Barloworld's Tour de France nightmare
Brad Morgan
17 July 2008
In 2007, Team Barloworld enjoyed a fantastic Tour de France, achieving the best results ever by a wildcard entry. This time round, the Tour has turned out to be a nightmare for the South African-sponsored outfit.
After their wonderful performances last year, Team Barloworld went into the event full of optimism, but from day one things have gone wrong, although the first setback occurred a while before the Tour de France, in the Giro d’Italia.
Competing in the Grand Tour for the first time, it was expected that Barloworld would make its presence felt through Mauricio Soler because of the mountainous nature of the route. He had won the King of the Mountains jersey in the 2007 Tour de France and was highly regarded, but a fall forced him out of the Giro with a wrist injury.
Wrist injury
Soler returned to his home in Colombia to recuperate and train before the Tour de France, but a first day tumble in France again left him with a wrist injury, which led to him pulling out a few days later.
In the first week, the team was less competitive than expected, especially as it has two strong sprinters in Robbie Hunter and Baden Cooke.
On paper, the results look reasonable, but the Barloworld sprinters have failed to challenge for victory in the manner in which Hunter did in 2007. He was fourth on the second stage from Auray to Saint-Brieuc, sixth on the fifth stage from Cholet to Châteauroux, and tenth on the eighth stage from Figeac to Toulouse.
Cooke, a former winner of the sprinters’ green jersey, and the man who was supposed to provide a good lead-out for Hunter in the sprints, finished fifth on the fifth stage, one place ahead of Hunter.
There was also a fourth place for Paulo Borghini Longo on the third stage from Saint-Malo to Nantes, and Moses Duenas Nevado took seventh on the mountainous sixth stage from Aigurande to Super-Besse.
Out of the race
Neither Longo nor Nevado is in the race any longer, however. Longo crashed out of the Tour on Wednesday, breaking his collarbone when he took a tumble about 50 kilometres into the 167.5-kilometre stage. Felix Cardenas was involved in the same crash and continued on. However, with his left thigh swollen after the accident, he retired another 50 kilometres down the road.
Nevado, meanwhile, was kicked out of the race after a positive doping test, the second of the Tour after Liquigas rider Manuel Beltran. He was arrested by police and taken in for questioning.
A search of the his room also turned up banned medicines not supplied by Barloworld’s team doctor.
Team manager Claudio Corti said: "We're absolutely stunned by what is happening and by the behaviour of one of our riders. He seems to have secretly used banned substances, hiding everything from everybody else in the team.
"It's terribly disheartening, but because the team is not involved in what has happened, we hope that the whole truth can rapidly emerge so that we can take the necessary action and that Duenas can fully accept responsibility for what he has done."
Five riders left
With four men out of the event and 10 stages still to go, Team Barloworld has only five riders left in the race. It is going to be a tough struggle to the end in Paris.
The five comprise South Africans Robbie Hunter and John-Lee Augustyn, who is the highest placed of the Team Barloworld cyclists in the overall classification in his maiden Tour de France, SA-based Kenyan Chris Froome, Italian domestique Giampaolo Cheula, and Australian sprinter Baden Cooke.
Despite the setbacks, Directeurs Sportif Alberto Volpi said Team Barloworld would continue on to the finish. "We have to go on and honour the race," he said.
Team Barloword's website described Wednesday’s double-blow as a "bad, bad day", but said the remaining riders need to forget about it and hopefully the team's fortunes will improve.
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