Chris Horner had one of the most disappointing days of his career yesterday, the Team RadioShack rider being visibly shaken after what was a torrid day for the American squad. The 38 year old spent much of the stage with team-mate Lance Armstrong, staying with the Texan after he was dropped on the climb of the Ramaz.
Armstrong ultimately finished over eleven minutes back, while Horner was given a green light to chase the bunch and crossed the line four minutes and five seconds back in 33rd place.
“I have never seen so much bad luck come so many times to the same rider in such a short period,” he wrote in his diary in The Oregonian, referring to Armstrong’s near crash soon after the start, his dramatic fall before the Ramaz, his explosion on the climb and then the bizarre incident at the top of Les Gets, when his bike was entangled in the machine of a fallen rider.
Horner gave a rider’s-eye view of how things unfolded in the race, and it gives an insight into what it was like to be a RadioShack rider on yesterday’s stage.
“Just a few miles before the climb started, Lance hit the deck hard in one of the roundabouts, doing at least 35 mph,” he wrote. “I'm not sure how it happened, and I didn’t have the time to ask him. I'm not sure if the other teams started riding hard at the front at that moment because they knew Lance had crashed or because they were trying to start the climb at the front, but either way, it was clear that the field wasn't going to be waiting for him.
“We sent everyone back for Lance except our climbers (Klodi, Levi, Jani and me), while Jani and I stayed at the back of the field in case they couldn't get Lance back to the group before the climb started. If that happened, then Jani and I would have dropped off the group and taken over for the other riders. Amazingly, despite the pace, the team got him back to the field just when the road started going up. We wasted no time at the back of the field asking what happened or if he was all right, instead taking him straight to the front of the field.”
However they had no time to regain energy, with Team Sky putting the hammer down and shedding riders out the back of the peloton. Horner said that he was amazed that Armstrong was able to ride, given the extent of the road rash he suffered in the crash, as well as the energy expected to chase the peloton down.
Those two factors began to take a toll, though, and things took a turn for the worst. “We were about two thirds of the way up the climb when Lance's voice came over the radio telling everyone that he was starting to have problems,” he continued. “I immediately went straight to his side, and he told me that something was wrong. I started riding tempo just in front of him as we began losing contact with the front group. I was hoping he was just having a bad patch, and would be able to recover and get back into a good rhythm with a little easier pace. Very soon after, Jani arrived at the front and started working with me.
"Jani bombed the descent, and we were hoping that the front group would hesitate just long enough for us to return to the group before the next climb, but we had no luck there either. The front group clearly wasn't interested in letting Lance get back on. After the descent, there was a small cat 3 climb. Near the summit, Lance got caught up in another crash. I don't believe he hit the pavement that time, but it was enough of a problem that he had to do what I call an ‘uncontrollable dismount.’”
Shortly before that incident, it became clear that the RadioShack riders had given up on the thoughts of getting Armstrong back on. They had eased back and simultaneously reached for their bottles, drinking water rather than dragging the group onwards. Other teams came to the front and took over, and it was clear that the Texan had resigned himself to his fate.
Brajkovic was asked to stay with him, while Horner was given a green light to begin chasing. He limited his losses but is now almost certainly too far back to aim for a place in the general classification. The team will instead throw its weight behind Levi Leipheimer.
Still, his solid ascent of the concluding Avoriaz climb was important for RadioShack. “When the last climb started, Dirk Demol [directeur sportif]…told me to ride the last climb hard because I would be the third guy on our team, and that would decide the team classification for the day. Luckily, my legs had come around and were feeling good! I got out of the saddle after the first few turns and started going hard and kept going until I hit the finish line, limiting the team’s losses on the stage.”
Horner and the other riders will use today’s rest day to regroup, rebuild their morale and work out the goals for the remainder of the race. The general classification hopes of Leipheimer are likely to be the main focus, with stage wins for Armstrong and others set to be secondary targets.