A minute at the start of a big climb? There is a story from cycling's Dark Ages ...
Eros Poli's job was leadout man for Mario Cipollini. He was 194cm tall and weighed 85kg. If the peloton had taken a vote on "least likely to win on Mont Ventoux", he would have been the leading contender. And yet, on stage 15 of the 1994 Tour de France, he did triumph on Ventoux. Or rather, he triumphed over it. That year, the Ventoux stage did not finish at the top of Ventoux, but down the other side in Carpentras. So when Poli attacked 60km into the stage, still 100km from the start of the climb, the peloton let him go.
Naturally, Poli was not very fresh when he started Ventoux, after his 100km time trial. When the peloton finally got there after him, another big man, Miguel Induráin, put down the hammer. He had no interest in catching Poli, he just wanted to control his rivals; but the effect was to bring back Poli at *one minute per kilometer*. However, since Poli started the climb with 25 of them in hand, he cleared the summit still holding a 5 minute lead; more than enough to ensure a famous victory.
Thank you for the finer distinction put to that common observation that it's a "cruel" sport. Reading about a stage I supposedly saw makes me wonder about my (lack of) powers of observation!
A minute at the start of a big climb? There is a story from cycling's Dark Ages ...
Eros Poli's job was leadout man for Mario Cipollini. He was 194cm tall and weighed 85kg. If the peloton had taken a vote on "least likely to win on Mont Ventoux", he would have been the leading contender. And yet, on stage 15 of the 1994 Tour de France, he did triumph on Ventoux. Or rather, he triumphed over it. That year, the Ventoux stage did not finish at the top of Ventoux, but down the other side in Carpentras. So when Poli attacked 60km into the stage, still 100km from the start of the climb, the peloton let him go.
Naturally, Poli was not very fresh when he started Ventoux, after his 100km time trial. When the peloton finally got there after him, another big man, Miguel Induráin, put down the hammer. He had no interest in catching Poli, he just wanted to control his rivals; but the effect was to bring back Poli at *one minute per kilometer*. However, since Poli started the climb with 25 of them in hand, he cleared the summit still holding a 5 minute lead; more than enough to ensure a famous victory.
thank you, again.
Thank you for the finer distinction put to that common observation that it's a "cruel" sport. Reading about a stage I supposedly saw makes me wonder about my (lack of) powers of observation!