jobsanger: Armstrong Goes For Stage Win

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Armstrong Goes For Stage Win - Falls Short

The leaders of this year's Tour de France chose not to battle each other in stage 16, probably because of the long downhill finish after all the climbs were finished. Even if they were to pick up a little time on each other, that time could have easily been made up on the downhill section of the race. The last climb of this Tour will be on Thursday and it finishes at the top of a very difficult climb -- a much better situation to have a good climb and make up some time. There will undoubtably be a fight for the Tour lead in that stage.

Today was a day for Lance Armstrong, USA (Radio Shack) to try and get a stage win in his last Tour de France. He joined a breakaway of 10 riders early in the race and this breakaway had gained about 9 minutes on the peloton by the finish of the last climb. Nine of those riders survived to the finish. Armstrong joined in a sprint to the finish but after the difficult 199 kilometer ride he just didn't quite have enough left to win that sprint. However, he did move up in the overall standings, as did Christopher Horner, USA (Radio Shack) who was also in the breakaway.

The winner of the breakaway's sprint for the stage 16 win was Frenchman Pierrick Fedrigo (Bouygues Telecom). This gave France its sixth stage win in this year's Tour (the best they have done since 1997). The second place finisher was fellow Frenchman Sandy Casar (FDJ). Spanish rider Ruben Plaza Molina (Caisse D'Epargne) finished in third place.

Because of the great rides by Armstrong and Horner (and their American teammate Levi Leipheimer) the Radio Shack team was able to maintain its four and a half minute lead over Caisse D'Epargne for the team lead. Thor Hushovd, Norway (Cervelo) was the only sprinter able to stay with the peloton as the other sprinters were devastated by the four climbs. Hushovd was able to outsprint the rest of the peloton and reclaim the Green Jersey.

The riders get a day off on Wednesday before tackling the last mountain stage on Thursday. Thursday's stage 17 is a 174 kilometer ride from Pau to Col Du Tourmalet. It starts out with a small category 4 climb then about a third of the way into the race has a category 1 climb. About two-thirds of the way comes an even taller category 1 climb and then the race finishes at the top of a brutal climb too difficult to be rated. The results of stage 17 could well determine the winners of the Yellow Jersey and team championship for this year.

Here are the current standings:

YELLOW JERSEY (Overall Leaders)

1. Alberto Contador, Spain (Astana)

2. Andy Schleck, Luxembourg (Saxo Bank).....0' 08"

3. Samuel Sanchez, Spain (Euskaltel-Euskadi).....2' 00"

4. Denis Menchov, Russia (Rabobank).....2' 13"

5. Jurgen Van Den Broeck, Belgium (Omega-Lotto).....3' 39"

6. Robert Gesink, Netherlands (Rabobank).....5' 01"

7. Levi Leipheimer, USA (Radio Shack).....5' 25"

8. Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver, Spain (Katusha).....5' 45"

9. Alexandre Vinokourov, Kazakhstan (Astana).....7' 12"

10. Ryder Hesjedal, Canada (Garmin-Transitions).....7' 51"