Chris Horner may have gone to the Tour de France as primarily a support rider for Lance Armstrong and Levi Leipheimer, but the 38 year old is now poised to finish as the highest-placed RadioShack rider – and best American - in the race.
Horner underlined his ability earlier this year when he won the Vuelta al Pais Vasco, beating Alejandro Valverde by seven seconds. He sealed his victory with a triumph in the concluding time trial, taking the best win of his career in style. (Valverde was subsequently disqualified from all 2010 results by the Court of Arbitration in Sport.)
However he has illustrated his talent before, most notably when finishing fifteenth overall in the 2007 Tour de France. He rode that race in support of Davitamon-Lotto team-mate Cadel Evans, who finished second overall, yet still had the strength to take a top 20 overall placing himself.
Horner first turned professional way back in 1997, racing briefly in Europe with the Française des Jeux team. That didn’t work out and he returned to the US, racing with the Mercury, Prime Alliance, Saturn and Webcor Builders squads before moving back to Europe again when he got a contract with Saunier Duval.
He moved to Astana in 2009 but suffered bad injuries in several crashes. He still hoped to be selected for the Tour de France but was ultimately left off the team as the manager Johan Bruyneel needed to show balance between team-mates loyal to Lance Armstrong and to Alberto Contador.
Riding with RadioShack this year meant that issue wasn’t a problem, and he duly headed to the Tour in order to ride for Lance Armstrong. When the Texan fell on the stage to Morzine-Avoriaz, Horner accompanied him until being given the green light to go ahead; he nevertheless ended up losing four minutes and five seconds, dropping back to 23rd overall. That left Levi Leipheimer as the best-placed RadioShack rider in eighth place, and Horner switched to riding in his service.
However Leipheimer cracked yesterday, losing serious time and dropping back to thirteenth overall. Horner performed better and came home eight on the stage, one minute 45 seconds back.
It was, he said, a stage of limiting losses. “In the end, the day went OK for the team,” he stated on his blog on Oregonlive.com. “We did lose Levi’s top 10 GC thanks to the illness that we’ve been passing back and forth to one another on the team, but we came closer to securing the team classification, and I moved up to 10th on GC.”
The key was to use his energy wisely and choosing the right riders to be with. “We were 5 miles into the Tourmalet when Andy attacked, exploding our already small group,” he wrote. “Contador followed him right away, while Rodriguez and Menchov tried to follow as well.
“I followed on the wheel of Samuel Sanchez, who just happened to be catching his teammate who had been in the break all day. Sanchez's teammate took over, pulling just long enough to get us close to the Menchov group, before Sanchez jumped hard and closed the gap. It didn't take long for our group to increase in size again. Soon, all the favorites were back together, with the exception of Contador and Schleck who were up the road, locked in a battle of their own.”
Rabobank rider Robert Gesink was leading the group in order to try to help out his team-mate Denis Menchov, who started the stage fourth overall. Horner sat on Hesjedal’s wheel, although he had to let the Canadian go when he attacked near the top. Menchov and Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha) also clipped away, and Horner remained with Gesink. He slipped back slightly with 250 meters to go, conceding a handful of seconds.
The final general classification of the race will be determined by tomorrow’s 52 kilometre time trial and, as he showed in the Volta a Pais Vasco, he is well able to race against the clock. He is one minute 19 seconds behind Ryder Hesjedal in eighth, and just 25 seconds off the Liquigas-Doimo rider Roman Kreuziger. If he is on a strong day he can aim to move up one or two places but, either way, he is set for his best-ever finish in the race. It’s a strong achievement, particularly for someone who has spent most of the past three weeks riding for others.