Racing against the odds in France

RIGA - Fighting against the odds, Estonian cyclist Rein Taaramae looks set to be on the starting line when the 99th Tour de France begins in Liege, Belgium on June 30. Having finished an agonizing 46 seconds outside of the top 10 of the 2011 edition of the world’s most famous cycling race, the 25-year-old was poised to go one step further and achieve his goal of finishing in the top 10 this year.

There was also the small matter of claiming the tour’s white jersey, which is awarded to the leading youth rider; another achievement that the Estonian time trial champion was cruelly denied of, by just 46 seconds, last year.
However, the Cofidis Le Credit en Ligne rider has had a far from perfect build up to the Le Tour, and the fact that he is even going to be on the starting line come June 30 is nothing short of a small miracle. Taaramae’s first major setback occurred in February when he was struck down with mononucleosis (glandular fever) whilst racing in the Paris to Nice tour. To just make it to the start of the Paris-Nice race, Taaramae was forced to ride on a concoction of over-the-counter cold medications.

The medications were enough to get Taaramae through the tour, albeit with a lower-than-expected finish, forcing him to have his flu-like symptoms researched further, leading to the mononucleosis diagnosis in early March.
With the potential of remaining in the body for up to six months, the mononucleosis could have already been enough to end Taaramae’s Tour de France plans. However, to his credit, a little over a month later Taaramae was back riding, returning to racing at the Vuelta a Castilla y Leon in Spain in the second week of April.
It was there, however, that the Estonian suffered his next setback, suffering a complicated elbow injury in a fall. Returning to Estonia at the completion of the tour, Taaramae went to see doctors who placed his arm in a cast for a month, further lengthening his chances of competing in France.

However, Taaramae has once more defied the odds, returning to racing in early June to compete in the eight-stage Criterium du Dauphine in France, finishing in 96th position overall, 44 minutes and 25 seconds behind race winner Bradley Wiggins of Great Britain.

Despite the low placing in the final standings, Cofidis team manager Eric Boyer was pleased with where the Estonian is following his setbacks. Boyer was quoted on cyclingnews.com as saying “Since Paris-Nice, Rein had two days of racing, mononucleosis, and a broken elbow. You could not do better [in the Dauphine than he did]. I cannot ensure that he will ride le Tour as good or better than last year, but he is on the right track.”
Proving his manager correct, Taaramae then went on to reclaim the Estonian time trial championship on June 20, in what acted as his final ride ahead of le Tour.

Officially announcing the nine-man Cofidis team to race le Tour on June 25, team manager Boyer named Taaramae and veteran French rider David Moncoutie as the team leaders, with the remainder of the team shaped to assist Taaramae in achieving a top-ten finish.
Interestingly, the naming of the team was one final act for Boyer, as it was soon after announced that Boyer had been sacked, with a lack of wins in the first half of the European season cited as the reason. He will be replaced by Yvon Sanquer.

The timing of the sacking is hoped to serve as ‘shock treatment’ to the nine riders named to ride in le Tour.
A major problem that struck Taaramae last season was a lack of support from his team mates when le Tour headed into the mountainous stages in the second week, often seeing him going at it alone, whilst his closest rivals were able to build off stronger team support. This may again prove to be a problem this season for Taaramae, with the remainder of the Cofidis team, Moncoutie aside, lacking in big race experience.

Keeping with tradition, le Tour begins outside of France, entering the north of the country two days later and winding its way south to the Spanish border before moving back north to finish on the Champs-Elysee 23 days and 2,173 miles (3,496.9 km) later.

The only other Baltic rider to be thus far announced to ride in le Tour is Lithuania’s Tomas Vaitkus, who will ride as part of Australian team Orica Greenedge.