Franco Pellizotti (Liquigas) added to his mountain points today, but it was Mikel Astarloza (Euskaltel) that attacked with 2 km to go to take the stage win in Stage 16 of the 2009 Tour de France. Pellizotti was part of a large group that rode off the front just 5 km into the race and led the race over both of today’s rated climbs. The yellow jersey group came in just a minute behind, go there will be no big changes in the G.C. today.
The Course:
It was all about big mountain climbs today, with an HC and a Category 1 climb to tackle on the 160km from Martigny to Bourg-Saint-Maurice. The riders started their day in Switzerland and would pass through Italy before heading back into France. Temperatures were perfect for racing – about 26C (78F), with some high clouds floating up in the sky.
The Breakdown:
The race rolled out just after 1:00 local time and the attacks started early. By km 5, a group of around 20 riders had gotten away and opened a small gap. Just a few of the riders in that group were Franco Pellizotti (Liquigas), Jose Gomez Marchante (Cervelo), Heinrich Haussler (Cervelo)
Hayden Roulston (Cervelo), Jurgen van den Broeck (Silence-Lotto), Fabian Cancellara (Saxo Bank) and Jens Voigt (Saxo Bank). By the time that they reach the base of the Col du Grand-Saint-Bernard, they already had a 1′55″ gap. Pellizotti looked to be wanting to add to his climber’s points today. He has set a goal of keeping the polka-dot jersey through the end of the race.
As expected, the break splintered and Vladimir Karpets (Katusha) and Pellizotti pulled ahead of the others and motored up the climb. They were leading the first group of chasers by 1′45″ and the peloton by a little over 3 minutes. Astana is sitting at the front of the peloton, setting a good steady pace. Alberto Contador was seen sitting on the wheel of Lance Armstrong.
Pellizotti took the 20 points over Grand-Saint-Bernard. As he and Karpets made the long descent, the chasers strung out behind them. Through the first intermediate sprint and the feed zone, the gap to the group of 16 chasers is 1′12″ and it’s 3′45″ to the peloton. The peloton will be watching Karpets carefully, as he was sitting 5′56″ down in the G.C.
On the approach to the second intermediate sprint, the large group of chasers caught Pellizotti and Karpets and the group of 18 has a gap of 4′29″ to the peloton. Mikel Astarloza is the man to be watched by the peloton now, as he was 5′37″ down in the G.C.
Through the second intermediate sprint, the points go to Nicolas Roche, Nicolas Vogodny and Gorka Verdugo. The sprint behind them, the leaders had the climb to Col du Petit-Saint-Bernard looking them in the face. The gap to the peloton was 4′20″ and Astana was still setting the pace. Lance Armstrong dropped back and Alberto Contador was now being paced by Yaroslav Popovych.
On Petit-Saint-Bernard, Laurent LeFevre of BBox Bouyges Telecom makes an attack and gets joined by Pellizotti and Pierrick Fedrigo. Jurgen Van Den Broeck and Igor Anton jump on as well. After taking some sprint points, Gorka Verdugo dropped back into no man’s land and trailed the lead group by a few seconds.
The tally of who’s leading at the front is changing too quickly to report today. Someone in this lead group wanted a stage win today, and attacks were coming quickly and often. Saxo Bank and Astana were pushing the chase in the peloton now and started to eat into the gap.
Still Pellizotti wanted those mountain points and with 6.5 km to the top of Petit-Saint-Bernard, he surged once more. Jurgen Van Den Broeck went with him and they were able to open a little gap. The peloton was not able to get much closer than 3 minutes.
Finally there was an attack, as Andy Schleck made a go of it. Big brother Frank, as well as Vincenzo Nibali, Contador and Bradley Wiggins hopped onto his wheel. Lance Armstrong did not make the jump at first. Maybe hearing that Wiggins would move into second got his fire up, as he attacked out of the peloton to bridge to Contador’s group. Armstrong was bringing Kim Kirchen and Christian Vande Velde with him and quickly sucked up the gap, passing Frank Schleck in the process.
The group of nine yellow jersey contenders were really pouring it on and reduced the gap to two minutes. Cadel Evans (Silence Lotto) and Carlos Sastre (Cervelo) were now trying to bridge up to the yellow jersey group. With a 1′25″ deficit, would they be able to do anything?
Pellizotti got the climber’s points again and it was on to a loooong descent into Bourg-Saint-Maurice. Pellizotti is said to be a strong descender, so it was not likely that he would be caught on the downhill run. While it’s possible that someone from the yellow jersey group will make a go for it before the end, the pressure on them has been reduced as they have comfortably reduced the lead of Karpets and Astarloza.
Jens Voigt (Saxo Bank), who had been part of the yellow jersey group, went down in an ugly crash while descending at 65 to 70 km/h.
Results:
Pos –> |
Bib–> |
Time–> |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |  ASTARLOZA Mikel |
61 | EUSKALTEL – EUSKADI | 4h 14′ 20″ | |
| 2. |  CASAR Sandy |
101 | FRANCAISE DES JEUX | 4h 14′ 26″ | + 00′ 06″ |
| 3. | FEDRIGO Pierrick |
144 | BBOX BOUYGUES TELECOM | 4h 14′ 26″ | + 00′ 06″ |
| 4. |  ROCHE Nicolas |
89 | AG2R LA MONDIALE | 4h 14′ 26″ | + 00′ 06″ |
| 5. |  VAN DEN BROECK Jurgen |
17 | SILENCE – LOTTO | 4h 14′ 26″ | + 00′ 06″ |
| 6. | MOINARD Amaël |
128 | COFIDIS LE CREDIT EN LIGNE | 4h 14′ 26″ | + 00′ 06″ |
| 7. |  PELLIZOTTI Franco |
91 | LIQUIGAS | 4h 14′ 31″ | + 00′ 11″ |
| 8. | GOUBERT Stephane |
85 | AG2R LA MONDIALE | 4h 14′ 31″ | + 00′ 11″ |
| 9. | MOREAU Christophe |
171 | AGRITUBEL | 4h 15′ 19″ | + 00′ 59″ |
| 10. | CONTADOR Alberto |
21 | ASTANA | 4h 15′ 19″ | + 00′ 59″ |
| 11. | NIBALI Vincenzo |
95 | LIQUIGAS | 4h 15′ 19″ | + 00′ 59″ |
| 12. |  ARMSTRONG Lance |
22 | ASTANA | 4h 15′ 19″ | + 00′ 59″ |
| 13. |  WIGGINS Bradley |
58 | GARMIN – SLIPSTREAM | 4h 15′ 19″ | + 00′ 59″ |
| 14. |  KLÖDEN Andréas |
23 | ASTANA | 4h 15′ 19″ | + 00′ 59″ |
| 15. |  URAN Rigoberto |
119 | CAISSE D’EPARGNE | 4h 15′ 19″ | + 00′ 59″ |
| 16. | VANDE VELDE Christian |
51 | GARMIN – SLIPSTREAM | 4h 15′ 19″ | + 00′ 59″ |
| 17. | LE MEVEL Christophe |
106 | FRANCAISE DES JEUX | 4h 15′ 19″ | + 00′ 59″ |
| 18. |  KREUZIGER Roman |
93 | LIQUIGAS | 4h 15′ 19″ | + 00′ 59″ |
| 19. |  SCHLECK Andy |
31 | TEAM SAXO BANK | 4h 15′ 19″ | + 00′ 59″ |
| 20. | SCHLECK Frank |
36 | TEAM SAXO BANK | 4h 15′ 19″ | + 00′ 59″ |
General Classification:
| Pos–> |
Bib–> |
Time–> |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | CONTADOR Alberto |
21 | ASTANA | 67h 33′ 15″ | |
| 2. | ARMSTRONG Lance |
22 | ASTANA | 67h 34′ 52″ | + 01′ 37″ |
| 3. | WIGGINS Bradley |
58 | GARMIN – SLIPSTREAM | 67h 35′ 01″ | + 01′ 46″ |
| 4. | KLÖDEN Andréas |
23 | ASTANA | 67h 35′ 32″ | + 02′ 17″ |
| 5. | SCHLECK Andy |
31 | TEAM SAXO BANK | 67h 35′ 41″ | + 02′ 26″ |
| 6. | NIBALI Vincenzo |
95 | LIQUIGAS | 67h 36′ 06″ | + 02′ 51″ |
| 7. | LE MEVEL Christophe |
106 | FRANCAISE DES JEUX | 67h 36′ 24″ | + 03′ 09″ |
| 8. | SCHLECK Frank |
36 | TEAM SAXO BANK | 67h 36′ 40″ | + 03′ 25″ |
| 9. | SASTRE Carlos |
1 | CERVELO TEST TEAM | 67h 37′ 07″ | + 03′ 52″ |
| 10. | VANDE VELDE Christian |
51 | GARMIN – SLIPSTREAM | 67h 37′ 14″ | + 03′ 59″ |
| 11. | ASTARLOZA Mikel |
61 | EUSKALTEL – EUSKADI | 67h 37′ 53″ | + 04′ 38″ |
| 12. | KREUZIGER Roman |
93 | LIQUIGAS | 67h 37′ 55″ | + 04′ 40″ |
| 13. | KIRCHEN Kim |
75 | TEAM COLUMBIA – HTC | 67h 38′ 20″ | + 05′ 05″ |
| 14. | NOCENTINI Rinaldo |
87 | AG2R LA MONDIALE | 67h 38′ 41″ | + 05′ 26″ |
| 15. | CASAR Sandy |
101 | FRANCAISE DES JEUX | 67h 38′ 55″ | + 05′ 40″ |