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DAY 10
Stage 9
PAU - LOUNDENVIELLE-Valee du Louron 178km
14th July 1997

Mountains Loom...
Chris Crashes!

Today was the first day in the Pyrenees, the day Chris would test himself in the long
awaited mountain stages. Sixty kilometers into the stage on the descent of the first
climb, the Col du Solour, Chris crashed in the foggy conditions, following a lotto rider
off the road. "The road turned Green" he said later describing riding into an embankment
at the road side. He suffered a strained neck, with suspected displacement of the vertibrae,
but was OK to continue. "I was trapped by the peloton" he said, "noboby wanted to chase and
you can't do 130k on your own!". Chris's bunch of around 40 riders was always loosing time
to the leaders, where the real race was taking place.

When asked if his injury would put him out of the race he said "Any other race and I'd be
going home now, it's not any other race, so I wont be!".

Chris lost nearly 28minutes on todays stage, finishing in 80th place on the stage and
72nd overall, slipping out of overall contention.

The Festina team dominated the stage with multiple attacks and final victory for Brochard,
but GAN rider and French hero, Cedric Vasseur, produced a heroic performance to keep the
yellow jersey. He was dropped on every climb during the stage, but managed to claw his way
back to the leaders on the descents, he showed himself to be a worthy leader of the Tour,
although he kept the jersey by only 13sec from Ullrich who proved today he was the stongest
man in the Telekom Team and possibly the race by his cool, controlled ride, where he hardly
looked troubled, unlike Riis who seemed to struggle.

Stage 9 : PAU - LOUNDENVIELLE-Valee du Louron 178km 
 1. Laurent Brochard (Fra/FES)               5 h 24:57.
 2. Richard Virenque (Fra/FES)          à        00:14.
 3. Marco Pantani (Ita/MER)                      00:14.
 4. Jan Ullrich (All/TEL)                        00:14.
 5. Jose Maria Jimenez (Esp/BAN)                 00:33.
 6. Laurent Dufaux (Sui/FES)                     00:41.
 7. Fernando Escartin (Esp/KEL)                  00:41.
 8. Bjarne Riis (Dan/TEL)                        00:41.
 9. Francesco Casagrande (Ita/SAE)               01:07.
10. Abraham Olano (Esp/BAN)                      01:07.
80. Chris Boardman                               27:57.

Overall

 1. Cédric Vasseur (Fra/GAN)                 47 h 14:35.
 2. Jan Ullrich (All/TEL)               à         00:13.
 3. Abraham Olano (Esp/BAN)                       01:14.
 4. Bjarne Riis (Dan/TEL)                         01:43.
 5. Richard Virenque (Fra/FES)                    01:43.
 6. Fernando Escartin (Esp/KEL)                   02:14.
 7. Oskar Camenzind (Sui/MAP)                     02:27.
 8. Laurent Dufaux (Sui/FES)                      02:48.
 9. Daniele Nardello (Ita/MAP)                    03:49.
10. Laurent Brochard (Fra/FES)                    04:04.
72. Chris Boardman                                27:54.


Current Chris Status!



Current GAN Status!

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