Third-placed rider fights heat and headwind
Olympic Champion Samuel Sánchez from the Basque Euskaltel-Euskadi team is still in third place overall after stage 10 of the Tour de France today. 179 kilometers were taxing, but the fight against the elements proved to be the toughest for the Spaniard.
Sánchez had to drink first, before talking after the stage. “The stage turned out to be really hard, due to the excessive heat and the headwind.” This was reflected by the winner being around half an hour behind the slowest calculated schedule, and the peloton, including Sánchez, a further 14 minutes back.
“The temperatures went above 40 degrees Celsius [104 Fahrenheit],” Sánchez said. These temperatures were measured in the shadow, though. “On the bicycle it is even hotter,” Sánchez explained the fact of radiant heat from the asphalt.
It wasn’t the first difficult day in the Tour de France this year. “Yesterday was very hard and it is noticeable that the power is going away a bit.” The experience has been the same for generations of professional cyclists. “This is the Tour de France and there are no easy days,” Sánchez said.
“This area is very difficult, geographically. There are hills constantly and they just keep going.” Sánchez admitted that the day wore him out and that “the legs weigh a little more.”
But the Spaniard is poised to hang on to his third place for as long as possible. His previous best at the Tour de France is a sixth overall, in the 2008 race. He would love to better this, and with plenty of mountains left, he could well hang on. He will draw strength from the fact that in 2008 he finished second in the stage to Alpe d’Huez.