| | By Fred Rodriguez
Special to ABC Sports Online
American cyclist Fred Rodriguez is riding for the Italian Mapei team -- the top-ranked team in the world for the past three years. In just his fifth year riding professionally, Rodriguez won the US Professional Championships in Philadelphia on June 4. Throughout the Tour de France, Rodriguez will take you through his first Tour de France -- sharing with you the ins and outs of the world's preeminent cycling event.
REVEL, France -- Unfortunately, we had another rainy day on Tuesday. We were all kind of hoping for a little sunshine after yesterday's stage. It was a really weird day weather-wise -- you can't really feel or see the rain, but you're getting wet anyway.
We had a Category 3 climb right from the start with Erik Dekker on the attack with Santiago Botero of the Kelme team. Banesto went to chase them right from the gun at about 50 kph, but they failed to make any real time on them. Finally, I think they realized those guys weren't coming back, and they let U.S. Postal take over.
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Lance Armstrong (yellow jersey) was well-protected on Tuesday by his teammates. |
So Postal took the reigns at a more moderate pace, and they let the gap grow -- I think it got up to 17 minutes at one point.
Once we hit the middle of the race, my legs were pretty shot, so I was just hoping for a nice group ride, but it wasn't happening. The guys just kept on accelerating through the hills.
Postal did a really good job of controlling the race again. With a little over 100 kilometers to go, they started picking it up, and there was a pretty heavy crosswind that actually benefited Postal because they were so compact and together up in front. The rest of the field really didn't have anywhere to hide -- nowhere to get a draft. It made for a pretty uncomfortable day.
Banesto was worried that the Kelme riders were going to gain too much time, so they really punched it the last 50k. With about 30k to go, the entire field really split into pieces. Luckily, I was able to stay in the front half. I was kind of hoping to cut in for a field sprint, knowing that Erik Zabel was probably the fastest guy there. I knew we'd have quite a push with about 10k to go.
As we progressed towards the finish, I was trying to stay near the front, but it was very difficult. Everyone in the group was trying to protect themselves from the wind -- Lance Armstrong, our guy Manuel Beltran, etc ...
The group split in half again by the time we hit the final climb. My legs had been dead tired from the last couple days -- I was definitely feeling my first Tour -- so I knew that this was a critical point for me. I can be a pretty effective climber in races that last five or six days, but the Tour de France format is new for me and certainly something that I will have to learn to adjust to.
Especially after yesterday's mountain stage, I was wondering if I could even make it across today. Wednesday's rest day will definitely come in handy for me.
But I still didn't finish too poorly on Tuesday. Actually, the last climb being a Category 3, I just wanted to hang back and see if I could make it because I was hurting. I figured Zabel would probably make it, so I tried to hang with him. I saw the 1k sign when I was already at full throttle, so I was pretty worried, so I backed off. But things leveled off a little, so I gave it another shot and I made it across to the group.
My teammates helped out the rest of the way; my legs were basically done.
At the halfway point of my first Tour, I'm really happy with my performance. I didn't really know what to expect coming in. I was just focused on giving everything I have for my team. My coaches and I have been really happy with my results so far, but I'm still hoping for better.
Hopefully, my legs will hold up the next couple of weeks, and I can build off a pretty good first half of the Tour. | |
ALSO SEE
Armstrong keeps overall lead in Tour de France
Quiet day on France's roads
Stage Eleven results
Rodriguez Diary No. 5
Rodriguez Diary No. 4
Rodriguez Diary No. 3
Rodriguez Diary No. 2
Rodriguez Diary No. 1
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