Newsgroup: it.sport.ciclismo
Titolo: la verità su Sappada..

Sunday, June 6th 1987. That was the day the deed was done. Forcella di 
Monte Rest (1,052m). Sella di Valcalda (959m). Cima Sappada (1,286m). 
All contained in 224 kilometres of racing, the first hundred relatively 
flat. Jean-Claude Bagot, the Fagor rider Schepers had done a deal with, 
attacked on the Monte Rest. Robert Millar, who was riding for KOM 
points, defending his green jersey, went next. Robert Conti (Selca) went 
with him. Roche went after them. Visentini got back up to them before 
the top of the climb but then Ennio Salvador (Gis) attacked. Salvador 
was twenty minutes down on GC, no threat to anyone, but Roche seized the 
opportunity. It was on the descent that the real damage was done.
 
 
"I made an unbelievable descent, went downhill with the back wheel up in 
the air."
 
Behind him was confusion.
 
 
"Fellows were hanging out of trees, having overshot corners. Visentini 
missed one turn and was forced to take a short cut down one gravel bank 
to return to the road."
 
In the valley, Roche and Salvador joined up with Bagot, who was still up 
the road, but he punctured and slipped back into the peloton. Roche 
helped Salvador drive the pace. Just like Schepers had helped drive the 
pace on the Terminillo earlier in the race. And just as that day, the 
Carrera direttore sportivo, Davide Boifava, got pissed off. He drove up 
to Roche. Here's Roche's recollection of the conversation:
 
 
- Hey, Stephen, what are you doing?
- Just riding along, waiting for the other teams to ride after me.
- But Stephen, the other teams are not chasing you.
- Well, then, that's their bad luck. If they're going to let me take 
twenty minutes, they'll lose and Carrera will win.
- But if you keep riding you will take twenty minutes and win the Giro.
- That's what I want.
- Why don't you just sit behind Salvador, let him do the riding and try 
to win the stage?
- Salvador is going nowhere. He is creeping. Anyway, it's not the stage 
I want. It's the Giro.
- Stephen, Visentini has the jersey. You cannot do this to Visentini.
- Look, Visentini is behind. Somebody, the Bianchis, the Panasonics for 
Breukink, some team is sure to ride after me. Just wait a minute.
- No, Stephen, the Carrera team is riding after you.
- What?
- The Carrera team is chasing you.
- You go back and tell the boys that if they're going to ride behind me 
they had better be prepared to ride for a long time and that they should 
keep a little bit under the saddle because when they catch me, they're 
going to need it.
 
The seventieth Giro d'Italia had just turned from drama to farce. 
Carrera were leading the chase of their own rider. A chase other teams 
should have been leading. And which, later, both Breukink and Millar 
told Roche Panasonic would have headed had not Carrera beat them to the 
punch. Roche was happy:
 
 
"For me, this was an exploit. Something big. I distinctly remember I was 
smiling on the road to Sappada. I could not feel any pain. I was so 
angry with everybody else and so happy with myself. Happy that I could 
do what I was doing."
 
Jean-François Bernard (Toshiba) and Phil Anderson (Panasonic) jumped 
across to Roche. Roche sat in behind them. More riders got up them, 
including Millar. But not Visentini. The group was maybe a dozen or so 
riders, and now included Toni Rominger, who was just thirty seconds 
behind Roche on GC.
 
Boifava dispatched Roche's mechanic, Patrick Valcke, who was riding in 
the second team car, to talk Roche down and bring him back under 
control. He passed on his boss's request. Roche politely declined. 
Boifava wanted to speak to Roche over the team radio:
 
 
- Stephen, this is Boifava. You must stop.
- Tell the team to stop and I'll stop. Not before.
- I can't do that.
- Well then I can't stop.
- Stephen, if you don't stop I will come up personally with the car and 
push you off the road. This is not possible. Everyone is laughing.
- It's not me they're laughing at but you. Tell the boys to stop riding, 
it's not right to ride after a team-mate. I've been playing the role of 
joint leader in the Carrera team for the last two weeks now and when I 
have a chance to win you're telling me to stop. Tell the boys to stop 
and I'll stop.
- No, no, Stephen. You stop or I will take drastic action.
- You can do what you want.
 
So much for Roche's version of events. How did Boifava remember it? Here 
he is speaking to Tuttosport's Beppe Conti, years after the fact, quoted 
in Maglia Rosa:
 
 
"I went to see him in the team car and asked his reason for what he was 
doing. He told me that he only wanted to win the stage. I told him that 
if this was his objective he should just sit in and stay in the wheels. 
Instead he continued to pull, to keep the pace very high."
 
Johan Van der Velde (Gis) went clear from Roche's group and took the 
stage. Behind him, forty-six seconds later, came Toni Rominger 
(Supermacati), Flavio Giupponi (Del Tongo), Robert Millar (Panasonic), 
Erik Breukink (Panasonic) and Pedro Munoz (Fagor). Ten seconds later 
came Steve Bauer (Toshiba), Roberto Conti (Selca), Mario Beccia (Remac), 
Peter Winnen (Panasonic), Alessandro Pozzi (Del Tongo). And Roche. 
Another six minutes elapsed before Visentini crossed the line. Roche was 
in the pink, Visentini was in seventh, three minutes twelve down. And in 
second there was Rominger. The ten second time gap to Roche at the 
finish was augmented by bonifactions meaning Rominger was now just five 
seconds behind Roche. Breukink was within thirty-eight seconds. Millar 
was at one fifty-eight. It was tight at the top.
 
What had happened to Visentini? Boifava:
 
 
"I told Visentini that Roche wasn't working, so as not to upset him. I 
tried in vain to keep him calm, but I couldn't. His nerve completely 
deserted him."
 
Visentini blew a gasket climbing Sappada. He blew a fuse after the 
finish. Certain people would be going home that night, he promised the 
media. The sceptics among them probably wondered if he meant himself, 
given what had happened in 1984 and 1985. The rest knew he was referring 
to Roche, Schepers and Valcke.
 
Roche, interview by l'Équipe, was unapologetic:
 
 
"I have nothing to be ashamed of. When I set off after Salvador, I 
didn't work and I didn't work when there were a dozen of us at the 
front. But when [Patrick] Valcke brought the instructions from Boifava, 
I saw red. I knew that the whole team was working behind me; I couldn't 
carry on not working."
 
Boifava was well and truly pissed off by Roche's antics. And justifiably so:
 
 
"[In the hotel, Roche] started to tell me that he hadn't attacked, that 
his actions had been for the benefit of the team, but I cut him short 
immediately. I told him that I didn't want to hear his stories. We'd had 
the jersey by over three minutes from Rominger, who was third. Now, 
because of his actions, we were not only a laughing stock, but we had 
only five seconds."
 
 
 

 Sunday, June 6th 1987. That was the day the deed was done. Forcella di
 
Interessante! Grazie di averla postata.
GFO
 
 
-- 
Some kind of happiness is measured out in miles

 GFO
 
 
davvero. aggiunge altre parole alle molte altre gia' spese su quella
tappa. 
sono sempre stato dubbioso sull'opportunita' del comportamento di roche,
ma 
il suo 1987 fu sensazionale. 
e poi in quegli anni come si faceva a tifare gli italiani? ad eccezione di 
argentin al nord e durante i campionati del mondo, proprio non riuscivo a 
trovare gente come visentini e saronni piu' "ciclisticamente" simpatici di 
fignon, del giovane jeff bernard e dello stesso roche. e perfino di
lemond, 
che associavo ai ragazzi del film "breaking away". per non parlare di
quella 
storia del guttalax di qualche anno prima
 
a sappada si parlo' molto anche di riunioni e complotti la sera prima
della 
tappa di sappada. magari visentini stava poco bene e c'era chi in in
carrera 
volesse magari puntare da subito su roche. in ogni caso l'irlandese a fine 
stagione cambio' squadra.
pero' al tour la carrera ci ando' compatta, con ghirotto, perini, cassani
ad 
aiutare roche. non fu certo una corsa da "separato in casa". 
 
 
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 il suo 1987 fu sensazionale.
  eppure si tratta di un fatto semplicissimo da analizzare..
In discesa Roche allungo' e si trovo solo con Salvador.. A quel punto 
continuo'..Boifava voleva si fermasse e lo fece inseguire dalla squadra 
(altrimenti sarebbe arrivato con venti minuti disse..).
Nel finale Roche rimase con gli altri e Visentin si stacco' da 60 
corridori..
Per quale motivo la Carrera doveva inseguire un suo capitano ?
Ricordo che Roche non era un gregario, era gia' andato benissimo al Tour 
e nel 1987 aveva gia' vinto la Vuelta Valencia e il Romandia (oltre ad 
essere arrivato secondo in una Liegi regalata ad Argentin che era 
rimasto staccato di 1' 40" , ma quella testa di acppero di criquelion 
rifiutava di collaborare con Stephen..).
Quando BOifava disse che lo avrebbe fatto inseguire Roche si indigno' e 
disse: allora vedremo e la Carrera fu distrutta.
Quale tradimento ? Roche non collaboro' mai con nessuno quando Visentin 
era indietro : quando attaccarono Rominger, Bernard etc, cosa doveva fare ?
 
ciao

 era indietro : quando attaccarono Rominger, Bernard etc, cosa doveva fare 
?
 
sono perfettamente d'accordo con te, roche ha legittimato cento volte il
suo 
comportamento. pero' quello che dovrebbe essere responsabile e' il tipo
che 
sta in macchina e se tutti disubbidissero  potremmo fare solo gare di
crono 
individuali. tafi e bortolami avrebbero dovuto tirar dritti alla roubaix
del 
96 ad esempio? 
poi, per quanto semplice da analizzare, quella fu una bella lezione data
al 
ciclismo italiano, un bel ceffone a corridori e ds, per giunta durante il 
giro. e' normale che gli italiani non digerirono bene e cavalcarono la 
polemica.


 crono
in quel caso Boifava abbe un atteggiamento demenziale..
Se la carrera non avesse inseguito Roche cosa sarebbe accaduto ?
1. nessuno inseguiva e Roche faceva unì'impresa storica
2. Le altre squadre inseguivano e la Carrera non lavorava..
 
Roche non era un gregario ! dava molte piu' garanzie di Visentini..
Peccato che la sua carriera sia poi stata menomata da guia fisici...
Oggi hanno fatto vedere ancora la tappa di sappada..Roche non dette mai 
nemmeno un cambio quando Visentini era dietro a un minuto e lui era 
avanti con gli altri..
Comunque ci vuole una bella fantasia ( o malafede) per addossarea Roche 
il crollo di Visentini (perse 6 minuti in una diecina di km...)
 
Ciao
 
 
P.S: Visentini dopo quella tappa non combino' piu' nulla o sbaglio ? 
Ancora colpa di Roche ?