Tour de France, Grand Tour

Main Page     Stage 11 Results Stage 11, Le Bourg d'Oisans - Saint-Etienne, 199 kms: The weather at Le Bourg-d'Oisans, the village at the bottom of L'Alpe d'Huez was fine and warm for the start of Stage 11, a 198.5 kms journey from Bourg d'Oisans to Saint-Etienne. 160 riders are still in the Tour. The stage began at 12.15 and involves the riders in 3 climbs: the Cat 2, 571 metre climb of the Col de Parmenie (km 80), the Cat 4 372 metre, Cote de Barges (at km 145.5), and the Cat 2 1.2 km climb of the Col de la Croix de Chuabouret at km 180. The early pace was fast and the peloton remained together. Just after they had ridden 10 kms, the Spaniard Francisco Cerezo (Vitalicio Seguros) went away and soon after was brought back into the peloton. The commentators were saying that it was going to be a day marked by attacking moves from riders who are of no threat to the GC. The other prediction by the experts is that Stuart O'Grady and Erik Zabel will be prominent in their struggle for green jersey supremacy. The two sprints for points were coming at km 58.5 and km 155.5. The pace continued to be fast and the peloton was complete at km 38 despite some unsuccessful moves. The first points premie (km 58.5) came at Veurey-Voroize and the two teams Telekom and Crédit Agricole were out the front getting their riders prepared. Tom Steels beat Erik Zabel with O'Grady third. The Australian maintained a 9 point lead in the green jersey stakes. By km 68 the peloton was still complete although there was a lot of activity. At km 70, Lylian Lebreton launched a break and quickly gained a lead of 0.10. He was caught soon after. The next attack came from O'Grady himself at km 74. He built a narrow lead (0.10) and was absorbed soon after that. On the first major climb, however, that followed soon after O'Grady was dropped and probably regretting using his energy in the futile attack. On the climb of the Col de Parmenie, Belgian Rik Verbrugge attacked and gained an advantage on the peloton led by Team Polti (for Virenque) of 12 seconds. Kelme rider Joaquim Castelblanco tried in vain to bridge the gap. Just before the top of the climb, the Belgian was 15 seconds ahead. He went over the top in first place 30 second ahead. Second was Dimitri Konyshev (Mercatone Uno), then Richard Virenque (Polti), then in 4th place Alex Vinikourov (Casino), Laurent Dufaux (Saeco), Jeker (Festina), and Stefano Garzelli (Mercatone Uno) in 7th place. The ascent was notable because the peloton split with Verbrugge holding a 0.30 gap on the first group of riders and then 1.20 on the remaining bunch. The Belgian was soon after joined by the 6 other riders from the first peloton. The 7 riders were Verbrugge, Ludo Dierckxsens (Lampre), Riccardo Forconi (Mercatone Uno), Wladimir Belli (Festina), David Lefevre (Casino), Konyshev and Vinikourov and they built a lead of 1.30 on the yellow jersey group by km 94. The main peloton was now down 2.40. Some 9 kms later, the two pelotons behind the leading group joined and at that point they were around 2.00 down on the 7 in the top group. There was no alarm though because of the 7, the closest to the yellow was the Kazak Vinokourov, who was 44.37 down (44th place). Even so, the US Postal team was prominent on the front of the chasing peloton. It was not a chase of any effort though. The lead continued to expand and by the second mountain premie it was out to 14.30. That premie at the Cote des Barges (km 145.5) was won by Konyshev with Vinokourov second and then Forconi. The lead grew and by the second points sprint at Boulieu-les-Annonay (km 155.5) it stood at 15.08. The sprint was won by Verbrugge followed by Dierckxsens and Vinokourov. The winner was now clearly going to come from this group. The Kazak Alex Vinokourov, disappointing in this Tour so far, tried a solo move. He was quickly caught and at km 167 the Belgian Ludo Dierckxsens made his move and broke clear relatively easily. The damage was done when Forconi and Lefevre could not even hold on to the back of the lead group. It was in pieces in reaction to Dierckxsens attack. He led the remaining 4 riders by 25 seconds with 25 kms to go. The main peloton was at 17.21 and just riding to finish. The final Cat 2 mountain premie went to Dierckxsens with Konyshev, Verbrugge, Belli and Vinikourov some 45 seconds behind. The Lampre rider pushed out hard on the descent to build the lead to 1.10 and 21.04 (peloton). He held this and finally won the stage by 1.26. The small sprint was won by Dimitri Konyshev from Vinikourov, Belli and Verbrugge. Erik Zabel won the main sprint 22.17 down. There were no changes in the jerseys: Armstrong in yellow, O'Grady in green and Virenque in the polka-dot.