NIMES France (Reuters) - It all ended in
tears for Garmin-Sharp domestique Jack Bauer after his chance of
realizing a boyhood dream and winning a Tour de France stage was
snatched away from him in the final 50 meters after a 222km breakaway.
With team leader Andrew Talansky injured and gone, the
Garmin-Sharp domestiques have been given a free ride on the Tour and
Bauer almost made the most of the opportunity on Sunday's 15th
stage.
The New Zealander formed the breakaway of the day with Swiss Martin
Elmiger of the IAM team and after a tense finale, he was caught as
the line approached by the chasing bunch.
"It's just a bitter, bitter disappointment. It's a childhood dream
to win a stage of the tour and for a domestique, like myself, I'm
normally working for others," said Bauer, who broke down in tears
after the finish of the stage won by Norway's Alexander Kristoff.
"This was my first chance to be up the road and with the change in
the wind and the weather, me and Martin realized we had a chance for
the win."
Swirling winds and tough weather, with heavy rain and storms, as
well as multiple roundabouts in the final kilometers, made it hard
for the chasing pack.
The duo had a 13-second lead with one kilometer left and had started
the usual cat-and-mouse mind game to win a two-man sprint.
Bauer was fresher than Elmiger but he was missing a few drops of
juice to go all the way.
"I faked to be tired but felt I had more punch left. I left it until
400 meters to go. I thought I had it," said Bauer.
That's when the peloton, with sprinters speeding at over 60 kph,
whizzed past him.
"I thought I had it but then I realized in the last 50 meters, that
I had nothing," he said.
Bauer, like other riders in the Garmin-Sharp team, had his leash
loosened after American Talansky, who had an outside chance of a
podium finish before the start of the race, withdrew with back pains
earlier this week.
Before he could fight for the stage win, he had to jockey for a spot
in the breakaway.
"A break is not just a group of people who are stronger than the
other 180 riders and they just ride away. It's a shuffle at the
start of the stage, it's a positioning thing, it's a motivational
thing after two hard days," said Bauer.
"A lot of people wanted a sprint finish but for us it was important.
After losing Talansky and not really having many stages in the last
week that suit, today was a day we wanted to gamble that a break
would stay away. It was so close but so far."
(Reporting by Julien Pretot, editing by Tony Goodson)
With team leader Andrew Talansky injured and gone, the
Garmin-Sharp domestiques have been given a free ride on the Tour and
Bauer almost made the most of the opportunity on Sunday's 15th
stage.
