The Cobra strikes on the first real mountain stage of the 2008 Tour de France
Vande Velde moves into third overall
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Riccardo Ricco (Saunier Duval-Scott) won the ninth stage of the Tour de France on Sunday in a bold solo assault, while Kim Kirchen (Team Columbia) finished safely with the bunch to retain the overall lead.
It was the second stage win of the 95th Tour for the young Italian, who leapt away from the bunch on the Col d’Aspin and held a slim lead on the 26km run in to the finish. His first came on stage 6 to Super-Besse, where he sprinted to victory ahead of overall contenders Cadel Evans (Silence-Lotto) and Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d’Epargne).
“I never thought I would have the condition to win a big mountain stage of the Tour,” said Ricco. “It was an attack of improvisation. I just went. I put everything into the legs on the descent to keep the gap to the finale. it was really hard because I knew they were chasing.
The 224km race from Toulouse to Bagneres-de-Bigorre, the first major mountain stage of the 2008 Tour, featured seven categorized climbs. Leaving the city of Luchon, the peloton headed west into the high Pyrenees, crossing the Col de Peyresourde (5,147 feet) and Col d’Aspin (4,885 feet), both Cat. 1s with more than 12km of uphill work and 7-percent average grades before the mostly downhill and flat road to the finish in Bagneres-de-Bigorre.
The attacks started almost from the gun. After a couple of unsuccessful digs, a group of three riders left the main field at the 23km mark: Sebastian Lang (Gerolsteiner), 79th overall at 22:21; Nicolas Jalabert (Agritubel), 140th at 44:40; and 166. Aliaksandr Kuschynski (Liquigas), 166th at 52:11. At the 70km mark, the leaders were 13:40 ahead of the field.
With Lang the highest placed in the break, Columbia was content to let the trio go, leaving Euskaltel-Euskadi to manage the chase. At 82km, the margin was down to 11:20, and by the time the escapees reached the Cote de Mane they had lost another minute.
Evans suffered a bit of misfortune with 112km remaining — a tumble in the peloton saw him fall heavily, cracking his helmet and tearing his jersey. Silence-Lotto teammate Christophe Brandt was in front of Evans when he fell, and said he saw a bag caught in the Australian's front wheel.
"He was in a bit of trouble; his head was not good. When you crash at this speed you can't be good," said the Belgian. "We tried to reassure him. Tomorrow is another day. I think it will be better."
Both made it safely back to the bunch, and as the break hit the lower slopes of the Col de Peyresourde, Evans drifted back to the medical car.
“He's got numerous scrapes on his elbow, thigh and hip, but they're mostly superficial,” said race doctor Gerard Porte afterward. “He's a bit worried about being able to climb properly. But medically his injuries, for us at least, are not too worrying."
Euskaltel drove the chase to within 10 minutes of the break with 70km to race. Caisse d’Epargne then moved forward to lend a hand with the pursuit, as did Française des Jeux and Rabobank, stretching the peloton out in single file, spitting flatlanders out the back and chopping the break’s advantage to just over seven minutes.
Up front, the climb was taking its toll on the break; first Jalabert, then Kuschynski lost contact, leaving Lang to soldier on alone some six minutes ahead of the peloton. He summited some 40 seconds ahead of Kuschynski with Jalabert third at 1:15.
Mountains leader David de la Fuente (Saunier Duval-Scott) had a dig out of the bunch, apparently concerned that Lang had moved to within a handful of points of snatching the polka-dot jersey away from him, and went over the top 4:50 in arrears, holding a gap of 40 seconds on the peloton. Maxime Monfort (Cofidis) and Luis-Leon Sanchez (Caisse d’Epargne) also leapt away, and the three quickly overhauled Jalabert.
Ahead, as Lang tackled the Col d’Aspin, the Gerolsteiner man held a two-minute advantage on Kuschynski with the four-man chase at 4:50 and the peloton nearly six minutes behind. None of the top-10 overall contenders lost any ground, and the bunch began to swell as riders dropped on the ascent of the Peyresourde used the descent to catch back on.
Jalabert finally cracked for good and drifted back to the peloton as first Stefan Schumacher (Gerolsteiner) and then Ricco attacked the bunch. Leonardo Piepoli (Saunier Duval-Scott) joined the party, as did Oscar Pereiro (Caisse d’Epargne), Bernard Kohl (Gerolsteiner), Roman Kreuziger (Liquigas), Eduardo Gonzolo (Agritubel), Tadej Valjavec (Ag2r) and Damiano Cunego (Lampre), and the peloton began crumbling under the pressure.
Five kilometers from the summit Lang clung to a lead of 3:50 as Ricco put in another powerful attack. He quickly reached Sanchez and Monfort, who had shed De la Fuente, and only Monfort could match his pace — for a few moments, anyway. Soon the Saunier Duval man was all alone and closing in on Lang like a heat-seeking missile.
Behind, all the favorites remained in a bunch — Kirchen, Evans, Valverde, Denis Menchov (Rabobank) Andy and Frank Schleck (CSC), and teammate Carlos Sastre. Caisse d’Epargne had five men on the front, among them 2006 Tour winner-by-fiat Pereiro, who had to restrain himself in order to lend Valverde a hand.
Just before the summit, Ricco rocketed past Lang, tackling the long, fast finish off the Col d'Aspin into Bagneres-de-Bigorre all alone. He had a half minute on Lang and more than a minute on the bunch; meanwhile, De la Fuente held onto his polka-dot kit by taking fourth at the summit.
With 20km to race Lang was back in the bunch and Ricco was looking good for the stage win as Rabobank and Liquigas moved to the front. Sandy Casar (Française des Jeux) and Mikel Astarloza (Euskaltel) tried a last-ditch effort, followed by Vladimir Efimkin (Ag2r), but the first two were quickly retrieved, though Efimkin kept pushing, hoping for second on the stage.
At the finish, it was Ricco crossing all alone, pointing to his chest in an “I’m the man” gesture that was tough to refute. Efimkin did hold on for the runner-up spot at 1:04, and the peloton containing the yellow jersey rolling in 13 seconds later.
Kirchen said afterward that he wasn't on his best form.
“I didn’t feel great on the two climbs today,” said Kirchen. “It wasn't easy for me to stay with the best. I was suffering but I was able to keep the maillot jaune. I hope I have better legs tomorrow. I will have to have better legs than i did today. It's a hard course. I hope today was my bad day. People will be attacking and big differences will be made.”
As for Ricco, asked whether he considered himself a candidate for the overall after having taken a minute out of his deficit to Kirchen, he said that was "something a little far off."
“I’m not a rider who came here with special preparation for the Tour," he added. "I still say I came here to win a stage. Okay, now I’ve won two. I’m taking it day by day with respect to the GC. Tomorrow is an important stage, but i want to help Piepoli to win a stage. Tomorrow is perfect for a rider of his characteristics.”
While Ricco and Piepoli anticipate Monday's monster mountain stage, Evans will be looking forward to the first rest day on Tuesday. The Aussie came over the finish line flanked by his bodyguard and crying out, "Make sure nobody touches my left shoulder!"
When asked about his crash, Evans gave his helmet - split open at the front left-hand corner - to a waiting reporter, former VeloNews scribe Rupert Guinness.
"There's your interview," he said.
The fact he managed to finish the stage will be a boost to his team, but Evans, who suffered scrapes on his hip, elbow, thigh and shoulder, will be worried about Monday's stage in the Pyrenees.
Team manager Marc Sergeant admits that Tuesday's rest day can not come soon enough.
"It would have been better for us if the rest day was tomorrow," he said. "At the moment I'm not too worried. Cadel told me after the crash that it was nothing serious, just to keep going. Now we will get the doctor to check him over. He did hurt his collarbone but I believe it is not serious."
Whether it is serious or not, Evans will have to remain vigilant during Monday's stage, if Team CSC's Bjarne Riis is on the mark with his prediction that the attacks will come early and often.
"Tomorrow, it will be the legs that make the difference and I don't think everyone will wait until the Hautacam to attack," he said. "I don't know about other teams, but we wanted to keep everybody for tomorrow. If we can isolate a few of our rivals then that will give us chances." —European correspondent Andrew Hood and Agence France Presse contributed to this story.
Stage 9: Top 10
1. Riccardo Ricco (I), Saunier Duval-Scott, 224km in 5:39:28. (39.591 km/h)
2. Vladimir Efimkin (Rus), Ag2r, at 1:04
3. Cyril Dessel (F), Ag2r, at 1:17
4. Dmitriy Fofonov (Kaz), Crédit Agricole, s.t.
5. Christian Knees (G), Milram, s.t.
6. Maxime Monfort (B), Cofidis, s.t.
7. Alejandro Valverde (Sp), Caisse d’Epargne, s.t.
8. Roman Kreuziger (Cze), Liquigas, s.t.
9. Damiano Cunego (I), Lampre, s.t.
10. Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr), Silence-Lotto, s.t.
Overall
1. Kim Kirchen (Lux) Team Columbia, 38:07:19
2. Cadel Evans (Aus), Silence-Lotto, at 0:06
3. Christian Vande Velde (USA), Garmin-Chipotle, at 0:44
4. Stefan Schumacher (G), Gerolsteiner, at 0:56
5. Denis Menchov (Rus), Rabobank, at 1:03
6. Alejandro Valverde (Sp), Caisse d’Epargne, at 1:12
7. Stijn Devolder (B), Quick Step, at 1:21
8. Oscar Pereiro (Sp), Caisse d’Epargne, s.t.
9. Samuel Sanchez (Sp), Euskaltel-Euskadi, at 1:27
10. Carlos Sastre (Sp), Team CSC, at 1:34
