Sunday, July 6, 1997
The following morning only 3,943km separated the riders from the finish in Paris. To get there the route would circle France in a counter clockwise direction hitting the Pyrenees first. Long before the mountains though came the sprinters stages. July 6 was the first one; a 192km ride to Froges les Eaux.
On the same afternoon Peter Sampras was winning his 4th Wimbledon title in five years, Mario Cipollini had winning ambitions of his own. He had finished 23rd in the prologue, 18 seconds behind Boardman. With bonus time on offer out on the road as well as on the line, he had to fancy his chances.
As it always does, an early break of three went up the road, but wouldn't last. They rarely do. With 40km to go, Cipollini put his Saeco team on the front to chase. Arturas Kasputis, Luca Colombo and Servais Knaven where caught with 15km left. With 10km to go and the pace high a crash brought down a dozen riders and held up thirty more. Gilles Talmant, who broke his collarbone, was the first man to abandon the '97 Tour. Caught behind were last years winner, Bjarne Riis. He would lose 58 seconds. Also caught up were Alex Zulle and Luc Leblanc who each lost 1 minute 35 seconds.
In the sprint it was Cipollini who rewarded his teams efforts with a powerful finish. Sporting his American flag shorts, he burst past Tom Steels and Fredric Moncassin to win. The time bonus on the line was enough to propel him past Boardman and into yellow. The flamboyant playboy Cipollini was later fined for those American shorts, but it isn't like he will care. All eyes will be on what he will wear tomorrow with his yellow jersey.
So Boardman had lost his jersey within five hours of racing and Riss now found himself 1 minute 11 seconds behind Ullrich already.
The following day brought more sprinting and another Cipollini victory. Decked out in his yellow jersey, shorts, shorts, glasses, and of course, yellow bike, the Italian looked cool as ever. Or ridiculous, depending on who you asked! But he was never going to lose. Not after all that effort. This was the days before bikes matching the colour of jerseys was the norm. Everyone who would do it later can thank Cipollini for paving the way.
The break today belonged to lone escapee, Thierry Gouvenou. He was out for 110km before they reeled him in with 40km to go. In the sprint, Cipollini looked boxed in with 100m left, but found a way through and in a late surge came past Erik Zabel. The time bonuses gave Super Mario a 36 second lead on Boardman, and more so, 49 seconds on Zabel.
There was little reason to believe Cipollini wouldn't carry the jersey all the way to the mountains on stage 9. Everything before that would be flat and suited to the fast men. (You think there's a lot on the first week in 2017, but that is how the first week of the Tour always went in the 90's).
And so it looked when on stage 3 Zabel grabbed a win followed by Nicola Minali a day later. In the third stage Cipollini was looking to become the first man since Gino Bartali in 1948 to win three stages in a row at the Tour. The finish though was up a drag to the line and wouldn't suit the big Italian. Zabel hung on and came around rising star Franck Vandenbroucke of Mapei to take the win. In proof of how difficult the finish was, Riis managed third ahead of Jalabert, with Ullrich in 8th. It cost Cipollini 11 seconds and reduced his lead over Zabel to 14 seconds. Earlier in the day, disaster struck the Cofidis team when veteran Tony Rominger crashed and broke his collarbone. The crash ended his race, and brought about his retirement.
Minali's win in stage four came as a shock to Zabel in green and Cipollini in yellow. Time bonuses out on the road, and at the line, reduced Cipollini's lead in yellow to 4 seconds over Zabel. Stage 5 was set up for Cippo's revenge, and he would need it if he wanted to keep that jersey. All eyes where on them. Nobody had heard of Cedric Vasseur, despite the fact his father had won a stage of the Tour in 1970. Cedric could target a stage like tomorrow to go out on the break for a few hours, but they'd soon reel him in. Right? Well, the Frenchman had other ideas.
General classification after stage 4:
1. Mario Cipollini (Saeco) in 21h56'46"
2. Erik Zabel (Telekom) +4"
3. Chris Boardman (GAN) +35"
4. Jan Ullrich (Telekom) +37"
5. Frank Vandenbroucke (Mapei) s.t.
6. Abraham Olano (Banesto) +45"
