Frank Schleck takes yellow from Cadel Evans as the GC race tightens
Team CSC-Saxo Bank battered and isolated race leader Cadel Evans in the first Alpine stage Sunday, coming away with the yellow jersey on the shoulders of Frank Schleck as the GC race tightened.
Evans fell to third, one second behind Gerolsteiner's Bernard Kohl and eight seconds behind Schleck. American Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Chipotle) is in fifth at 38 seconds, still very much in the hunt.
Vande Velde's teammate Danny Pate (Garmin-Chipotle) was third on the stage, won by Aussie Simon Gerrans (Credit Agricole). Pate, Gerrans, Egoi Martinez (Euskaltel), and Jose Luis Arrieta (Ag2r) were in a day-long break that finished about four minutes ahead of the yellow jersey group.
“When we started that final climb with such an advantage on the peloton I thought we could hang on," said Gerrans. "It was only then that I began to think it was possible to stay away but it wasn’t until the last couple of hundred meters that I thought I could win.
"I was really in trouble but once I caught [Danny] Pate and [Egoi] Martinez again, I did what I could to hang on. It was only in the last kilometer that I started believing that I could get the better of the other guys. They were climbing better than me; that’s why I wasn’t giving them much support at the finish. But under the red kite I realized I was in with a real crack at the win.
“It’s been my aim at every Tour de France to try and win a stage. This is my fourth one and it’s taken until now to finally pull it off, but it’s better late than never, huh?”
The top six men on GC are now separated by less than 50 seconds as the race takes a rest day Monday then resumes with two tough Alpine stages, including the legendary Alpe d'Huez stage on Wednesday.
"I’m really happy," said Schleck. "It’s amazing, especially after missing out following the work that my team did on the way to Hautacam; to miss out by one second was a real shame. I said to the boys, ‘I’m really sorry that I couldn’t bring [the yellow jersey] back to the hotel.’ Well, tonight I guess I can do that. This one is for all the team of CSC-Saxo Bank.
"We’ve seen the strongest rider was Andy today. The power he put on the pedals was amazing and he put everybody in the red zone. So finally we could attack. I knew that if I would attack, Cadel was just going to be right on my wheel. So I had to do it in the last kilometer. That was also the perfect thing for Carlos; he got away and he made a really good improvement in the overall classification, so we now have two cards to play with.
“I always said that I would give my best in the Tour de France and I did a lot of sacrificing and went through a lot of pain for that but I didn’t know how it could come. Just to wear the jersey, I said to myself, would be amazing and finally I’ve got it."
But Evans is not out of the race yet, warned Silence-Lotto director Roberto Damiano. “Our goal was to keep the yellow jersey, but this was not serious," he said. "It also puts the burden on other teams. If Cadel continues as he has in the Alps and then it comes down to the time trial and that should go well. Let’s see how it goes on the Alpe d’Huez."
Added team manager Hendrik Redant: "I wouldn't call it too difficult a day for us,” he said. “It wasn't a surprise that there were a lot of attacks. That's normal for a summit finish.
“All the favorites are bunched together, and Cadel's within 10 seconds of the lead. It's good for him and it's good for the Tour. It's only the beginning (of the race)."
The route
Sunday's 185km stage was the first in the Alps this year, starting in Embrun, France, and finishing at Prato Nevoso, in Italy.
Twenty-five kilometers after leaving Embrun, the course climbed out of Guillestre and entered a narrow canyon and gradually climbs to the village of Chateau-Queyras, and the early slopes of the mighty Col Agnel (Agnello in Italian).
The 20.5km-long climb averages 6.6 percent, with pitches as steep as 12.3 percent in the difficult final 5km. The 30km descent was followed by a mostly flat 75km trek across the plains of Piedmont to the 16km finishing climb to the ski resort of Prato Nevoso. The final climb averaged 8 percent for the final 8km.
The early break
After about 13km, three men decided to get a jump on the action. Martinez, Pate and Arrieta rolled off just before the day's first intermediate sprint. Gerrans bridged up a few kilometers later.
The peloton, gearing up for a long day in the saddle, allowed the four to build up more than a 12-minute lead by the base of the first climb.
But once up and over the first climb, the foursome's gap increased as the peloton slowed following Oscar Peirero's crash on the descent.
The final climbs
Off the descent and rolling toward the day's second climb, the category 3 Colle del Morte, the peloton allowed the foursome to build up a more than 17 minutes' lead.
The gap came down a bit as CSC drove the pace into the del Morte, with the team's burly classics man Stuart O'Grady sacrificing himself on the climb's steep ramps, while Evans lost several teammates to the pace.
The four entered the last climb with more than 12 minutes' gap over the CSC-driven peloton, with Fabian Cancellara, Andy Schleck and Jens Voigt at the front and Frank Schleck and Sastre sitting in.
Cancellara drilled it at the bottom of the climb, then dropped off, handing off to Andy Schleck, who hammered at the front and then threw in the first of several attacks.
Sastre, too, traded attacks, as the group whittled down to about nine riders, including the three CSC mates, an isolated Evans, Vande Velde, Valverde, Kohl, Liquigas's Roman Kreuziger and Rabobank's Denis Menchov.
Halfway up the climb, Menchov showed his hand with a smooth attack, only to slip and fall on a rain-slick switchback. The big Russian popped up and quickly rejoined the group.
“Oh, that really was unfortunate,” Rabobank director Erik Breukink said of Menchov's fall. “We don’t know if the attack would have worked or if he would have been caught … you never know. Either way, anything is still possible. Denis is in a good position.”
Andy Schleck continued to attack while his brother marked Evans. With about 2km to go, Menchov, Kohl, Sastre and Valverde rolled away from Evans, while Vande Velde and Frank Schleck stayed near the race leader until the final kilometer, when he pulled ahead to get the one second he needed to pass Evans on GC.
Said the new race leader: “The strategy of the three CSC-Saxo Bank riders all attacking on the final climb … that was great, wasn’t it? Already at Hautacam we had that plan and it was working out perfectly, so we said, ‘Hey, why not do it again?’ What we’ve seen today is one big show.”
Race notes
Spaniard Oscar Pereiro (Caisse d’Epargne) ended up in hospital after a dramatic crash that left him with shoulder injuries. On the descent of the Agnel, Pereiro hit a guardrail on the right side of the road and tumbled down onto a stretch of tarmac that looped back after a sharp right hairpin turn at the 80km mark. Vande Velde and teammate David Millar also came crashing down as the peloton rode around both sides of a roundabout prior to approaching the final climb, but both remounted and Vande Velde remained in contention. —Agence France Presse contributed to this story.
