Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 26, 1995 TAG: 9504270015
SECTION: TOUR DUPONT PAGE: TD-15 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
``It's where the race was won,'' said course architect Jim Birrell.
The top four racers in the Roanoke Valley time trial, otherwise known as Stage 5, were to finish 1-4-2-3 in the overall standings.
It's where Viatcheslav Ekimov took over the lead, never to relinquish the symbolic yellow jersey, and where previous leader Malcolm Elliott dropped from first to 38th.
It also was the beginning of the end for former champions Raul Alcala and Greg LeMond, who left Roanoke in 24th and 30th place, respectively.
``The Roanoke Valley time trial could become a legend on the Tour,'' said Birrell, technical director of Medalist Sports, Inc., the Tour's organizer.
Selection of a course began rather innocently 21/2 years ago when a group that included Mark Dierdorf of the Blue Ridge Bike Club, Salem Civic Center manager Carey Harveycutter and Roanoke County economic developer Brian Duncan was asked for suggestions about a possible route.
``We knew we had to start in a large parking lot,'' Duncan said. ``Carey said, `We ought to go up on Twelve O'Clock Knob.' I'll be honest with you, until we started talking about a route, I had never been up there.''
After making the 2,501-foot ride up Twelve O'Clock Knob, the group winded to the top of 1,980-foot Mount Chestnut. From there, they drove through the Penn Forest area of Roanoke County and turned onto the Blue Ridge Parkway.
As originally proposed, the route would have included one more climb - up Roanoke Mountain.
``That would have been too long,'' Birrell said. ``After the climbs earlier in the race, I'm sure we would have gotten a lot of complaints from the riders.''
As a result, the decision was made to turn the last part of the race into a sprint down Brambleton Avenue into downtown Roanoke.
``I knew it was something special the first time I drove it,'' Birrell said. ``The only way to make it better would be to have the mountains at the finish, but that's not doable.''
At least not until somebody builds a parking lot at the top of Twelve O'Clock Knob.
Birrell said he made no changes in the Roanoke route this year; however, it was decided to hold the Roanoke Valley time trial after the 141-mile Lynchburg-to-Blacksburg stage. Last year, the riders came to Roanoke first.
``I think as the teams looked at the overall race profile and decided where to attack, they could see that the Roanoke time trial would be decisive last year,'' Birrell said. ``We decided to make Stage 4 a tough mountain stage to see if there would be a change in strategy.
``As promoters, we want the yellow jersey to be in contention on a daily basis. If people thought Stage 5 was punishing last year, I guess it will be more punishing this year.''
Nobody was punished more last year than Brett Dennis, a 22-year-old Australian who was the first cyclist to leave the starting line. In a time trial, the riders begin the course at one-minute intervals and race against the clock.
Dennis was clocked at 41 mph moments before he failed to negotiate a switchback and skidded off the side of Mount Chestnut. Dennis was rushed to Roanoke Memorial Hospital and underwent surgery the next day in which a steel plate and two screws were used to stabilize his fractured left hip.
``I've seen the crash on TV a couple of times and every time it hurts,'' Dennis said during his recuperation. ``It's like watching a bad horror film. ... It was my error. I was going too fast and I had no control. I could see I wasn't going to make it.''
Birrell said word of Dennis' accident quickly reached the bottom of the mountain last year and may have caused subsequent riders to show a little more caution.
``It shows you the difference between an amateur and a professional,'' Birrell said. ``He had never seen the course before. Every professional had ridden the course the week before. If I had built the course for amateurs [exclusively], I would not have made it so difficult.''
Dennis, who became something of an adopted son during his stay in Roanoke, reportedly has been racing in Europe and plans to be with the Tour on May 1 when it returns to the Roanoke Valley.
``That's what we've been told, although you might wonder if lawn bowling - another Australian sport - might be a little safer,'' Duncan said. ``I understand the descents aren't as steep.
``There was a [Team] Shaklee guy here to do some filming and he told me, `I'm so tired of hearing about Dennis wrecking.' But then he went up, he went down and the first thing he said was, `Unbelievable! How fast was he going?'
``He said he had heard it was deadly [on Mount Chestnut] and, after seeing it, he knew that wasn't a flippant remark.''
How hard is the time trial?
``It's real hard. No, it's damn hard,'' said Lance Armstrong, the top U.S. cyclist who has finished second in the overall race the past two years.
``I think it is the Tour DuPont. I think it's where the Tour is won. It's the day it happens. There's climbing; there's descending, some very technical descending. There are a fair amount of flats, too. It's an interesting time trial.''
by CNB