/ 16 July 2004

The young guns find their target

It is what the French call un coup de jeune — an influx of youth — and, as well as Lance Armstrong’s effervescent form, the usual series of horrendous crashes, and heavy rain, it is what has set the opening phase of the Tour de France apart.

It is many years since so many young riders made such an impression, and it could be that this Tour is eventually seen as a turning point, when one generation succeeded another.

For most of the first two weeks the Tour has been led by a 25-year-old, the French national champion Thomas Voeckler, whose tenure is likely to last to the Pyrenees at the end of the week, barring incident. It is two years since Laurent Jalabert retired, and Richard Virenque will probably quit following the Athens Olympics, so France is urgently in need of new heroes.

Young, fresh-faced and good looking — une belle gueule, as they say —Voeckler has everything it takes to be the next Virenque, if that is not a poisoned chalice. He has an eclectic background — born in Alsace, bred in Martinique, formed as a cyclist in the Vendée.

Third overall is another 25-year-old Frenchman of whom great things are expected, Sandy Casar. He and Voeckler accept that, eventually, Armstrong, Jan Ullrich and the rest will overtake them, but either is capable of wearing the white jersey of best young rider when the race finishes, something no home cyclist has managed since 1999.

‘These guys are in their third or fourth year as professionals,” said Thierry Bricaud, Voeckler’s manager at the Brioches-la-Boulangere team. ‘They have some experience, a bit of maturity. They are also convinced of their own potential and ride intelligently. They are not merely there to look good.”

The rush of young blood began on the Tour’s opening day, with the prologue time trial falling to the 23-year-old Swiss, Fabian Cancellara, and has continued since then. On Saturday, stage victory went to the youngest rider in the race, 22-year-old Filippo Pozzato of Italy. A precocious talent, ‘Pippo” won the Tirreno-Adriatico stage race as a 20-year-old after coming to cycling from hockey, and showed a cool head to win amid a flurry of late attacks in Saint-Brieuc.

That same day, L’Equipe ran its Tour coverage under the headline ”Roulez jeunesse!” after the Belgian equivalent of Pippo, a strapping 23-year-old called Tom Boonen, won in Angers. Again, great things are expected of ‘Big Tom”, who has the broad shoulders of Eddy Merckx, a fine line in designer stubble, and was the object of a tug-of-love between the US Postal team and his home squad Quickstep.

By curious coincidence, it is the class of 1998 making its mark. The world championships that year in the Dutch town of Valkenburg were unusually wet and cold — like this Tour — and most of the young riders prominent in this Tour made their first impression there. Cancellara was the junior time trial champion, Pozzato won silver behind him, while Thor Hushovd, winner of Sunday’s stage at Quimper, was the under-23 time trial champion that year.

Another junior world champion from 1998 is Ireland’s Mark Scanlon, and he has been quietly making an impression as well. Scanlon figured in a 160km break on only the second day of the Tour, and has continually figured in the stage finishes working for his sprinters, Jean-Patrick Nazon and Jaan Kirsipuu.

His Ag2R team tops the table of prize money earned so far, and he has played his part. ‘He is a very, very big hope for the future,” said his team manager Vincent Lavenu. ‘A lot of young pros come to the Tour and find it is all a bit too much for them, but Mark is showing maturity beyond his years.”

The fact that these youngsters turned professional after the EPO-ridden mid-1990s will give rise to hope that they are not just new but clean, a suggestion that has annoyed some of the older generation. France’s Christophe Moreau, a relic from the Festina debacle, says he is tired of the young riders going on about not doping.

‘No one doubts his sanctity,” he said of Voeckler, ‘but it hurts to hear some guys state that they are part of a new wave. It is as if they want to put us down like sick dogs.”

But the young pups have arrived, and if Moreau’s grumbles are anything to go by, they may be here to stay. —