CHOLET, France — Jonathan Vaughters and Will Frischkorn, two of Colorado’s biggest wine buffs, are in paradise. Yes, French heaven today is defined by traveling through the lush Loire Valley and kicking some European tail in their first Tour de France.
And oh, how they wish they could celebrate with a crisp Loire Valley Chenin Blanc.
France is the place and July is the time when the cycling world learns if Boulder-based Team Garmin-Chipotle is a serious cycling team or just the Tour’s poster boys for doping abstinence. Four days into the 95th Tour, Team Garmin’s first, the Argyle Armada is the best cycling team in the race.
Of course, the route hasn’t reached those mountains that separate the contenders from mortals, so the corkscrews remain in deep storage. But no matter. Garmin-Chipotle is making early noise, and it made more Tuesday. David Millar finished third in the individual time trial and stands third overall, 12 seconds behind the leader, Germany’s Stefan Schumacher of Gerolsteiner (Germany), with teammate Christian Vande Velde in sixth.
With Boulder resident Frischkorn leading a three-man breakaway Monday before getting edged for the stage win, Garmin-Chipotle is leading the team classification, 1 minute, 44 seconds ahead of Team Columbia, the other U.S. entry.
“At the start of the Tour, I said we’re really going to try and get the yellow jersey in the first 10 days and I was hoping for (Tuesday),” said Vaughters, the team director and Cherry Creek High School grad. “But right now we’ve got third and sixth in the general classification and we’re leading the team classification. That’s not bad.”
Garmin-Chipotle is becoming the center of attention here. While the Australian media is following prerace favorite Cadel Evans’ every wheel turn, the European media has become enchanted by the argyle-clad team from Boulder.
It’s no longer just the weekly drug testing. The results are getting attention, too.
“It’s been a great experience,” Millar said. “The team’s going great. We’ve got a great atmosphere. There’s a good buzz around the Tour. It’s a fun experience.”
Tuesday, Millar took Garmin’s center stage. In an 18.3-mile time trial out and back to this industrial city of 50,000 in western France, Millar put in a sterling performance. He finished in 36:02, 18 seconds behind Schumacher and milliseconds behind Luxembourg’s Kim Kirchen of Team Columbia.
Everyone’s biggest obstacle was Schumacher, a bit player who surprisingly smoked everyone, especially stage favorite Fabian Cancellara of CSC (Denmark), the time trial world champion who finished 15 seconds behind Millar.
“It went perfectly,” said Millar, who’s nine seconds ahead of Evans overall. “I had a perfect day. The team did everything right. My equipment was perfect. Physically, I was as good as I could be. It’s days like today that make it all worthwhile.”
Added Vaughters: “The day was really brilliant. He did a great ride. With a performance like that, nine times out of 10 you win, but today there were two guys that were better.”
Monday, only one was better than Frischkorn. In his Tour debut, Frischkorn broke from the peloton after 200 meters with Frenchmen from French teams: Samuel Dumoulin of Cofidis (France) and Romain Feillu of Agritubel.
With 350 meters left in the 125-mile race from Saint-Malo to Nantes, Dumoulin made his break. Frischkorn couldn’t quite catch him.
“I definitely screwed up,” Frischkorn said. “I was a little nervous and too jumpy.”
Millar didn’t think so.
“He only found out 10 days before he was even coming,” Millar said. “To almost win Stage 3, it shows a lot about the young man’s character.”
John Henderson: 303-954-1299 or jhenderson@denverpost.com
Tour de France/At a glance
A brief look at Tuesday’s fourth stage of the Tour de France:
Stage: An 18.3-mile individual time trial beginning and ending in Cholet.
Quote of the day: “Everybody dreams of this jersey. It’s incredible.” — Stefan Schumacher of Germany, who was fastest at every checkpoint, earning the yellow jersey.
Next stage: Today’s fifth stage is the longest and the flattest of the Tour, 144.2 miles from Cholet to Chateauroux.
Staff and wire reports
