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'I wanted to smash his head in. I couldn't stand to be near him'

By Nicolas Roche

Tuesday July 20 2010

Stage 15: Monday, July 19 -- Pamiers to Bagneres-de-Luchon (187.5km)

If John Gadret is found dead in his hotel room in the morning, I will probably be the primary suspect. The 31-year-old French climber has been a team-mate of mine at Ag2r for the past two years.

Although we never had more than what you could call a workmanlike relationship, we never had any reason to fall out or take a dislike to each other over the past two years. But after today's stage, as he sat beside me on the team bus I had great difficulty in not putting his head through the nearest window.

Today was yet another really tough mountain stage, with the summit of a massive mountain coming just 20kms from the finish.

At 25km long, the ascent of the Port de Bales is one of those climbs that is too hard to rank and is classed as an Hors Category climb. If anyone was going to attack the leaders today, this is where it would be.

As usual, the Saxo Bank team of yellow jersey Andy Schleck set a fast tempo on the climb and the peloton began to lose riders out the back door.

I knew that if I could hang on going over the top, I could take a lot of time out of some of the guys in front of me on the overall classification and move up a few places from my overnight position of 14th overall.

Halfway up the climb, I was riding pretty comfortably in the Contador and Schleck group and some of the guys ahead of me like Basso and Kloden were beginning to struggle. As most of the other team leaders were left on their own, I was looking to move into the top 10 overall and still had Gadret with me for support. Or so I thought.

Six kilometres from the top of the climb, just as the pace began to increase at the front, I punctured a front wheel. I pulled over to the side of the road and as Gadret was riding behind me, I asked him for his wheel as he rode alongside.

This is a perfectly normal request if the team car is not around. To save time, a team-mate will often give his team leader a wheel or even his bike if necessary. I have done it plenty of times over the years, as have most cyclists, amateur or professional, at some stage in their careers.

As our team car was No 11 in the cavalcade and it would take a lot of time for them to get to me through the streams of dropped riders, I asked Gadret -- who was there to help me -- for his wheel. I couldn't believe what happened next. He just shook his head and said 'Non'. At first I thought he was joking, but soon realised he wasn't when he kept riding past me.

As my team manager, Vincent Lavenu, in the car behind shouted into Gadret's earpiece to wait, I took my wheel out and waited for a new one. All the time the group -- including Gadret -- was riding up the mountain, away from me.

After what seemed like an eternity, I eventually got a front wheel off the yellow Mavic neutral service car. Because the Mavic cars have to service any rider that needs a wheel or is in mechanical difficulty when their team car can't get to them, they don't have their wheels set up to fit everybody's frames instantly.

My wheel change took way longer than normal as the mechanic unscrewed the wheel's skewer to fit my front fork. At this stage, I was like a bull. I hopped back on my bike only to discover that my new wheel had been put in at an angle and was rubbing off the brake blocks. I leaned down and opened my front brake and, fuelled by rage, started passing groups on the climb.

All I could think of was getting to the finish as quickly as possible. Rage alone though, wasn't going to get me back up to the front of the race. Unbelievably, Gadret had attacked Schleck and Contador near the top, even though there was a group five minutes up the road and he had absolutely no chance of winning the stage.

Vincent was still screaming in our earpieces, calling Gadret every name under the sun and telling him to wait for me on the descent and help me claw back some time on the long run in to the finish. Gadret, though, just ignored him and kept riding.

Encouragement

There were loads of Irish flags on the climb and the encouragement from the fans, some of whom were wearing GAA jerseys, spurred me on even more. I flew up the last kilometre and having passed lots of riders on the way up, I found myself on my own on the descent. I nearly killed myself on the first two corners because in my state of rage and frustration I had forgotten that my front brake was still open.

I had to tighten it as I was descending, which slowed me down again. I spent the rest of the stage on my own, chasing like a madman. I didn't know who I had passed or who was in front of me. I could see world champion Cadel Evans up the road and was fixated on catching him next but the line came too quickly.

I had finished almost eight minutes behind stage winner Thomas Voeckler but more importantly, I lost between three and five minutes to some of the guys that I should have put time into and dropped three places to 17th.

My team-mate Lloyd Mondory had also been in the early break and did a fantastic job to get fourth on the stage. Lloyd is a sprinter and this wasn't his type of stage at all, so to get fourth was a tremendous ride and even though I was angry at Gadret, I was really happy for Lloyd.

After the stage, I reminded Vincent that Gadret was on the team for another two years, and that I hoped he never asked me for anything again, because I would not forget today for a long time. Gadret finished three minutes ahead of me and now lies just two places and two minutes behind me. He is the first French rider overall. Maybe he wants to be the first Ag2r rider too.

By the time I got onto the team bus, Vincent was already in the middle of a blazing row with Gadret.

Although I wanted to smash his head in, and had visions of a baldy French climber exiting through the windscreen, I let Vincent do his job as team manager and said nothing. I got off the bus as quickly as possible and travelled to the hotel in the team car. I couldn't stand to be near him. I will have to keep my hands in my pockets at the dinner table.

Although I am too angry to have thought about it properly yet, I will possibly have to go on the attack now to gain back the time I lost today. If I want to finish in the top 15, I have two options.

I can hang in there on the climbs and hope some of the guys in front of me blow up like they did today, or I can get in an early move and try to stay away to the finish, taking back a bit of time.

I know a move like this can be suicidal and can cost you a lot of time, but I want to finish in the top 15. I'm 17th, so I have nothing to lose.

- Nicolas Roche

Irish Independent

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Op dinsdag 20 juli 2010 09:52 schreef groenen het volgende:
Roche is volgens mij niet echt een betere klimmer dan Gadret, ik zie niet in waarom iemand moet wachten op iemand die 14de staat in het klassement.

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Op dinsdag 20 juli 2010 09:52 schreef groenen het volgende:
Roche is volgens mij niet echt een betere klimmer dan Gadret, ik zie niet in waarom iemand moet wachten op iemand die 14de staat in het klassement.

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Op dinsdag 20 juli 2010 10:07 schreef Sheepcidus het volgende:

[..]

Gadret zelf had toch niets te winnen?

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Op dinsdag 20 juli 2010 10:07 schreef Sheepcidus het volgende:

[..]

Gadret zelf had toch niets te winnen?

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Op dinsdag 20 juli 2010 10:35 schreef SteveBudin het volgende:

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Beste fransman in de tour en dat zal wel goed zijn voor wat meer startgeld in de criteriums.
Gadret hoort overigens gewoon zijn wiel af te staan aan de kopman. Roche verliest nu 4 minuten en hij had nog zicht op een top 10 klassering. Dat wordt nu een stuk lastiger. Als ploegleider zou ik die Gadret gewoon uit de Tour halen, als knecht is hij toch nutteloos.

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Op dinsdag 20 juli 2010 10:46 schreef Zemi77 het volgende:

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Als franse ploeg de hoogst geklasseerde franse renner uit de tour halen omdat hij een middelmatige renner niet wil helpen?

I don't think so.

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Op dinsdag 20 juli 2010 11:09 schreef groenen het volgende:
Knecht...Kopman

Ik denk niet dat het zo zwart-wit is bij een vrijbuitersploeg als Ag2R.

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Op dinsdag 20 juli 2010 10:29 schreef groenen het volgende:

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Is top 15 winnen dan?

In dat geval kan Gadret ook top 20 rijden en beste Fransman worden.

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Op dinsdag 20 juli 2010 11:22 schreef Ericr het volgende:
Roche vroeg het in directe zin aan Gadret, is toch wel iets anders dan een Pauwels die in de voorste gelederen rijdt en orders krijgt om af te zakken en daar Sastre te helpen.

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Cycling: 'It's been three weeks of suffering and stress. Now, I've had enough'
Stage 16: Tuesday July 20 -- Bagneres de Luchon to Pau (199.5km)


The peloton makes its way up an incline during the 16th stage of the Tour de France between Bagneres-de-Luchon and Pau.


Cycling Tours of the Legendary Cols Secures a Place on L'Etape du Tour

www.FrenchCyclingHolidays.com

By N Roche

Wednesday July 21 2010

I was really angry and very frustrated after Sunday's stage. I had been riding well, had good legs and, with some of my rivals getting dropped on the climb of the Port de Bales, looked to be heading closer to a top-10 finish overall in this year's Tour.

Having punctured on the climb, I had asked my team-mate John Gadret to give me his front wheel. He refused, kept riding and even went on the attack as I was trying to get back on. He defied team orders to wait and help me up to the group and, as a result, I spent the rest of the stage chasing on my own, losing almost eight minutes and dropping to 17th overall.

I was so angry I had to travel in the team car to the hotel, as Gadret was on the bus and I was afraid we would come to blows. Last night we had a team de-briefing after the stage and myself and John both had a chance to explain what happened on the road earlier. I gave my piece; that I was team leader, lying 14th on the stage, with a good chance to go into the top 10 and that (a) Gadret refused to give me his wheel when I punctured; (b) he attacked the front group while I was trying to get back on and (c) he had ignored team orders to wait and help me to the group in front.

Contrary to some reports, Gadret didn't say that he hadn't got his earpiece in or didn't hear instructions over the team radio. His explanation was that he was defending his position overall. At the start of the day he was 23rd, 13 minutes and 50 seconds behind then race leader Andy Schleck and was best French rider overall, ahead of Christophe LeMevel of Francaise De Jeux. He also said he was defending the team's overall position. We began the stage fourth overall in the team category, nearly 19 minutes behind leaders Caisse Depargne and it's highly unlikely we'd catch them.

After the stage, Gadret had moved up to 20th overall. Instead of jumping up a few places, I had dropped three places to 17th and the team had lost another three minutes to Caisse Depargne. It just didn't make sense. It didn't then and it doesn't now. Gadret wasn't budging, though, and team boss Vincent Lavenu wasn't happy with the bad publicity.

Speaking to friends and family for a while on the phone calmed me down a bit, but I had to turn my phone off afterwards because journalists kept ringing me. I didn't want to talk to any of them.

This morning everybody acted like nothing had happened. For me, I decided it would be better to turn the page and forget about it. I'm not going to be going for a beer on holidays with him, but I didn't want to undo all the good work the team, including John, have done for me since this Tour started. Besides, myself and Gadret have to ride on the same team for another year, so I have to be mature about the situation and move on. I have the support of the team, but John can do his own thing.

Today we spoke normally. John gave me bottles during the stage. We even stopped for a leak together as we went over the top of the last climb, although the question of who would lead who back to the peloton never came up as he took longer than me and we made our own way back.

Today was probably the hardest mountain stage of this year's Tour. As soon as we started we had the first category climb of the Col du Peyresourde, the top coming just 11km into the 200km stage. After that we went down the far side and straight up another first category climb, the Col d'Aspin, before tackling the monster that is the Col du Tourmalet and then another Hors Category mountain, the 25km long Col d'Aubisque.

Having lost so much time yesterday, I knew the only way I was going to get it back was to get into a long breakaway and hopefully stay away until the finish. When I saw Lance Armstrong attacking on the first climb just after the start, I knew it was time to go. Lance doesn't waste energy going eight or nine times. When Lance goes, he goes once and he doesn't come back.

A group of 12 went clear, including myself, Armstrong, Bradley Wiggins of Sky and Roman Kreuziger of Liquigas. Kreuziger's team-mate Sylvester Smyd, a really strong climber, was also there and knowing we could potentially claw back 10 minutes and Kreuziger would shoot up the GC (after the starting the day 11th overall), Smyd set a ferocious pace on the front as we climbed. Soon, I was in trouble, though. My legs were burning and I couldn't keep up. Near the top, the pace was way too fast for me and I could only watch in frustration as the 11 others rode away from me.

Behind us the Astana team of yellow jersey Alberto Contador were ripping the peloton to shreds in an effort to catch the break. They soon caught me and, still suffering with the pace, I drifted to the back of what was maybe a 25-man group. A kilometre from the summit, I was in real trouble and got dropped. I had covered 11km and had 188km to go.

Descent

Our stage winner from stage 15, Christophe Riblon and Swiss champion Martin Elmiger waited for me at the top and we chased back on the descent. With such a big group up front, the favourites were not too keen on letting them go and were riding full pelt to try and catch them, with us riding full pelt to catch them.

We went down the descent and began to climb the Col d'Aspin. Ahead of us, the race was in smithereens, the eyeballs-out start to the stage saw riders getting shelled out everywhere. Christophe set a steady tempo on the mountain and slowly but surely we caught and passed individual riders. By the top, we were in the third group on the road, behind the Armstrong break and the yellow jersey group. I knew if I didn't get across the gap to the second group, I could kiss any hope I had of a top-20 finish goodbye.

Thanks to Christophe and Martin, my group made contact with the back of the yellow jersey group at the bottom of the Tourmalet, but immediately we were faced with another 18km of climbing to the highest point in the race. One of my favourite memories from last year's Tour is of leading the peloton over the Tourmalet, a legendary Tour climb, with the yellow jersey of my team-mate Nocentini behind me, followed by Contador and Armstrong.

This time around, though, I was suffering, but Irish fans, who were on every climb today with their tricolours, made the pain bearable. Thankfully the favourites seemed to have worn themselves out and having caught dangerman Kreuziger, I took it a bit easier on this climb as the break gathered momentum and built up a huge lead.

As we hit the slopes of the final mountain, we had 30km to climb before a 20km long descent and another 40km to go to the finish. The break that I had been in, was now almost 10 minutes up the road and would finish with almost seven minutes advantage.

Enough to see me jump up to seventh overall, if I had been able to hang on to them. Instead, I crossed the line in 13th place on the stage after a failed attempt to lead out Martin in the sprint from the peloton. I also dropped a place to 18th overall as Chris Horner was in the break and the American leapt up to 14th.

I'm annoyed today because the group I had been in stayed away until the finish, taking almost seven minutes out of the peloton. I'm frustrated because after tomorrow's rest day there is only one real chance to take back any time and I know I will not take back seven or eight minutes. I came here wanting to finish in the top 15, if the truth be told probably nearer to the top 10. I know that with a little luck, I could have finished higher and to me, 18th place is not good enough.

It's been a very demanding Tour, and there are riders all over the place at this stage. Now, I've had enough. It's been three weeks of suffering, tiredness and stress. I just want to get to Paris and would prefer to race tomorrow and get there a day earlier.

- N Roche

Irish Independent

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I hopped back on my bike only to discover that my new wheel had been put in at an angle and was rubbing off the brake blocks. I leaned down and opened my front brake and, fuelled by rage, started passing groups on the climb