] alex Zula looking pretty fresh after two straight days of an unforgiving pace today a change of pace on the transition between the Alps and the Pyrenees a lot of riders who are so far behind will try and attack because they want to take something out of this tour to France that is going to make it very difficult for Miguel Indrain because he still has to control the race but the Hon are in a strange situation they have Alex Zula in second place in the overall standings but also Lauren Jalabar in the green jersey i feel towards the end of the day they will try and close down any breakaways to give Lawrence Jalabar a chance to increase his lead in the overall standings in the points jersey but one other man I crossed this morning was Lance Armstrong he looks extremely concentrated to me and he’s always said that he likes a good climb and a dangerous descent before the finish of a stage that’s one thing as well that Miguel Indere will have to look out for because the descent down into Santa Chen is extremely dangerous and it’s extremely warm in the upper 80s while Lauron Jeal will try to keep his green sprinters jersey next three days Lance Armstrong has got to get going if he really wants to make a difference in this year’s tour to France 65 riders have dropped out in the first half of this year’s tour and in the heat today that number could certainly increase from the base of La Duez we’ll follow the riders 124 miles to San Etien two time bonus sprints where the real speeders can duke it out that’ll be Abby Japer off and Jollab Bear but again the mountain climbs are the highlights just as we expected the lower place riders broke away early fron Masan Andrea Taffy Ralph Yerman in that order made some noise in the first bonus sprint jalabar and Abd Japarov were 22 seconds behind we’re in the Eer region where they’ve lined the roads for stage 11 [Applause] [Music] espn’s coverage of the 1995 Tour Def France is presented by Michelin because so much is riding on your tires and by Chevron no gasoline cleans your engine better than Chevron with a new Techron additive chevron simply smarter [Music] 93 miles into the race on the approach to the cold de loyon the main field is staying together letting the lead group go with about a 7-minute lead interestingly American Lance Armstrong did not go along with that lead group out on the course with the call of today’s race Phil Liot and Paul Sherwin [Music] well we expected a breakaway to go today and it looks as though the combination is a right one because the riders who’ve got away are not affecting the race lead of Miguel Inrain and for the moments at least there is not a reaction coming from the field this breakaway of eight riders broke clear shortly after the hotspot sprint at Ver Beret at 57 kilometers one by France Massen ahead of Andreas Tappy and Ral Yeman and they were quickly joined then by five other riders armand Deas Quavvis Rolf Aldag Max Shiandry the British rider Eric Broking Hernand Buora and the riders now have built a lead of eight minutes and are only around about 50 km from the finish well it was a good move everybody wanted to get into the move this morning because the race started extremely rapidly with speeds of over 30 mph it wasn’t until they actually got to that first hotspot sprint of the day that the right combination as you put it formed and this is the success of the move of the moment nobody is dangerous in the overall standings the bias place rider in fact is Eric Brooking of the once squad who’s in 18th place at 20 minutes behind Miguel Indrain so the hot weather inspiring one or two of the team managers to say go on get out there and have a go because they may give you a lead and the only sad thing from our point of view Paul is that the motor rider hasn’t joined the attack well I would have expected them to look for a kind of move like this this was the day that they should have been and the next couple of days too as we go down towards the Pyrenees there will be this kind of break every time and you know once you’ve missed the break then it’s all over well Paul we’re about to hit the third of four climbs a category one but the real challenge for these racers will come with the descent down the cold de la Cuadesh they’re going to be plunging at about 4,000 ft 60 mph on hot melting tar they better look out there have been crashes here in 1950 and ’92 phil Ralph Aldak the telecom rider good sprinter if he comes down to a sprint but remember we do have the big climb to come before the end and then the man the men who will take risks on the descent could slip away and it’d be very difficult in fact for this group to stay together because the final climb of the day up to the top of the Caloy is a very very difficult climb and we may well see somebody try and break clear before that because bear in mind that the MG Malikio team from Italy have two members in this breakaway one of them is Ralph Yemen a man who is renowned for his ability to slip away from a group and obviously if that doesn’t work they’ve got Max Yandry who in a situation like this shouldn’t get dropped on that tough climb and little Buena Hora the rider who is on the inside near the front with the green shorts on here’s the man who’s been showing his skill on the climbs he was first over the top of the Kotela Fortress which is a second category climb ahead of Andreas Taffy and Broken and then he stayed ahead again on the coat de la which indicates that he is the candidate for the break coming towards the end of the stage today and Kelmer usually managed to pick up a stage win each year in the tour to France and they haven’t done it yet they haven’t done it yet but it is a thing that they’ve always managed to do this year in the tour of Italy they came up with the goods they had Lordino Kabino rode an excellent race which is why in fact they were brought into the tour to France at the very last minute in that group of five wild cards but it’s going to be very difficult on the slopes of this climb for all these riders to stay together that was France Massen just then dropping back to his team car and he will have information the now is moving up to nearly 9 minutes so they are still pulling away at a time normally in the race when the leaders start to react and chase them back so that’s a good sign this breakaway might well survive the day today Bill especially when you consider the fact that this is the largest lead a breakaway group has had in the tour so far they’ll be the first to top the cold de loyon when we return [Music] with just under 27 miles to go there’s trouble in that lead group that still holds about an 8-minute lead on the field as we go up the toughest climb of the day and with this time check of 7 minutes 20 seconds in fact the breakaway has been blown apart on the lower slopes of the climb well that was a superb move by Armond Delasquer as he realized that there were too many good sprinters in this group and what he has to do is try and isolate them and get rid of them that’s what he’s done at the moment he’s put the pressure on and when we get up here we’ll be able to see just exactly who has stayed with him but he’s already got rid of Yemen he’s already got rid of Aldak who were dangers but can Masimo Xiandry stay in there because he would like to hang on and get over the top in fact in second place there third place Xandry is still there for the moment so Wora Maxandri Aldog and in the lead Delas Quas they are the riders now out in front ralph Gman has been dropped along with France Massen well that’s a superb ride by Ralph Alle because I thought with the acceleration of Armandelves he would be one of the first to go he is an extremely good sprinter and if Delis Quuevas wants to win this stage he has to get rid of one Rol Aldag and two Max Yandre because they’re extremely good finishes at the moment he’s doing a lot of work to try and do that but it’s not really the right part of the climb to do it well he’d be pleased at least and he’s checking over his shoulder there he’s lost two of them little bit surprised that Ralph Yeman got dropped because he’s normally a good climber massan perhaps a little bit suspect on the slopes i think Yemen had put a lot of work in on the first part of the climb because he was trying to prepare the terrain for Max Chandry he was setting the pace at the bottom just to make sure that there weren’t any attacks so that would keep the group together which would be much more beneficial for Chiandry and there it is Armadelasquez the Frenchman who has always promised a lot but never quite delivered the goods he’s an extremely good time trialist but he didn’t show it this time on the first time trial in Belgium and he’s out of the hunt for the yellow jersey but there’s still of course the considerable prize of a stage win in a tour to France a strange rider too has had a great deal of problems with his management over the last few years cuz let’s not forget he used to be a teammate of Miguel Indere but there it looks to me as if Buora the Kme rider there decided he would have a go and that is too much for Ralph Ald number 201 in the telecom jersey there he can’t follow the piece so Aldog has been dropped and it was the double-headed attack there Delos Cravis was easing up and now Delles because of the effort he made is in a little bit of trouble now because in the distance Abunah has gone and I’m Not so sure whether Broking is in trouble too broking’s in trouble but Max Yandre has reacted straight away he realizes the danger this has always been a fault of Shandreas to wait a little bit too long but this time he didn’t he saw the move going and he’s gone straight across to the Colombian well you can see the blue jersey of the Castarama rider Delis Quavas he is the man suffering now well the little rider from Colombia has done an excellent piece of attacking here wait until Armand Delos Querves has finished with his turn and then he really did put home a killer blow there he is the rider in the green pants and he is now clear with Max Shirandry and this is a big day for Max Yandry because he wasn’t just happy enough to catch the Colombian in fact he’s gone to the front himself now to start doing a little bit of work to try and make the success of this breakaway grenora looks across at him and decides that he will put the pressure on again well this is the man who’s been winning all of the clims and Shandri is trying to hang on to him for a little while at least and get the gaps opened over the others who are completely spread across this mountain now well Shandri is a real rider of class you know he’s got a fantastic bunch sprint but he isn’t really capable when it’s has to rival riders like Chipellini or Jamal and Abdu Japarov it’s when it comes to the smaller groups of 10 or 15 that his pure speed can be proven but he’s got one thing that a lot of sprinters don’t have and that is the ability to climb now this is a very long climb the best part of 20 km around 12 mi from bottom to top and an early attack like this by is going to put some distance between him and the rest of the breakaway although I think that Armand Delos and Eddie Brokink is trying to reorganize themselves here this is Taffy also behind and in trouble phil you know a lot of the so-called next generation riders have provided a lot of excitement so far in the 95 tour at the top of this list the young riders classification those 25 and under after yesterday’s performance Marco Pontani has to head the list mariano Rojos at age 22 a big man tall but despite his height is known as a great climber bo Hamburger 25 big man too lance Armstrong will put sixth he’s at 23 years of age marco Pontani cruising he’s biting his time until we get into the Pyrenees the US Women’s Open continues on ESPN tomorrow from the Broadmore Golf Club in Colorado Springs Colorado hattie Sheen heads the field of golfers competing in the 50th US Women’s Open total purse of $1 million second round continues tomorrow live at 100 p.m back to the tour to France in a moment this is a good look at a lot of the real talent in this tour lauran Jeala Bear in the green jersey number 41 Tony Roinger fourth overall there’s Alex Zula number 69 second overall indrain is in here someplace too but none of these leaders are really being threatened by the men pushing the pace today one of those men Buena Hora trying to lead up to the top of today’s toughest mountain phil and now he’s accelerating he wants the king of the mountains points and making steady progress in that competition today but he’s no he’s not yet anywhere near challenging at Rishar rank so for the leaders of all of the competitions Vank in the King of the Mountains Yala in green Inane in yellow it’s been something of a rest day for them because they’ve allowed the lesser men or the little men of the tour who aren’t challenging them to slip away but if there are only six riders still left in front of the main field when we come to the finish line Lawrence will be in a good position because he would still be able to pick up round about 20 points if Jamaline Abdu Japarov is no longer in the group i’ll be surprised though in fact if he isn’t Paul because it hasn’t been too much pressure back there today and Jimaladine can hang on when conditions are right we come up towards the summit now there’s going to be no offer of an attack by Max Yiani quite happy to let the Colombian rider take the points over the top after all he’s done most of the work up the climb here and Max has bigger fish to fry and what now they’ve gone under the banner max gets to the front to control things for this small descent and Shandra will now be starting to feel more and more confident his only possibility of being dropped was on that part of the climb there the second climb a third catching climb is not too difficult at all and he’ll be looking now at Buenora just to check him out and see if there are any signs telltale signs of fatigue which a rider can pick up from a slight rolling of the shoulder or a move to one side of the knee when the rider’s pedaling and then Shandri will get more and more confidence here from our helicopter is the yellow jersey sitting on the wheel there of a Benesto teammate and that’s Gonzalez Areta 7 minutes 4 seconds the gap on the main field and in fact that tells me that the Benesto team have shut down the gap at one time came to 6 minutes and 50 seconds so now that it’s gone up 10 or 15 seconds means that the Benesto squad aren’t putting the big pressure on at the front they’re just happy to keep it at the same distance because the nearest man in the overall standings to that to Miguel Indere was Eric Brooking and he’s 20 minutes back so that’s not a great danger paul as we said these men the leaders of the tour really not being threatened today rishard Berank has gained the most points in the mountain climbing competition that’s the polka dot jersey lanjal has collected the most points in the bonus sprints and at the finish line and he gets green and Miguel Indrain has the lowest total time overall after the first 12 individual races in the tour the yellow jersey is his for now and there’s that yellow jersey of Indra Rob on the left hand side is moving up there nicely just to make sure that he keeps up to the front and out of danger and to also let his adversaries know that he’s okay today he’s managed to take the heat because he’s a rider who does not ride very well in hot conditions his best performances are in the early part of the year or the later part of the season when the temperature starts to come down a little bit alex Zula riding just behind Miguel Injurain separated by 2 minutes and 27 seconds and Zula refusing to concede defeats and I like his attitude because he still will attack in again the team this year have had a brilliant race they’ve done everything right in my opinion the strength not always there but they’ve made the moves and the attempts to take on Miguel Inuain as a result it’s been a very interesting tour indeed but to me their their strength is the force of numbers because Lauron Jalabar on the stage yesterday to the top of the Aldoz looked absolutely superb to me he never looked as if he was under any great pressure and I’m fairly sure that when we go to the Pyrenees the Once Riders are going to try that same tactic again launching one or other of their members away to the front of the race to put pressure on Miguel Indrain and the Banesto team [Applause] and Jose Gonzalees Are Zeta taking himself a drink on the way up zulu on the right just one rider that we know of abandoned today to further reduce the field but there are a lot of tired men in the tour to France just now and the heat we can expect in the next three days will also sap their strength i have to tell you for looking at the size of this group which is a very small group as we come to 1 kilometer to the summit i feel very sure that Jamalin Abdul is not going to be there because the pressure has been on enough to get rid of a lot of the non-climbers and Abdu I think today won’t have been able to stay in there [Applause] 646 is the gap at the moment as they continue the tempo towards the summit of the deion and still in between this group Eric Bryink and Ralph Aldag certainly we’ve seen nothing of Armandela Squaver so he may well be already back in this group but he was up with them he was dropped by them further down the climb beat Zeberg with a red helmet on the left of our picture there in the leading three he’s starting to look very very useful these last couple of days in the tour very valuable ally now to Marco Pantani when we go down to the Pyrenees perhaps another man moving up to the front there also is Cladio Kapuchi who I think will be looking to do something in the Pyrenees because he although says he gets on extremely well with Marco Pantani I don’t think will be too happy with the amount of good press that Marco Pantani got with that victory yesterday at Aldz and how often we’ve seen the image of the leader of the tour to France the commander Miguel Inuain just sitting in the middle his hands in the center of the handlebars tapping out the rhythm and watching everything rishard Ven on the right in the polka dot jersey has now decided that there are still points available in this competition so he’s just moving to the front so that once he sees the banner he will accelerate to get a few more points in the the jersey that he wants to keep and take all the way up to Paris [Music] so the rank has moved up onto the shoulders of Jose Gonzalez arettaudo Bolts the German road racing champion in the white jersey has come up towards the front as well in front of it gonzalez Arteta really has been the man of the match today sitting at the front in fact being the policeman for Miguel Indra and trying to get people out of the way and there he sees a bottle picks it up and he will probably pass it well he won’t pass it around to anybody else who decides that’s enough for me i’ll just have it for myself and Ven not too content to be on the front he was hoping to come up from behind somebody probably for the points but he’s got the front position now as we look down from the top of the first category climb today they called the Leon and Ven is getting very twitchy he’s starting to build up the tempo he’s checking round to see who is likely to challenge him his second place overall in this is Alex Zula miguel Iner is third in the mountains those three on a bit of a runaway so is Injur going to try and take him on or indeed Alex Zula the answer is I think no rishar Ven who’s on his way up towards the summit so over the summit come the main field the led by Rishar Varane a little bit of a wait there because the gap is almost seven minutes fen scores well in the King of the Mountains the yellow jersey is in second place zula is third so the top three men in the King of the Mountains competition there all scoring points today so the riders now are going to have to decide what they’re going to do about a British rider on the attack today maxiandry with the Colombian Bueno we’ll take a break a Colombian Ernand Buena Orura from a country that’s one big climb is leading the charge up the final mountain today then the dangerous descent Phil [Applause] and so we come now to the final climb of the day a third category climb the called Share and I think Maxani will also allow Buera to complete his complete set today winning all four climbs as he drops in behind him with something like five or 600 meters to go to the top and once over the top of this pole then I think Shiandi will be watching and waiting for the finish well from the top of this climate plunges down into the streets of Sant it is a very dangerous descent and over the past as you said earlier we’ve seen some incredible crashes the one that sticks in my mind was the one of Lucho Herrera who crashed while he was in the lead and still managed to hold on and win the stage victory and we wouldn’t wish that on any of these riders yes I remember the visions we had then with the blood all over the face of of Lucho Herrera and the people of St etien really appreciated the effort he made that day to win the stage of the tour to France this is Arandas still out on the open road and dropping uh steadily away from the lead group here they were timed over the top of the coke of the Calder Leon at 2 minutes 10 seconds aldog was third Tappy was fourth Brokink was fifth and then Adelis Quaver was at 350 well this is a strange move Phil before we hit the descent in fact Lawrence Alaware has decided that he’s going to have another go he wants to try and get clear because he can also move up in the overall standings but what he may be thinking about is getting more points for his points jersey the green jersey which he’s wearing at the moment and there’s no reaction in the main field paul maybe a little reaction though from Jamaladine Abd Japarov this tourlong battle he’s been going one-on-one with Jala Bear to get that green sprinters jersey back up front it’s Bueno Orura and Shiandry 7 and 1/2 minutes ahead of the field aron Jalabar fantastic story two crashes in two years here he is trying to lead the field this is Lalabar on the attack now but Max Yandri the important man for the British viewers today is out in front still with the Colombian rider Hernand Buora well the other teams in this tour to France extremely attentive of Lauren Alabar that was Columbbo Gabrielle Columbo of the Gaywith squad that decided he would put the gas on a little bit and bring Jalabar back but a cheeky move by Zalabar so he’s gone back in the field as Jose Gonzalez Alietta sets the pace again for Miguel Injurain the time gaps are still quite big the time gaps over the top of the Kelon it was 2 minutes 10 seconds to Ralph Aldag he went over third ahead of in a sprint finish ahead of Adrias Taffy and Ellink then over in sixth was Armon Das Quas 3 minutes and 50 seconds down and then there was a wait of 3 minutes before Rishar Varank in a bunch of 27 riders took the place for seventh over the top of the climb well the two riders at the front now will be on the descent and it is a very difficult and technical descent but you can see in fact the fact that the main field at the front of the led by the Vanessa riders have turned off the speed a little bit there’s a group starting to come back here led by the Colombian rider Alvaro Mahir who before wasn’t in that group of 27 riders and it may well be that somebody like Jamaline Abdu will get a chance to come back here and fight it out with Lauren Alabar in the finish well it’s a very interesting sprint finish in Setien as you come down this sharp hill and turn right into the home straight and then a couple of little dog legs before you finish it’s always been controversial over the years gone by but uh always given us a good spin but it will only be a sprint for the minor placings i’m sure of that now max Yandri and Bueno are going to get away and stay away today they’ve done a marvelous job at that that’s one big advantage of the descent down into Santa Chen it’s almost impossible to close the gap even with a 30-cond gap we’ve got a great chance to get up there in fact there number 161 is Jamaline Abdu he’s managed to come back into the field with that group that chased the lead group of 27 riders so we could have a good sprint at the finish for seventh place and there he goes immediately you’re back in the field you reposition yourself near the front because you don’t want to get caught napping again and so he’s gone right up the inside he’ll be seeking the green jersey of Lalabar the idea being that he wants to let Lalabar know now that he’s back in the field well a great ride by the man from Tash Kent there superb the fact that he could just keep suffering so much because he’s not a very good climber and this is a tough climb but to pull himself back into the race like that really shows that he’s determined to try and take this green jersey to Paris himself and the riders are taking on their final drinks of water for the day because we’re now entering the zone where taking drinks from the following cars is forbidden over the last 20 kilometers of the race phil that last 20k will be some of the most dangerous mileage of the 95 tour well the next big mountains won’t be seen until Saturday when we climb into the Pyre so tomorrow stage 12 another transition day we’ll have it for you late tomorrow night at 1:00 a.m eastern on ESPN 11:00 p.m on ESPN 2 the tour to France continues [Music] just as he has for the entire tour Gerard Ruer Indra’s right hand is escorting his man to the front of the field paul’s watching this closely gerald Louuie at the front there the the bruton the best left tenant I think that Miguel Indrain has got whenever the speed requires he moves to the front and sets the pace of Inenti Apio as the rider loading up he’s having a marvelous first to France this is another man who had a superb day the other day bruno Keni was the man who went back and waited fori Bazine and he in fact then rode back up to the lead group i thought he would have done a good ride today Paul after that ride but I think uh he’s been a captive of the main field definitely but there are two more days over the flat stage before we hit the Pyrenees when he too will have his chance although he does have the responsibility of having the third man in the overall standings in his team that’s Peris and also Ivan Goti who’s riding excellently and may well be a surprise when we go to those Pyreneer mountains and goti today looking for a single second to elevate him into the top four of the tour to France timings by the way as always the big pelaton they come in together with no gap of 1 second between any two riders are all given the same time and that’s how all of the bunches are timed but if there’s a gap of a second between the back wheel of the rider in front of the other one then they are given a separate time and that gap is not necessarily a single second either because the time is taken on the first man in the main field that stops the clock so it can be as much as 10 seconds even though the gap is only a second between the two confirmation again that Panestto have shut down the chase 7 minutes and 23 seconds is the time gap at the moment behind the two leaders Maximleian Chiandri and Hernen Benora there on the descent down into Sant Chen and it is a very difficult sprint here as well because it climbs up from the final corner there for about five or six hundred meters and in the past it was always regarded as a great stage to win because it used to be the capital of the French cycle industry paul the performance of these athletes on the machinery and how far has come since then is really quite something now the Michelin race summary brings us up to date as we head downhill 143 riders started today’s stage 11 the race exploded right from the gun and it was Arman Deas Quas who really pulled the trigger prior to the climb up the third of four mountains and eight-man breakaway led by 9 minutes now with the leaders over the final climb the sprinter Max Shiandry is being paced by the great Colombian climber Ernan Buena Hora right now we’re focused on the front of the main field team Banesto’s biggest adversary is going to be team once as the tour progresses now let’s get back out on the course with Phil Ligit just a nice steady tempo today by Benesto routine day for this team as they roll now towards Setien and there’s a nice souvenir of Gerard Ruer for one of the spectators there and Bernesto racing cap beatsburg on the left of our picture for Carrera and Gonzalez Alietta is the rider on the right zilla has stayed glued to the back wheel of injur all day today not tried to attack him not a lot of points he knows if he tried to attack him today he would be chased immediately and they’re all limiting their losses today has been a little bit of a rest day I think for the challenges to Miguel Indire they raced extremely hard over the last two days in the Alps and they will be thinking now of the future for when they get down into the Pyrenees so they will try and conserve as much energy as possible the one team that can’t conserve any energy at all is the Benesto squad because they have to make sure that they control any attacks like that attack there by Lawrence Alab [Applause] and the riders now the main field here on this little climb up towards the the summit of the shower and there is the banner it’s not a major climb by any standards and that’s why nobody has really pushed their chance here Japro who got back into the field is still tucked in there and still we see a lot of pink jerseys of once so they’ve kept a good team up here today now we’re back with the leaders this is Bueno Hera on the way down now the descent takes a little while and it doesn’t drop too steeply at first and now the riders are able to share the pace here and work together and that’s the sort of gap that means they will not be seeing Miguel and Jurine for a change today until after the finishing line phil with exactly 6.2 miles to go to the finish buena Orura and Shandri are picking up speed now going through these hairpin turns to the finish the two riders picking up speed on the descent into Sanen chiandry and Buena Orura the finish ahead here’s Paul with the call chandry extremely confident now he’s riding at the front all the time but I think he’s a little bit worried about the fact that he’s setting all the pacemaking at the moment and in fact making a sign with his hand there to the Colombian rider behind i think that was just to indicate that we’re coming up to a dangerous corner but soon you’ll have to come and try and do some work at the front all the time the Colombian rider is just holding back five or 10 lengths off Shandre’s wheel and Max I would suspect is noting that too he has a 10 length lead he comes off the bend at the bottom of the hill he might even tried to go for it going around the corner here where Ronan Pensac crashed a few years ago and our motorcycle cameraman rode absolutely spectacularly not to hit him and still kept his camera rolling so we all could see the pictures you see today Chandry most definitely have been going for it with the choice of wheels that he has there he’s using some extremely aerodynamic rims which riders will sometimes put on on a day when they want to put in a special performance cuz the disadvantage to these kind of wind wheels is in fact they’re extremely uncomfortable [Music] 5 km to go and now Buenoh has decided to come through and help out Shandri so the road has stopped plunging quite so steeply shenry looks very calm and collected there and I hope that was cold water just to waken him up a little bit to make sure he has all his reflexes before we come up here to the final few meters because he’s going to need them when he needs to explode and get every last little bit out of his body he’s a superb sprinter but he mustn’t make any mistakes at all i know that Max is looking and feeling very confident here he looks very very good and he’s actually saying something there to Buenoh i think he was asking about a drink and he was that is a strange move so close to the finish and it may well be that Chandry is a little bit worried a little bit nervous it may well also been just to check and see what the reflexes were like of the Colombian rider and Shandri there disposes of that bottle well that was nice of him and so little Colombia now has got no drink but anyway there’s only 4 kilometers to go it doesn’t matter anymore now the riders have been strange allies throughout the day today they’re in a group of eight don’t forget and then on the big climb it was the Colombian rider who spread eagle everybody except Shandri read the move jumped him and went with him and they’ve been together ever since phil what a great fight going on for first place here in stage 11 another great fight going on back home in the United States Sunday night at 7:56 p.m eastern time live when the first place Rangers in the AL West go after the first place Red Sox in the AL East espn Sunday Night Baseball close to 8:00 close to the finish of stage 11 when we return [Music] and it satisfied whatever it is do it satisfied and it satisfied whatever it is do it [Music] we’re back with just under two miles to go to the finish bueno Hora right on the wheel of Max Shiandre as we head into the city of San Etien in the finish now Bueno Hora has got the advantage at the back here and the gap is coming down but it’s coming down ever so slowly that it isn’t going to matter at all 3 km to go i think Shandri very soon as we go through the chicanees now into the town the last bend is a sharp righthander with adverse camber and then it is about four or 500 m up to the line and Shandi may want to try and maneuver the Colombian into that corner first he may well try and force him to the front because he would like to keep an eye on the Colombian and know exactly when he’s going to start his sprint from but Chandry is strong enough to lead out the sprint and he can control it even from the front i think he has an advantage in a sprint like this well on Sunday we go up to Guz of course and uh that was the hunting ground of Robert Miller 11 years ago where he won there and that’s the last time a British rider won a road racing stage of the Tour to France back in 1984 now I hope I haven’t built Maxandry up too much here but normally his finish is a good one in small groups he is a fast finisher he’s taken out a British racing license this year because he wants to ride the World Championships which ironically today are in Colombia and he has a Colombian with him and because the Italian Cycling Federation have never named him on the World Championship team so he’s got a British passport he’s entitled to a British license and let’s not forget that to the Olympic Games next year which is something else he would like to go forward to and I feel that Shandri should have taken this decision a lot earlier now is the time when it gets very nervous shandri stretching his legs a little bit there looking over at the Colombian and it won’t be long before he tries to force him to the front and this looks like the streamlined figure of Yatlav Yakimov who’s trying to make a late rush away from the main field on the descent but there’s still a number of riders in front there are in fact five men in front today we think Arand Deas is also in front but we haven’t seen anything of him for some time now is the time when it gets nervous now is the time when you wonder how you’re going to place the sprint and Shandry will have thought about this for the last four or 5 kilometers he knows the finish here he knows exactly what he has to do and he may well have run through two or three scenarios in his mind of how he’s going to try and win this sprint but if he makes a mistake three or 400 meters from the line by choosing the wrong gear or starting to sprint too soon he could throw away what should be for him an easy victory surprisingly Max has taken up the pacemaking again as we’re heading down to the right hand turn which will take us into the home straight there’s the kilometer flag now the shivers will be going down the backs of both of them I would imagine they’re so close to a stage victory in the Tour of France either one of them and it’s a question of who produces the best finish now nine times out of 10 Maxandri would for Great Britain but indeed who knows how inspired this Colombian rider will be in the sprint after all he’s won every climb today and I’m sure he’ll be given the most aggressive riders award of the day now Shandri doesn’t want to start too soon it’s a long long way it’s slightly uphill the road isn’t dead straight he’s in fact got himself in a bad position here now because he’s going to give the Colombian a first shot at gold not a bad move though for Shan because he is a very strong rider he knows he’s got the fastest sprint he’s going to try and lead out and wait till he starts his sprint till just the last moment and that will be the possibility for him to accelerate as soon as the Colombian comes up alongside him he’s holding on the left of the road making the Colombian come on his right shoulder he is tempting him he’s asking him virtually to come round him and start the sprint because a sprinter loves to be led to the line and Max I think has put himself in a bad position here but he may feel he’s got the strength to finish off a climber anyway because climbers aren’t usually good sprinters and now Max is going to have to go from the front so he’s have to going to be very very special indeed he’s moving across the road now the Columbia know you can see him he hasn’t got the strength to get onto the wheel he’s going to have a little dig at Max but it’ll be nothing like enough and Max Gandry for Great Britain gets the stage chandry wins the stage today for Great Britain the Italian-based rider is home and gets the victory and the main field on the way down but there are still riders in front as well phil in that main field lauron Jalivera and Jamaladine Abd Japrov continuing that tourlong fight for the green sprinters jersey more bonus points on the line at the finish line in a moment this sprint in the streets of San Etienne is for third fourth and fifth place that’s Ralph Aldog coming across just ahead of Andrea Tappy then Eric Brokink now Deas Quavas is coming up the street and here’s the arrival of Arman Deas 5 minutes and counting since the arrival of the stage winner today Max Yandri delas happy enough with sixth place he started most of the action but he couldn’t keep it up in the end and now as you can see more than 5 minutes since Chandry finished as the race now starts the line abdu Jaffroof has tried to get onto the wheel as Jalabar he’s tucked in nicely at the moment now he dives onto the wheel and kicks off Biana Ryster but now you can see Jalabar and Jalabar is going to be Oh and that’s got to photo Jalabar and Jimaladin Abdul Jaffro hit the line almost in unison just on 6 minutes down first to come across the line Phil in stage 11 Maximillian Shiandre i’ll bet he feels like a million now this is the first time he’s ever won a stage of the tour to France miguel indrain side by side with Tony Roinger 21st and 22nd lance Armstrong 59th in today’s stage well so far some of the greatest action in the 95 tour isn’t always coming from the stage winners it’s coming from Jamaladin Abd Japarov and Lauron Jalabar for the green jersey and just look at this for a battle of the two sprinters of this race at this point it looked as though Lawren had the stage one then Jalabar took a desperate dive for the back wheel knocking off his wheel in fact there was Banner Ree as Abdu Japarov got the back wheel of Jalabar then he started to kick again and just look at the speed of this man from Usbekistan coming up very very rapidly and the line comes at just about the same time as they both hit it phil let’s put our fans right on the finish line give the green jersey to Lan Alive how does Abdu feel he wore that jersey all of 94 maximillian Shandri how do you feel today tell me about the show kind of i’m very happy you know because uh I needed it you know i never won a stage in the tour today was a really hard stage you know and I really looked for the win you know so I’m really happy big Mig on the big screen he continues to lead the 1995 tour to France overall the other big men we mentioned before the race started their positions overall don’t change alex Zula in second Bjani Ree is third lance Armstrong in 46th position overall the other American Frankie Andreo is 104th so the leader of the 1995 Tour to France remains Miguel Indrain the world’s greatest cycling event has now traveled 1,211 miles with 1,048 still left to go be sure to join us for stage 12 when the tour begins in San Etienne and ends in Menda coverage begins on ESPN late Friday night at 1:00 a.m eastern 11:00 p.m on ESPN 2 for Phil Liot and Paul Sherwin and our entire ESPN tour to France team I’m Adrien Carsten see you tomorrow [Music] espn’s coverage of the 1995 Tour to France has been presented by Michelin because so much is riding on your tires and by Pep Boys for quality parts accessories and service come to Pep Boys America’s automotive super center over 3 weeks and 2500 miles anything is possible just because a rider crashes again doesn’t mean he can’t get up and win again and again and again [Music] today all of France celebrates the storming of the Bastile and their fight for independence and here at the start line in San Etienne the riders may be planning a bit of a revolution of their own hello everyone I’m Adrienne Karsten along with Phil Liot welcoming you to ESPN’s exclusive coverage of the 1995 Tour to France presented by Michelin you know Phil almost every summer since 1903 this modern-day war called the Tru to France has been raging across this country in almost every summer within this major war there are a lot of little battles now granted the ultimate spoils of this war are the yellow jersey but this combat for green has become handtoand i tell you Adrian this year I think we’re seeing one of the finest competitions here for the green jersey jimalin Abdu Japarov the leader of Noville wants to win it for a fourth time lauren Jalaba wants to win it for a second time but you know the Noville team which Abdu Japarov is a member of that’s all they have to race for they never did have a contender for the overall yellow jersey of this race now Jalab’s on team of course they’ve got Alex Zula up there in second place and Jalabar himself a real contender for a top three finish in Paris but he still wants that green jersey he wants to prove he’s a great sprint finisher my goodness me yesterday 1 cm in it between the two here in I think you know this competition will go right down to the line in Paris phil I agree with you and I also think that these are some of the toughest days of the tour just because we’re in between the Alps and the Pyrenees does not mean that the tour to France slows down there’s no easy stage of the tour to France these are difficult days for Miguel Injur he knows there’s always the chance of a silly escape succeeding of course today especially the French will look for a possible victory and there are some good young French riders in this race there’s never an easy day in the tour so the tour is in transition it all started yesterday as we came out of the French Alps after climbing La Due you’d guess that the riders would get a break guess again in 90 degree conditions an early breakaway of eight riders hoping to jump on Indrain’s lead built up a lead of their own over nine minutes but on the third mountain climb the breakaway was blown apart the Colombian climber Erdan Buena Ora and Max Shiandry took off no cause for panic in the Pelaton though no real contenders were out in front of the field the guys kept a union pace a good time for Lance Armstrong to attack and make a difference in the transition stage well we’ll never know at almost 60 mph Bueno Ora and Shiandri took the plunge into San Etienne with no way for the field to catch them bueno Hora had the lead then Shiandry that’s the way it went for 15 miles and now Max is going to have to go from the front so he’s going to be very very special indeed he’s moving across the road now the Columbia know you can see him he hasn’t got the strength to get onto the wheel he’s going to have a little dig at Max but it’ll be nothing like enough and Max Yiandry for Great Britain gets the stage five minutes later the field plowed into town led by two who refuse to lose abdu Jaffroof was trying to get onto the wheel of Jalabar he’s tucked in nicely at the moment now he dives onto the wheel and kicks off for Biana Ryster but now you can see Jalabar and Jalabar he’s got to be Oh and that’s got to the photo jalabar and Jamaline Abdu Jaffrov hits the line almost in unison jalabar by inches after 120 mi he got the green jersey abd Japarov shot ready to reload for today because of this battle a lot of fans here right now feel the green means almost as much as the yellow but everything’s big about Bing but maybe one thing’s not big enough like his lead 227 over Alex Zulu who has hung with him for the last four days reese Roinger Jalabar all in the top six still believe he can be beaten lance Armstrong 46th frankie Andreo over halfway back in the field once teammates Lon Jalabar and Alex Zula side by side getting something before breakfast and in the overall standings here’s Paul Sherwin one man who would definitely like to try and win today is Lauren Jalabar the current leader of the green jersey competition you know the French haven’t won on Bash Deal Day for six years and then it was Vincent Barau who won on the streets of Marseilles but one thing these squad will have to be aware of is Miguel Indane yesterday give everybody a ticket to leave the pelon if they want to the riders who are over an hour behind will attack because they saw that breakaway succeed yesterday if the ones want to take Zalabar to the top of the mountain in Mond they’re going to have to do all the work to get him there the bicycle and colors of team Motorola surprised that they haven’t done anything within the past couple of days american Lance Armstrong maybe he’ll make a move today jamaladin Abd Japrov won the green jersey in 913 and four but the man who kept it from him in ’92 Loran Jalabar no one’s getting any work done in Denmark these days they’re all watching this man Vani Ree he joins the remaining field of 140 rolling off the start line this morning in San Etienne a sunny Bastile day in France some along the line say that the guys in the motorcycles may be the only ones who can catch and pass Miguel in rain as he goes for his fifth straight tour however these may be dangerous days for Big Mig some say he tends to falter later in this race this is one way to celebrate the best steel get on your bike and race 124 miles there will be two bonus sprints five climbs two of them are killers this is classic Tour of France long course through storybook countryside well the story early in the race was launch in the green jersey overall 9 minutes and 16 seconds back on the leader Miguel Indra at 50 mi in he decided to break away lance Armstrong so far had been biting his time but he got off on the right foot today he placed second in the first mountain climb behind Terry Marie now we’re looking at Luron Jalabar in front Dario Bataro in back those two who broke away earlier are now joined by Jalabar’s once teammate Melor Malerie as Jalabar begins to build his speed heading for the first sprint of the day a lot of action to come you’re going to flip over our show today espn’s coverage of the 1995 Tour to France is presented by Michelin because so much is riding on your tires popping with flavor more flavor than ever and let’s do with flavor bring those right crisp flavors they’re new in the tasting jing right thing to do tangy sour cream and onion now more flavor on the chips less fat and less grease across your lips with flavor to bring those bright crisp flavors once you pop you can’t stop [Music] it’s July 14th in France bastile day the day these countrymen celebrate their independence three men who celebrated their independence early from the field are led by Lauron Jealabar 40 miles into stage 12 the sprinters got a chance to crank it up and Jalabar had the early lead on the field made it pay off here he took first in the sprint dario Bataro was second and Mel Cory his teammate took third now we go to the mountains we passed the first two still three to come the final climb to the finish line of Monte Das is steeper than any part of La Due now remember Paul Sherwin predicted that this course was suited very well for Lon Jalabar and Lance Armstrong 6 miles past the first sprint three more riders joined that original three-man breakaway a Motorola rider was there but it was Andrea Peron not Lance Armstrong now with three miles prior to the second sprint here’s Phil and this is the man who has played a card again today we expected something to happen from Lawrence Jalabar he’s made no secret of the fact he wants to win a stage of the tour of France on Bastile Day but the rider in the green jersey I think has pulled off a tremendous tactic he’s gone clear with two of his teammates this is Meltchure Maui from the once team the rider here or just behind Mary there was Neil Stevens then we have Dario Betario Andrew Peron of the Motorola team and Masimo Puadenzano the former champion of Italy for Bria now that’s the six men who’ve gone clear they’ve been away basically since 50 kilometers covered today they’re now about 70 kilometers from the finish and at last the Pelaton is beginning to set a tempo now at this moment in time the green jersey of Lawrence Jalabur it can be converted to yellow because the race lead on the road is 10 minutes and 36 seconds and at the start of the day Jalabar Paul was just 9 minutes and 16 seconds down what a day for Pastile Day for the French for Lawrence Jalabar we’ve been waiting for a couple of days for the once to do something and I thought they may well wait until we got down to the Pyrenees because that is the area where really Miguel inden is most suspect what they’ve done is they’ve waited until this stage because it is a stage when nobody would have expected the on to do something which is what they’ve actually gone out and done well they’re heading up towards the second sprint of the day hey let me tell you straight away that Jalabar won the first sprint at Shamaliks and now we’re heading up towards the second sprint here at Uru and it’s 50 kilometers still to go to the finish and so this is a marvelous move by Jalabar and it’s again putting the pressure on in Jalab starting the day in sixth place overall approaching the spins here now just inside 500 meters about 400 still to go and Laura Jalabel will be looking for six rather simple points towards that green jersey he’s won the first six today ahead of Varo and Maui and now Neil Stevens moves over and lets him go through baro is trying to stay with him but he won’t attack Jalabar who takes another six points so he now has 12 points today gained in the green jersey competition slowly but surely Paul he is moving away from Jabaladin Abdul Japarov definitely if this breakaway can stay clear as well he really increase his lead in that overall standing in the green jersey today because I don’t really think that the kind of finish up here is going to suit Jamaline Abdu Japrov at all there you just get a chance to see Lawrence Alab looking across to Neil Stevens thank you very much you’ve done exactly what is needed and accelerates up to the line to take maximum points and now it’s back into the routine of helping each other here all for one and one for all the musketeer spirit as they try to keep clear of the field i hesitate because we’re just being told from radio tour that the gap is now 10 minutes and 10 seconds ahead of the pelaton of Miguel Injur it is still a very good gap but this climb Paul we have now seen is indeed a difficult ascent i think it’s a lot more difficult most people would have expected it is a tough climb that climbs for about 5 km and the surprise to me was once you get to the top there’s a 1 km flat before then a long false flat up to the finish line which would definitely suit Lawrence Jalabet it’s a sprint finish for an extremely strong man which is what he is and it’s amazing really that three once riders have been allowed to make the way in this breakaway just to confirm that result by the way I think I said it was Barara who was second it was indeed Pod Denzanna from the Bashilia team who followed Jalabar through there and Neil Stevens just stayed in position to get third place over the line but the breakaway started today just before they started the climb a small third category climb of the coach to Sam Maurice Ango after only 18 kilometers about 11 miles the breakaway had was was thinking of going that the climb was won in fact by Ti Mari with Lance Armstrong looking for a move today in second place and Lordino Cubinho was third but by the time they’d come down that climb the first three riders were on the attack and that was Betaro Jalabur and Melchaw Mari then the little group of three were chasing Stevens Peron and Podens just over a minute back the main field at that point over two minutes back then heard in fact that Neil Stevens was in the chasing three and they waited until Stevens Peron and Poden caught up and then the six men got on with the job in hand and now they have this big lead phil meanwhile team Besto in Drain’s guys are getting beat up trying to chase down Lan for the second day in a row they may not be able to do it on their own stage 12 continues in a moment since Miguel Indrain began dominating the tour’s individual time trial 1991 in yellow he has been invincible now for the third time since last Sunday’s time trial his overall tour lead is in serious jeopardy we’ve said anything is possible and there’s a problem here for the green jersey a front wheel puncture for Lawrence Jalabar well this is always a problem but he’s got plenty of time at least two riders in that breakaway are going to wait for him and a good wheel change as well that won’t be any problem at all for Lawrence Alabar because the two teammates of his in the break there Neil Stevens and Mel Mari will turn off the pressure and wait for him to come back and so will the other three riders there too because they realize they have to keep together if they’re going to try and hold off the main field who are chasing quite difficult and look at that neil Stevens the eternal faithful teammate waits directly for Lawrence Alabet and will pace him up to the rest of the breakaway and what’s the better the next man up the road is Melt Shaw Marry also waiting to continue the train back up to the leaders the gap is coming down though there is now a reaction from the field it’s down to a shade over 9 minutes so any thoughts and I’m sure he didn’t have too many thoughts of a yellow jersey today lonel is now no longer the leader of the tour on the road phil you know we get so used to seeing Miguel indrain in the yellow jersey sometimes the significance of that jersey gets lost but for the 51st day in his pro career Miguel indrain is wearing that jersey so why is this day so special well that matches the mark established by Jacques Ankatil ankatil was one of only three men to win five tours to France ankatil a superb time trialist was the man that Miguel admits was his career role model when Anatil died a few years ago some believe Indra inherited his style two men one jersey and that’s where Miguel gets some of his motivation to become the first man ever to win five straight tours at this moment it also comes from Joseé Miguel Echavari who was one of Ankatil’s teammates and who is now in Drain’s director echavari who discovered Miguel as a teenager is a direct link between the tour’s past and present well at this very moment he’s going to have to take all he’s learned from that legacy past and present and apply it to this race because three once team members are challenging him and this is that breakaway now three once riders a Jalaba Mar and Stevens a Gab’s rider in Vetaro motorola have Peron and Breila have Masimo Podenzana the last time check we got was 9 minutes and 17 seconds it has been up to almost 11 minutes and as you can see we’re now just 40 km or 25 miles from the finish and we are on the last climb of the day before the finishing climb well you know it’s been a very good coup by the on squad today because tactically they played it superbly i don’t think anybody would have expected to them to attack and when they had Melto Mar and Jallabar in front they actually waited when they got the information that Neil Stevens was coming across three riders from the same team in a group of six really is a record for success and when they think that Mari is eighth overall 12 minutes 49 behind injurab is sixth overall 916 back at one stage Jalabar was the yellow jersey on the road but behind Inuain again has showed how cool he is he never launched the attack he has more or less cajol the other teams to go on the chase down because they want to get a stage win and they want to see this breakaway reduced and so again Inane hasn’t panicked when somebody has threatened his overall lead but he has no reason to panic really because Lauren Jalabar I’m sure won’t be able to ride Miguel Indrain in the big mountains if Indrain really needed to put the hammer down and get rid of him even though Jalabar has improved so much but again he really has played the tactical game he’s left it right until the last minute and the other teams panicked and they’ve moved to the front there are three four three or four teams chasing at the moment now you have Gaywiz have moved up there py and the last time I saw even the MG team of Max Chandry were at the front two and long climbs here this is a third category climb here the coach Sharpel it looks to me like Neil Schemes has done his job for the day he’s given an awful lot of his energy to the success of this breakaway and now he can no longer follow the rhythm set by the riders in that group but what a man you have to take your hats off to this Aussie he really gives it everything he’s got well he was called into service not very long ago there’s the gap 9 minutes 7 seconds stevens was the first rider who dropped back when he saw Jalabar puncture his front wheel and Jalabar made a swift return to this breakaway melt your Mari also stopped a little later on and got one back into this leading group look at the crowd here massive crowds in little clumps all over the route today it’s the most beautiful part of France we’re heading down towards the Tom Gorges and now it looks as though Stevens is going to go off there is a chance he will rejoin on the descent as we head down towards Ma but once we’re down there we’ve then got a brute of a climb that brings the riders up to the airfield high above the town and where they race onto a plateau it really is a tough climb and I think it’s going to take one or two riders by surprise although when the Midil Libra was down here in the month of June several riders came down here just to check out the finish and one of those riders was Miguel Indrain because he’d heard that it was a very difficult finish and he wanted to keep all his options covered [Applause] well Jalabar was well into the lead by over a minute but now the gap has come down to just over 9 minutes and he started the day don’t forget 9 minutes 16 seconds behind so he’s up into second place right now and that’s another re but that’s only over Alex Aula his teammate so there’ll be no reaction from An but the Gavis team will be worried about Jalabar taking the third place on the overall classification and that is why the Gavis rider here is sitting at the back and hasn’t helped all day and that behind we understand now gays are trying to start a chase well Phil here’s some more international racing that you might be interested in back in your home of Great Britain it’s the Formula 1 Grand Prix of Britain on Sunday July 16th michael Schumacher won the last race the French Grand Prix and leads the overall standings Sunday on ESPN back 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 and now let’s make that random call with today’s $10,000 question who shot Alexander Hamilton in that famous duel hello hello for $10,000 excuse me let me get some milk oh I’m sorry your time is up got milk there are just under nine miles to go for the leader Lon Jalabar but the main field including Miguel Indra is trying to minimize the damage he’s done what’s happening with their pace Phil well the race is now picking up Neil Stevens here the man did so much work in that breakaway he’s the first to be caught he’s now back in the bunch the gap is a little under five minutes now and we still have five of the original six men out in front but the man who has been doing all of the work Paul is Mel Chaw Mari what a tremendous ride he’s done up there today this really reflects to me the spirit of the once squad though cuz Neil Stevens was in that break initially he gave everything he could then he sat up and waited to be caught by the main field and now Melo Mari who don’t forget himself this morning was eighth overall in the standings decided that he is going to give everything he’s got to get Lauren to the bottom of the climb where Jalabar will then take over and if he can he has to get rid of the three riders who are with him because they haven’t been doing any work at all over the last few kilometers that man wearing Benesto’s number eight Gerard Ruer as a lieutenant he starts every day with a commitment to his captain Miguel Indrain to carry him to victory and here’s the ever faithful Jerard Ruer coming back up to the front now for Injurain yesterday he made the pace for as long as he could before he blew and left in Jerain to really save the day to give you an idea of just how much he tried yesterday on that final climb of Lla which is an 18 km climb 12 mi he lost 26 minutes on his leader Miguel Indere you won’t see Miguel following many men but he knows how passionate Ruer is about his role if Hinderin is to be remembered as one of the best don’t forget Gerard Ruer he is a very very great champion on the bicycle but also in life he’s extraordinary he has a giant heart for all of his teammates [Music] yes I really really like him his individual effort translates to the team gerard Rueer in our Coca-Cola racer profile he’ll be a busy man trying to turn away another team team once one of the biggest challenges to Benesto since 91 and this once team is tremendously well organized it’s one of the most successful teams on the circuit this year and now you can see why because they have every reason to to be argumentative among themselves there are a number of riders who could lead on the team you’ve got Zula here as well but they’re always planning to work as one unit it really is a musketeer spirit because it is really all for one and one for all it doesn’t matter who is the best place rider at the time they all rally round and I think that is the strength of Manalo signs the team manager of that squad who really creates a great atmosphere in the team so Mari now on the steady descent taking us down towards Mond and then it’s straight up the mountain high above the town mao Macho Mari here at the moment just sacrificing himself he will give everything he’s got just to get to the bottom of the climb in Mond and then it will be up to Lawrence Alab to assume the role of leader and the man who is going to try and win today because let’s not forget we said earlier in the morning that in fact Lawrence Jalabar would like to be the first Frenchman to win and as we’re watching the breakaway here the main field have passed under the 20 km to go banner and we understand that Miguel Inerain has launched an attack off the front of the bunch well I’m sure they’ll be after him pretty smartish but it just shows now that he’s anxious to get this gap closed down and of course the gay team are going to help him because they don’t want to see a banner lose that third place overall but it wasn’t the intention of Jalaba today to take the yellow jersey in the tour to France he wanted to attack early because he knew the field were watching him if he tried to make a move near the end I’m sure he wouldn’t have got clear but he made his move very early on and they weren’t expecting that podenzano is probably the the joker in the pack here who could spoil the French party today well he could do because strangely enough Potenzano only had one victory last year and that was in fact the Italian National Championships the year before he had two victories and one of those was the Italian championship sorry he is a rider who can create a superb performance on one day and for the last 10 or 15 km he’d been sitting at the back of the pack not doing any work at all 10 kilometers to go for the breakaways now just 6 miles now normally they’d be home and dry in about 13 or 14 minutes but unfortunately for them they have to climb up the mountain to the finish there’s the latest check in fact it’s still good for 7 minutes 38 seconds now they’re holding their advantage here at the moment they won’t pull down the gap at all as they come down the descent into M and if this dap does tumble it’s going to be on the final climb up to the finish line here outside the aerad drrome and you know Meltto Maui is doing a superb job at the moment he’s giving every last little bit of energy he can to make sure that they don’t lose any time paul a reminder that tomorrow the tour starts where today we finish in Menda stage 13 rolls over 150 m to the foot of the Pyrenees six more mountains tomorrow just one more today but another explosive day guaranteed you’ll see it early Sunday morning at 3:30 Eastern on ESPN we’re back to go up one more mountain in today’s stage in just a moment [Music] as you watch Leon Jalabar consider his comeback in the last 12 months two crashes he’s worn the yellow jersey and here he is getting stronger and faster as the tour gets longer [Music] just looking at Lauren Jalabar for the last few days it really amazes me the ease of his pedaling strokes he really has gained an awful lot of power over the last 12 months that it may well be that that crash gave him a forced rest and he came back a lot stronger and as far as we know in Jerange’s little move which came a few kilometers back and has been swept up by that lead group of some 40 riders and so they’re all together again the py team by the way is one of only two teams are left with a full compliment still in this race of nine riders the other one dare I say it is the Benesto squad of Miguel Injurane all of the other teams have now lost men in the case Lotto of course they’ve only got two men left that is total devastation I think for the Lotto squad and it hasn’t gone down very well with the Belgian press because Belgian cycling a couple of years ago was regarded as the tops and now they’re having a great deal of difficulty having half a dozen riders finished the tour to France [Music] well it’s fourstar petrol today in the legs of Melure Mari he’s still setting the pace there we can see the climb it gives you no idea of the gradient but believe me it is top and he’s gone well it was a bad time for our cameras to move away because that was the time that Jalaba decided to accelerate and he’s gone and that is the attack we expected it looks to me as though Pod Denzo is the game his rider has gone after him so look at this he sat on the back ever since the break started now he’s chasing Jalabar and he’s having a great deal of difficulty getting to the wheel of Lauren Jalabar but the other riders have just been blown away by the attack of Lauren Jalabar he knew this was his climb and I feel fairly sure that he’s been to check it out beforehand cuz he too rode the mid leave as did Miguel Indane he has chance now to look over his shoulder and he sees the Bararo cannot get into contention he can’t close the gap on flying Lauren Alabar and you know Baro has sat at the back all day and he still hasn’t the legs to reach this man Lauren Alabar baro has only won two races in his whole cycling career and one of those was a stage of the tour of Holland now we’re heading up now towards the 4 km to go point and the time check is just under 8 minutes now to the leader on the road and here he is and you know Paul he is only 2 minutes off the yellow jersey as well so he could be in second place tonight he could well be the time that he needs is 6 minutes and 49 seconds to move ahead of his own teammate Alex Zuller but you know he’s not worried about that i think what he’s worried about is moving up into third place and also winning on the 14th of July Bastile Day he said this was the stage that he wanted and he must have known in the back of his mind that it suited him down to the ground well Baro is still persisting and we’ve got a third man trying to come up to him but now Jalaba has made the burst we anticipated now he’s going to have to settle in and start picking up just a steady rhythm just checking on the whereabouts of Baro baro made the big effort didn’t have the legs at all didn’t quite get on his wheel and it was a little bit unfortunate that our French cameras were again looking at the sky when the move that mattered happened well Phil you have to wonder how much damage both physically and psychologically these moves of Lauron Jala are doing to Miguel Indrain part of the answer when we return [Music] the French are getting fired up for a Bastile Day celebration as their favorite son Frenchman Laura is in the lead and the French could well be destroying the chances of their own rider here jean Marl Blanc the race director quite clearly wants people out of the way i don’t think anybody should be in there right now zel must have about 2 km to go because I just noticed the 1 kilometer to the summit and the summit there is still another further kilometer before we get up to the finish line but Jel is riding consistently he looks very easy at the moment he looks excellent it doesn’t look to me as if he is suffering but it is an advantage for Putin to see the tail of the cars behind that will encourage him because he knows that is how far in front of him Lauren Jalabar actually is and of course it goes downhill just before we hit the runway and then race on the flat to the finishing line jalabar’s face as we’ve come to know over these two weeks of the tour to France tells you absolutely nothing and here’s our new friend from the mountains Marco Pantani now driving and I would imagine that Marco himself is going to try and break clear on the climb he’s in the town of Ma well that was a superb move Lawrence Jalab lauren Frosa in fact had tried to set the move up for Rishing but this is the new man who I think will be called very soon the eagle of the mountains he really can fly as soon as the road tilts upwards and again Injurain is going to use his immense strength now to shut down the big time gap that Jalabur has gained today as Pantani again kicks and tries to go clear but Alex Zula this time is after him and that’s why Inane is taking an interest in action at the front now he won’t allow Zula any space to move whatsoever look at the face of Inane indrain looks as if he’s suffering quite a lot and the man following him today is Bjan Ree the Danish champion he in fact is giving all kinds of everything to stay in contact the pressure really is on today and I think the riders of the tour to France have decided they will really have a go at this climb a lot of Brashard has gone away and so too is Pantardi but from the other end of this group off the front Marco Pantani just stands on those pedals when the road goes up and there’s nobody can match him not even Miguel Phil I’m going to try and match him with the Michelin race summary 141 riders took the start in San Aten team Odce went on the attack early in the race to form a breakaway french hero Lauron Jala had at one point a 10-minute lead on the Indrain Pelaton and was the yellow jersey on the road the Benestos have closed the gap to save the jersey but Jalabar has now attacked the break and is on his way to a Bastile Day win lauran Jalabar leading the charge up the mountain this is now Laura the big climb for him is over shortly it’ll tip and he’ll start to go down no sign of Pod Denzala we don’t have a camera back there so we don’t really know where he is but he hasn’t come through the cars either so Jalabar now could be coasting to what he will see as his finest victory look at the speed here further down the slopes about 3 km back in fact to Marco Pantani he’s got four kilometers to go and this is dangerous for when we go down to the Pyrenees though because the tour to France is not over for Marco Pantani he’s got two great stages but Miguel Indire has decided he’s going to put the hammer down too and he’s chasing to try and get up to Marco Pantani and it looks very much as if Alex Zula was suffering with one kilometer to go for the leader Lauren Alam it looks as if the French are going to be quite happy well now they can lay to rest van Barau the last Frenchman to win on Bastile Day because now one of the real stars of French cycling Lalaba is about to make amends as the airfield is as far as the eye can see on the plateau there this is Marco Pantani continues his ascent and he knows now he’s being chased by a rider who now knows he could be a danger the yellow jersey of Miguel in trying to keep Pantoni in his sights bja Ree is hanging on again to Miguel as he did on the climb of Aldu he only lost two seconds but now it could be the turn of Alex Zula to feel the pain zula is cracking I think and Ba Ree is hanging on well Indereane is taking every chance that he can to put time between himself and his other rivals bian Reese just looks over his shoulder a little bit to see what the situation is with Alex Zula but today Indire is using Pantani as a as a hair in the front of him he’s chasing him down but further up the mountain this is the man who’s done the ride of the day 1 kilometer to go for Lauren Jalabar and now he’s on to the home straight it’s a long way it’s 850 m along the home straight the runway here on the top of a plateau above the town of Mond further down the slope we got Pantani now we’re going to see this man break his poker face and it’ll be one of the smiles but while he’s going to take a superb victory at the front it’s danger for Alex Zula at the back because in fact he has been dropped by Miguel Injur and Barice so it may well be tonight that Lawrence Alabar jumps over his teammate into second place well time will tell of course but right now what this man is thinking about is the two armed victory salute a Frenchman winning on Bastile Day and winning in the green jersey of leader of this race as the most consistent daily finisher and you can’t be more consistent than this he’s going to win the stage on July the 14th he like all good professionals he makes sure nobody’s there least of all Pod Densana and now it’ll be a moment of glory for Lawrence Jalabar this has been a magical tour to France for him he’s had the yellow he’s got the green and now he’s got the stage win up goes the zip now he’s going to make it look as though he hasn’t tried all day what a great race it’s been for him because he’s been in the lead for most of the day today he’s enjoying this now who cares about a few seconds because this will be remembered forever lawrence Ala crosses the line and salutes the crowd as in the distance you can see the sort of distance he has put between himself and the former champion of Italy Masimo Pod Denzala even for him though this is a great result pod Denzala getting his best ever finished as well on the stage of the tour to France [Applause] so Penzala comes home in second place 26 seconds the time gap and then Dario Baro he will be very pleased with this ride too another great finish for him and his best place he comes in now just over 38 40 seconds down but the real hero of this stage who will be well thanked tonight by Lawren Alabur is Melchaw Mari he made such an effort throughout the stage and still took fourth place that man today was Superman andrea Peron will take fifth place for Motorola so they get a high finish at last not quite as high as they wanted but they still got a result today as they come along the main runway here on this little mountaintop plateau that breakaway completely exploded on the climb but look at the time gaps too this time lost in the last 5 kilometers of the day andrea Perau finishing in fifth place around about a minute and 25 seconds behind phil that’s the highest finish of any Motorola rider so far in the 95 tour now the question remains how much time will Lonab have taken out of Indra marco Pontani making it look easy we’ll be right back well Lon Jalabar just doesn’t seem to get it lon you’re not supposed to get stronger and faster as the tour goes on you kick back indrain kicks in miguel Injur with his shadow now of Bja Ree has got back to the back wheel of Marco Pantoni an indication to us that he is really worried now about the ability of the Italian climber but bear in mind that this kind of climb does suit Miguel Indin a little bit more because it’s the kind of climb where you can use your power where you can force the big gear over and Marco Pantani looks for the races where it’s a little bit more of a steeper incline at the moment though indrain still hasn’t got into contention he still hasn’t caught Marco Pantani but he is doing an excellent job because behind Alex Zula has been dropped so Zula is the man that’s losing just a few seconds at the moment he cracked on the climb because of the pure speed of the move by Injurain in pursuit of Marco Pantani again we’re seeing a demonstration defiance from Bjar Ree this rider though Marco Pantani clearly riding himself into form now he has all his old confidence back after his win at Aldz and I have to tell you after that win in the Aldis he said “Don’t worry about the tour to France it’s far from over i may well be 12 minutes behind but I’ll still be on the podium in Paris.” And he may well be because he’s doing an awful lot of damage to the men higher up the standings than he is and just look how much work Indu is putting in here and he can’t close these last few meters to the back wheel of Pantani that gives you some indication of the power of this man on the Clive powerful weight ratio pantani is a lightweight to migraine with injur today Paul he’s dragging the extra weight up and what a good job he’s doing he’s doing an excellent job you know you must bear in mind that this man has to carry more than 50 lbs up the mountain compared to Marco Pantani marco Pantani weighs 56 kilos miguel Indrain 80 kilos so it really is difficult for Indane when it comes to the climbs but he’s managing to do it there are 2 km to go and he soon will be on the back wheel of Marco Pantani but he really has had to dig deep to pull him back today well unfortunately for Marco we’re now over the top of the hill and the favor and the pendulum will swing back in favor of Miguel Injurain he’s gone back to the front now now Bjanna Ree is a very good sprinter we saw him dicing yesterday with Jimaladin Abdu Japarov but then Abdu gave him a little right hook and that was the end of the sprint for Bjnar Ree but now Ree might do well here to take the spin over Miguel Injurain but now the clock on the finish line here says four minutes so that means that this evening Lauren Jalabar is going to move into third place in the overall standings ahead of Bjar so what a move today by the but it still depends on what happens to Alex Zula because he’s having all kinds of difficulty on the climb we haven’t seen ahead of Alex Zula now we have the race on the on the runway here for sixth place miguel Injurain has swept up Marco Pantani inside 1 and a half kilometers from the finish and now Big Mig is going to take on Banna Ree in the sprint i don’t think we can include Marco Pantani in the sprint but I think for sure that in fact Bjna Ree will try to beat Miguel Injurain and yet they’re working to the line to save seconds in both cases there was a little sign from Miguel Indrain there just to say come on let’s work together because we can put time between myself and Alex Zula and in fact I was very surprised to see that Biano Ree came forward and gave Indrain a little turn because so far in this tour to France everybody has been sitting in his wheel and that’s the first time somebody’s come to their front to help him but look at the face of Miguel in he’s he’s really surprised but he’s now taking time away from Alex Zula and he doesn’t care what he finishes as long as he gets that time over Zula the man is putting all of the effort into these pedals now and because of that Bjnar Ree I think is going to take the spin away from him reese goes now pantari has the cheek to go over in as well he chases Ba Ree this will be the spin for sixth place the clock is counting on the left of our screen there this has been big time gains by Jalab today and look at this pantoni deserves this he gets seventh on the line by Reese followed over and then comes in 5 minutes 40 the gap and Alex Aoula is coming in the clock was at 540 for injury range group it’s going to be a small gain indeed azoula is in at 558 phil Bett will drop Zula back overall marco Pontani however gain time today now this little man could give Big Mig some trouble as we head for the Pyrenees in the next couple of days the field is yet to finish well the Pelaton rolling across the finish line in the city of Manda long way behind Lon Jalabar who has won the most symbolic stage for the French in cycling this is Lauron Jealabar’s father a proud father two generations of athletes on Bastile Day to see his son standing on the podium as the stage winner in the green jersey for the third straight day as we mentioned great day bestile day an impressive average speed of 26 mph over 140 mi he took 5 minutes and 41 seconds off of Indrain marco Pantani in sixth position he’ll figure impressively over the next couple of days lance Armstrong 39th today one of his teammates Andrea Peron proved that Motorola is not ready to throw in the towel just yet to this man Miguel Indrain still the subject and focus of a lot of people gi Reese how long can he hold on has had an impressive week marco Pontani like a ride in the park breathe or something abd Japarov lost points in one of those battles among the big war lauron Jalabar in green overall Miguel and Drain still leads the tour by about 2 minutes and 40 seconds over Alex Zula jalabar hanging right in there about 3 and 1/2 minutes back lance Armstrong in 43rd position frankie Andreo in 107th on best steel day Frenchman Lauron Jalabar really rang the bell today but the leader of the 1995 tour to France is still Miguel Indrain the world’s greatest cycling event has now traveled 1,349 miles with 910 still to go be sure to join us for stage 13 when the tour begins in Menda and ends in Revel coverage begins on ESPN early Sunday morning at 3:30 a.m eastern 11:00 p.m saturday night on ESPN 2 for our entire tour to France team I’m Adrien Karsten we’ll see you tomorrow [Music] espn’s coverage of the 19 when you’re the big kid on the block everyone wants to be like you then after a time some new kid comes to town hears about the big kid’s reputation and wants to take him on word gets around and suddenly there’s a lot of new kids on the block i can ride my bike faster than you oh yeah yeah [Music] it’s a day to celebrate in the south of France as the tour comes through this corner of the country for the first time with a hometown hero leading the way hello everyone with Phil Liots i’m Adrien Karsten welcoming you to ESPN’s exclusive coverage of the 1995 Tour to France presented by Michelin frenchman Luron Jalabar represents the greatest comeback story in this sport since the days of American Greg Lamond i mean Phil a year ago he literally could have been killed in one of the worst crashes in the history of this sport a year to the day later while wearing the yellow jersey he crashes again and now he’s on a stage on Bastile Day in front of his father i mean this is storybook stuff it certainly is but you know fate often works in strange ways especially in the tour to France i believe in fact if he hadn’t been forced to lay off the bike for a long period of time last year then he wouldn’t be the strong man he is this season lala was forced to rest he’s come back much more determined and he’s having his best season ever and what a fairy tale it is yeah he and his team once are really doing the best they can to make this a street fight for first for the last 5 years that’s been turf how dare once come into the neighborhood where the yellow jersey is worn but these team is a musketeer team they’re all for one and one for all they don’t care who leads on the team so they attack in with every chance okay injury at the moment is leading the tour but by the smallest margin ever at this stage of a tour to France since 1991 i believe if these boys sent a in his armor they’ll go for him it’s been a long time since Miguel indrain and Benesto let a man build up a lead like Jala Bear had yesterday these days on the tour are some of the toughest you got to make your hay while the sun shines stage 12 was another one that favored Lance Armstrong on a breakaway he went for broke on the first steep climb took second in the bonus then fell back 15 mi into the race Lauron Jalabar and Dario Bataro began a breakaway that would last all day benesto doing their best to protect Indrain found themselves chasing down team once they also found they couldn’t do it alone approaching the summit of Kot de Sharpal Jalabar and teammate Melor Malry were at the front of what had become a fiveman lead group a Motorola rider Andrea Peron not Lance Armstrong was one of the leaders over the mountain but then in Drain setting the pace for the Pelaton decided it was time to try and reclaim his turf or at least some of it jalabar sense Miguel’s move and really kicked it up the final climb mataro tried to hang on and that is the attack we expected it looks to me as though Pogen on the game’s rider has gone after him so look at this he sat on the back ever since the break started now he’s chasing Jalabar he’s having a great deal of difficulty getting to the wheel of Lauren Jalabar but the other riders have just been blown away by the attack of Lauren Jalabar he knew this was his climb and I feel fairly sure that he’s been to check it out beforehand cuz he too rode the mid as did Miguel Indurane he has chance now to look over his shoulder and he sees the Potaro cannot get into contention and he can’t close the gap on the flying glor 5 and a half minutes later Marco Pantani looking fresh from his conqueror of LaZ gave us a preview of the Pyrenees followed by Zula and Indrain they came up the mountain jalabar became a hero and now it’ll be a moment of glory for Lauren Jalabar this has been a magical tour to France for him he’s had the yellow he’s got the green and now he’s got the stage up goes the zip now he’s going to make it look as though he hasn’t tried all day what a great race it’s been for him because he’s been in the lead for most of the day today he’s enjoying this now who cares about a few seconds because this will be remembered forever lauren Alabar crossing the line and salutes the crowd 540 behind Jalabar pontani in Drain and a charging Reese finished the 140 miles this is a moment this man will never forget the emotion of a Frenchman finishing first in front of his family overall Jalabar with that huge breakaway took more than 5 and a half minutes out of Indra’s lead in the tour behind teammate Alex Zula followed by Dioni Ree the third once in the top five Melor Mali americans Lance Armstrong 43rd Frankie Andreo 107 little boys are still looking up to the big kid on the block but there’s some new kids in town making one American wonder if this race is really over i would have a couple days ago I probably would have thought so but now I mean I think Indran can still has a pretty good grasp on it you know i mean he still has the time trials where he can take a couple more minutes the big mountains I don’t think anybody’s really going to drop him but they’re definitely going to make it difficult on him he’s uh I mean you guys you can see he’s he’s going through his team uh using them all up quickly but that’s that’s the tour everybody’s racing you’ll see today I’m sure from the gun it’s going to be going again one of those going again today is Lance Armstrong hoping maybe he can come up with what one of the Onai boys did yesterday he knows that for the first time in 5 years there’s a team as good or better than Besto here’s Paul that was an absolutely superb move yesterday by the on squad i don’t think it was pre-planned i think Lauren just wanted to win on Bastile Day but look at the damage it did second overall is Alex Zula third overall is Lauren Jalab fifth overall is Melo Mari but really I think they’ll take a back seat today they’ll let the other teams in this tour to France teams like PY who still have nine riders and no victory to take home with them go into the action the boys are going to take a backseat i really believe that because tomorrow they go into the terrain where they believe that Miguel Indrain is vulnerable the Pyrenees paul Melor Maui Inrain’s former teammate may be sharing some old secrets with once but current teammate Thomas Davyy isn’t worried no because uh Miguel is tranquil no problem no problem miguel’s tranquil no problem but Tony Roinger said he saw Indra nervous uneasy for the first time this morning well there are 134 riders left in the Pelaton and they are pointed south today we leave the Lozair region and we go 150 mi from hills and pine trees into the Mediterranean heat this is the final stage before we see the Pyrenees a lot of winding climbs that will wear a lot of these riders down and wear them out before they arrive 150 mi later in the town of Rebell well just as yesterday the Pelaton exploded early four riders broke away at the 24 mile mark in international class as a matter of fact Erin Bueno or the Colombian who had a great day two days ago bruno Changliata Sergey Uchov and look who’s moving up to the front in red white and blue lance Armstrong you may remember he won a stage back in 1993 but Lance has never finished more than 12 stages of the Tour to France over the 150 miles there are two bonus sprints the first one at 42 miles in and coming up the road it looks like Lance Armstrong is serious about his effort today he’ll lead across the finish line changiata second Uchov third this is the first sprint Lance has won this year lance the eyes of Texas your home state are upon you as are the other 49 you just keep your eyes on the finish line okay [Music] ESPN’s coverage of the 1995 Tour to France is presented by Michelin because so much is riding on your tires we are approximately 112 mi into today’s stage 12 and there’s reason to have some high hopes for American Lance Armstrong he continues to make tracks in a breakaway he’s been a part of for the last 88 miles now their lead is over 15 minutes at this point and he started the day barely in the top third of the tour overall so this move could really pay off phil well this is the move I think many Americans have been waiting for a good attack by Lance Armstrong he’s joined the right group today I think because at the moment the lead is up to around about 17 minutes on the field this breakaway going today right out at the start of the stage coming down to Rell and Armstrong always in the action and he was third over the small climb of the Kota Shanak which is at 21 km that’s around 12 1/2 m the breakaway began to establish itself these are the rides we’re looking at now Bruno Keni Alta Hernand Buora Lance Armstrong and Sergey Uchikov and there is the latest gap now 18 minutes and 5 seconds just to complete the story of the day at 67 kilometers at the first sprint of the day at Rivier Sutan armstrong was the winner there ahead of Keni Ala and Uchikov they were then leading by 6 minutes and 30 seconds onto another small climb the Kotto Rojol that was a fourth category hill 87 km into the day about 55 miles king Ala Armstrong Uchov the order over the top they were now up to 10 minutes in front onto the Kota Tur kilometers something like 63 miles covered it was Bueno Uchikov Armstrong and Kangi then and we’ve just gone over the top of the culdeacier 148 kilometers into the today’s stage that’s about 75 80 miles keni Alta was the leader there armstrong right behind him uchov Wenohora the bunch with 1720 and we’re now heading onto the climb of the coair into the 100 kilome 180 km point and Paul the breakaway is now up to 18 minutes well it’s not too surprising because none of these men are threatened the overall standings to Miguel Indrain but I have to say I’m not too surprised either by the move by Armstrong you know a couple of years ago when he won his first stage in the tour to France it was the day after his teammates Max Yandry had almost won a stage in fact he’d been in a long breakaway and missed out and exactly the same thing happened yesterday andrea Piron was in that break of six riders and towards the end he ended up finishing fifth out of six and Armstrong reacts to that kind of thing well it’s good to see now Lance feeling a little bit better and here is another rider abandoned today this is Simony who’s gone out he was in a breakaway the other day and there’s some bad news for British viewers as well because Sha Yates is abandoned he’s a Motorola rider of course he has stopped today we don’t yet know why but he abandoned he was the first one to go today he was quickly followed by Pavl Tonkov the fine Russian rider and winner of the tour of Switzerland and then Terry Luron went and now we’ve seen Simony has gone so there’s four more riders out today on the route the tour to France and so the pressure and I think largely the heat down here Paul is now picking out the weaker ones it really is a tough stage today you know the temperatures climbing up to around about 35° C but around here in these areas it really appears in I remember racing here in races like the Mid Leave and it doesn’t seem to me as if there’s an awful lot of oxygen and when the temperature gets up it is very very difficult country to race in now you mentioned the midy lead there Paul that in fact is a ri a a ri a preparation race for the tour to France it’s not quite as hard as a tour it’s a shorter race in days but they go over some of the big climbs aren’t they they do it’s a very tough race it’s only about six days long but you know the man that we’re looking at now in the yellow jersey in fact used it this year as his preparation for the tour to France and on the way he actually won it and until this year of course Miguel and Jane has always used the Tour of Italy which is a similar distance to the Tour to France but until this year was never seen as as hard as the Tour to France and I suppose now they’re taking part this year in the tour it’s not as hard but indeed it is a hard race and Inane deciding it was too tough a preparation for the Tour to France this year and he did choose the smaller races the Midi Lee and the Dolphin Liber there are two races in the center of France and if you ride well in those it usually confirms your selection for the teams in the tour another interesting point in why Miguel Indren actually changed to ride those two races but in fact the Tour of Italy was a week earlier so the gap between the Tour of Italy and the Tour to France was regarded as being too much and he chose the two French races because they were exactly the same distance in time away from the Tour to France as his preparation had been before so the brave men who have prepared to go out today and sweat under the hot sun have now got themselves a lead approaching 18 minutes and 30 seconds bruno Keni Alta is the rider in the lead as if you’ve been following the tour to France with us here on ESPN you will remember that it was Bruno Ki who dropped back to try and drag Evini Berine back into the group in the mountains of the Alps and when he was he was too tired Keni Ala sprinted back into the group and finished well he’s coming through a good tour bing of course has abandon them but this uh group is well clear and there’s still quite a way to go quite a way to go Phil but we wonder with the lead that big if they can hold on to it and take it into the finish back with more of stage 12 in just a moment at mile number 112 on the climb to the summit of the Kota Bair Lance Armstrong is 1/4 of this lead group 18 minutes ahead of the Pelaton armstrong is in a developmental phase of his career he’s only 23 he admits he’s made some mistakes in this tour he’s aware of the pressure there is on him to excel some of it self-imposed 23 years of age seems awfully young for a man to have experienced the burdens of success but as this American cyclist reflects on his professional career 1994 stands apart see last year the world of cycling it knew who Lance Armstrong was i wasn’t the same i was not given a lot of freedom in 94 i was a stronger person i was a better bike rider but I was viewed differently from the other professionals and that was frustrating two years ago success came easily a stage victory in his first tour to France a three- race series win earning a million dollar bonus and a stunning effort in capturing the World Championship in Norway lance Armstrong was making his mark while others were marking him the things I did in 93 the moves that I made to win the races wouldn’t have worked in ‘ 94 and they won’t work now i can’t sneak up on anybody they don’t let me go anywhere whereas in ‘ 93 I had a very long leash in ‘ 94 there was no leash i mean they had the hand inside the collet it was tough i was ready just to do a couple more years and and sort of move on to something else but let’s give it up for the home roll on the cycling team recently excitement and energy have replaced any second thought lance’s convincing win in the 1995 tour to Pont has renewed his determination i mean I realize I have the body i have the drive i have the team i have the support i’m good at it i And I can make a great career out of this it’s something that I can do for if I wanted I could do for 10 more years secure in body secure in mind this 23-year-old can now set and strive for new goals including going the distance in cycling’s greatest event i fully expect to finish and I think that the team expects me to finish the sponsor expects me to finish the fans expect me to finish uh not not that it’s completely easy but certainly I don’t think it’s it’s going to be something that’s going to kill me uh maybe not kill you but even Lance admits this event proves grueling at best perhaps more so than any other i just don’t see anything that’s harder than the tour and I’m not trying to to dog any other professional ethics i mean I certainly I don’t want to step in the ring with Mike Tyson or or get hit by Charles Haley but I don’t think they want to do the tour to France either lance Armstrong a young American rider with a lot of potential in our Coca-Cola racer profile the youngest ever American road racing champion the youngest ever world champion right here showing he has to learn how to win potentially his second stage first and maybe someday the tour to France now the descent down the coat de Belair Lance Armstrong still in the lead group has been ever since 24 miles in their lead about 15 minutes bill so they’re now coming up towards the top of the climb and this is the main field over the top of course many minutes ahead we’ve had Keny Altera leading Uchov and Armstrong but the main field are now over the top of the coach devel so they’ve done 180 kilometers and at the now the field are going to have to really get down to things here’s the final time check before we take a break it’s 15 minutes and 2 seconds my goodness me they’ve got some work to do yet [Music] 74 miles into this stage 12 the main field taking advantage of a chance on the flats to close the gap on that fourman lead group that includes Lance Armstrong the gap continues to come down it’s 13 minutes and 50 seconds the last check but you know Paul I don’t think that is any like fast enough we’re heading now towards the 219 km it isn’t at all but the problem is that one or two teams would like to chase they come to the front we’ve seen the telecom team and also the Noville team of Jamal and Abdu have come to the front with three or four riders but the big problem is no teams have got a full complement of riders to be able to chase this group down well the Nobel team have come off the front of this chase group now trying to bridge that gap to the four men out there and largely because Abdu Japarov was in a spot of trouble earlier on i think he just went to the back to get some drinks because all his team were actually up at the front of the race and that’s why Abdu was down at the back but you see now the teams have switched off it’s the Benesto team again at the front and they have no desire to chase if the four riders at the front finish with 20 minutes lead they don’t care at all they’re just going to leave it up to the teams of the sprinters if they want to try and get back into contention but I think they’ve left it too late today well the men who have set the race alike today Sergi Uchukov and the Palty team Abuno Keni Ala from Gaywiz Hernand Bueno from the Kelme team and Lawrence Armstrong from Motorola they were the men that took the tentative out of the start today and now there is a chance they are going to stay away well Phil I think everyone knows by now about the ESPN Sports Zone we got to the finish line today and our E mailbox was full question of the day where have all the early stage winners gone well home for the most part primarily because of crashes this pace and exhaustion mario Chipellini won two of the first five stages he abandoned on Wednesday alex Zula who won stage 9 is second to endrain we know where he is here’s an update on the rest of the stage winners keep those computer cards and letters coming lance looking pretty good in this stage right Phil yes if Lance Armstrong is hoping to get Motorola that stage win today and he’s the man that they will put all their faith into as the leader of that team then he’s going to have to watch out for I think Bruno Kangi Alta he for me is the danger man kenyalta is a man who certainly is on form and I must admit I’ve said it a couple of times the performance I really thought was superb was when he waited for Berí in the mountains he tried to pace him back into the main field when he could see that Bersing wasn’t able to follow he accelerated and actually caught up the group of Miguel inderin again that shows me that he has a great amount of form well he’s no hand at the tour to France but he hasn’t won the stage in it since 1991 now we’ve got riders trying to get livened up a little bit here to create a chase the Brashilia team marked by Lampre trying to go clear and this might incite the riders to a little bit of action this looks very much to me like the shape of Vladimir Oroy on the back from the the lamprey squad but this is an ideal situation for the four men in the breakaway because these small groups that going to attack and try to get clear they won’t be able to pull into the the lead that was being built up by those four leaders david Perona is the rider on the move for Lampre we haven’t seen him on the attack in fact since this race began and Frankie Andreo who is the Motorola rider there marking the attack of the two andreo’s teammate Lance Armstrong still about 12 minutes ahead of that chase group in the original fourman breakaway something you may not have known lance Armstrong sponsors a little league baseball team back in his hometown of Plano Texas another team in Texas the Rangers continue to fight for first place in the West Sunday night against the Boston Red Sox at Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN live at 756 Eastern time more from the True to France in just a moment [Music] we’ve said a number of times that the tour is an event you must learn how to win and it’s almost as if we’re watching the maturation on the road of this rider Phil now Armstrong well he’s had an up and up and a down tour of France this year but he has told us that this one he is going to finish and it looks as though he’s finishing it on a strong note because his last two tours he’s won a stage yes but he’s never gone over the mountains well he’s tasted the Alps now he had literally his ups and downs there because he was knocked off by a photographer and had to remount on the climb of Aldures um but now we’re heading for the Pyrenees a different type of mountain he’ll have to have a different type of strategy but I think he will make Paris this year i think he will i had a quick chat with him this morning in the Villa Depar the area where all the riders assembled before the start of the stages i said “How are things Lance?” He said “Oh I’m a little bit tired but you know the last couple of days he had has a face of concentration on him as if he really did want to do something he realized that these three stages between the mountains were stages that he could take well it’s the big climb to Guines tomorrow it is a big climb too and it’s a very hard climb indeed injure knows that these team are waiting to hit him from every corner and of course the gay team will be along as well and what about Tony Roinger the maf rider who seems to be just hanging on in there and holding a place in the top six but the man who impressed us most well not most but certainly the man who impressed us certainly was Ian Goti in the Alps and he might well ride well in the Pyrenees and what about Pantani well that man is definitely going to try and blow something up you know because he’s said he definitely wants to get to Paris on the podium and he may well be 12 minutes behind still but he can do an awful lot of damage especially on the stage finish tomorrow which is a mountain top up to Guz in the Pyrenees Paul where Miguel Indrain trains that’s where we’re headed tomorrow for stage 14 you’ve described the 100 miles of climbs you’ll be able to see early Monday morning at 3:00 a.m eastern on ESPN famous climbs probably the most revered climbs of any tour to France they were the first mountains climbed by these great men they used to call these riders the convicts of the road because in the old days they used to raid all the shops on the street and run off with the food and drink without paying but that is no longer allowed on the tour to France well it’s not so bad nowadays the teams have slightly bigger budgets than they do in those days so I think they actually get fed pretty well in the evening yeah that’s true yes nowadays all they really have to do is pedal their bikes everything else is done for them in the old days they even have to repair their own machines 1345 they’re making very little progress at all now these four riders here very shortly are going to be able to think about how they are going to plan their strategy to win the day this is the chase group and this is the time check on these three riders at 13:45 so it’s even further back now to the main field and there it is 1445 back to the main field and in fact Frankie Andreo I think Paul is still making no effort to help on that chase i think now that they’ve got a good gap over the main field it’s about time that Frankie Andreo started to help them and just pushed it a little bit further ahead at the front though these riders starting to consider what they are going to do to try and escape and to try and take the stage victory and it’s going to be very difficult on that final climb exactly what to do paul that final climb coming up what will Lance Armstrong do well we know that he loves a steep climb right before the finish we’ll be back you know Phil and Paul and I started this day describing the tour to France well as a street fight for a stage victory this four-man gang has bullied the main field all day these four riders have got 13 minutes lead with less than 20 km to go now and it’s almost impossible for them to be caught and Lawrence Armstrong there keeping up the tempo nicely now as Sergi Sergi Uchikov brings through for PTE full compliment of riders on that squad but they’ve still not had a result in this race at all in fact they haven’t really taken part in the action on a daily basis and this man has impressed us ever since we saw him in action down into St etienne where he was in that stage long breakaway so now we see these three men the four men with Armstrong sitting around the back 12 km to go now for these four and they know now they’re not going to be caught but they would have this climb to come just before the end it comes at the 237 kilometer which leaves them just about 8 km or 5 miles to go once they’re over the top of it they will have a dress rehearsal over some of the roads because they do a certain stretch of the course twice phil let’s set up the final miles with the Michelin race summary 134 riders took the start in Mena facing 153 hot miles in stage 13 american Lance Armstrong and three others jumped away from the field at the 24 mile mark and racing a pace half an hour ahead of schedule they are now 13 minutes ahead of the field with just under 8 miles to go all right we profiled Lance Armstrong the American a little bit earlier phil young riders like him cannot afford to become impatient and make their move to win too early and Lance Armstrong is now beginning to get a little bit agitated here i think he’s anxious to try and break up this group they’ve still got to go around a small climb before they plunge back down to the finish in Revel and there is Lance and going to Sergey Uchikov and behind him is Hernand Buora and the man in the blue number 14 there is Bruno Kangi we feel Kenya is the danger man and Armstrong I think that’s why Paul he is now following him in the line he’s dropped to the back here you know the riders will have studied the room Mac normally a team manager the night before a race will actually plan it out on a map a detailed map of the area and they will know by looking at the profile how difficult this final circuit is going to be they will have talked about it discussed the tactics and I know that Armstrong likes a difficulty towards the end of a race he likes something to use as a launch pad because he loves to win on his own and that may be what he’s thinking about but you know Bruno Kangi Alta is a professional for a long time and he’s a very intelligent rider and he’ll be waiting for a move like that well there’s absolutely no chance now that the main field will come back as we pass under the 10 kilometers to go banner for the four leaders in between there are three chasers but they too are in double figures behind and there Marco Meazy David Perona and Frankie Andreo also of Motorola but he is still playing the policeman and is not working with either Perona or Malays and I feel he would make better progress if he did start to work because they’re only a minute plus in front of the main field the main field as always at this stage of the race is being led at a casual ja jter by the Benesto boys i think you make a few more friends as well if you work with those two riders that he’s with because you know you need friends in the main field you need friends when you go into the mountains just to help you get through some of those big stages but one thing Frankie Andreo I think will be a little bit saddened about today is the fact that his friend and teammate Sha Yates has withdrawn with that tendonitis because they used to spend a lot of time together in the mountains well we’re all sad about that because Sha Yates never complains he’s such a great professional so if he has pulled out then I should imagine he feels the injury is pretty serious well we’ve just gone past the two kilometers to go on the climb here so it’s not a very long climb even though they’ve given it a third category ranking there jean Marie Leon the director of the tour to France a man that knows what it’s like to ride the bike too because he rode two tours to France when he was on the the old big sponsored team they were the colors in which Luis Oka won the tour to France back in 1973 there we’re seeing the time gap 16 minutes and 40 seconds i thought I read there Paul back to this group here so they’re losing ground they are doing but they have no no intention of chasing they’re quite happy to let those riders in front have their freedom but at the moment it was interesting to note that in that front group had been at the front and there is the attack that Buenoh was at the front he dropped back and waited for the other riders to take over the pace setting and he tried to go straight away but they were waiting for that move well of course they were he’s the climber in the race this is the last climb of the day and it’s not as steep as we appear to have thought because it’s only about a kilometer to the summit now and Buen Aora almost a tentative move there but they were stuck to him like glue and it was rather interesting to see they all went at the same time to grab him and haul him back in well these four rides at the moment are going to be extremely nervous in fact it’s becoming a little bit of a sprint race at the moment they’re looking at each other at the back in the back of the main field there that was Bo Hamburger from the TVM squad trying to get clear but that is over 16 minutes behind the four leaders at the moment miguel indrain just letting anybody attack who wants to but he won’t let Zulu go he won’t let Roming go and now Uchikov has gone with 1 kilometer to go to the climb so the next move from Uchov we’ve seen Uchikov’s team manager up here a number of times and now he probably said you’ve got to try a kilometer from the top of the climb lance Armstrong straight on him here and that’s a good move and he looks cool and in fact behind race radio telling me that in fact the two riders Buena Hora and Kenya are watching each other they don’t want to make the move first and these two riders have got a great lead and a great move by Lance Armstrong paul maybe the one he’s been waiting for since 1993 we’ll find out when we come back [Music] lance Armstrong was the last American to win a stage in the tour to France that was 1993 now here he is trying to get position on Sergey Uchov and they’ve got the gap on the climb as they go up towards the summit here of the last small climb of the day lance Armstrong keeping an eye on exactly what is happening around him but he could now work with Sergey Uchikov and they could go well that was a superb move you know he waited for somebody to attack he knew the attack was going to come on this climb but what does surprise me as well is that Keniala waited to see if Buenahora would move buenahora was the first man to attack so obviously he used an awful lot of energy so Ken Ali should have gone straight away without any kind of a pause but this happened so many times this is why the sport is so good riders are affected by other things other than pure strength they’re now 8 km or 5 miles from the finish buchikop is along with Lance Armstrong they really have got to keep going together now because they’ll dive off this mountain before you know it they’ll be in the streets of Revel Rebel rather sorry well I think you said that because Lance Armstrong really is reveling in the glory at the moment he’s so happy to be at the front of the tour to France he had a very hard time in the mountains he tried to stay with the lead as he tried to get across to Alex Zula but at the moment this really is his terrain when this man feels he can get a victory he just wants to go for it well that’s where we are 237 and a half kilometers done today of the 245 on the menu and what a long hot day this has been for everybody in the tour of France it has been a real scorcher and Armstrong is not afraid of the heat he comes from Austin in Texas and loves the heat and it may well be today that the heat has been on his side but when they get to the finish a twoman sprint is always a very dangerous thing it’s a scary thing because if you make a mistake even Max Yandri couple of days ago knew that he was stronger and faster than Buenahora in the sprint in Santien but he always felt up until the last moment that he could make a crazy mistake and just look at this crowd away over in the hillside above the little town of Rall the cycle sport is so popular here the British flag flying there too and Armstrong not contesting the banner prize for the King of the Mountains going calmly over in second place ahead of Uchukov these two riders are now going to combine now this is a difficult one i think Armstrong would be the better sprinter well he should be he’s an extremely strong man and I’ve told you before he may not be a pure sprinter but he will fight with energy he’ll fight with his courage he’ll fight with everything he’s got to get throughout this man from Russia Sergey Uchukov but the two of them have to work together because don’t forget there is still two riders behind it’s about 150 meters at the moment but still I feel that Bruno made a drastic mistake in not attacking straight away once they saw these two riders move clear well it didn’t take an expert to know that the attacks would come on the last climb of the race it was the only place where you could break up the leaders peniala seems to be out of it we’re not too sure where he is because our cameras are staying looking at the two leaders but as far as we know he is about 25 seconds back armstrong looked across at then to check out the face of Sergey Uchukov as the race comes across information at the moment telling me that these two riders are in the lead and the gap at the moment is around about 20 seconds well they’re saying in fact that the gap is now 35 seconds and that is big enough I would think for these two to decide at this stage of the tour to France together armstrong going down the mountain now with Sergey Uchov remember these riders were already in the lead by the 38 mile point today when Armstrong won the sprint there now a different type of rider called for here now great skill on what are always tricky descents here in the area of the tarmac well this is one thing that Armstrong does like he loves to go downhill quickly he’s learned an awful lot from his compan as they say in French Sea Yates but at the moment he’s taking an awful lot of risks on these corners and when you go into these corners sometimes it is a little bit dangerous because the tar starts to melt and you could lose it armstrong’s not worried though he wants to stay at the front so that he can see where all the danger is paul Uchikov has never won in the tour to France he has won in tours of Italy and Spain so some of that danger may come in the final three miles [Music] lance Armstrong need not worry about the action behind him it’s the one man dead ahead Sergey Uchov paul as they continue toward the finish line they’re doing the same thing they’ve done all day these two riders still working well together they realize that behind them the two chasers are still 35 seconds down but that could all change if they start to look at each other and start to try and play the cat and mouse game that Bruno Kiiela played before you know they’ve got to keep going but in six or seven minutes time we will know who is going to win this stage of the tour to France well neither of these teams have won a stage of this year’s event certainly Armstrong has won a stage in a previous tour to France two years ago when he was the world champion soon afterwards in a magical year for him but he has done so much so early on in a young professional career he has really went to the top before he started to learn the sport but now this year he is learning how to ride the tour to France he has witnessed every emotion in this great race and he certainly will have done just that if he wins the stage now the kilometers off flying by as they descend at this climb right into Rell inside 4 km now and again Armstrong wants to see the way down first and it was amazing to watch them go down that descent you know don’t forget that the roads in the tour to France are closed and they can use the whole apex of the corners they use as much of the road as possible because they don’t want to slow down at all and the riders read the corners from looking at the way the land lies by looking at the way the trees are and they know when or not they have to break going into these kind of corners well this is where they rejoin the race route where they came straight through not long ago now and you know I’m thinking the main field won’t have come down this stretch of road yet they’re still behind these riders cuz the main field has to do the lap which includes that climb well we haven’t run into the bunch which is always a help for a commentator the riders now on the straits heading up towards Revel and Armstrong has done more than his share of work in this breakaway but now he is making Uchikov take the lead well Uchukov is a superb rider when it comes to that solitary effort he’s a superb time trialist but he’s not sure at the moment he looks over his shoulder as they go under the 4 km banner they realize in fact that was the 3 km banner so these riders really are flying along inside 2 miles to the line now and Armstrong is not slowing down at all there’s no cat and mouse between these two there can’t be otherwise the two riders behind will be straight back up to them they’re trying to judge the effort at the front without making too much now because they want to save something for the sprint they’re going to have to decide now how they’re going to outmaneuver one another when they make what is a right turn towards the finish and then it’s a very difficult approach to the finish but then you see it it is difficult there is a couple of nasty corners as a first righthander and then a left-hander into the finishing straight and they can’t start to play cat and mouse utikov caught out there because he wanted Armstrong to come by him on the right hand side but Armstrong as soon as the pace slowed lifted it came to the front he doesn’t want to start playing around for a position in the sprint until we get a little bit closer to the line because don’t forget we’ve got two riders chasing Bruno Keni Alta and in fact Uchikov now wants the cars out of the way so he can look back down the straight there to see what the situation is where the other two riders are so after a tranquil day in the tour to France we’re now reaching those nervous moments of desperation in the last couple of kilometers of the stage two to go they’re under the banner and almost inside the final mile to the finish now armstrong no longer anxious to go and help Sergy Uchikov with the pacemaking armstrong’s looking good he’s just checking that everything’s in place he’s looking down at his gears to make sure he doesn’t make a mistake when we come into the final kilometer he looks still nervous enough to me he looks very lucid he looks as if he’s got the ability to respond the ability to explode which what he needs to do when he comes into that last kilometer when he sees the finishing straight and he sees the banner across the line in front of him well they’ll make the right turn very shortly now then they will see the 1 kilometer to go kite hanging across the bridge which the tour to France puts up every day in the tour to France as Sergy Uchkov to me looks as though he’s under a little bit of pressure here now just to hang on to Lance Armstrong so if I was a betting man I’d go for the Motorola rider because Armstrong is itching to get at him I think well he’s got the twitch definitely every time he can he gets out of the saddle he’s using his arms feeling for his responses trying to see how good he is at the moment but he knows that when they get closer to the finish is going to try and out him he’s going to try and outwit him and it’s going to be a very difficult sprint but Armstrong will be getting power from his confidence the fact that he’s won a stage in the Tour to France before and that’s what he was waiting for that’s the red kite the Flam Rouge 1 kilometer to go 1 km to go and the sharp righthander is not very far away and Uchkov might try to go early here he knows the power of the finish of Lance Armstrong in a small group like this he knows he may not be able to match up to that power armstrong now there’s the rightander but it’s not the last turn before the finish and Armstrong now in the front and doesn’t want to be there so he now looks over to Uchukov to see if he’ll take the lead he’s forced Uchukov into the first position on the road there’s the left-hander it won’t be very long now before they can see at the end of this big long straightaway the Coca-Cola banner across which signifies the end of the stage and it’s going to be about now Sergi UKov realizes he made a mess of that he shouldn’t have gone around the corner into the lead because Lance has him where he wants him now and he’s not going to come by him again until he goes for the gears and gives him just about all the speed he has left in those legs after what has been a tremendously long day in the saddle for all of the breakaway uchov is going to ride close to the barriers on the left so Armstrong must come over on his right shoulder give him only one way armstrong now begins to make his move uchikov goes immediately but goes right to the center of the road armstrong holding the back wheel of Uchikov very shortly Armstrong is going to have the kick but I don’t think he’s got it has everything takes it on the line armstrong will be very very annoyed about that but he never had it on the line probably because he may have made a mistake Phil in waiting too long to sprint to the finish little bit further back though Frankie Andreo is going for his third top 10 finish of the 95 Tour the first opportunity for two Americans to finish in the top 10 this year
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merci!