CHATEAUNEUF-DU-PAPE, France — Six days remain in the Tour de France and Tyler Farrar is faring well. But like the rest of the weary field, the rider from Wenatchee knows the pending days in the Alps will likely be the race’s most difficult.
The Tour de France is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Alps as part of the race, most notably the Col du Galibier and Alpe d’Huez, arguably the most famous mountain in race history.
The overall race winner will likely be determined in the mountains over the four days beginning with Wednesday’s 111.2-mile trek from Gap to Pinerolo in Italy in stage 17. Four beyond category climbs combined will test the field in stages 18 and 19, including ascents of the Col du Galibier on both days. The stage 18 finish at Galibier Serre-Chevalier (elevation 8,675 feet) will be the highest finish in race history and will likely shatter the field.
From left, Tyler Farrar, Ryder Hesjedal, David Millar, Christian Vande Velde of the Garmin-Cervelo team. Image © James Raia
Farrar, who finished second in stage 15 on Sunday, won stage 3 and finished third in stage 11, will attempt to do exactly what he did in the Pyrenees. He’ll likely ride near the back of the pack and hope to finish within the time cutoff and avoid crashes.
If successful, Farrar will have Sunday’s race finale with its finish on the Champs Elysees as his final sprinters’ stage win opportunity.
Farrar was upset after his runner-up status in stage 15. Moments after the race, he vented to reporters that he wondered how winner Mark Cavendish, the British rider who has now won four stages, was able to get to the front of the field so quickly when he’d been dropped by the rear of the field in the waning miles. The insinuation was that Cavendish held onto a team car.
But following Monday’s rest day luncheon in a chateau in southeastern France known for its boutique wines, Farrar dismissed his comments as just something that happened in the heat of competition.
Instead, the Garmin-Cervelo rider, now one of only two Americans who have won stages in all of cycling’s grand tours, discussed this year’s race, the strategies of sprinting and the loss of his best friend Wouter Weylandt, the Belgian rider who died in a crash May 2 in the Tour of Italy
Question: If you make it through the Alps and arrive in Paris, would you be satisfied with your Tour de France this year?
Tyler Farrar: Yeah. My goal was to win a stage here and I’ve done that. But, you know, I’m still very focused on Paris (the finish of the final stage). I’m satisfied, but I would be more satisfied if I could win another stage.
Q: This is your third Tour de France. How does a sprinter get better at sprinting? Or is it the team around him that makes sprinter a better sprinter?
TF: It’s a little bit of everything. I’ve certainly refined my training for the last three years. It’s a process of trial and error . . . figuring out what makes me faster, what doesn’t. What race program works best for preparing for the big races and what doesn’t work as well.
And it’s also the team. It’s getting a good lead-out. We’ve gotten better, but we still aren’t getting it right everyday. We still have a little ways to go when it comes to that.
Q: Specifically, and going back to be a better sprinter, Is it looking for a better opening? Or more power? Or is it strategy?
TF: It’s really a balance. You’re always trying to improve your training to be explosive and as strong as possible for the sprint. But it’s also the tactics and it’s also riding the sprint intelligently and gauging your sprint right.
Yesterday was a good example of miss timing. It was too late. I made up a lot of ground in the sprint, but I was coming from a little too far back and needed more time. Sometimes, you get away with that. But when you’re racing against (Mark) Cavendish and HTC, you don’t get away with that. You have to do it all perfectly if you want to win.
Q: You’ve won a lot of sprints, so I’m hedging what I’m asking, but do you have to be a badass to be a great sprinter or can you be a nice guy and be a great sprinter?
TF: I think you can turn it (your personality) on and off. In the closing kilometer, you can’t necessarily be a nice guy, but you don’t have to be like that (difficult) off the bike as well. That’s what I try to do. I don’t always succeed. Sometimes emotions get the better of you. I think there’s a race and then there’s everything else.
Q: Do you know your race scheduled beyond the Tour de France?
TF: Actually, I have no idea of my race program beyond the Tour de France. I guess I’ll find out it Paris.
Q: There are three stages in the Alps Are you concerned that the gruppetto (the back of the pack) might not make it within the time limit?
TF: The Alps are never easy. It’s the third week of the Tour. You can feel really great and have a bad day come at you out of nowhere. You can barely survive or not survive. So, it won’t be easy. You just have to try and take care of yourself and get through it as best you can.
Q: Last year, you crashed out of the Tour de France. But you finished the race the first time in 2009. Can you compare your first year here with this year?
TF: The first Tour was a bit of an eye-opener. It was only my second grand tour (three-week race) ever. And the first one, I had a pre-planned quitting day after two weeks. I wasn’t sure how the third week was going to go and how my body was going to react.
I’ve done a lot more since then. I finished my first Tour de France. I finished the Tour of Spain last year. I’ve done big blocks in other grand tours. So, I am a bit more confident in the third week of this Tour. Although like I said, it’s not going to be easy.
Q: Considering what you went through in May (the death via the Tour of Italy crash of his best friend Wouter Weylandt), is finishing the Tour de France part of the recovery or is just being here part of the process?
TF: To be honest, I don’t equate the two very much. Like I said in an earlier question, there’s the bike race and there’s the rest of life. And that (the loss of his friend) is pretty firmly in the rest of life. It wasn’t the easiest lead-up to the Tour de France for me, on a personal and emotional level. I’m glad that I was able to work through it and get here and do as well as I have. I mean Paris will be a big relief for everyone. It always is.
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