Recently on Cyclingnews.com |
 Giro finale Photo ©: Bettini |
94th Tour de France - ProT
France, July 7-29, 2007
Main Page Results Overall standings Stage Details Live report Previous Stage Next Stage
Stage 14 - Sunday, July 22: Mazamet - Plateau-de-Beille, 197km
Rasmussen takes control of the Tour
Kid Contador strengthens GC position with stage win
By Gregor Brown and Brecht Decaluw� in Montgailhard, with additional reporting by Tim Maloney
|
'Chicken' Michael Rasmussen proved his fighting abilities while taking a huge step towards wining the 94th Tour de France. The 33 year-old Dane escaped with Alberto Contador (Discovery Channel) with 5.5 kilometres to go in stage 14 on Plateau de Beille to distance Australian Cadel Evans by 1'52". Contador came through to win his first ever Tour stage with 100 metres to go and now sits 2'23" behind Rasmussen on the general classification, while Evans slipped to 3'04".
"Contador and Discovery Channel were the ones making the race hard in the end," explained Rasmussen, clad in yellow, of the charge led by Contador, Leipheimer and Popovych. "I tried to take advantage of that. Eventually Alberto Contador and I became isolated, and we had a common interest to take as much time from our competitors as possible. In the end he was better and he passed me in the sprint for the win."
The 24 year-old stayed locked on the Rabobank rider's wheel for the final metres before he shot clear to take his first stage win in his second ever Grand Tour. "It is a dream come true," stated a pleased Contador. "This was so impressive with all the fans along the road. I thought of my family and everyone who has supported me, not only in the good moments but also in the hard moments.
"It was a very important result but there are still three very difficult stages to come: two in the mountains and one time trial." Thinking of the overall, he added, "I can have a bad day, but it is the same for Rasmussen."
Rasmussen moved into the maillot jaune on stage eight to Tignes but his lead never seemed so secure as it did at the end of the 197-kilometre run today. He started the day with only one minute to Evans and 2'31" to Spaniard Contador but by the end of the day the gap to Evans was stretched by two minutes. The gap is significant for the wafer-thin climber considering the 55.5-kilometre final time trial that comes on the Tour's penultimate day.
He was in a move with Evans, Contador, Levi Leipheimer (Discovery Channel), Mauricio Soler (Barloworld) and Carlos Sastre (Team CSC) when the final shake up started to develop. After some kicks by Rasmussen, which Evans successfully followed, Contador delivered a punch at 5.8 kilometres to go that was initially let go. Evans forced Rasmussen to chase but as he did the pace became too much and the fighting Aussie faded on the nine percent gradients.
"It was too hard, Rasmussen and Contador were stronger," said an exhausted Evans. "Maybe they did [take more time in the GC] but I can still gain time against the clock on them."
The two front riders, who glanced at each other to confirm their task ahead, set about in a two-up mountain time trial to ditch Evans. At five kilometres to go they were 25 seconds back on Colom who was the only rider left of the day's major escape that once contained Rub�n P�rez, Amets Txurruka and Carlos Barredo.
Colom was caught with 3.4 kilometres remaining while Evans was chasing but fading fast, and about to be picked up by Soler, Leipheimer and Sastre. He was further jettisoned and he found himself with Kl�den around the 2.5 kilometres to go mark. They finished the stage together, with the German taking sixth and Evans seventh.
|
Soler, who had tried a couple of digs just before Contador stomped clear, finally broke lose of his companions just prior to the sprint for mountain points at 500 metres to go. The Colombian, in the maillot � pois rouges on loan from Rasmussen, now trails in the competition by 2 points.
American Leipheimer may not have lit up the stage but his team sure did. His consistency has paid off, allowing him to sneak into fourth for the day and fourth overall, 4'29" back. Johan Bruyneel must be happy with his charges who took one step towards achieving his three race goals; a stage (accomplished today), the white jersey of young rider (Contador leads by 9'08") and a podium spot for Leipheimer (he is only 1'25" out).
Sastre looked laboured on the demanding 15.9-kilometre climb. While Contador and Rasmussen were storming up the road the Spaniard was steadily marching his way through France's Montagne de Tabe with Leipheimer, eventually finishing fifth and is now 5'50" back on the overall.
Colom held on to take eighth over Andrey Kashechkin (Astana) and Yaroslav Popovych (Discovery Channel).
Pre-Tour GC-favourites Valverde, Vinokourov and Moreau slid further out of contention. Valverde was popped at 12.2 kilometres to go and had the help of teammate Pereiro and then Arroyo to pace him up the climb. The 27 year-old 'Green Bullet' ended his day at 3'45" back and is now in 9'45" out of the running in a race he has yet to finish in his career.
Vinokourov crashed on the Port de Pailh�res when a fan's flag became caught in Astana teammate's Serguei Ivanov wheel. The Kazakh is reported with bruises but he lost his chance of winning the race overall; he is at 34'12". "I had no legs today," said 'Vino' after the hard day of riding. Moreau, who continues to struggle, finished in the sprinters' gruppetto and is 48'13" back in the GC.
How It Unfolded
Sunday's first stage in the Pyrénées began in Mazamet, the hometown of Laurent Jalabert, and headed South into the big mountains. The route climbed out of town via the second category, nine kilometre C�te de Saint-Sarraille, across the Montagne Noir massif and then across the flats, past the medieval walled city of Carcassonne, then on to Limoux and Quillan. It continued through the pays de l'Aude before ascending the steep 17km of the hors cat�gorie Port de Pailh�res and then the final ascent that finishes atop the similarly ranked, steep 16 kilometre Plateau de Beille climb.
|
165 riders set off at 11.49 AM, missing just one - Saunier Duval's sprinter Francisco Ventoso wasn't there thanks to the hard final kilometre crash he had endured two days earlier in Montpellier.
The weather was beautiful; sunny and temperatures in the mid-twenties, which was a welcomed break from the hot days of the previous week. There was a light headwind from the east-southeast, which meant the Tour riders would have the wind in their face as they approached the Pyrenean climbs.
Just outside of Mazamet was the first ascent of the day, the nine kilometre, 5.3 percent second category climb of the c�te de Saint-Sarraille. The first ramps inspired an attack from Euskaltel's Ruben Perez and he was quickly joined by Stefan Schumacher (Gerolsteiner), Carlos Barredo (Quick.Step Innergetic), David de la Fuente (Saunier Duval - Prodir) and Barloworld's Felix Cardenas. Schumacher touched a wheel and fell as the peloton surged after the attackers and absorbed them after three kilometres of climbing. Immediately there was a new attack by Gorka Verdugo (Euskaltel - Euskadi), with Barredo and de la Fuente also going again. At the back of the race, Nicolas Jalabert and Cyril Dessel were already in trouble.
The peloton was close behind and by the summit of the Saint-Saraille climb, it was De la Fuente who led Juan Mauricio Soler (Barloworld), Yaroslav Popovych (Discovery Channel), Juan Manuel Garate (Quick.Step � Innergetic), Gorka Verdugo (Euskaltel � Euskadi), and Laurent Lef�vre (Bouygues Telecom). This surge provoked a small gap off the front, with David Arroyo (Caisse d'Epargne), Jens Voigt (CSC), John Gadret (Ag2r Pr�voyance), Haimar Zubeldia (Euskaltel � Euskadi), Amets Txurruka (Euskaltel � Euskadi), Verdugo, Lef�vre, Aleksandr Kushynski (Liquigas), Barredo, Garate, Antonio Colom (Astana), de la Fuente, Kanstantsin Siutsou (Barloworld) and his team-mate Soler twenty seconds ahead of the group maillot jaune as the long descent began. The peloton was a further twenty seconds behind.
In the group maillot jaune, Rasmussen had Jos� Ivan Gutierrez, Nicolas Portal (Caisse d'Epargne), Jorge Azanza, Ruben Perez (Euskaltel � Euskadi), Christophe Le M�vel (Cr�dit Agricole), Sergio Paulinho, Popovych (Discovery Channel), Pierrick F�drigo (Bouygues Telecom), Juan Miguel Mercado (Agritubel), Benoit Vaugrenard (Fran�aise des Jeux) and Daniel Navarro (Astana) for company. This big group caught the break to make it 27 up front, and they had almost a minute after some twenty kilometres of racing.
|
Cadel Evans' Predictor Lotto team were not going to let Rasmussen go anywhere and they worked hard to bring the break back fifteen kilometres later, in Villegailhenc.
This was the perfect moment for a counterattack and 6 riders managed to extricate themselves from the general confusion. The break was compact � Gutierrez, Perez, Amets Txurruka (Euskaltel � Euskadi), Barredo, Colom and Aleksandr Kuschynski (Liquigas).
It was the right move at the right moment and after a half-hearted chase by the bunch, this sextet began to gain ground fast on the unmotivated peloton. Kuschynski took the points in the sprint in the beautiful medieval walled city of Carcassonne [46.5km], while the peloton was five minutes behind.
As the escape worked hard and the peloton awaited the upcoming assault by Astana, their lead soared and at Cepie, deep in the pays de l'Aude after some 63 kilometres of racing, the lead was now 10'10". They were no immediate threat to Rasmussen's jersey; the best placed rider in the escape was Spanish TT champ Guti�rrez, who was 28th at 15'21".
Saunier Duval was hoping to launch their climber Iban Mayo on the upcoming slopes, so they came to the front and lent the orange men of Rabobank a hand in the chase. Then, at the day's second intermediate sprint in Campagne sur Aude, Barredo beat Kuschynski. The break's lead was still ten minutes', with lunch waiting at the feed zone just ahead. There was still 37 kilometres to race to Usson-les-Bains at the base of the penultimate climb of Stage 14, the 16.8 km ascent of the Port de Pailh�res. As the mountains approached, the cloud cover increased and temperatures began to drop to the mid-teens. The downslope headwind had increased to 15km/hr.
The big climbs whittle things down
|
As the Tour De France threaded its way through the narrow defile of the Gorges du Saints Georges to confront the Port de Pailh�res for the third time in its history, Saunier Duval was still riding hard on the front. The gap to the break was starting to fall as a result. The two Basque, two Castilian and one Belorussian rider were working well together and with 77 kilometres to race, the gap was now seven minutes. Guti was up front for Valverde, who needed to attack to get back into the race, while the two Euskaltel riders were looking to help their teammate Astarloza. Barredo and Kuschynski were opportunists looking for Tour glory.
After 129 kilometres of racing in Usson-les-Bains at the base of the Port de Pailh�res, the cooler weather and strong winds had rendered the asphalt less sticky than usual on the rough, rustic country roads. While Barredo and Guti cranked up the pace in the break, causing Kuschynski to suffer on the back, Saunier Duval's Christophe Rinero and David Canada were hammering hard in the peloton, now 6 minutes behind.
The 17 kilometre ascent of the Port de Pailh�res was divided in two parts; the first six kilometres are relatively easy, but after Mijanes the climb gets steeper. The final five kilometres average 8 percent. Already wearing the red dossard of most combative rider, sophomore pro Txurruka was putting the hurt on the break. First victim was Kuschynski, who dropped off the pace up front, while Colom was just hanging on the back. He was awaiting the eventual arrival of Vino & Co. Saunier Duval were still riding hard for Mayo in the peloton, where their intense rhythm had dropped French champion Moreau. He was having another bad day and had been shelled from what was left of the main bunch, as was German champion Fabian Wegmann.
As the road steepened with 6 kilometres to go, the Euskaltel boys were pulling away from Guti�rrez and Barredo, with Colom hanging on behind. The Saunier Duval led peloton was now just forty strong and 4'45" behind and closing. Rabobank was right behind Saunier Duval, with Miki Boogerd, riding his last season, protecting maillot jaune Rasmussen.
Up front, Colom had attacked and only Txurruka could cover his move at first. But as the road flattened out Perez got back, on as did Guti�rrez.
Trouble for the Tour favourite
Somewhat dramatically, with seven kilometres to go to the summit of the Port de Pailh�res and with 57 kilometres left to race, the hard pace up front put stage 13 winner Vinokourov in trouble. He had vowed that his GC recovery would continue today but instead he quietly slipped out the back, soon to be joined by Discovery Channel's Popovych.
The groupe maillot jaune was still 30 strong, with riders such as Thomas Dekker, Michael Boogerd and Denis Menchov of Rabobank, Cadel Evans and Chris Horner for Predictor, Levi Leipheimer, Alberto Contador and George Hincapie for Discovery Channel, Andreas Kl�den, Paolo Savodelli and Andrey Kashechkin for Astana, Carlos Sastre and Frank Schleck for CSC, Iban Mayo for Saunier Duval, maillot � pois Soler for Barloworld, John Gadret for Ag2r, Mikel Astarloza for Euskaltel, Triki Beltr�n for Liquigas and Alejandro Valverde for Caisse d'Epargne. Dekker's hard pace was reducing this group meter by meter, as USPRO champ Hincapie and Langeveld went out the back with 3 kilometres still to ascend.
|
Among the huge crowds at the summit of 17-kilometre ascent, the four-man break still had a lead of 2'39" as terrible Txurruka took the KOM from the break. Long, tall Soler sprinted off the front of the chasing group to take the 5th place in the battle for KOM points, and at this point Iban Mayo � who had talked up his chances of a stage win - couldn't stay with the chase and dropped off in the final steep kilometre. However he was sure to get back on during the long descent to Ax-les-Thermes.
Five minutes after the Rasmussen group had passed, Vino finally reached the summit, waving the white flag of surrender.
A long fast descent was ahead, with 25 kilometres to Ax-les-Thermes, then another 10 kilometres of false flat to the base of the final climb of the day. Caisse d'Epargne's Pereiro tried an attack on the descent, but his move was quickly covered by super-descender Savodelli.
The leaders still had three minutes at Ax-les-Thermes with 32 kilometres to go. By this point George Hincapie and ten others had gotten back on to the chasing group and this was now 30 riders strong. His comeback would come in handy for Contador as the groupe maillot jaune chased the break across the valley floor towards the beginning of the ascent of Plateau de Beille. The USPRO champ hit the front in his Captain America jersey, leading ahead of the Rabobank teammates of Rasmussen.
With 25 kilometres to race, the four man break was still working hard together while their former companion Barredo was 15� back and chasing hard to try to get back on. Rasmussen's group was at 3'20", a large chasing group containing Merckx and 18 others was at seven minutes and Vinokourov was in another group ten minutes back.
Barredo finally clawed his way back to the break with 23km to go as behind, big George was humping hard in his 53X11 to reduce the escapees' margin. At the base of the final ascent, the gap was now down to 2'30". Perez dropped off the front group, his work done, and next was Barredo.
Final climb
Tiny Txurruka was making the pace on the steep first ramps of the Plateau de Beille ascent while behind Hincapie peeled off after pulling back a minute of the breaks' lead in ten kilometres.
Rabobank's Dekker then pulled hard and dropped after 300m, so it was now Miki Boogerd's turn to ride the killer tempo for Rasmussen. Although his nickname from mountain bike days is Chicken (not from his appearance, but because he likes to eat that meat!), Rasmussen was showing himself to be more fighting cock than egg-layer as he was clearly in charge of the Tour De France.
The Dane realized that the best defence was a strong offence and Boogerd's tough pace was taking its toll as Savodelli, Beltr�n, Kirchen, Langeveld, Gadret, Voigt, Karpets, Horner, Zubeldia and Mayo came off the back one after the other in the group, approximately twelve kilometres from the end. .
Two minutes up the road in the break, Astana's Colom - who hadn't taken a decent pull all day - attacked and quickly got a fifty metre gap on the others. Popovych had now hit the front in the 11 strong groupe maillot jaune to crank up the pace for an eventual attack by Contador.
|
Valverde had croaked with 11.5km to go and went out the back, then Menchov dropped off while Kl�den was just barely hanging on, riding last wheel. Meanwhile, Miki Boogerd showed his massive character and experience as he got back to the group and immediately hit the front. He was pounding away in a huge gear, with Rasmussen, Sastre, Evans, Leipheimer, Contador, Popovych, Kashechkin, Kl�den and Soler all along for the ride.
With ten kilometres to go, Colom, Txurruka and Guti were 55" behind the stage leader Colom. The Rasmussen group was 1'50" back as Popo hit the front once again and accelerated hard. His action then popped Kl�den, but the Discovery Channel rider, Rasmussen and maillot blanc Contador were right there, with Evans clearly suffering and Kl�di just trying to stay close. Discovery Channel had opened a big can of whup-ass on the rest of the group as Popo was having a great day on the front and Contador and Leipheimer were just behind. Rasmussen, Evans, Kashechkin and the surprising Soler were still there. Suddenly, Popo peeled off with eight kilometres to climb, then Levi went as the set-up for Contador, who made a powerful counterattack that dusted everyone except Rasmussen and Evans. Leipheimer, Sastre and Soler got back on.
Finale
Multiple attacks by Rasmussen and counters by Contador ensured that the pace yo-yoed wildly. This is the worst thing that can happen to a rider with bad legs in the mountains. With 6.5 kilometres to go, Rasmussen leaned over to maillot � pois Soler and said something to the long, lean Colombian. He immediately made multiple attacks. Contador then went again. Rasmussen went after him and suddenly it was too much for Evans, who finally cracked. The Australian lost the wheels of the two best climbers in the Tour De France and from that point tried to defend himself on the remaining kilometres of the climb.
|
Colom was still in the lead as Rasmussen and Contador passed the five kilometres to go banner, but his 22" margin was falling fast. Evans was at 40�, chasing desperately with Soler, Sastre and Leipheimer on his wheel, while Kl�den and Kashechkin were at one minute. Rasmussen was making the pace as Contador was taking occasional pulls. Sastre accelerated hard and popped Evans again, the second time in one kilometre that the Aussie was blown out the back.
With 3.5km to race to the summit of the Plateau de Beille, Astana's last chance for glory went up in smoke as Rasmussen and Contador caught Colom. He then tried to hang on the front duo as long as possible but cracked. Sastre was leading the chase behind with Soler and Leipheimer at 30", Evans at 55" and Kl�den and Kashechkin at 1'20".
As the battle of the super skinnies continued up front, Contador gesturing for Rasmussen to come through, Colom came off the back. He was was caught by the three chasers as the final kilometre began, while Evans tried to stay with the two Astana riders.
Amidst the huge crazy crowds atop the Plateau de Beille, Rasmussen and Contador finally got inside the race barriers and continued their mano a mano.
|
Rasmussen was riding against the left side barriers to deny the draft to Contador as there was clearly no love lost between the two riders. However it was the Discovery Channel rider who took the stage in the sprint. Soler loped across the line 37" behind, finishing just ahead of Discovery Channel's tenacious Leipheimer at 40", with CSC's Sastre at 53". He had attacked them with two kilometres to go.
Astana's Kl�den and Evans came in 1'52" back, while two more Astana riders - early breakaway Colom and Kazakh rider Kashechkin - finished at 2'22". Discovery Channel's heroic Popovych was 10th, with Rabobankers Boogie Boogers and Thomas Dekker at 3'07". Alejandro Valverde's group came home at 3'45", while Vino was 81st at 28'50". This was just six minutes and two seconds ahead of the gruppetto.
There was no change to the yellow jersey after the first stage in the Pyrénées. Rabobank's Maillot Jaune Rasmussen has gone from strength to strength as the final difficult mountain stages of the 2007 Tour De France commenced. Thanks to his excellent time trial yesterday and his win today, Discovery Channel's 24 year old rising Spanish star Alberto Contador has moved from 3rd to 2nd place on GC. He is 2'23" behind the Dane and has a firm grip on the Maillot Blanc of Best Young rider.
Following his big blowup on the Plateau de Beille, Evans has now dropped to third at 3'04", losing over two minutes to Rasmussen today. However Predictor-Lotto's tough Aussie is still in the hunt. Just behind him is Leipheimer, now sitting fourth at 4'29", while Kl�den has dropped two places to fifth at 4'38".
|
CSC's Carlos Sastre has come up one place on GC to sixth and is 5'50"back.
The rest of the top 10 is rounded out by Astana's Kashechkin (7th @ 6'58"), Euskaltel's Astarloza (8th @ 8'25"), Caisse d'Epargne's Valverde (9th @ 9'45") and another Discovery Channel rider, Yaroslav Popovych (10th @ 10'55).
Former Tour favourite and Stage 13 winner Alexandre Vinokourov moved back into the top 10 yesterday, but his poor performance today pushed the Kazakh rider down to 30th on GC, 34'14" behind the maillot jaune.
Stage 15: Monday 23 July Foix-Loudenvielle Le Louron / 196 km:
After a difficult time trial and then a hard mountaintop finish atop Plateau de Beille, Stage 15 to Foix Loudenvielle to Le Louron is the Queen stage of the 2007 Tour De France. The long, difficult Stage 15 traverses the heart of the Hautes-Pyrénées from Foix in the Ariege region, with the Col de Port as the opener after just 27.5km. It then rolls through the beautiful countryside around Saint-Girons before assaulting the challenging second half of the stage, with the steep Cat.2 Col de Portet d'Aspet and then the steeper Cat.1 Col de Ment� following. The new hors cat�gorie ascent of the Port de Bal�s comes next, a 19,5km climb that averages a 6,2% grade, and with the final 10 km at a steep 8,5% this should really show who is the strongest in this years Tour.
But the terrible Stage 15 isn't done yet, as the steep 10km Col de Peyresourde awaits before the technical descent to Loudenvielle Le Louron awaits. Rabobank's Maillot Jaune Michael Rasmussen will battle the resurgent forces of Discovery Channel (who have taken command of the Team General Classification today from Astana) across the five cols of Stage 15, so look for another exciting stage Monday.
Climbs:
Km 27.5: Col de Port: 11.4 km climb @ 5.3 % grade / 2nd Cat.
Km 98.5: Col de Portet d'Aspet: 5.7 km climb @ 6.9 % grade / 2nd Cat.
Km 114: Col de Ment�: 7.0 km climb @ 8.1 % grade / 1st Cat.
Km 159.5: Port de Bal�s: 19.2 km climb @ 6.2 % grade / Beyond Category
Km 184.5: Col de Peyresourde: 9.7 km climb @ 7.8 % grade / 1st Cat.
Sprint:
Km 68: Saint-Girons
Km 127: Marignac
Rest Day: Tuesday 24 July / Pau
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by AFP Photo
- Alberto Contador (Discovery Channel) wins on the Plateau de Beille.
- Leipheimer fan club along with a fan who doesn't know yet who he is rooting for.
- Contador and Rasmussen have to deal wit fans who come close, sometimes too close for comfort.
- Antonio Colom (Astana) had more fun in the break
- Michael Rasmussen (Rabobank) bites into a sandwich before the doping control. The dude in the background is hopefully making sure Rasmussen doesn't trick anybody.
- Cadel Evans (Predictor-Lotto) gets a bottle. But one wasn't enough and he should have gotten the second one as well. He lost almost two minutes on the day.
- Christophe Moreau (Ag2r Pr�voyance) has shoe troubles again, but today it didn't matter to stop and sort it out. He finished over half an hour behind.
Images by Fotoreporter Sirotti
- Alberto Contador (Discovery Channel) wins on the Plateau de Beille.
- Michael Rasmussen (Rabobank) does not need to be disappointed; stage win narrowly missed but overall lead extended.
- Contador showed class to stay with Rasmussen and then out-sprint him.
- Contador on the podium and rightfully smiling.
- Rasmussen got second and quietend those that says he can only go for the long, lone attack.
- Soler rode great and is within two points of Rasmussen in the mountains classification.
- Levi Leipheimer (Discovery Channel) rode a great race, both for the team and himself, and is up to fourth.
- Leipheimer passed Kl�den in the overall.
- Carlos Sastre (Team CSC) moved up one place in the overall, but lost time to Rasmussen.
- Evans and Kl�den come in, a bit beaten and battered.
- Cadel Evans (Predictor-Lotto) was hoping to stay in touch with Rasmussen today, but lost almost two minutes.
- Colom leads in team-mate Kashechkin after the Spaniard spent most of the day in a break and even lead the race solo for a while.
- Andrey Kashechkin (Astana) and his bandages are testimony for the Astana struggles these days. They had another spill today when a fan's flag got caught in Ivanov's wheel.
- Yaroslav Popovych (Discovery Channel) did a tremendous amount of work today for the team.
- A pat on the 'Popo' from Michael Boogerd.
- Caisse d'Epargne rode together but a little further back than they wanted to.
- Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d'Epargne) doesn't even want to smile for the cameras. Good bye, Tour.
- David Millar (Saunier Duval-Prodir) worked hard again for the team.
- The Scot is fighting a skin allergy and his legs don't look particularly like cyclist's legs these days. But it doesn't affect his work ethics.
- The whole Saunier Duval team was put to work early, but the result was not as desired.
- Andreas Kl�den (Astana) with the jersey unzipped and the bandages revealing he is still handicapped.
- George Hincapie (Discovery Channel) rode his heart out for the team today, caught up in the flats and put himself on the front before his job was done prior to the final climb.
- Michael Rasmussen was doing fine today and even if he couldn't or wouldn't win today, he extended his overall lead.
- The main contenders early on the final climb, where nobody struggled yet, except for Vino, of course.
- Hincapie worked for the team like crazy today.
- The fans came in masses and saw a great battle, just as promised.
- The French and Norwegian flags didn't do much today; Danish and Spanish were the colours of choice
- Rasmussen was well protected by his Rabobank train early on.
- The Dutch team would love to win the Tour de France.
- Thomas Dekker's tongue hangs out but as long as it doesn't get caught in the chain he'll have to work on the front.
- Rasmussen, the former mountain biker can also handle the downhills.
- Mauricio Soler (Barloworld) on the downhill. He added more red points to his jersey.
- Cadel Evans (Predictor-Lotto) when the world was still ok.
- Andreas Kl�den (Astana) did not have problems with crashing today.
- Oscar Pereiro (Caisse d'Epargne) attacked at a downhill, but very far from the finish.
- Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d'Epargne) wished that the downhill would have led right to the finish line.
- Iban Mayo struggled on the first climb and had to go all out to catch back on in the descent.
- Discovery Channel rode well with Yaroslav Popovych and George Hincapie.
- The American champion rode for three domestiques today.
- John Gadret (Ag2r Pr�voyance) finished less than five minutes behind Contador.
- Jens Voigt (Team CSC) after another hard the day in the mountains.
- Kim Kirchen (T-Mobile) didn't have his best day and dropped out of the top ten in the overall.
- Tadej Valjavec (Lampre-Fondital) made up some places he lost in the time trial.
- Iban Mayo (Saunier Duval-Prodir) and his day he'd rather forget about quickly.
- Alberto Contador (Discovery Channel) gets congratulations from Bernard Hinault.
- Michael Rasmussen (Rabobank) is very professional, puts on a hat and won't let a cold interfere with his ambitions.
- Rasmussen on the podium.
- And yet another toy
- The scenery was stunning in stage 14.
- The Pyrénées offer incredible landscape, if only that damn racing wouldn't interfere with the vacation.
- Rasmussen looked relaxed most of the stage.
- The Dane wears yellow proudly.
- Michael Boogerd (Rabobank) thought his last season wouldn't require so much work for a yellow jersey at Rabobank.
- Alberto Contador (Discovery Channel) seems to smile knowing he had good legs.
- Contador relaxes during the stage it is all the little details that count.
- The Saunier Duval train
- And the Dutch equivalent of Rabobank
- A stunning arch that the riders came by.
- The peloton on the early slopes of the climb.
Images by Roberto Bettini/www.bettiniphoto.net
- Contador takes the stage ahead of the yellow jersey.
- Klodoen douses himself with water, a common sight today.
- Rasmussen attacked a few times before finally getting away with Contador
- Geraint Thomas recieves some mechanical help from the team car.
- The peloton making its way along this beautiful river.
Results
1 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 5.25.48 (36.28 km/h) 2 Michael Rasmussen (Den) Rabobank 3 Mauricio Soler (Col) Barloworld 0.37 4 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 0.40 5 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Team CSC 0.53 6 Andreas Kl�den (Ger) Astana 1.52 7 Cadel Evans (Aus) Predictor - Lotto 8 Antonio Colom Mas (Spa) Astana 2.23 9 Andrey Kashechkin (Kaz) Astana 10 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 3.06 11 Michael Boogerd (Ned) Rabobank 12 Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 13 Oscar Pereiro Sio (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 3.45 14 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 15 Haimar Zubeldia Agirre (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 16 Bernhard Kohl (Aut) Gerolsteiner 17 David Arroyo Duran (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 3.47 18 Jos� Ivan Gutierrez Palacios (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 4.04 19 Amets Txurruka (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 20 John Gadret (Fra) AG2r Pr�voyance 4.48 21 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Caisse d'Epargne 5.33 22 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team CSC 23 Thomas Dekker (Ned) Rabobank 24 Inigo Landaluze Intxaurraga (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 25 Dmitriy Fofonov (Kaz) Cr�dit Agricole 26 Manuel Beltran Martinez (Spa) Liquigas 6.34 27 Chris Horner (USA) Predictor - Lotto 28 Moises Duenas Nevado (Spa) Agritubel 7.07 29 Kim Kirchen (Lux) T-Mobile Team 7.35 30 Charles Wegelius (GBr) Liquigas 31 Francisco Javier Vila Errandonea (Spa) Lampre - Fondital 32 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Team CSC 33 Christophe Le M�vel (Fra) Cr�dit Agricole 8.02 34 Tadej Valjavec (Slo) Lampre - Fondital 8.27 35 Iban Mayo Diez (Spa) Saunier Duval - Prodir 9.31 36 I�igo Cuesta Lopez De Castro (Spa) Team CSC 10.20 37 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank 11.00 38 Aleksandr Kuchynski (Blr) Liquigas 11.10 39 Carlos Barredo Llamazales (Spa) Quickstep - Innergetic 11.25 40 Patrice Halgand (Fra) Cr�dit Agricole 11.38 41 St�phane Goubert (Fra) AG2r Pr�voyance 42 Paolo Savoldelli (Ita) Astana 43 Kanstantin Siutsou (Blr) Barloworld 12.16 44 Gorka Verdugo Marcotegui (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 12.28 45 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Cofidis - Le Cr�dit par T�l�phone 12.38 46 George Hincapie (USA) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 47 Xavier Florencio Cabre (Spa) Bouygues Telecom 12.56 48 Alexandre Botcharov (Rus) Cr�dit Agricole 49 J�r�me Pineau (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 13.37 50 Jos� Luis Arrieta Lujambio (Spa) AG2r Pr�voyance 14.13 51 Markus Fothen (Ger) Gerolsteiner 52 Bram Tankink (Ned) Quickstep - Innergetic 53 Ruben Perez Moreno (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 14.54 54 Frederik Willems (Bel) Liquigas 15.43 55 Matthieu Sprick (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 56 Christian Knees (Ger) Team Milram 16.55 57 Egoi Martinez De Esteban (Spa) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 58 David De La Fuente Rasilla (Spa) Saunier Duval - Prodir 59 Johan Van Summeren (Bel) Predictor - Lotto 60 Iker Camano Ortuzar (Spa) Saunier Duval - Prodir 61 Ludovic Turpin (Fra) AG2r Pr�voyance 62 Frank Schleck (Lux) Team CSC 63 Cristian Moreni (Ita) Cofidis - Le Cr�dit par T�l�phone 18.02 64 Marzio Bruseghin (Ita) Lampre - Fondital 18.27 65 Axel Merckx (Bel) T-Mobile Team 18.30 66 David Millar (GBr) Saunier Duval - Prodir 67 Fabian Wegmann (Ger) Gerolsteiner 19.34 68 Juan Manuel Garate (Spa) Quickstep - Innergetic 22.05 69 Anthony Charteau (Fra) Cr�dit Agricole 26.26 70 Juan Jose Cobo Acebo (Spa) Saunier Duval - Prodir 71 St�phane Aug� (Fra) Cofidis - Le Cr�dit par T�l�phone 27.15 72 Juan Antonio Flecha Giannoni (Spa) Rabobank 73 Grischa Niermann (Ger) Rabobank 74 Dario David Cioni (Ita) Predictor - Lotto 28.02 75 Sergio Miguel Moreira Paulinho (Por) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 76 Linus Gerdemann (Ger) T-Mobile Team 28.50 77 Francisco Perez Sanchez (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 78 Nicolas Portal (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne 79 Daniel Navarro Garcia (Spa) Astana 80 Serguei Ivanov (Rus) Astana 81 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) Astana 82 Andry Grivko (Ukr) Team Milram 83 Vladimir Gusev (Rus) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 30.28 84 Jorge Azanza Soto (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 31.29 85 Inaki Isasi Flores (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 86 Marcus Burghardt (Ger) T-Mobile Team 33.37 87 Benjamin Noval Gonzalez (Spa) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 34.52 88 Filippo Pozzato (Ita) Liquigas 89 Matteo Tosatto (Ita) Quickstep - Innergetic 90 Alessandro Ballan (Ita) Lampre - Fondital 91 Claudio Corioni (Ita) Lampre - Fondital 92 Enrico Poitschke (Ger) Team Milram 93 Mathieu Ladagnous (Fra) Fran�aise des Jeux 94 Alexander Efimkin (Rus) Barloworld 95 Alessandro Cortinovis (Ita) Team Milram 96 Manuel Quinziato (Ita) Liquigas 97 Erik Zabel (Ger) Team Milram 98 Paolo Bossoni (Ita) Lampre - Fondital 99 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) T-Mobile Team 100 Steven De Jongh (Ned) Quickstep - Innergetic 101 Martin Elmiger (Swi) AG2r Pr�voyance 102 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quickstep - Innergetic 103 S�bastien Rosseler (Bel) Quickstep - Innergetic 104 Murilo Fischer (Bra) Liquigas 105 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Lampre - Fondital 106 William Bonnet (Fra) Cr�dit Agricole 107 S�bastien Hinault (Fra) Cr�dit Agricole 108 Kurt-Asle Arvesen (Nor) Team CSC 109 Kjell Carlstr�m (Fin) Liquigas 110 Ronny Scholz (Ger) Gerolsteiner 111 Bert Grabsch (Ger) T-Mobile Team 112 Stefan Schumacher (Ger) Gerolsteiner 113 Mickael Delage (Fra) Fran�aise des Jeux 114 Simon Gerrans (Aus) AG2r Pr�voyance 115 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Team CSC 116 Peter Wrolich (Aut) Gerolsteiner 117 Thomas L�vkvist (Swe) Fran�aise des Jeux 118 Michael Albasini (Swi) Liquigas 119 Cyril Dessel (Fra) AG2r Pr�voyance 120 Beno�t Vaugrenard (Fra) Fran�aise des Jeux 121 Heinrich Haussler (Ger) Gerolsteiner 122 Robert Hunter (RSA) Barloworld 123 Maxim Iglinskiy (Kaz) Astana 124 Beno�t Salmon (Fra) Agritubel 125 Bram De Groot (Ned) Rabobank 126 Gr�gory Rast (Swi) Astana 127 S�bastien Chavanel (Fra) Fran�aise des Jeux 128 Ralf Grabsch (Ger) Team Milram 129 Daniele Righi (Ita) Lampre - Fondital 130 Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Team Milram 131 Staf Scheirlinckx (Bel) Cofidis - Le Cr�dit par T�l�phone 132 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Cr�dit Agricole 133 Nicolas Jalabert (Fra) Agritubel 134 Pierrick Fedrigo (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 135 Christophe Moreau (Fra) AG2r Pr�voyance 136 C�dric Vasseur (Fra) Quickstep - Innergetic 137 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Barloworld 138 Robert F�rster (Ger) Gerolsteiner 139 Sven Krauss (Ger) Gerolsteiner 140 Giampaolo Cheula (Ita) Barloworld 141 Fred Rodriguez (USA) Predictor - Lotto 142 Paolo Longo Borghini (Ita) Barloworld 143 Anthony Geslin (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 144 Laurent Lefevre (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 145 Lilian J�gou (Fra) Fran�aise des Jeux 146 Johann Tschopp (Swi) Bouygues Telecom 147 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Cofidis - Le Cr�dit par T�l�phone 148 Sandy Casar (Fra) Fran�aise des Jeux 149 Christophe Rinero (Fra) Saunier Duval - Prodir 150 F�lix Rafael Cardenas Ravalo (Col) Barloworld 151 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 152 Pieter Weening (Ned) Rabobank 153 David Canada Gracia (Spa) Saunier Duval - Prodir 154 Wim Vansevenant (Bel) Predictor - Lotto 155 Gert Steegmans (Bel) Quickstep - Innergetic 156 Juan Miguel Mercado Martin (Spa) Agritubel 157 Rik Verbrugghe (Bel) Cofidis - Le Cr�dit par T�l�phone 158 Mario Aerts (Bel) Predictor - Lotto 159 Julian Dean (NZl) Cr�dit Agricole 160 Jos� Vicente Garcia Acosta (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 161 Nicolas Vogondy (Fra) Agritubel 162 Freddy Bichot (Fra) Agritubel 163 Nick Nuyens (Bel) Cofidis - Le Cr�dit par T�l�phone 164 Leif Hoste (Bel) Predictor - Lotto 165 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Fran�aise des Jeux 42.08 DNS Francisco Jos� Ventoso (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir Points Carcassonne - km 46.5 1 Aleksandr Kuchynski (Blr) Liquigas 6 pts 2 Ruben Perez Moreno (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 4 3 Jos� Ivan Gutierrez Palacios (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 2 Campagne-sur-Aude - km 91.5 1 Carlos Barredo Llamazales (Spa) Quickstep - Innergetic 6 pts 2 Aleksandr Kuchynski (Blr) Liquigas 4 3 Jos� Ivan Gutierrez Palacios (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 2 Plateau-de-Beille - km 197.0 1 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 20 pts 2 Michael Rasmussen (Den) Rabobank 17 3 Mauricio Soler (Col) Barloworld 15 4 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 13 5 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Team CSC 12 6 Andreas Kl�den (Ger) Astana 10 7 Cadel Evans (Aus) Predictor - Lotto 9 8 Antonio Colom Mas (Spa) Astana 8 9 Andrey Kashechkin (Kaz) Astana 7 10 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 6 11 Michael Boogerd (Ned) Rabobank 5 12 Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 4 13 Oscar Pereiro Sio (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 3 14 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 2 15 Haimar Zubeldia Agirre (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 1 Mountains C�te De Saint-Sarraille - km 9.0 1 David De La Fuente Rasilla (Spa) Saunier Duval - Prodir 10 pts 2 Mauricio Soler (Col) Barloworld 9 3 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 8 4 Juan Manuel Garate (Spa) Quickstep - Innergetic 7 5 Gorka Verdugo Marcotegui (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 6 6 Laurent Lefevre (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 5 Port De Pailh�res - km 146.5 1 Ruben Perez Moreno (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 20 pts 2 Amets Txurruka (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 18 3 Antonio Colom Mas (Spa) Astana 16 4 Jos� Ivan Gutierrez Palacios (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 14 5 Carlos Barredo Llamazales (Spa) Quickstep - Innergetic 12 6 Mauricio Soler (Col) Barloworld 10 7 Michael Rasmussen (Den) Rabobank 8 8 Thomas Dekker (Ned) Rabobank 7 9 Michael Boogerd (Ned) Rabobank 6 10 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank 5 Plateau-de-Beille - km 197.0 1 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 40 pts 2 Michael Rasmussen (Den) Rabobank 36 3 Mauricio Soler (Col) Barloworld 32 4 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 28 5 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Team CSC 24 6 Andreas Kl�den (Ger) Astana 20 7 Cadel Evans (Aus) Predictor - Lotto 16 8 Antonio Colom Mas (Spa) Astana 14 9 Andrey Kashechkin (Kaz) Astana 12 10 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 10 Young Rider 1 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 5.25.48 2 Mauricio Soler (Col) Barloworld 0.37 3 Bernhard Kohl (Aut) Gerolsteiner 3.45 4 Amets Txurruka (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 4.04 5 Thomas Dekker (Ned) Rabobank 5.33 6 Kanstantin Siutsou (Blr) Barloworld 12.16 7 Linus Gerdemann (Ger) T-Mobile Team 28.50 8 Daniel Navarro Garcia (Spa) Astana 9 Andry Grivko (Ukr) Team Milram 10 Vladimir Gusev (Rus) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 30.28 11 Jorge Azanza Soto (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 31.29 12 Marcus Burghardt (Ger) T-Mobile Team 33.37 13 Claudio Corioni (Ita) Lampre - Fondital 34.52 14 Mathieu Ladagnous (Fra) Fran�aise des Jeux 15 William Bonnet (Fra) Cr�dit Agricole 16 Mickael Delage (Fra) Fran�aise des Jeux 17 Thomas L�vkvist (Swe) Fran�aise des Jeux 18 Beno�t Vaugrenard (Fra) Fran�aise des Jeux 19 Heinrich Haussler (Ger) Gerolsteiner 20 Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Team Milram 21 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Barloworld 22 Sven Krauss (Ger) Gerolsteiner 23 Johann Tschopp (Swi) Bouygues Telecom 24 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Fran�aise des Jeux 42.08 Most Aggressive Rider 1 Antonio Colom Mas (Spa) Astana Teams 1 Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 16.21.10 2 Astana 2.52 3 Rabobank 4.53 4 Euskaltel-Euskadi 7.09 5 Caisse D�Epargne 7.31 6 Team CSC 10.15 7 Cr�dit Agricole 21.27 8 Liquigas 21.33 9 Predictor-Lotto 21.35 10 AG2r Pr�voyance 26.53 11 Lampre-Fondital 30.43 12 Gerolsteiner 33.46 13 Bouygues Telecom 38.30 14 Saunier Duval-Prodir 39.35 15 Quickstep-Innergetic 43.57 16 Barloworld 43.59 17 T-Mobile Team 51.09 18 Cofidis-Le Cr�dit par T�l�phone 54.09 19 Agritubel 1.13.05 20 Team Milram 1.16.51 21 Fran�aise des Jeux 1.40.50 General Classification After Stage 14 1 Michael Rasmussen (Den) Rabobank 64.12.15 2 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 2.23 3 Cadel Evans (Aus) Predictor - Lotto 3.04 4 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 4.29 5 Andreas Kl�den (Ger) Astana 4.38 6 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Team CSC 5.50 7 Andrey Kashechkin (Kaz) Astana 6.58 8 Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 8.25 9 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 9.45 10 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 10.55 11 Oscar Pereiro Sio (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 11.01 12 Mauricio Soler (Col) Barloworld 11.31 13 Haimar Zubeldia Agirre (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 12.15 14 Kim Kirchen (Lux) T-Mobile Team 13.16 15 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Caisse d'Epargne 14.58 16 Iban Mayo Diez (Spa) Saunier Duval - Prodir 15.31 17 Chris Horner (USA) Predictor - Lotto 17.23 18 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank 18.57 19 David Arroyo Duran (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 19.19 20 Jos� Ivan Gutierrez Palacios (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 19.33 21 Tadej Valjavec (Slo) Lampre - Fondital 22.20 22 Manuel Beltran Martinez (Spa) Liquigas 22.33 23 Kanstantin Siutsou (Blr) Barloworld 22.53 24 Michael Boogerd (Ned) Rabobank 24.12 25 Frank Schleck (Lux) Team CSC 24.56 26 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team CSC 25.06 27 Amets Txurruka (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 31.41 28 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Cofidis - Le Cr�dit par T�l�phone 32.45 29 Markus Fothen (Ger) Gerolsteiner 34.07 30 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) Astana 34.12 31 Linus Gerdemann (Ger) T-Mobile Team 36.01 32 Juan Manuel Garate (Spa) Quickstep - Innergetic 36.03 33 Christophe Le M�vel (Fra) Cr�dit Agricole 36.07 34 Dmitriy Fofonov (Kaz) Cr�dit Agricole 36.18 35 Thomas Dekker (Ned) Rabobank 38.46 36 Juan Jose Cobo Acebo (Spa) Saunier Duval - Prodir 40.01 37 George Hincapie (USA) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 38 Francisco Javier Vila Errandonea (Spa) Lampre - Fondital 41.19 39 Carlos Barredo Llamazales (Spa) Quickstep - Innergetic 43.08 40 Vladimir Gusev (Rus) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 46.30 41 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Team CSC 47.08 42 Christophe Moreau (Fra) AG2r Pr�voyance 48.13 43 Alexandre Botcharov (Rus) Cr�dit Agricole 48.29 44 St�phane Goubert (Fra) AG2r Pr�voyance 50.34 45 Bram Tankink (Ned) Quickstep - Innergetic 51.59 46 Patrice Halgand (Fra) Cr�dit Agricole 54.33 47 Antonio Colom Mas (Spa) Astana 57.22 48 Ludovic Turpin (Fra) AG2r Pr�voyance 57.49 49 Inigo Landaluze Intxaurraga (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 1.00.30 50 Xavier Florencio Cabre (Spa) Bouygues Telecom 1.04.30 51 Cristian Moreni (Ita) Cofidis - Le Cr�dit par T�l�phone 1.04.31 52 Fabian Wegmann (Ger) Gerolsteiner 1.04.50 53 Christian Knees (Ger) Team Milram 1.04.54 54 Bernhard Kohl (Aut) Gerolsteiner 1.06.45 55 Dario David Cioni (Ita) Predictor - Lotto 1.06.58 56 I�igo Cuesta Lopez De Castro (Spa) Team CSC 1.08.25 57 Paolo Savoldelli (Ita) Astana 1.09.42 58 J�r�me Pineau (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 1.12.53 59 John Gadret (Fra) AG2r Pr�voyance 1.14.27 60 Maxim Iglinskiy (Kaz) Astana 1.15.16 61 Moises Duenas Nevado (Spa) Agritubel 1.16.05 62 Marzio Bruseghin (Ita) Lampre - Fondital 1.17.14 63 Iker Camano Ortuzar (Spa) Saunier Duval - Prodir 1.18.52 64 Gorka Verdugo Marcotegui (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 1.19.02 65 David De La Fuente Rasilla (Spa) Saunier Duval - Prodir 1.19.46 66 C�dric Vasseur (Fra) Quickstep - Innergetic 1.19.58 67 Charles Wegelius (GBr) Liquigas 1.20.27 68 Johan Van Summeren (Bel) Predictor - Lotto 1.20.56 69 Axel Merckx (Bel) T-Mobile Team 1.23.07 70 Egoi Martinez De Esteban (Spa) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 1.24.29 71 Mario Aerts (Bel) Predictor - Lotto 1.24.51 72 Jos� Luis Arrieta Lujambio (Spa) AG2r Pr�voyance 1.25.15 73 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 1.27.12 74 Ruben Perez Moreno (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 1.28.09 75 Ronny Scholz (Ger) Gerolsteiner 1.28.14 76 Juan Miguel Mercado Martin (Spa) Agritubel 1.28.33 77 David Millar (GBr) Saunier Duval - Prodir 1.29.21 78 Sergio Miguel Moreira Paulinho (Por) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 1.30.22 79 Serguei Ivanov (Rus) Astana 1.30.36 80 Kjell Carlstr�m (Fin) Liquigas 1.33.36 81 Laurent Lefevre (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 1.34.53 82 Andry Grivko (Ukr) Team Milram 1.37.12 83 Sandy Casar (Fra) Fran�aise des Jeux 1.37.33 84 Matthieu Sprick (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 1.37.38 85 Thomas L�vkvist (Swe) Fran�aise des Jeux 1.38.14 86 Nicolas Portal (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne 1.38.25 87 Grischa Niermann (Ger) Rabobank 1.39.21 88 Martin Elmiger (Swi) AG2r Pr�voyance 1.40.57 89 Francisco Perez Sanchez (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 1.41.17 90 Juan Antonio Flecha Giannoni (Spa) Rabobank 1.43.42 91 Frederik Willems (Bel) Liquigas 1.45.48 92 Erik Zabel (Ger) Team Milram 1.45.51 93 Stefan Schumacher (Ger) Gerolsteiner 1.48.40 94 Kurt-Asle Arvesen (Nor) Team CSC 1.49.56 95 Michael Albasini (Swi) Liquigas 1.51.13 96 Christophe Rinero (Fra) Saunier Duval - Prodir 1.52.26 97 Jorge Azanza Soto (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 1.53.33 98 Nicolas Vogondy (Fra) Agritubel 1.53.38 99 Simon Gerrans (Aus) AG2r Pr�voyance 1.53.59 100 Beno�t Vaugrenard (Fra) Fran�aise des Jeux 1.56.13 101 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Lampre - Fondital 1.57.07 102 Gr�gory Rast (Swi) Astana 1.57.35 103 Paolo Bossoni (Ita) Lampre - Fondital 1.58.05 104 Filippo Pozzato (Ita) Liquigas 1.58.17 105 Alessandro Ballan (Ita) Lampre - Fondital 1.58.42 106 Anthony Geslin (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 1.59.14 107 Alexander Efimkin (Rus) Barloworld 2.00.18 108 David Canada Gracia (Spa) Saunier Duval - Prodir 2.01.09 109 Pierrick Fedrigo (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 2.01.21 110 Murilo Fischer (Bra) Liquigas 2.02.07 111 Inaki Isasi Flores (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 2.03.41 112 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Fran�aise des Jeux 2.04.32 113 Aleksandr Kuchynski (Blr) Liquigas 2.06.21 114 Daniele Righi (Ita) Lampre - Fondital 2.06.57 115 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Team CSC 2.07.03 116 S�bastien Rosseler (Bel) Quickstep - Innergetic 2.07.25 117 Nicolas Jalabert (Fra) Agritubel 2.08.22 118 Bert Grabsch (Ger) T-Mobile Team 2.08.45 119 Staf Scheirlinckx (Bel) Cofidis - Le Cr�dit par T�l�phone 2.09.32 120 Jos� Vicente Garcia Acosta (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 2.09.33 121 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quickstep - Innergetic 2.09.38 122 Marcus Burghardt (Ger) T-Mobile Team 2.10.00 123 Ralf Grabsch (Ger) Team Milram 2.10.10 124 Julian Dean (NZl) Cr�dit Agricole 2.10.15 125 William Bonnet (Fra) Cr�dit Agricole 2.10.30 126 Lilian J�gou (Fra) Fran�aise des Jeux 2.10.31 127 Robert Hunter (RSA) Barloworld 2.10.37 128 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) T-Mobile Team 2.10.43 129 Beno�t Salmon (Fra) Agritubel 2.10.49 130 Mickael Delage (Fra) Fran�aise des Jeux 2.11.09 131 Paolo Longo Borghini (Ita) Barloworld 2.11.28 132 Matteo Tosatto (Ita) Quickstep - Innergetic 2.11.44 133 Claudio Corioni (Ita) Lampre - Fondital 2.11.47 134 Mathieu Ladagnous (Fra) Fran�aise des Jeux 2.11.59 135 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Cofidis - Le Cr�dit par T�l�phone 2.12.06 136 F�lix Rafael Cardenas Ravalo (Col) Barloworld 2.12.09 137 Freddy Bichot (Fra) Agritubel 2.12.22 138 Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Team Milram 2.12.38 139 Daniel Navarro Garcia (Spa) Astana 2.12.56 140 Steven De Jongh (Ned) Quickstep - Innergetic 2.13.33 141 Pieter Weening (Ned) Rabobank 2.13.51 142 Benjamin Noval Gonzalez (Spa) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 2.15.15 143 Manuel Quinziato (Ita) Liquigas 2.15.34 144 Alessandro Cortinovis (Ita) Team Milram 2.15.40 145 Heinrich Haussler (Ger) Gerolsteiner 2.16.22 146 St�phane Aug� (Fra) Cofidis - Le Cr�dit par T�l�phone 2.17.35 147 Johann Tschopp (Swi) Bouygues Telecom 2.17.53 148 Peter Wrolich (Aut) Gerolsteiner 2.18.15 149 Enrico Poitschke (Ger) Team Milram 2.18.48 150 Cyril Dessel (Fra) AG2r Pr�voyance 2.19.32 151 S�bastien Hinault (Fra) Cr�dit Agricole 2.19.35 152 S�bastien Chavanel (Fra) Fran�aise des Jeux 2.19.40 153 Leif Hoste (Bel) Predictor - Lotto 2.20.29 154 Fred Rodriguez (USA) Predictor - Lotto 2.21.01 155 Giampaolo Cheula (Ita) Barloworld 2.21.17 156 Robert F�rster (Ger) Gerolsteiner 2.22.21 157 Gert Steegmans (Bel) Quickstep - Innergetic 2.24.34 158 Bram De Groot (Ned) Rabobank 2.24.45 159 Anthony Charteau (Fra) Cr�dit Agricole 2.25.11 160 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Cr�dit Agricole 2.25.40 161 Sven Krauss (Ger) Gerolsteiner 2.28.06 162 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Barloworld 2.29.44 163 Nick Nuyens (Bel) Cofidis - Le Cr�dit par T�l�phone 2.31.45 164 Rik Verbrugghe (Bel) Cofidis - Le Cr�dit par T�l�phone 2.32.11 165 Wim Vansevenant (Bel) Predictor - Lotto 2.38.38 Points Classification 1 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quickstep - Innergetic 195 pts 2 Robert Hunter (RSA) Barloworld 175 3 Erik Zabel (Ger) Team Milram 174 4 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Cr�dit Agricole 132 5 S�bastien Chavanel (Fra) Fran�aise des Jeux 127 6 Robert F�rster (Ger) Gerolsteiner 95 7 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Team CSC 93 8 Filippo Pozzato (Ita) Liquigas 87 9 Murilo Fischer (Bra) Liquigas 73 10 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Lampre - Fondital 72 11 Marcus Burghardt (Ger) T-Mobile Team 72 12 Gert Steegmans (Bel) Quickstep - Innergetic 71 13 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) T-Mobile Team 67 14 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Fran�aise des Jeux 63 15 Cadel Evans (Aus) Predictor - Lotto 60 16 Andrey Kashechkin (Kaz) Astana 57 17 Andreas Kl�den (Ger) Astana 56 18 Mauricio Soler (Col) Barloworld 48 19 Juan Antonio Flecha Giannoni (Spa) Rabobank 48 20 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 48 21 Michael Rasmussen (Den) Rabobank 47 22 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 45 23 Kim Kirchen (Lux) T-Mobile Team 45 24 Aleksandr Kuchynski (Blr) Liquigas 44 25 William Bonnet (Fra) Cr�dit Agricole 44 26 Paolo Bossoni (Ita) Lampre - Fondital 43 27 Ruben Perez Moreno (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 42 28 C�dric Vasseur (Fra) Quickstep - Innergetic 41 29 Mathieu Ladagnous (Fra) Fran�aise des Jeux 39 30 Heinrich Haussler (Ger) Gerolsteiner 38 31 George Hincapie (USA) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 37 32 Michael Albasini (Swi) Liquigas 36 33 Iban Mayo Diez (Spa) Saunier Duval - Prodir 35 34 J�r�me Pineau (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 35 35 Martin Elmiger (Swi) AG2r Pr�voyance 33 36 Cristian Moreni (Ita) Cofidis - Le Cr�dit par T�l�phone 32 37 Linus Gerdemann (Ger) T-Mobile Team 30 38 Sandy Casar (Fra) Fran�aise des Jeux 30 39 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 29 40 Andry Grivko (Ukr) Team Milram 29 41 Anthony Geslin (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 29 42 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Cofidis - Le Cr�dit par T�l�phone 27 43 Inaki Isasi Flores (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 27 44 Xavier Florencio Cabre (Spa) Bouygues Telecom 26 45 Staf Scheirlinckx (Bel) Cofidis - Le Cr�dit par T�l�phone 26 46 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team CSC 26 47 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 25 48 Oscar Pereiro Sio (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 25 49 Christophe Moreau (Fra) AG2r Pr�voyance 25 50 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Team CSC 24 51 Frank Schleck (Lux) Team CSC 24 52 Patrice Halgand (Fra) Cr�dit Agricole 24 53 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Cofidis - Le Cr�dit par T�l�phone 23 54 Steven De Jongh (Ned) Quickstep - Innergetic 23 55 Alessandro Ballan (Ita) Lampre - Fondital 22 56 Stefan Schumacher (Ger) Gerolsteiner 21 57 Claudio Corioni (Ita) Lampre - Fondital 21 58 Sven Krauss (Ger) Gerolsteiner 21 59 Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 20 60 Inigo Landaluze Intxaurraga (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 20 61 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) Astana 19 62 Freddy Bichot (Fra) Agritubel 19 63 Nicolas Jalabert (Fra) Agritubel 18 64 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Barloworld 18 65 Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Team Milram 17 66 Nicolas Vogondy (Fra) Agritubel 16 67 Markus Fothen (Ger) Gerolsteiner 15 68 Fabian Wegmann (Ger) Gerolsteiner 15 69 David De La Fuente Rasilla (Spa) Saunier Duval - Prodir 15 70 Manuel Quinziato (Ita) Liquigas 15 71 S�bastien Hinault (Fra) Cr�dit Agricole 15 72 Pierrick Fedrigo (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 14 73 Bram Tankink (Ned) Quickstep - Innergetic 14 74 Julian Dean (NZl) Cr�dit Agricole 14 75 Enrico Poitschke (Ger) Team Milram 14 76 Laurent Lefevre (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 13 77 Peter Wrolich (Aut) Gerolsteiner 13 78 David Millar (GBr) Saunier Duval - Prodir 12 79 Jos� Ivan Gutierrez Palacios (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 11 80 Antonio Colom Mas (Spa) Astana 10 81 Juan Manuel Garate (Spa) Quickstep - Innergetic 9 82 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Team CSC 9 83 Thomas L�vkvist (Swe) Fran�aise des Jeux 9 84 Paolo Longo Borghini (Ita) Barloworld 9 85 Amets Txurruka (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 8 86 David Canada Gracia (Spa) Saunier Duval - Prodir 8 87 Chris Horner (USA) Predictor - Lotto 7 88 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank 7 89 Christophe Rinero (Fra) Saunier Duval - Prodir 7 90 Carlos Barredo Llamazales (Spa) Quickstep - Innergetic 6 91 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 6 92 Frederik Willems (Bel) Liquigas 6 93 Haimar Zubeldia Agirre (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 6 94 Vladimir Gusev (Rus) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 6 95 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Caisse d'Epargne 5 96 Michael Boogerd (Ned) Rabobank 5 97 Juan Jose Cobo Acebo (Spa) Saunier Duval - Prodir 5 98 Tadej Valjavec (Slo) Lampre - Fondital 4 99 Bernhard Kohl (Aut) Gerolsteiner 4 100 Nick Nuyens (Bel) Cofidis - Le Cr�dit par T�l�phone 4 101 Kanstantin Siutsou (Blr) Barloworld 3 102 Thomas Dekker (Ned) Rabobank 3 103 Manuel Beltran Martinez (Spa) Liquigas 2 104 St�phane Goubert (Fra) AG2r Pr�voyance 2 105 Christian Knees (Ger) Team Milram 2 106 Gorka Verdugo Marcotegui (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 2 107 Matthieu Sprick (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 2 108 S�bastien Rosseler (Bel) Quickstep - Innergetic 2 109 Ralf Grabsch (Ger) Team Milram 2 110 Beno�t Vaugrenard (Fra) Fran�aise des Jeux 1 111 Matteo Tosatto (Ita) Quickstep - Innergetic 1 112 Lilian J�gou (Fra) Fran�aise des Jeux 113 Alexander Efimkin (Rus) Barloworld -3 114 Fred Rodriguez (USA) Predictor - Lotto -4 115 Iker Camano Ortuzar (Spa) Saunier Duval - Prodir -5 116 Ronny Scholz (Ger) Gerolsteiner -5 117 Juan Miguel Mercado Martin (Spa) Agritubel -5 118 Kurt-Asle Arvesen (Nor) Team CSC -5 119 St�phane Aug� (Fra) Cofidis - Le Cr�dit par T�l�phone -20 Mountains Classification 1 Michael Rasmussen (Den) Rabobank 142 pts 2 Mauricio Soler (Col) Barloworld 140 3 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 104 4 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 85 5 Cadel Evans (Aus) Predictor - Lotto 64 6 Laurent Lefevre (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 55 7 David De La Fuente Rasilla (Spa) Saunier Duval - Prodir 54 8 Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 51 9 Amets Txurruka (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 50 10 Antonio Colom Mas (Spa) Astana 50 11 Christophe Moreau (Fra) AG2r Pr�voyance 43 12 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Cofidis - Le Cr�dit par T�l�phone 42 13 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 33 14 Andreas Kl�den (Ger) Astana 32 15 Linus Gerdemann (Ger) T-Mobile Team 30 16 Jos� Ivan Gutierrez Palacios (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 30 17 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 28 18 Andrey Kashechkin (Kaz) Astana 28 19 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Fran�aise des Jeux 26 20 Iban Mayo Diez (Spa) Saunier Duval - Prodir 26 21 Inigo Landaluze Intxaurraga (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 26 22 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Team CSC 24 23 Pierrick Fedrigo (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 24 24 Ruben Perez Moreno (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 21 25 David Arroyo Duran (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 20 26 St�phane Goubert (Fra) AG2r Pr�voyance 20 27 Thomas Dekker (Ned) Rabobank 19 28 Bernhard Kohl (Aut) Gerolsteiner 19 29 Vladimir Gusev (Rus) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 18 30 Stefan Schumacher (Ger) Gerolsteiner 16 31 David Millar (GBr) Saunier Duval - Prodir 16 32 Dmitriy Fofonov (Kaz) Cr�dit Agricole 15 33 Sergio Miguel Moreira Paulinho (Por) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 15 34 William Bonnet (Fra) Cr�dit Agricole 15 35 Frank Schleck (Lux) Team CSC 14 36 Juan Manuel Garate (Spa) Quickstep - Innergetic 14 37 Anthony Charteau (Fra) Cr�dit Agricole 14 38 George Hincapie (USA) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 13 39 Carlos Barredo Llamazales (Spa) Quickstep - Innergetic 12 40 Gorka Verdugo Marcotegui (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 12 41 Martin Elmiger (Swi) AG2r Pr�voyance 12 42 Patrice Halgand (Fra) Cr�dit Agricole 11 43 Christophe Le M�vel (Fra) Cr�dit Agricole 11 44 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 10 45 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank 10 46 Juan Jose Cobo Acebo (Spa) Saunier Duval - Prodir 10 47 Giampaolo Cheula (Ita) Barloworld 10 48 St�phane Aug� (Fra) Cofidis - Le Cr�dit par T�l�phone 9 49 Francisco Perez Sanchez (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 8 50 Beno�t Vaugrenard (Fra) Fran�aise des Jeux 8 51 Michael Boogerd (Ned) Rabobank 7 52 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Cofidis - Le Cr�dit par T�l�phone 6 53 Christian Knees (Ger) Team Milram 5 54 Aleksandr Kuchynski (Blr) Liquigas 5 55 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team CSC 5 56 Marcus Burghardt (Ger) T-Mobile Team 4 57 Sandy Casar (Fra) Fran�aise des Jeux 4 58 Michael Albasini (Swi) Liquigas 4 59 Kanstantin Siutsou (Blr) Barloworld 3 60 Freddy Bichot (Fra) Agritubel 3 61 Kim Kirchen (Lux) T-Mobile Team 3 62 Juan Antonio Flecha Giannoni (Spa) Rabobank 3 63 Staf Scheirlinckx (Bel) Cofidis - Le Cr�dit par T�l�phone 3 64 Xavier Florencio Cabre (Spa) Bouygues Telecom 2 65 Andry Grivko (Ukr) Team Milram 2 66 Matthieu Sprick (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 2 67 Alexander Efimkin (Rus) Barloworld 2 68 Mathieu Ladagnous (Fra) Fran�aise des Jeux 2 69 Frederik Willems (Bel) Liquigas 1 70 Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Team Milram 1 71 Nick Nuyens (Bel) Cofidis - Le Cr�dit par T�l�phone 1 Young Rider Classification 1 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 64.14.38 2 Mauricio Soler (Col) Barloworld 9.08 3 Kanstantin Siutsou (Blr) Barloworld 20.30 4 Amets Txurruka (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 29.18 5 Linus Gerdemann (Ger) T-Mobile Team 33.38 6 Thomas Dekker (Ned) Rabobank 36.23 7 Vladimir Gusev (Rus) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 44.07 8 Bernhard Kohl (Aut) Gerolsteiner 1.04.22 9 Andry Grivko (Ukr) Team Milram 1.34.49 10 Thomas L�vkvist (Swe) Fran�aise des Jeux 1.35.51 11 Jorge Azanza Soto (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 1.51.10 12 Beno�t Vaugrenard (Fra) Fran�aise des Jeux 1.53.50 13 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Fran�aise des Jeux 2.02.09 14 Marcus Burghardt (Ger) T-Mobile Team 2.07.37 15 William Bonnet (Fra) Cr�dit Agricole 2.08.07 16 Mickael Delage (Fra) Fran�aise des Jeux 2.08.46 17 Claudio Corioni (Ita) Lampre - Fondital 2.09.24 18 Mathieu Ladagnous (Fra) Fran�aise des Jeux 2.09.36 19 Marcel Sieberg (Ger) Team Milram 2.10.15 20 Daniel Navarro Garcia (Spa) Astana 2.10.33 21 Heinrich Haussler (Ger) Gerolsteiner 2.13.59 22 Johann Tschopp (Swi) Bouygues Telecom 2.15.30 23 Sven Krauss (Ger) Gerolsteiner 2.25.43 24 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Barloworld 2.27.21 Teams Classification 1 Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 192.54.08 2 Astana 1.58 3 Rabobank 7.58 4 Caisse D�Epargne 11.24 5 Team CSC 11.40 6 Euskaltel-Euskadi 25.26 7 Predictor-Lotto 49.13 8 Saunier Duval-Prodir 1.05.30 9 Cr�dit Agricole 1.11.09 10 AG2r Pr�voyance 1.18.37 11 T-Mobile Team 1.23.35 12 Liquigas 1.27.41 13 Quickstep-Innergetic 1.29.21 14 Lampre-Fondital 1.31.19 15 Gerolsteiner 1.56.24 16 Barloworld 2.08.45 17 Bouygues Telecom 2.08.58 18 Cofidis-Le Cr�dit par T�l�phone 2.44.19 19 Agritubel 3.42.59 20 Team Milram 3.56.48 21 Fran�aise des Jeux 4.24.47
