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Team RadioShack Nissan Trek
Team RadioShack Nissan Trek
07/18/2012 | News release
Voigt: "I'm not the type that gives up"
distributed by noodls on 07/19/2012 02:14
At the end of yesterday's rest day came the unexpected news that team rider Fränk Schleck had returned an adverse analytical finding from a urine test taken on Saturday. Although not required to, Schleck immediately withdrew from competition, leaving the team with only six riders. But the remaining six vowed to continued fighting for the Team classification, with Jens Voigt able to take sixth place on the stage behind winner Thomas Voeckler (Team Europcar).
Voigt: "I thought a lot about Frank today. I hope things get cleared up and there is an explanation for what has happened. To be honest, he's my friend so I'm not as objective as maybe I should be, but he has my support. He's my friend."
On the hardest day of climbing, Voigt made the original break of 38 riders along with teammate Yaroslav Popovych. As the slopes went up, Voigt held on, maintaining his own pace to stay well ahead of the yellow jersey group of Bradley Wiggins (Sky) and help beef up the standings for the Team GC.
Voigt: "For about ten days now we have had the goal of taking the Team GC all the way to Paris. It's a beautiful thing to achieve because everyone on the team that makes it to Paris can stand on the podium with the Champs-Élysées in the background. It's a beautiful shot and it's something we achieve together as a team - the riders, the mechanics, the soigneurs, the directors. All of us. It's an important goal. So after having a stressful rest day and a stressful morning, we had to ask ourselves if we just wanted to give up or just keep fighting. I'm not the type that gives up. We've worked for so long, for two weeks now.
"For me personally this stage is a bit of my nemesis. I crashed coming off the Col du Aubisque two times in 1998 so I hate that descent. But today I made it through safely. And I had a tire blow out one time on the descent of the Peyresourde and had a bad crash there, finishing with a broken rib, so I wanted to overcome and take charge of my own destiny today."
It was a full day of climbing in the 16th stage of the 2012 Tour de France for the 155 riders that began the first big day in the Pyrenees, riding in warm temperatures that saw the thermometer hover around 32ºC/90ºF. After yesterday's rest day, the stage began in Pau and traversed four climbs before arriving in Bagnères-de-Luchon after 196km/122mi of riding, much of it uphill. The early climbs proved to be the battle for the polka dot jersey of the best climber with Voeckler dedicated to sweeping up points and taking the KOM jersey from Fredrik Kessiakoff of Astana.
Only Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale) seriously challenged Wiggins today, attacking at least two times on the final climbs in an attempt to break the leader. While Wiggins remained solid, former winner Cadel Evans cracked and lost five minutes to slip away into seventh place on the overall, more than 8-minutes behind the yellow jersey. The shift in the top ten caused Haimar Zubeldia to move into fifth on GC.
Chris Horner had an eventful day but was still able to finish with Zubeldia's group and keeps his high position of 13th. Horner: "I had switched out my bike and made it back to the group on the first climb. The guy in front of me sat up on the uphill and his bike started drifting back to me. He went right and I went left. That's when I hit the edge of one of those concrete curbs and went down 12 feet and had to crawl back up. There was a lot of debris there to land on before I came to a tree that stopped me. Better the tree than continuing on down the slope. So I was able to crawl out on my hands and knees with some help. Dusted myself off, got a new bike and ready to go again. Thank God it was on the uphill, not the downhill. I didn't have the legs to go with Nibali today. I was just in survival mode. It was the hardest day so far; a day of pain."
More pain comes their way tomorrow as the peloton wrap up a final day in the mountains. Stage 17 is 143.5km/89mi from Bagnères-de-Luchon to Peyragudes in the last uphill finish of the 99th Tour de France.
Beyond the Finish Line: The Col du Tourmalet was first included in the Tour in 1910 with rider Octave Lapize the first to cross the summit after walking up much of the dirt road ascent. Lapize won the stage and the overall and referred to the Tour organizers as "assassins" after completing the Tourmalet.
