Cycling: ‘While I was busy peeing, my bike was brought for a dope test’
Riders descend the Noyer pass during yesterday's stage which, below, was won narrowly by Sergio Paulinho ahead of Vasil Kyryienka. Photo: AP
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Day 11: Wednesday July 14 -- Stage 10: Chambery to Gap (179km)
Bastille Day is always crazy on the Tour. The French national holiday means that the road is lined with fans and more people watch the stage live on TV because they are off work.
Because of this, every French rider and every French team wants to win the stage or, at the very least, be in the winning breakaway. Also, the fact that the only real chance the sprinters had of gaining points for the green jersey on an otherwise mountainous stage came after just 20km, meant that we were set to have a really fast start to today's stage.
For my Ag2r team, having somebody in the break today was even more important as the team is based in the start town of Chambery and we had hundreds of supporters out to watch us. Almost everybody on the team had a go, but all of the early attacks were chased down relentlessly as the teams of green jersey Thor Hushovd and other sprinters tried to keep their men in contention to take the maximum points available.
After Alessandro Petacchi outsprinted Hushovd for the points in La Buissere, the attacks just kept going, which meant that the peloton was screaming through the early stage towns and villages.
After four riders went clear about 35km in, yellow jersey Andy Schleck called for a truce as he wanted to stop for a wee and tried to encourage others to stop with him, but seconds later there was another attack and it was mental again for another seven or eight km.
Eventually my team-mate Maxime Bouet got clear with Pierre Rolland and the two Frenchmen got across to the main breakaway group of the day after a hard 30km chase as the peloton eventually wore itself out and began to ride at a more manageable tempo.
The previous night, my team manager Vincent Lavenu talked with me about trying to get into the early breakaway and trying to get five or six minutes back on the GC. He said the Saxo Bank team of the yellow jersey would probably not chase me because they wouldn't see me as a threat as I was almost eight minutes down.
I was a bit worried that a move like that could backfire as 180km of hard riding in 40 degree heat, over some really difficult terrain, including three more mountains, would be really tough going. We also had a strong headwind to contend with. I might gain six or seven minutes, but my efforts in doing so could see me lose 20 minutes in the days afterwards.
So we came to a compromise. We knew there was a tough little climb about 20km from the finish, with a tricky descent into Gap -- the same one that saw Lance Armstrong cut through a field in order to avoid crashing into Joseba Beloki when he broke his collarbone on a hairpin a few years ago.
I knew everybody would be trying to keep safe on the descent, so I said I'd have a go on the way up, about 5km from the top. I thought that maybe on such a hot day, Schleck and Contador wouldn't be too worried about chasing me and that I might get a minute or two. I know I'm going to lose time on the hills again and also in the time trial, so every minute counts.
This is the Tour de France, the biggest race in the world and if that was a way to get a minute back, why not try it?
I spoke to my dad on the phone this morning and he agreed that there was no guarantee that the leaders wouldn't chase me down if I did get into a long breakaway and it could all be for nothing anyway. This was the best solution. I talked about it with the team and we decided to go for it on the last climb.
The first-category climb of the Cote de Laffrey was a real stinger. Saxo Bank kept a steady pace, nothing too fast, but on a climb like that, no matter what speed you go up it, it's going to hurt.
The next one wasn't too bad and the second category of the Col Du Noyer after 145km was one of the most beautiful I've ever ridden. The scenery was spectacular, although the descent was crazy, with lots of twists and turns. With 20km to go, the peloton was about 14 minutes behind the break as we started up the tough little final climb.
With 15km to go, I realised that if I wanted to stay in contention for the overall then I had to try something.
Lloyd Mondory brought me to the front of the bunch and opened a gap for me and I just went for it. The climb was a big ring climb but there was a strong headwind. When I went, I didn't worry about whether they would chase me or not. I just went for it.
advantage
After opening a gap on the way up, I knew I had to go full pelt down the other side to pull out any sort of a decent advantage.
I'm an average descender in the dry, but in the wet I'm terrible. The tarmac was melted by the sun on some of the corners, and as I tried to cut one of the chicanes as tight as possible, my wheel hit a pothole and jumped across the road. For a split second, I had visions of the peloton laughing as they passed me crawling out of the ditch on the way down, but I made it around the corner.
The last 3km to the line were flat and I went full gas into the headwind to try and gain as much time as possible. I took back a minute and 20 seconds and moved up three places to 13th overall. I really enjoyed those last 15km. I like to attack and I was missing the thrill of going for a stage placing, so seventh on the stage kind of made up for that a bit.
As soon as I crossed the line, a UCI chaperone grabbed me by the arm and brought me to anti-doping control. Inside the anti-doping room, I had to sit and wait for about half an hour as there were a few guys ahead of me. When it was my turn, I had to enter a glass cubicle, a bit like a shower but with a toilet in it, to give my urine sample.
To avoid any chance of concealment or cheating the test, you have to drop your shorts around your ankles and lift your jersey up. As I did this, one of the anti-doping officers stood directly behind me while another one sat outside and watched as I peed. Sometimes you can't go and you have to wait for ages. Luckily I was ready to go and was in and out in a few minutes.
While I was busy peeing, my bike was also brought for a dope test. Seriously! A guy put a red sticker on the crossbar and my mechanic went with my bike to have it scanned for an illegal motor by a race official.
Recently there have been allegations and investigations into the possible use of motorised bikes, sparked by a YouTube video.
Although nobody has ever been found using one, according to former pro-turned-journalist Davide Cassani, a silent motor can be placed inside the frame and switched on when needed by a button under the brake lever.
I had never heard of it until a few weeks ago, and don't know if it actually exists. After all the rumours though, I do think the UCI were right to bring in the scans anyway. If people were doing it, or even thinking about doing it, they can't now, which is a good thing.
It's hard enough keeping up with the guys when they are just pedalling!
- Nicolas Roche
Irish Independent
