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Loudenvielle - Le Louron
196 km
Monday 23 July
The leader of the Astana team at the start of the Tour has delivered two stage victories in three days but he knows his hopes of winning the title are over. Instead of lamenting his losses, he simply shifted focus. His team-mates supported that decision and, after the rest day, he will be riding in the service of Andreas Kloden.
“Yesterday, I admit, was a terrible day. It really affected my mind and that’s one of the reason I finished so far behind the peloton at Plateau de Beille. When I got back to the hotel last night I realized that the hope of victory in the Tour de France was over for me. The team asked me if I wanted to abandon but I told them I’d never give up. I spoke with the guys and they all said they’d support me with my new goal, a stage victory.
“Since the crash, I haven’t been able to fully recover but I’m always optimistic. Today was indeed a good day. It’s no time for regrets about the general classification I just had a bit of bad luck but that’s race.”
While it was Alexandre Vinokourov who won the stage and animated the racing all day long, his team-mate from last year Alberto Contador continues to demonstrate that he’s The Revelation of the 2007 Tour de France. The Spaniard is in control of the white jersey and despite admitting that he’s still only young, he now realized that he could swap his prized top for a yellow one... if only he could drop Michael Rasmussen.
“It was a good day for me. It turned out to be a spectacular stage and I wanted to manage a good place. Other than what happened in front, it ended well for me. I tried to attack and I hoped to be able to drop Rasmussen but he continues to prove that he’s really strong.
“Each time I attacked he was able to come back to me, but I have to take inspiration from the last two days because we have taken time out of the time trial specialists and Rasmussen and I have a good lead in the general classification and there’s still another very tough mountain stage yet to come. This is my first Tour and it was meant to be a learning experience but I’ve had great support from my team. It’s an honor to ride for Discovery Channel because I always admired the way they controlled the race.
“My hero is Lance Armstrong because of the way he won seven Tours but also because of the way he beat cancer. I had an operation on my brain a few years ago and there was a lot of doubt about how I would be but now I’m back on the bike and that’s when I’m happiest.”
There are two crucial stages still to come in the 2007 Tour de France and Michael Rasmussen continues to reiterate the point that the race isn’t over until Paris. In the meantime, he’s been stealing time on his main rivals for the general classification. He finished 11th in the 15th stage and he’s pleased with what he achieved on the second day in the Pyrenees because he’s increased his lead over the time trial specialist. Alberto Contador remains his nearest rival and the Dane is full of praise for this Spanish climber.
“My team was fantastic today and I owe a lot to them all but especially to Michael Boogerd who was exceptional. I can’t thank my team enough. To have Menchov in the escape at the start and then come back to help was a great display of commitment from the whole Rabobank squad. The pace Boogerd set on the last two climbs made it difficult for anyone to attack me until Alberto Contador took charge. And when he went, nobody could respond and I certainly had a tough job just staying on his wheel.
“My big objective today was to control the race today and stay with Contador if he attacked, which is something we’ve learned that he’s likely to do.
“He attacked multiple times and each time it was really, really fast. He has a fantastic acceleration which I could not follow but I was able to fight my way back each time but he had a bit of an advantage because he was so fast that he caught the motorbikes a couple of times at the top of the Col de Peyresourde which made it even more difficult for me. In the end, I managed to stay with him until the top but if I hadn’t, I would have been in trouble because Contador had the benefit of having Hincapie waiting for him at the top of the final climb.
“Contador has the best acceleration in the whole peloton and I was under pressure but I still stayed with him and I’m happy with that effort.
“We still have the hardest stage of the entire race remaining. On Wednesday we finish on top of the Col d’Aubisque so nothing is final yet.”
Cadel Evans has held onto his third place in the general classification but he lost 6’27" to Vinokourov and 1’37" to Contador and Rasmussen.
The top 10after 15 stage is:
1. Michael Rasmussen (DEN) RAB - 2,750.4km in 69h52’14" (39.359km/h)
2. Alberto Contador (ESP) DSC at 2’23"
3. Cadel Evans (AUS) PRL at 4’00"
4. Levi Leipheimer (USA) DSC at 5’25"
5. Andreas Kloden (GER) AST at 5’34"
6. Carlos Sastre (ESP) CSC at 6’46"
7. Haimar Zubeldia (ESP) EUS at 7’27"
8. Andrey Kashechkin (KAZ) AST at 7’54"
9. Kim Kirchen (LUX) TMO at 8’24"
10. Mikel Astarloza (EUS) at 9’21"
The riders in the yellow and white jerseys have finished the 15th stage 5’32" behind Vinokourov. There’ll be another batch of changes to the top order of the general classification with Evans yet to arrive at the finish...
Alexandre Vinokourov was on the attack from the moment the flag was dropped to signal the start of racing in stage 15. He insisted on being part of The Escape group today and was rewarded with another stage win.
The top five in stage 15 is:
1. Alexandre Vinokourov (KAZ) AST - 196.0km 5h34’28" (35.16km/h)
2. Kim Kirchen (LUX) TMO at 51"
3. Haimar Zubeldia (ESP) EUS at 51"
4. Juan Jose Cobo (SDV) at 58"
5. Juan Manuel Garate (ESP) QSI at 2’14"
With 4km to go, Evans is 55" behind Rasmussen and Contador.
While the stage has been decided the battle for time in the general classification continues behind. Vinokourov saluted the crowds in Loudenvielle as Rasmussen, Hincapie and Contador passed under the 4km to go banner.
