Tour de France News for June 19, 2003 Edited by Chris Henry Virenque's focus is the Tour Richard Virenque, five time winner of the king of the mountains prize in the Tour de France, has had a quiet build up to this year's Tour. Riding in the colours of Quick.Step-Davitamon, the Frenchman did not have his best climbing legs at the Dauphiné Libéré, and was rarely seen at the head of affairs. Nonetheless, he insists in preparation for the Tour is intact, as is his motivation. In an interview with l'Equipe, Virenque explained that everything is on track for the centenary Tour. "I don't compare myself any more with other leaders, I prefer to focus simply on my preparation for the Tour without worrying about the others," he explained. "I'm at my ideal weight, and I'll have 47 days of racing before the start, which is about the same as I've done in other years." Virenque recognises the importance of this year's event, the 100th anniversary of the Tour, and hopes to take advantage. "I'm beginning to understand that this year's race will be even more magical than the others. It's very exciting." Willing to acknowledge his own lacklustre performance at the Dauphiné, Virenque also noted that his Quick.Step-Davitamon team was not among the best. "Honestly, I can't say the team is going very well right now," he said. "You could see it at the Dauphiné, we were always behind compared to the leaders. Only a few of our riders placed in the top 15 during the seven stages." "It's always tough for the morale when the level at a race like the Dauphiné is so high, and when you can't follow the best," he noted. "But, with the exception of Lance Armstrong, I'm not sure that being in top form three weeks before the Tour is a good thing. In my experience, I know that the build up to the Tour really starts now. That's what comforts me the most." Durand sidelined The maestro of the solo breakaway, Jacky Durand (FDJeux.com) is concerned about the severity of his injuries sustained after a crash in stage 4 of the Dauphiné Libéré. Durand was hit by a motorcycle that was passing the field, looking left as the motorcycle came on his right. Durand remains in a wheelchair at his home near Grenoble, unable to put any weight on his left foot. "I'm very worried because the doctors tell me that unfortunately I have all the symptoms of a cracked hip," Durand told l'Equipe. "That would mean forty five days of rest and would put a lot things in question," he added, referring most notably to a forfeit for the centenary Tour de France. Dutch and Belgians thin on the ground in Tour This year's Tour de France will have one of the lowest ever participations of Belgian and Dutch riders, with a total of approximately 14 expected to be at the start in Paris on July 5. Despite having two Belgian registered teams in the race, the Belgian representation will likely be Axel Merckx, Serge Baguet, Rik Verbrugghe, Christophe Brandt (plus one more from Lotto-Domo), Marc Wauters (Rabobank), Kurt Van De Wouwer (Quick.Step-Davitamon) and perhaps Mario Aerts (Telekom). It's a far cry from 1981, when there were 51 Belgians in the Tour. The lowest since then has been nine, in both 1996 and 1997. It's not quite as bad in the case of the Netherlands, which has as its lowest participations: 1984 (4), 1999 (6), and 1983 (7). It's expected that Michael Boogerd, Bram De Groot, Remmert Wielinga and Addy Engels will make the cut for Rabobank, Servais Knaven (Quick.Step), Leon van Bon and Koos Moerenhout (Lotto-Domo) and perhaps either Aart Vierhouten or Stefan van Dijk for Lotto-Domo. As usual, the Italian and Spanish riders will make up the bulk of the Tour peloton, with a fairly solid representation from France and Germany. Australia will also have a relatively strong presence, with the likes of O'Grady, McEwen, McGee, Cooke, Rogers and possibly more. The USA will have at least four riders (Armstrong, Hincapie, Hamilton and Leipheimer), while Denmark should have a significant presence with the CSC team. To an extent, the Tour peloton reflects the UCI nations rankings (with the exception of Switzerland which is ranked 5th). Nations rankings are determined by adding the points of the best 10 riders in the country, and it usually follows that a country's best riders make it into the biggest race. In turn, the UCI rankings reflect the importance of grand tours, which gives Italy, Spain and France a slight advantage in the UCI stakes, as these three countries host the three major tours. On the other hand, the classics are not rated as highly, thus Belgium and the Netherlands do not fare as well on the UCI rankings. Evans to concentrate on second half of season As expected, Telekom's Cadel Evans will definitely not be riding the Tour de France this year, after breaking his collarbone in a crash two weeks ago. It was the second time this year that Evans had broken the bone, and it was enough to rule him out of Tour contention. "You have to be 100 per cent for that one," he told The Australian newspaper. "You can go some places at less than 100 per cent, but not the Tour de France. Crashing five weeks out from the race, it's just too much." Evans will return to racing on July 23 in the Sachsen Tour International in Germany, and has set his sights on the latter half of the season. "Now I'll have to refocus on the Tour of Spain in September and then the World Championships. There are plenty of other races to keep me occupied, but when you plan your whole year around the big one, of course it's disappointing." 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