Autun, France – Team Astana missed last year’s Tour de France over a doping probe. Now, its star riders have another problem: crashes on the course.
Alexandre Vinokourov and Andreas Kloeden, the Swiss squad’s top two title contenders, were injured in separate nasty spills Thursday in a bumpy Stage 5 through the Burgundy wine region.
It wasn’t clear whether either would start today.
Kloeden had a hairline fracture in his tailbone after tumbling into a ditch, and Vino- kourov, who fell with 15 miles to go, had deep cuts in his knees.
Vinokourov dropped from 12th overall to 81st, 2:10 off the pace of Team CSC’s Fabian Cancellara, who retained the yellow jersey for a sixth day.
Italy’s Filippo Pozzato took the stage, with a sprint at the end of the 113-mile trek from Chablis to Autun.
Even if Vinokourov and Kloeden join the pack for today’s mostly flat 124-mile ride from Semur-en-Auxois to Bourg-en-Bresse, the injuries could make them vulnerable to attacks and shake up the cast of race favorites.
Their woes could give an opening to contenders such as American Levi Leipheimer, Australia’s Cadel Evans, Spaniards Alejandro Valverde and Oscar Pereiro, and Russia’s Denis Menchov.
Vinokourov, seen by many as the cyclist to beat, tumbled off his bike with 15 miles to go and finished the stage 1:20 behind Cancellara.
“He’s warrior in the tough moments,” Astana sporting director Marc Biver said of Vino- kourov, who finished third in the 2003 Tour and fifth in 2005. “He becomes dangerous when he has a setback.”
Kloeden, too, is dangerous.
After landing in a ditch with 45 miles to go, he got up, stayed with the pack and held second place overall – just 33 seconds behind Cancellara.
Pozzato moved to third overall, winning a sprint ahead of Oscar Freire of Spain in second and Daniele Bennati of Italy in third. They and the main pack finished in 4:39:01.
Last year, Astana was disqualified on the eve of the Tour after five of its riders – not including Vinokourov – were linked to Operation Puerto, a Spanish doping investigation. This year, team CSC sporting director Bjarne Riis is skipping the race after admitting he used EPO when he won the Tour in 1996.
With so many familiar names, including last year’s champion Floyd Landis, missing, much has changed on the Tour.
On Thursday, Pozzato said he toyed with the idea of urging his team, Liquigas, to wait for Vinokourov, as riders might have done during the era of seven-time Tour winner Lance Armstrong.
“When I knew that Vinokourov had fallen, I was tempted to ask my team to slow down and wait for him,” Pozzato said. “Maybe there is less respect for the big riders than there once was. When I started in cycling there was a very clear hierarchy, and I was afraid to get too close to Armstrong. … I always stayed 3 meters back and never got too close.”
American cyclist Christian Vandevelde, who was pushing the pace along with the Liquigas riders, took issue with Pozzato. Vandevelde said he was not informed of Vinokourov’s woes, and besides, the Kazakh star was not in the lead.
“If the yellow jersey had crashed and we knew about it, it would have been a different story,” Vandevelde said. “Lance would have been in the yellow jersey.”
RESULTS
At Autun, France
Fifth stage
A 113.4-mile medium mountain stage from Chablis to Autun
1. Filippo Pozzato, Italy, Liquigas, 4 hours, 39 minutes, 1 second. 2. Oscar Freire, Spain, Rabobank, same time. 3. Daniele Bennati, Italy, Lampre-Fondital.
4. Kim Kirchen, Luxembourg, T-Mobile. 5. Erik Zabel, Germany, Team Milram. 6. George Hincapie, United States, Discovery Channel.
7. Cristian Moreni, Italy, Cofidis. 8. Stefan Schumacher, Germany, Gerolsteiner. 9. Bram Tankink, Netherlands, Quick Step-Innergetic.
10. Jerome Pineau, France, Bouygues Telecom. 11. C. Evans, Australia, Predictor-Lotto. 12. Fabian Cancellara, Switzerland, Team CSC. 13. Alejandro Valverde, Spain, Caisse d’Epargne. 14. Christopher Horner, United States, Predictor-Lotto. 15. F. Schleck, Luxembourg, Team CSC.
Also
26. Alberto Contador, Spain, Discovery Channel. 29. Yaroslav Popovych, Ukraine, Discovery Channel. 42. Vladimir Gusev, Russia, Discovery Channel. 63. Levi Leipheimer, United States, Discovery Channel. 68. Egoi Martinez, Spain, Discovery Channal.
Overall standings (After five stages)
1. Fabian Cancellara, Switzerland, Team CSC, 19:49:55. 4:39:01 24:28:56. 2. Andreas Kloeden, Germany, Astana, :33. 3. Filippo Pozzato, Italy, Liquigas, :35.
4. David Millar, Britain, Saunier Duval-Prodir, :41. 5. George Hincapie, United States, Discovery Channel, :43. 6. Vladimir Gusev, Russia, Discovery Channel, :45. 7. Vladimir Karpets, Russia, Caisse d’Epargne, :46. 8. Mikel Astarloza, Spain, Euskaltel-Euskadi, :49. 9. Thomas Dekker, Netherlands, Rabobank, :51. 10. Benoit Vaugrenard, France, Francaise des Jeux, :52.
Also
22. Levi Leipheimer, United States, Discovery Channel, 1:00. 31. Egoi Martinez, Spain, Discovery Channel, 1:07. 32. Yaroslav Popovych, Ukraine, Discovery Channel, 1:08. 41. Christopher Horner, United States, Predictor-Lotto, 1:13.
