Tour de France, Stage 8 – Ride into Avoriaz

Getting up into the ski resort of Alvoriaz takes some work, even for those of us who are able to ride cable cars. It took two gondolas and several kilometers of steep hill walking to get even close to the finish of Stage 8 of the Tour de France. The entire time I was ascending this mountain, I was fully aware that the riders were going to have to climb to Alvoriaz after already riding over 150 kilometers through very hot and mountainous conditions.

Luckily for me, I was sitting at the 2-kilometer banner waiting for the riders to come through blind of all the happenings of the day. I intentionally avoided Saxo Bank’s Tent’s television so that I could be surprised by who came around one of the final switchbacks into Alvoriaz. All day I envisioned a breakaway by Lance Armstrong followed a bit behind by the other GC contenders. While waiting for hours, I started thinking about the GC standings and I changed my image to one including Andy Schleck, Alberto Contador, Cadal Evans and Lance. I knew that due to the time differences, none of the GC contenders would let someone build a major gap this early in the race.

The riders came around one of the final switchbacks and I saw a group, just like I expected. Alberto Contador was leading the bunch, followed by Andy Schleck and a RadioShack rider. Lance, my mind thought! But upon closer inspection, I knew that the rider didn’t have the grey and black helmet that Lance wears and quickly I realized it was Levi Leipheimer. While I was surprised and disappointed that Lance wasn’t in the lead group, I was thrilled to see that a RadioShack rider had made the breakaway.

Over the course of the next few minutes, I watched Andreas Klöden ride by who was then followed by Chris Horner. It was obvious that RadioShack’s GC contender was out of the Tour. Next to me, a man told me “Lance a chuté de bonne heure” or that Lance fell earlier. I knew something must have happened to make him be so far back in the group and hearing the words Lance followed by Chute is never good.

Eventually Lance’s group reached us. It was obvious it was the group with Lance because of the large motorcade prior to the riders and the helicopter following overhead. Lance passed by leading his group, but he was blooded and his kit was torn. I was excited to see that Jani Brajkovic, who is riding his first Tour, was riding as wingman for Lance when they passed us.

Shortly after Lance passed by, we were blindsided by a quickly descending Levi Leipheimer who did not look pleased. Soon Levi descended, we were passed by Andreas Klöden. I was dumbfounded that riders would tack on another treacherous 11 kilometer descent after a full day of riding. Coming up hill just moments after these riders passed heading downhill was a charismatic Yaroslav Popovych who entertained the crowd by doing a wheelie while ascending the final kilometers up to Alvoriaz.

It was a tough day for RadioShack’s overall game plan but not all is lost. Levi Leipheimer is still in contention as is former two-time Tour de France podium finisher Andreas Klöden. There is still plenty of ground to cover and racing to be had here in France. With Johan establishing a game plan and with Lance working with you, nothing is lost, as Contador can attest last year.

This short video catches a glimpse of Lance Armstrong as he fights on the mountain after his second crash on stage 8 of Tour de France (Video: Fitzalan Gorman)

By Fitzalan Gorman, staff writer