What should have been high-speed blast through the rolling hills of the Limousin region, was instead a placid procession of silent protesters; protesters who denied they were protesting.
Stage Ten marked the first test of the Tour’s radio ban, where riders would not have contact with their racing directors, and the directors were forbidden to follow the race on TV. It was a return to the past (pre-1990) and it was not a welcome return for most riders, it seemed.
The team directors met before the race, to plan a response to the controversial radio ban. Some directors, led by Team Astana’s Johann Bruyneel, were vehemently opposed. Others, not so much. In the end nothing was resolved.
The riders had different opinions, mostly based on their preferred riding style. Sprinters, who really didn’t need to know about the race until the final kilometer, didn’t much care.
Garmin-Slipstream sprinter Tyler Farrar said, “Once you get into the end of the race it’s really not going to matter that much, as far as sprinting goes. Julian [Dean, Farrar's lead-out rider] and I know what we need to do. We’re talking more just next to each other rather than over the radio.” Cervelo sprinter Thor Hushovd said simply, “I don’t think it’s going to make too big a difference.”
Lance Armstrong, whose Astana team owes its success to team discipline, cooperation and planning, was humorously but strongly opposed.
“I will be so lost today without the radio. I am bringing my phone. I am calling back to the States to find out what’s going on,” Armstrong joked.
“I like having them. There’re arguments to be made on both sides but … I think it is better to have them.
We’ve evolved into that. The bikes look the way they look today, the wheels look the way they look today … Let’s not turn back now.”
The Non-Race
The race began—slowly. The riders rode at about 35 kph (22 mph), a relaxed training pace for them. Four riders attacked, but slowly. The peloton rode the first 175 km course in slow motion. The riders in the breakaway: Thierry Hupont of Skil-Shimano, Benoit Vaugrenaud (Française des Jeux), Mikhail Ignatiev (Katusha), and Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis) maintained a constant small gap over the peloton, never accelerating or decelerating.
The Race
Finally, with 20 km to go, the whole field started racing (for having no communication, they seemed to work quite well together.) In a matter of minutes, the peloton ran down the hapless breakaway and set up for a group sprint finish.
The Denial
After the race, no rider would admit there was any protest, or even that anything unusual had happened. The riders had made their point, and did not want to create unnecessary unrest.
The Tour is planning one more radio-free day, on Stage Thirteen, the intense mountain stage from Vittel to Colmar. On the narrow mountain roads, communication will be impossible as the different attacking groups will be strung out along miles of road, out of sight and earshot. Will the riders again decline to race? Will the Tour reconsider the radio ban?
Stay tuned to this station.
