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Stage 15
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Part 3 - Showdown in the AlpsThat Pascal Simon lasted two more days in the Yellow Jersey is as much a monument to Roland Berland's stupidity as Simon's courage. As it was, the Puy de Dôme time trial was won by Angel Arroyo from his teammate Delgado. Fignon, in tenth place, lost two minutes. With 500 metres to go, Simon had lost but two minutes of his lead, but as the gradient inexorably steepened, so Simon slowed - for remember, he could not climb out of the saddle - until he ended saving Berland's precious Yellow Jersey by just 40 seconds. Another monumental but ultimately futile effort by the Peugeot troops saw Simon finish in the bunch the next day, where Michel Laurent was awarded the victory after having been forced into the barriers by Lubberding. He won the stage but was destined not to start the following day. The next day, the first day proper in the Alps, saw Simon finally admit the inevitable after 56 miles, making Laurent Fignon the de facto leader. The inevitable early breaks went clear on a day of eight passes, ending at l'Alpe d'Huez, but the crucial one contained Bernadeau and Dominique Arnaud (Wolber), Winnen and Gerard Veldscholten (Raleigh), Raymond Martin (Co-op) and Alfio Vandi (Metauromobili). As one of Van Impe's last three remaining teammates, and the only noted climber amongst them, Vandi should perhaps have stayed with his leader. With Bernadeau and Winnen both having support in the break, the lead was soon at five minutes, making Winnen the leader on the road. Here Fignon displayed a cool nerve, chasing back in the company of Delgado and Van Impe. By the summit of l'Alpe d'Huez - where Winnen outwitted Bernadeau to score his second win on the Alpe in three years - Fignon had a deficit of just two minutes, and , for his troubles, his first ever Yellow Jersey. A rest day followed, and in the inevitable round of press interviews, Fignon considered Pedro Delgado his biggest threat - a sensible choice, judging by his superb form in what was his first Tour also. Yet like Millar, he was to lose any chance of victory due to one bad day, and in Delgado's case it took place on the next mountain stage to Morzine. The stage winner was Jacques Michaud, who went clear on the Col des Aravis, increased his lead on the Col de la Colombière and held on to win over the Joux Plane. Michaud was another who had lost all chance due to one bad day; he was to finish 35 minutes down in Paris, having lost 25 of those on l'Alpe d'Huez. Meanwhile, on the Aravis Fignon was again in trouble, nearly four minutes behind Peter Winnen, but once again a cool head and help from teammates Marc Madiot and Pascal Poisson saw him catch Winnen on the Joux Plane, and drop Bernadeau and Kelly to boot. Up ahead, Arroyo finished second on the stage to mark himself down as a potential challenger; then Edgar Corredor, Van Impe and Robert Alban together; then Roche and Millar, the "Peugeot twins". Then a further minute down, Fignon outsprinted Winnen for eigth place, with Bernadeau and Kelly a further 30 seconds behind. Whatever one might say about Fignon inheriting the Jersey, time was running out for his rivals. The Avoriaz Mountain Time Trial was expected to give Angel Arroyo - winner of the other mountain time trial on the Puy de Dôme - his chance against Fignon, but instead it was Lucian Van Impe who ran out the winner from the surprising Roche, and Arroyo took but one minute of the four he needed. Three days to go, and a second year professional, fourth in his team's heirarchy, was leading the Tour de France, without having won a stage. Nor, for that matter, had Green Jersey Sean Kelly, but with two flat stages and a flat time trial still to come, the chances of his doing so looked a lot more favourable than those of Fignon. The 170 miles to Dijon had five rush sprints on offer, giving away 12, 8 and 4 seconds each to the first three. With only seconds now covering Winnen, Van Impe, Arroyo, Alban and Bernadeau, one could be forgiven for being confused by Wolber's tactic of sending Phillipe Leleu on a 112 mile solo raid. The stage was duly won by 9 minutes, but it was Fignon - with a net gain of 24 seconds - who gained time that his rivals could ill afford to lose. Cometh the hour, cometh the man: in the Dijon time trial, held over an undulating 30 mile route, it was not Kelly, nor Arroyo, nor Roche who won, but rather an inspired Laurent Fignon, sowing up the Tour for good. Arroyo moved up to second overall from Winnen and Van Impe, with just five seconds separating the three overall, but Fignon had four minutes in hand. His victory in Paris was assured; more surprising was the fact that Winnen and Van Impe made no attempt to steal the few seconds they needed, so the finishing order on the last day remained unchanged. Van Impe, in fourth place, had at least a record-equalling sixth King of the Mountains title as consolation. Even more surprising was that Kelly, an emphatic winner of the Points Competition, was edged out in the final sprint by Gilbert Glaus, the 1978 World Amateur Champion. So Laurent Fignon won the Tour by 4 minutes, by virtue of all round dedication, very considerable self-control, self-confidence and a totally committed team. To readers bought up on the modern Tour, this event -just 15 years ago as I write - may seem odd. Gaps today judged in seconds were then measured in minutes. Robert Millar lost 17 minutes on one day, yet a few days later he took a large chunk of it back across the Pyrenees. Delgado and Michaud both climbed into contention only to lose, just as suddenly, 20 minutes each in the Alps. Meanwhile, Roche, Anderson and Millar were sacrificed for the greater good of a rider with a broken collar bone, and Arroyo's great all round ability was sacrificed for the unknown Delgado, at least in the Pyrenees. And where today we have grown used to the top four or five climbing together day after day, in 1983 Fignon, Arroyo, Winnen, Van Impe and Bernadeau were never all together in one group at the end of a mountain stage - indeed, rare were the days when more than two finished together. Each found their way into the top 5 by divergent routes. The '83 Tour was very well balanced in the demands it placed on the rider - flat stages were mixed with mountains, cobbles with moyenne montagne, and with doses of time trialling and team time trials that were frequent but not over long. Fignon was not the best climber in the race - Edgar Corredor finished ahead of him in all five mountain stages, yet finished over 26 minutes behind in Paris. Fignon wasn't the best time triallist - that honour belonged to Roche, who was to finsh 21 minutes down at the finish. Fignon didn't win on the cobbles or the flat stages, took little time in bonuses, nor on paper did he have the best team (though they worked hard for him, especially Poisson, Jules and Madiot). And yet...and yet in a balanced Tour filled with great specialists, the winner was the finest all rounder in the bunch. And in the year when Fignon, Roche, Millar and Delgado all came to prominence ahead of Van Impe, Zoetemelk and Agostinho, the finest all rounder in the bunch was a 22 year old Parisien by the name of Laurent Fignon. Well might that wily fox Guimard have smiled. Other Parts:
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