Tour de France 1998 - 10 Bagnères de Luchon Massi

Tour de Francia 1998 - 10 Pau-Luchon, 196.5 Km. Aubisque (1-1709) - Vasseur Tourmalet (HC-2114) - Elli Aspin (1-1489) - Massi Peyresourde (1-1569) - Massi 1. Rodolfo Massi (Ita) en 5h49'40" (Moy : 33.717 km/h) 2. Marco Pantani (Ita) à 36" 3. Michael Boogerd (Hol) à 59" 4. Bobby Julich (Usa) 5. Giuseppe Di Grande (Ita) 6. José-Maria Jimenez (Esp) 7. Fernando Escartin (Esp) 8. Jan Ullrich (All) 9. Jean-Cyril Robin (Fra) 10. Leonardo Piepoli (Ita) 11. Luc Leblanc (Fra) 12. Bjarne Riis (Dan) à 59" 13. Daniele Nardello (Ita) à 1'58" 14. Kevin Livingston (Usa) 15. Marcos Serrano (Esp) 16. Dariusz Baranowski (Pol) 17. Roland Meier (Sui) 18. Bo Hamburger (Dan) 19. Angel Casero (Esp) 20. Abraham Olano (Esp) 21. Evgeni Berzin (Rus) 22. Manuel Beltran (Esp) à 1'58" 23. Laurent Jalabert (Fra) à 2'13" 24. Stephane Heulot (Fra) 25. Laurent Madouas (Fra) à 2'28" 26. Peter Farazijn (Bel) 27. Kurt Van de Wouwer (Bel) 28. Cedric Vasseur (Fra) 29. Beat Zberg (Sui) 30. Filippo Simeoni (Ita) GC after Stage 10 1. Jan Ullrich (Ger) Telekom 47.25.18 2. Bobby Julich (USA) Cofidis 1.18 2. Bo Hamburger (Den) Casino 2.17 4. Laurent Jalabert (Fra) ONCE 2.38 5. Luc Leblanc (Fra) Polti 3.03 6. Abraham Olano (Spa) Banesto 3.11 7. Michael Boogerd (Ned) Rabobank 3.36 8. Evgeni Berzin (Rus) La Francaise des Jeux 3.39 9. Stephane Heulot (Fra) La Francaise des Jeux 3.40 10. Bjarne Riis (Den) Telekom 3.51 Stage 10 Brief: Today the Tour goes up: at 54 kms the "Hors Categorie" Col d'Aubisque (16.5 km climb at 7%), then at 120 kms the "Hors Categorie" Col du Tourmalet (18.4 km climb at 7.7%), then at the 150 kms mark, the Cat 1 Col d'Aspin (a 12.4 km climb at 5.1%) and finally just before the end the Cat 1 Col de Peyresourde (9.7 km climb at 6.7%) comes at 181 kms. Jan Ullrich stamped his climbing authority on the Tour to regain the yellow jersey. The stage was held in rain and increasing fog and even Ullrich said it "was a very hard day." The overnight yellow jersey holder, Laurent Desbiens was dropped early and when Ullrich was being installed as the new maillot jeune he was still 15 kms from the line. The attacks came early as Ullrich's major competitors tried to close down the gap prior to the final ITT. Pantani, believing his own press (pirates wear bandanas!) was somewhat subdued until the last climb (Peyresourde), whereupon he went out after eventual stage winner, 32-year old Italian Rodolfo Massi. While failing to catch him, Pantani did take 23 seconds off Ullrich. Laurent Jalabert attacked earlier but eventually cracked on the last climb and lost 1.14 to Ullrich. Only American Bobby Julich, Bjarne Riis and Fernando Escartin maintained parity with Ullrich. Other riders lost ground and the Tour is looking almost over already: Hamburger (59 seconds), Olano (0.59), and Francesco Casagrande (abandoned after crashing). Massi, a long-time hopeful but usually playing the role of the domestique, attacked early in the stage with Alberto Elli and Cedric Vasseur. They led the race over the 5 climbs (with Massi securing the KOM jersey as he won the sprints over Soulor and Tourmalet). Only Massi could stay away.