1997 Tour de France
U.S. Postal's Ekimov 'this close' to win; Ullrich enjoys spin near home
By Andrew Hood
Outside Online correspondent
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Neil Stephens spoiled the party for
the U.S. Postal Team in Stage 17
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It was just the kind of stage the U.S. Postal Team was looking for: Get team leader Vjatseslav Ekimov in a break in the closing stages of the three-week Tour de France and watch him roll away with a stage win while the leaders watch each other.
It almost happened that way, except Australian Neil Stephens (Festina) spoiled the party. Just 5 kilometers from the finish, the 33-year-old veteran bolted away from a 13-man break that included American Bobby Julich (Cofidis) to win Wednesday's 17th stage 218 kilometers (131 miles) from Fribourg, Switzerland, to Colmar, France.
While Festina celebrated its third team win and race-leader Jan Ullrich (Telekom) enjoyed a spin near his home in the Black Forest in nearby Germany, Ekimov and U.S. Postal fumed.
"I will not shake his hand today," said Ekimov, who crossed the line third behind second-place finisher Oscar Camenzind (Mapei). "Everybody is upset with Stephens because he destroyed all the work of our group."
Stephens didn't do his fair share of the work during the long break while the others were working hard to hold off the peloton hungry for another sprint finish, Ekimov claimed.
When Stephens pulled away, the others waited too long. By the time the rest of the group organized a counterattack, the blonde-haired Aussie was across the finish line, arms in the air, celebrating his first career Tour stage win.
For Stephens, however, the win is the ultimate reward for years of hard work. For most of his 11-year pro career he's been a loyal lieutenant to team leaders such as Laurent Jalabert and Alex Zulle at ONCE, and now for Richard Virenque at Festina.
"I was really happy to get in the break. When Camenzind came out, we weren't allowed to ride at the front. We were shackled by our own directors not to work, so that's unfortunate for the other guys," said Stephens, one of the more popular riders in the peloton.
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Stephens's win is the ultimate reward for years of hard work
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"I knew the only way of winning was to attack early. Ekimov and (Sergei) Outschakov attacked early and I counterattacked. I couldn't believe my luck," said Stephens, who's racing in his sixth Tour. "This is the first Tour I've been able to race for myself because our team is doing so well."
For the U.S. Postal Team, the stage is somewhat of a letdown with the team's hopes riding so high on Ekimov. Throughout the Tour, officials from the U.S. Postal Service have been shuttled around the sometimes puzzling world of pro cycling. As the only American-sponsored team among the 22 racing in cycling's most important race, expectations are high.
Early in the season, the team worked hard to earn an "at-large" invitation to race in its first Tour, leaving many of its riders too exhausted to help the team's top climber Jean-Cyril Robin in the mountain stages. With only a few stages left in the three-week Tour, the pressure is on the team to post a stage win.
"It's disappointing because we really wanted to win a stage. It's what we wanted to do, when we wanted to do it. This was exactly the scenario we wanted," said U.S. Postal's director sportif Mark Gorski, who tipped his hat to Stephens's win. "That's when you make those moves. Stephens attacked and nobody countered."
American Julich finished seventh in the stage and said he enjoyed his best day of the Tour as the course took the peloton from Switzerland into the Rhine Valley and the heart of the Alsace wine country of eastern France.
Julich defended Stephens's move and said it was the other riders' fault they didn't counterattack sooner.
"I wasn't going to chase him down. He's one of my best friends in the peloton. It was their fault they didn't counter earlier. When Stephens attacked, it was a great move. He deserves it and I'm happy for him," said Julich, the top-ranked American overall at 18th.
"I felt really good, but there was no reason to sprint in the end because first place was already gone. Today was so good for me mentally to be out there in a break instead of in the main peloton, with all that chattering, nervous riders, watching out for a crash. I could just ride my bike. That's what I get paid to do. It was really the best day of the Tour for
me."
The stage was active from the start, with racers trying to forge a break that could earn them a place in history with only four days remaining in the Tour. Several riders tried to break early in the stage on a string of smaller climbs.
Stephens actually led out the attack 61 kilometers into the stage and was followed by Outschakov and ONCE's Aitor Garmendia. On a descent off the Col de Pertuis in the Jura Mountains along the French/Swiss border, nine others followed out: Julich, Camenzind, Telekom's Georg Totsching, Kelme's J. Pascual, Mercatone Uno's Massimo Podenzana, Rabobank's Erik Dekker, FDJ's
Christophe Mengin, Lotto's Peter Farazijn, and TVM's Laurent Roux.
They built up a seven-minute lead coming into the finish, before TVM and Gan worked to trim the lead to 2'50" coming into the finale.
Telekom's Ullrich rode with the main group of riders, finishing 3'58" behind the winners and easily defending his overall lead. With only four days remaining until the race's conclusion in Paris, thousands of German racing fans crossed the Rhine Valley into eastern France to cheer on their young cycling protege.
Stage 17 results
Andrew Hood is Outside Online's European cycling correspondent.
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