Leblanc has another go at Lance
2005-10-27 13:16
Paris - Tour de France director Jean-Marie Leblanc has predicted an exciting 2006 race in the absence of Lance Armstrong and taken another shot at the seven-time champion.
Leblanc announced the 2006 Tour route on Thursday, with the notable points being the absence of a team time trial, the return of L'Alpe d'Huez, and the matter of which rider takes the start line in the No 1 jersey now that Armstrong has retired.
"It is a classical, well-balanced course. There are five wonderful mountain stages," Leblanc said. "It is a change of era. A period of long domination is over. There will be (Jan) Ullrich and (Ivan) Basso, and others coming through as well. The path is open. It is an exciting time."
Leblanc said Armstrong was discredited by allegations printed in the L'Equipe sports newspaper on August 23, which claimed that he used the banned performance enhancer EPO during his first Tour win in 1999. Leblanc said there was relief in the sport that Armstrong will not be returning.
"Without doubt ... what we have learned has increased the lassitude toward him," Leblanc said. "He was not irreproachable in '99. EPO is a doping product. So this tempers and dilutes his performances and his credibility as a champion."
Armstrong vehemently denies any wrongdoing
Armstrong vehemently denies any wrongdoing. Leblanc made similar comments in August and Armstrong has said he is considering whether to take L'Equipe, France's national anti-doping laboratory and the Tour director to court.
The 2006 Tour starts on July 1 in Strasbourg, in the Alsace region of eastern France, then passes through Luxembourg, Germany and the Netherlands, before winding counterclockwise through the Pyrenees and then the Alps and ending on Paris' famed Champs-Elysees on July 23 - a total distance of 3 639km.
With five major mountain ascents - including the Col du Tourmalet, Col d'Izoard, and Col du Galibier - and three uphill finishes, the route is likely to favor the climbers.
In Armstrong's absence, 1997 Tour winner Ullrich of Germany, Basso of Italy, Spain's Alejandro Valverde and American rider Floyd Landis will try to dominate.
Basso likely to wear the No 1 jersey
Leblanc, who steps down after next year's race, said Team CSC rider Basso was likely to wear the No 1 jersey because he finished second last year. Ullrich was third.
In all, there are 22 climbs rated at category 1 or non-classified - the toughest of all.
The first time trial is on July 8, the seventh stage of the race, and is a 52km sprint from Saint-Gregoire to Rennes.
The second time trial is on the penultimate day, stage 19, and is a 56km run from Le Creusot to Montceau-les-Mines.
Assistant Tour director Christian Prudhomme said the decision to scrap the team time trial - won last year by Armstrong's Discovery Channel team - is a temporary decision due to scheduling difficulties, and that the event will return either in 2007 or 2008.
"The Tour can live with or without it," Prudhomme said.
The opening day prologue is to finish at around 16:30 local time so as not to clash with a World Cup quarter-final soccer match being held the same day in Germany.
In addition, the route has nine flat stages and four medium mountain stages.
Leblanc and Prudhomme insisted that the World Anti-Doping Agency has a prominent role to play, by ordering drug tests on riders in the weeks and days leading up to the 2006 Tour.
"We want more controlled (non-random) tests before the start of the Tour," Prudhomme said. "So riders don't disappear for three weeks and we know where they all are. Wada is a great idea and is necessary in today's sport. Suspicion is the worst thing that exists in sport."
- AP