Crashes and incidents strike the peloton again as more favourites knocked out
Luis León Sanchez (Rabobank) won the ninth stage of the Tour de France between Issoire and Saint-Flour, at the end of a long breakaway. The Spanish time trial champion outkicked Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) on the steep climb to finish into the hilltop city. The former French champion finished five seconds behind Sanchez, but Voeckler was more than compensated by taking the yellow jersey that he wore for ten days in 2004. Sandy Casar (FDJ) was third 13 seconds back.
The peloton was led home by Belgian champion Philippe Gilbert (Omega Pharma-Lotto), taking more points towards his green jersey, 3’59” behind Sanchez.
Last year Sanchez was beaten by Casar in the sprint at the end of stage nine, into Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne, but this time he was the one to come out on top.
“In the end, it’s true that there was a rematch of last year with Casar but Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne was very different because I didn’t know the final very well,” he said at the finish. “While today I had studied the course and I knew there was a hill and then a turn at the finish.
“Above all, I had tremendous confidence,” he added. “I felt very strong.
The breakaway was successful, largely due to a big crash in the peloton in the mid part of the stage, which saw a number of riders injures and the peloton neutralised for a few kilometres.
“We never knew what happened in the bunch,” Sanchez explained. “When the gap began to grow quickly, reaching almost eight minutes, we thought that Garmin had stopped riding to leave the responsibility of the race to other teams. In fact, we only learned about the crash after arrive in Saint-Flour.”
Voekler wore the yellow jersey for ten days back in 2004, which is still one of the defining moments of his career. With the Frenchman finally making it into one of the race’s big breakaways, it seems that France wanted to see a repeat of seven years ago.
“During the stage – all day long – there were people on the side of the road yelling at me: ‘Allez Thomas! Maillot jaune!’” he said after the podium presentations. “And I was thinking, ‘Yeah, it would be great but it would be hard to take it.’ When I saw that we had a gap of seven minutes, I said to myself, ‘Maybe…’
“In the last 60 kilometres, I told my sports director, ‘What do we have to do? Try to win the stage or only think about the jersey – but with any guarantee…?’ And he said to me, ‘Okay, ride for the overall!’
“So I rode and rode and rode and I was very happy in the final kilometres and when I crossed the line and I understood that I have taken the yellow jersey.
The race hits the short, sharp mountains of the Auvergne
In the 208km between Issoire and Saint-Flour there would be more mountain points available than the previous eight stages put together; with three 2nd, three 3rd and two 4th category climbs. Another late intermediate sprint, coming just 30km from the finish, would likely play further into the hands of green jersey incumbent Philippe Gilbert (Omega Pharma-Lotto).
The toughest of the climbs would be the Col du Pas de Peyrol (Le Puy Mary), after 99.5km, and the Col de Prat de Bouc (Plomb du Cantal), after 154km. Possibly the most decisive climb though, would be the 4th category Montée des Orgues to the finish in Saint-Flour itself; while there is unlikely to be much, if any, difference between the overall favourites on this stage, the short, steep climb to the line could be the point where Thor Hushovd (Garmin-Cervélo) finally loses the yellow jersey.
After the resilience shown by the World champion this week though, few would bet against him wearing yellow all the way to the Pyrénées on Thursday.
The last rider to win after crossing the Pas de Peyrol, on the way to Aurillac in 2008, was Luis León Sanchez.
The early break is denied but Voeckler makes his move at last
The initial attack came straight away, as has happened in virtually every stage so far, as Lieuwe Westra (Vacansoleil-DCM) escaped the peloton with Russian champion Pavel Brutt (Katusha). Brutt couldn’t take the pace of his Dutch companion though, and was dropped, and, unusually for this Tour, the break was over after 11km.
A few kilometres later the Russian champion abandoned the race.
Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) attacked on the first climb of the day, the 3rd category Côte de Massiac, after 43km. The former French champion was chased and joined by Johnny Hoogerland (Vacansoleil-DCM) and Juan Antonio Flecha (Team Sky). The three of them were chased down in turn by Luis Leon Sanchez (Rabobank), Sandy Casar (FDJ) and Nicki Terpstra (Quick Step).
The group of six got together just after the 50km point, and were a minute ahead of the peloton. Voeckler was the best placed of the six, in 19th overall, 1’29” behind Hushovd, and very quickly the Frenchman was the virtual race leader.
After 65km the sextet led by four minutes, but this began to come down as Garmin-Cervélo and Omega Pharma-Lotto took control of the peloton.
After 83km Alberto Contador crashed; he was the only rider affected and he was unhurt. The defending champion managed to rejoined the peloton without any problem, but then had to stop again to change his bike. After 92km, as the climb to the Pas de Peyrol began, the leading six’ advantage was down to 2’40”.
The toughest climb of the race so far causes chaos on the way down
Terpstra was an almost immediate casualty in the break, as Voeckler increased his pace. The Frenchman outsprinted Hoogerland – who is attempting to take back the polka-dot jersey – over the top of the climb, and the peloton followed them over 3’55” behind.
On the descent Voeckler, Casar and Flecha distanced Sanchez and Hoogerland, as the twisting roads had been made slippery by recent rain.
Behind them though, disaster struck the peloton; as it hit a left hand bend at around 80kph there was a massive crash at the front, taking out a number of riders. Andreas Klöden (RadioShack), Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Omega Pharma-Lotto), Dave Zabriskie (Garmin-Cervélo) and Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana).
The most seriously hurt appeared to be Vinokourov, who had left the road and crashed into some trees. The Kazakh had to be helped up by members of his team, but abandoned the race with what appeared to be a possible broken pelvis.
Van Den Broeck – Belgium’s biggest hope for Tour success in many years – was forced to abandon with what appeared to be a broken shoulder blade; and Zabriskie was also confirmed to have been forced to give up.
As it had done on the Ardennes stage of the Tour last year, the peloton neutralised itself to allow crashed riders to rejoin. Unlike last year though, once the bunch was back together again the chase recommenced.
Hoogerland and Sanchez managed to get back up to the other three leaders, and the Dutchman managed to take the points over the top of the 2nd category Col de Perthus. Thanks to the neutralisation in the peloton, it followed the break over 7’39” later; the chase had restarted now though, and the gap began to come down.
Hoogerland dominates the polka dot points as Voeckler lets him have them
Hoogerland led over the Col de Cère, after 127.5km, with Voeckler, not contesting the sprint, following him over; the peloton was now at 6’13”. The process was repeated over the Côte de la Chevade, after 139.5km, but by this time the lead was down to 5’31”.
The peloton was now led by Leopard Trek and Omega Pharma-Lotto as it flew down the descent.
The five leaders were all together on the climb of the Col de la Prat de Bouc, with Voeckler doing the lion’s share of the work. Hoogerland took the points once more, ahead of Voeckler again, the Dutchman was heading back into the polka-dots again, but Voeckler was hoping for yellow.
The peloton had closed, but was now easing off; the gap had reduced to around 4’30” on the way up, but over the top it had gone back up to 4’52”, with 54km to go.
At 40km to go, with the course predominantly downhill, the gap had remained static, and had actually opened slightly, with the leaders descending at the same speed as the peloton. With 38km to go the leader’s advantage went over five minutes.
Disaster hits the break as a TV car takes half of it out!
With 37km to go France Televisions car was squeezing past the break and sideswiped Flecha, the Spaniard was pushed into the path of Hoogerland and both of them came down hard; the Dutchman was sent flying into the barbed-wire fence at the side of the road. Flecha was back up relatively quickly and chasing the other three, who had escaped unscathed, but Hoogerland stayed down for some time before remounting.
Any chance of a stage victory for Flecha and Hoogerland was now gone, although the Dutchman just had to finish the stage to take the polka-dot jersey.
The remaining three riders briefly hesitated but, when it became obvious that neither would be able to catch up, the continued their fierce pace towards the finish. Casar rolled over the in first place to take the intermediate sprint in Neuvéglise with 30km to go.
Garmin-Cervélo moved forward as the peloton approached the line, but Omega Pharma-Lotto was not about to relinquish control. Flecha had already crossed the line but, as they swept up Hoogerland, they were now racing for fifth place.
Jelle Vanendert pulled Gilbert off the front of the peloton and the Belgian champion took fifth place over the line unopposed, 4’48” behind the leaders. His chief rivals in the green jersey competition, Mark Cavendish (HTC-Highroad) and José Joaquin Rojas (Movistar), were nowhere to be seen.
The chase is on but it’s too little, too late
Garmin-Cervélo took over the chase and started to try and close the gap to the three remaining breakaway riders and Hoogerland found himself dropped. With 20km to go the peloton was 4’24” behind the three leaders, and it was surely too late to catch them now; Flecha though, was caught with 18km to go.
As the peloton was just about to hit the base of the 4th cateogry Côte du Château d’Alleuze, Gilbert bike was forced to change his bike. The team seemed to take an age to get up to the Belgian champion though, then took a while to find his spare bike, and so he was right at the back as the climb began.
The peloton was 4’06” behind the leaders over the top, with 15km to go, and Gilbert managed to make it to the near the front by the time it crossed over.
With predominantly downhill roads until the final climb to the finish it looked certain that either Voeckler, Casar or Sanchez would take the stage. Garmin-Cervélo had the task of preventing the Europcar from taking the yellow jersey; the American team had left it too late though and the peloton’s speed dropped off as the rode into the final 10km.
Garmin-Cervélo soon recognised that the cause was lost, and Hushovd as going to lose the yellow jersey, and BMC Racing took over the pacemaking on the front. With 10km to go they were 4’45” behind, which had hardly changed by the 5km to go banner.
Meanwhile, Hoogerland was passing under the 15km to go banner 12’31” behind his former companions.
Voeckler knows he has yellow but the battle for the stage is still on
As the three leaders arrived at the base of the final climb into Saint-Flour Voeckler was on the front, followed by Casar and Sanchez, and this was the order that they took the climb.
Voeckler led up the climb into the final kilometre, not asking the others for any help, as he wanted to take as much time as possible out of peloton. Riding out of the saddle, the two-time French champion dropped to the back of the three-man line in the final few hundred metres, and waited for his moment.
When Voeckler did put in his attack, Sanchez saw it coming and jumped himself. Neither of the Frenchmen was able to mach the acceleration of the Spanish rider and he flew into the finish alone. As he crossed the line he pointed to the sky in memory of his brother, who died two years ago, then sucked his thumb and mimed a pregnant belly in tribute to his wife.
Four minutes later Omega Pharma-Lotto led the peloton up the climb, with Gilbert in second wheel; knowing that he’d lost his yellow jersey, Hushovd sat up at the bottom.
Gilbert opened up his sprint with Cadel Evans (BMC Racing) on his wheel, who was leading a long string of race favourites, and the Belgian champion took fourth place with ease.
Hoogerland and Flecha finished at the back of a group almost 17 minutes back, ahead of the last group of sprinters; both were awarded the combativity prize for the day.
“We can still be happy that we’re alive. It’s horrible,” said Hoogerland at the finish. “I can blame everyone but I don’t think anyone does this sort of thing on purpose. I think the people in the car will have a very big guilty feeling and they will surely apologize to me and Flecha.
“I have three cuts that are about seven centimetres long and quite deep too,” he explained. “I’ll go to the hospital now and I think I’ll need about 30 stitches at least…”
Luckily for the Dutchman, the riders now have a rest day to try to recover from their wounds, and hopefully will be able to start on Tuesday.