Year in and year out, the name of French cyclist Sylvain Chavanel (Quick Step) has become familiar for failed attempts at long-distance attacks on the peloton at the Tour de France bike race.
Monday's Stage 2 marked only the second time in the 31-year-old's career that he's survived to win a Tour stage, and the first time he's ever pulled on the yellow jersey.
While Chavanel was riding his Merckx-brand bicycle into the yellow jersey out front, many members of the peloton were licking their wounds after a mass pile-up on a descent about 25 miles from the finish. With many teammates trailing behind, the main peloton finished en mass as a form of protest.
Stockeu crash
The crash du jour happened on the Stockeu, one of the many hills on the 125-mile route through Belgiums Ardennes region between Brussels and Spa. With Chavanel attacking his breakaway companions out front, a bike rider about to get caught by the peloton slipped on the rain-slicked road and fell.
What followed was pure bedlam when the peloton came charging past. Many cyclists crashed — including Lance Armstrong (RadioShack) — while others waited to get through the bottleneck that stretched across the road. Armstrong reported on Twitter:
“What a day…crashes everywhere and I don't use the term “everywhere” lightly. Most of the GC guys hit the ground myself included. … Got some good “road rash” on the hip and elbow. Bike mangled, cleat on the shoe completely cracked in two. Hope it's dry tomorrow.”
Eventually yellow-jersey wearer Fabian Cancellara (Saxo Bank) got through. Armstrong soon caught up with Cancellara, Alberto Contador (Astana) and Tony Martin (HTC-Columbia), among the other leaders.
[The cyclists describe pure mayhem on the descent as riders kept falling. Some, Cadel Evans for one, said there might have been oil on the road that made it so slick. In a video, Armstrong says, “It was like someone put something on the road.”]
No chase
But Cancellara couldn't mount a chase on Chavanel to protect his yellow jersey because teammates Andy and Frank Schleck, both among the favorites to win overall in Paris, were still way behind at the crash scene.
Eventually Andy Schleck took another riders' bicycle and rejoined the peloton with his brother Frank Schleck near the finish. Other General Classification competitors, like American Christian Vande Velde, didn't fare so well [see Vande Velde abandons]. The Garmin-Transitions cyclist finished 10 minutes later. His teammate, Tyler Farrar, finished even further back. Tweeted by Vande Velde:
“Going to the hospital with JD [Julian Dean] and Ty [Tyler Farrar]. We are all busted up. We didn't stand a chance at making it down the hill, many people crashed twice!”
Protest
To show their displeasure with the course, what was left of the peloton finished the race in one large group, soft-pedaling across the finish line.
One US cyclist, Levi Leipheimer on RadioShack, described the scene as “chaos.” Speaking to Versus, he chalked it up to nervousness by riders in early stages of the Tour de France:
“In the first week everybody’s fresh, everybody’s nervous, there are always crashes. You need to stay in the front and when they send us on courses like this, it makes it worse. I don’t know if that’s what they want to see, to see us bleeding, but it makes for a stressful race. It’s pure survival.”
Chavanel
The Frenchman's style of racing over the years has been to attack, attack, attack. This has earned him fame for aggressiveness, but resulted in few wins. For all his solo breakaways, he's only been successful once before at Stage 19 of the 2008 Tour de France, and that was in a sprint against another cyclist.
What's so amazing about his Stage 2 victory is that he suffered a fractured skull in a race in this region of Belgium in April. On Monday, he attacked in the first 10 miles of the race. He was joined by a handful of other cyclists, who dropped off one by one.
During the post-race interview, Chavanel said:
“When I think about it, I realize that this season started with a plague of problems, and yet I never gave up… finally I do not regret having suffered as much, if only to feel such great emotion now. I savor this moment is what I want: it was my day. …. I made a mark next to this stage in my mind a long time, and I succeeded. This proves that cycling’s wheel does indeed turn! … Now I have almost three minutes ahead overall! So I think I can go far.”
Next up
The upcoming Stage 3 was expected to be the day that fraught with crashes. The 132-mile route between Wanze and Arenburg includes several stretches of cobblestones that earned the Paris-Roubaix bike race the “Hell of the North” nickname. TV coverage begins at 8:30 a.m. (ET) Tuesday.
Top 10 overall:
1. Sylvain Chavanel (QuickStep)
2. Fabian Cancellara (Saxo Bank) — 2:57 behind
3. Tony Martin (HTC Columbia) — 3:07
4. David Millar (Garmin-Transitions) — 3:17
5. Lance Armstrong (RadioShack) — 3:19
6. Geraint Thomas (Sky) — 3:20
7. Alberto Contador (Astana) — 3:24
8. Levi Leipheimer (RadioShack) — 3:25
9. Edvald Boasson Hagen (Sky) — 3:29
10. Linus Gerdemann (Milram) — 3:32
US cyclists
11. Brent Bookwalter (BMC) — 3:32
43. Chris Horner (RadioShack) — 3:49
130. David Zabriskie (Garmin) — 8:32
145. George Hincapie (BMC) — 9:44
146. Christian Vande Velde (Garmin) — 9:50
182. Tyler Farrar (Garmin) — 18:32
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