Tour de France - Arvesen takes stage, Evans holds jersey
CSC’s Kurt Asle Arvesen emerged atop a successful 12-man break to take the 11th stage of the Tour de France Wednesday, outsprinting a group of four riders that gapped the group near the end of the 167.5km race from Lannemesan to Foix.
Following a rest day and a big GC battle on the slopes of Hautacam on Monday, the moderate stage in the foothills of the Pyrenees offered a good opportunity for a break to form and Arvesen managed to join the decisive move that formed at 20km into the stage.
With no rider in the break posing a threat to yellow jersey Cadel Evans (Silence-Lotto), the escapees managed to finish nearly 15 minutes ahead of the main field, which contained all of the Tour’s top riders. Evans continues to hold a one-second lead over Arvesen’s teammate, Frank Schleck, and 38 seconds over Garmin-Chipotle’s Christian Vande Velde.
"It's great to win a stage," Arvesen said. "I've been close to winning before in the Tour, this was even closer - I'm glad I won. I usually work for the team, but today I was given a chance to attack. It was an idea stage, with hard climbs, hot weather and a breakaway. It's a great win for me."
Evans was pleased, too.
"It was a good day in yellow," he said. "You get a lot of respect from your peers when you have the yellow jersey. ... Everyone knows I am still recovering from my accident Sunday. The break going away was perfect. It's not just a race for yellow, but people are also chasing the win and the other jerseys, so the race within the race worked out great for us today ... thanks to the quick-thinking Robbie McEwen, he's the lieutenant on the road."
Early attacks
Despite a need to work out the stiffness that usually affects grand-tour riders after a rest day, the pace picked up quickly once race director Christian Prudhomme dropped the white flag to signal the start at the outskirts of Lannemexan.
Within the first 5km, no fewer than six attacks caused splits in the field, but with the day’s first intermediate sprint at just 19.5km, the Rabobank and Crédit Agricole teams worked quickly to shut each of them down.
Only after green-jersey contenders Thor Hushovd and Oscar Freire scored points at Saint-Bertrand de Comminges did a break of significance managed to put some time on the field. Between that first sprint and the day’s first climb – the Category 3 Col de Larrieu – a large group of 13 riders managed to establish a three-minute advantage over the peloton.
Included in the break were Arvesen, Alexander Botcharov (Crédit Agricole), Amaël Moinard (Cofidis), Dmitriy Fofonov (Crédit Agricole), Koos Moerenhout (Rabobank), Pierrick Fedrigo (Bouygues Telecom), Marco Velo (Milram), Filippo Pozzato (Liquigas), Fabian Wegmann (Gerolsteiner), Benoit Vaugrenard (Francaise des Jeux), Alessandro Ballan (Lampre), Martin Elmiger (Ag2r) and Gert Steegmans (Quick Step).
Steegmans couldn’t hold the pace on the climb and the remaining 12 crested the Larrieu with a four-minute lead at the 49.5km mark.
When the break originally formed, Evans’ Silence-Lotto team made a quick assessment of potential threats, and with Botcharov the highest-placed rider more than 20 minutes off of the lead, the race leader’s team seemed content to let the break go. Indeed, were there doubts, they were soon dispelled as the 12 leaders added another 10:40 to their advantage before they reached the base of the Cat. 1 Col de Portel at 97.5km.
The Portel — which has never been used in the Tour before — was probably too far from the finish to be a major factor in the day’s outcome. But that didn’t stop Moinard from taking a chance. The 26-year-old Cofidis rider attacked on the 12.6km climb and reached the summit with a two-minute advantage over his former breakaway companions.
Meanwhile, back in the main field, 2006 Tour de France champion Oscar Pereiro (Caisse d’Epargne) took his own gamble and scampered ahead just as the peloton reached the lower slopes of the Portel.
While the climb might have provided an opportunity for a bold rider to use the Portel as a springboard to reach an earlier break, the 30-year-old Spaniard had a Herculean task ahead of him as he hit the summit nearly 15 minutes behind Moinard and 13 minutes off of the 11 chasers.
With the prospect of a stage win disappearing down the road and Pereiro threatening to take time on GC, both groups set about the task of chasing down their respective escapees.
Moinard’s two-minute lead was cut to 15 seconds by the time he reached the 10km-to-go mark. And at almost the same moment – just after the summit of the Cat.3 Co del Bouich (at 145km) – Pereiro was pulled back by the peloton, now led by the CSC team.
It took the 11 men in the break a little longer to pull back Moinard, as the tenacious Frenchman did all he could to fend off the catch, holding off his pursuers until the 4km-to-go mark. With the peloton at nearly 16 minutes back, it was clear that the day’s winner would emerge from this group of 12.
"I knew with riders like Pozzato and Ballan in the group I didn't have a prayer," said Moinard. "I wanted to get as much a gap as I could, but I didn't quite have the legs to hold off the chase. It's a promising result. I'm here just to learn, to gain more experience for the future. It was a great day."
Areveson was the first to bridge up to Moinard, with Ag2r’s Elmiger on his wheel. The two took advantage and worked to build a 10-second advantage with 2km remaining as Lampre’s Ballan bridged up.
Going into the final kilometer, Moerenhout joined the trio and the four men jockeyed for position, with Arvesen the most aggressive of the bunch. With 200 meters remaining the Norwegian champion launched his attack, almost instantly shedding Moerenhout. In the ensuing drag race to the line Arvesen held off Elmiger and Ballan to take the win.
"I was really afraid I would finish second again," said Arvesen, who called the win "the biggest of my career."
"It really wasn't smart to take the last two corners in first position, but I opened up my sprint and put it down two gears," he added. "Today was my chance to attack — I took advantage of it and I won. Now I go back to working. We've got a stage win, so that's good . Now we'll go back to working hard to protect Carlos Sastre and Frank Schleck and take them to the Alps. Then we'll attack more."
A bad day for Barloworld
The stage ended on a sour note for the British-registered team Barloworld, who finished with only five riders after reaching Monday’s rest day with eight.
Colombian Felix Cardenas, a former stage winner, in 2001, pulled out during the stage with a leg injury, barely hours after his Italian teammate Paolo Longo crashed out with a fractured collarbone.
Barloworld lost Colombian climber Mauricio Soler – last year’s polka-dot jersey winner - earlier in the race due to a fractured wrist.
Before the start, Barloworld pulled Spaniard Moises Duenas from the race by his team following the news of a positive test for the banned blood booster EPO (erythropoietin). As riders left the start at Lannemezan, Duenas was at a local police station.
—European correspondent Andrew Hood contributed to this report.
Tour de France, Stage 11: Top 10
1. Kurt-Asle Arvesen (Nor), CSC-Saxo Bank, 167.5km in 3:58:13 (42.188kph)
2. Martin Elmiger (Swi), Ag2r, same time
3. Alessandro Ballan (I), Lampre-Fondital, s.t.
4. Koos Moerenhout (Ned), Rabobank, at 0:02
5. Alexander Botcharov (Rus), Crédit Agricole, at 0:11
6. Pierrick Fedrigo (F), Bouygues Telecom, at 0:14
7. Filippo Pozzato (I), Liquigas, s.t.
8. Benoît Vaugrenard (F), Française des Jeux, s.t.
9. Fabian Wegmann (G), Gerolsteiner, s.t.
10. Marco Velo (I), Milram, s.t.
Overall
1. Cadel Evans (Aus), Silence-Lotto, 46:42:13
2. Frank Schleck (Lux), CSC-Saxo Bank, at 0:01
3. Christian Vande Velde (USA), Garmin-Chipotle, at 0:38
4. Bernhard Kohl (A), Gerolsteiner, at 0:46
5. Denis Menchov (Rus), Rabobank, at 0:57
6. Carlos Sastre (Sp), Csc-Saxo Bank, at 1:28
7. Kim Kirchen (Lux), Columbia, at 1:56
8. Juan Jose Cobo Acebo (Sp), Saunier Duval-Scott, at 2:10
9. Riccardo Ricco (I) , Saunier Duval-Scott, at 2:29
10. Vladimir Efimkin (Rus), Ag2r, at 2:32
