The Tour de France is full of stories. Every day we highlight a historical moment that can be linked to the upcoming stage. This time stage 20: Erik Dekker’s stage victory, which broke a post-war record after a monster breakaway in terrible weather.
The Tour peloton has to cover no less than 222 kilometers from Colmar to Pontarlier in the eighth stage in 2001, but few riders are keen on this stage. The weather is beastly: the rain is pouring down and it is quite chilly for mid-summer.
After a while, fourteen riders go on an adventure. This group includes Dekker, his Rabobank teammate Marc Wauters, Servais Knaven and real attackers Ludo Dierckxsens and Jacky Durand. The peloton is not keen on chasing them and takes a day off.
In no time the lead of the escapees becomes bigger and bigger: from five minutes it becomes more than half an hour. In the final, Dekker, Knaven, Wauters and Aitor González ride away from the rest. For Wauters this is the moment to do something back for Dekker. The Belgian won the second stage earlier that Tour after a team time trial with Dekker and took the yellow jersey.
Wauters does a lot of hard work and steps off the front a few hundred meters from the finish line. Dekker then has to make every effort, but ultimately leaves González just behind him. The peloton finishes outside the time limit at 35 minutes and 54 seconds. Only fourteen riders finish within the time limit. But the jury is lenient and does not kick anyone out of the Tour.
Dekker not only achieves his fourth stage victory in the Tour, but also breaks a post-war record. The Dutchman is the stage winner with the biggest lead over the peloton after the Second World War. He takes over the record from the Spaniard José Luis Viejo, who won in 1976 after a solo flight with a 22 minutes and 50 seconds lead over the peloton.
