If you believe Phonak team director John Lelangue, then the events of Saturday’s 230km stage 13 run from Beziers to Montelimar were all part of the master plan.

Lelangue brushed off the notion that letting the yellow jersey go was a gamble, reverting to his now-familiar mantra that the only thing that matters is the final outcome.

Lelangue claimed that even before the peloton rolled out for another scalding day in the saddle, his team’s hold on the overall GC was not the No. 1 priority.

“It was the strategy already in the morning on the bus,” explained the Phonak boss after team captain Floyd Landis ceded 29:57 and the yellow jersey to Spaniard Oscar Pereiro. “We said that if there is a breakaway with riders that are more than 30 minutes down, we can let them go. If it was somebody dangerous, we would keep it at 20-25 minutes, and keep the jersey. But if it’s better to give the jersey to somebody else, we give it. For me, I only need it on the podium on [July] 23rd. That’s the objective.”

Lelange meets reporters after Phonak handed off the jersey

Photo: Jason Sumner

And that’s just how the day unfolded, after a five-man break rolled up the road early in the day. Pereiro was low-man in the group, a distant 28:50 behind Landis, which meant an easy day for Phonak, who set only moderate tempo not willing to give Pereiro too much time. The final tally was 1:29, a margin no one at Phonak was particularly concerned about.

“Yesterday we had hoped that a breakaway would go with some guys who were 30 minutes down or so,” said Landis, who addressed a crush of media from the front step of the team bus. “We didn’t get so lucky and it was a hard day for everybody. Today we were lucky. It was a small group of guys, and all of them were pretty far down. We just took it easy and whether we caught them or not, we wanted to ride a certain speed. I think people are going to look to us to control the race no matter if we have the lead or not.”

This strategy is a great departure from recent Tours, when Discovery Channel and before that U.S. Postal had the gas and the guns to control the race at will. But Landis, once a key cog in the big blue machine, knows that his team doesn’t possess the same firepower.

“I think no matter what happens next we have to gamble a little bit, because we can’t ride the front everyday all day,” added Landis. “[Discovery] was always confident that they could control everyday, and sometimes it works and it’s easier. But a lot of times it’s more difficult that way and I would rather be conservative. I don’t think we need to keep the jersey everyday. To me it was better to save the team because we still have nine days to go. If I have it in Paris and I don’t win any stages that will be fine. We have no regrets at all. I’m confident and comfortable and proud of my team.”

Indeed, Landis would have been okay passing on the GC lead Friday, but Discovery’s Yaroslav Popovych was a rider they weren’t willing to gamble on. As soon as the Ukrainian made it into the decisive break, Landis had to marshal his troops to the front, making sure the gap didn’t get out of hand.

But Pereiro is another matter. The former Phonak rider dropped more than 26 minutes during stage 11’s run to Pla de Beret, and was 1:40 back of Landis in the first time trial.

“We know what his abilities are in the mountains,” said Lelangue. “We have seen him in the Pyrenees. We know with this kind of gap, that was no problem for us. He was on our team last year, so I know him very well. I know what he can do in the last time trial.”

Voigt exults
If there was one team that needed a stage win here at the 93rd Tour de France, then CSC was it. Their sad-sack saga is familiar: Ivan Basso kicked out, Bobby Julich crashed out, and so on and so on.

CSC started the day with just six riders, but Jens Voigt was all they needed. The German launched away from new yellow jersey holder Oscar Pereiro near the end of stage 13 to finally give his team reason to celebrate.

“We were desperately looking for something to cheer us up, to get some good news,” said Voigt. “Hopefully that’s the turning point for us. It saved my season, saved my Tour. Hopefully also the Tour for our team, too. We were hoping in the time trial. We were trying in the mountains. This was my fifth try in a breakaway, and finally everything worked out. I had good legs today. Tactically it worked out perfectly. Now I’m not tired at all. I could just go on my bike and ride the stage backwards.”