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Gourette - Col d’Aubisque
218.5 km
Wednesday 25 July
Michael Rasmussen has endured tough times during his days in the yellow jersey. He copped a grilling by journalists at a Rabobank press conference in Pau on the second rest day but responded by winning his second stage in the 2007 Tour de France while clad in the yellow jersey. The Dane was attacked by his rivals on the road between Orthez and the Col d’Aubisque with Carlos Sastre taking a gamble and attacking on the first of five mountain passes of what many believed was the toughest day of the 94th edition. By the finale on the ‘hors category’ mountain, Sastres advantage was whittled away to naught; he was caught passed and stood no chance of matching an elite trio of climbers who would go on to contest the battle for stage honors. It looked like being a Discovery Channel coup when Yaroslav Popovych disposed of all but three men with a powerful turn of pace at the base of the Aubisque ascent. Cadel Evans, Levi Leipheimer, Alberto Contador and Michael Rasmussen remained after the Ukrainian’s effort ended.
The two Disco recruits bludgeoned the other pair with one-two punches in the final five kilometers; this served to drop Evans but Rasmussen remained. In the final kilometer he made one decisive move and was never seen again until after throwing his first victory salute in the ‘maillot jaune’.
The 218.5km 16th stage of the 2007 Tour de France, from Orthez to Col d’Aubisque, began at 10.58am. There were 151 riders at the sign-on. The Astana team forfeited its place in the race at the request of the organizers following the positive doping control of Alexandre Vinokourov for a homogulous blood transfusion on the day of his time trial “win” in Albi. There were five climbs on the itinerary: the ‘hors categorie’ ascent of the Port de Larrau (at 79km), the cat-3 Alto Laza (at 93km), the cat-1 Col de la Pierre St-Martin (at 131km), the cat-1 Col de Marie-Blanque (at 180.5km) and the final ascent to the Col d’Aubisque. The two intermediate sprints were in Mauleon-Licharre (36km) and Laruns (200km).
Four Escape After Brief Protest
Riders from seven teams staged a small protest at the site of the ‘depart fictif’: the representatives from C.A, FDJ, COF, A2R, BTL and GST remained idle on the line while other squads rolled away at 10.40am. It was a gesture of solidarity from the riders who are part of MPCC (Mouvement pour un cyclisme crédible).
At the 8km mark an escape group formed: Auge (COF) attacked and was joined by Verdugo (EUS), Rinero (SDV) and Garcia-Acosta (GCE) at 9km. By the 15km mark, the peloton was 2’00” behind and the advantage grew rapidly: 19km – 4’20”; 21km – 6’40”; and, 30km 8’50”. The average speed for the first hour was 40.4km/h. Barloworld came to the front of the peloton.
Port de Larrau & Alto Laza
Barloworld led the peloton to the base of the first climb. The deficit at the foot of the Port de Larrau was 8’55”. Cardenas led Soler for the first kilometer and then the rider wearing the polka-dot jersey accelerated ahead of the peloton. He was chased down by Sastre (CSC) and shortly afterwards by Mayo (SDV). With 4km to climb, Verdugo and Garcia-Acosta dropped Auge and Rinero. There were no attacks in the peloton and four Rabobank riders – including Rasmussen – led the main pack to the summit. At the top Sastre’s trio was 3’05” behind and Rasmussen’s group (of 28 riders) was at 4’35”.
At the top of the second climb Garcia-Acosta again claimed 1st place by outsprinting Verdugo. Auge was at 2’00”, Rinero at 2’10”, Sastre’s group at 2’35” and the yellow jersey’s peloton at 5’40”.
Col de la Pierre St-Martin
Sastre, Soler, Mayo, Rinero and Auge - has caught Verdugo and Garcia-Acosta at the 110km mark. The peloton was 4’10” behind. With 14km to go to the third summit, Rinero swung over and let the six others go ahead without him. Auge also got dropped early. With 5km to climb the five led Auge by 2’45”, Rinero by 3’00” and the peloton by 4’10”. The two Frenchmen were caught by the peloton at the 150km mark (the peloton was 4’50” behind).
Col de Marie-Blanque
Dekker rode from the top of the 3rd climb to the base the Col de Marie-Blanque. The deficit for the peloton to the five escapees dropped to 3’15” when he pulled over to let Menchov and Boogerd take over the pace-setting duties. The first to drop from the lead group was Garcia-Acosta with 4km to climb. The peloton was 3’00” behind with 3km to climb. Sastre was at the front of the lead group for the majority of the climb while Soler marked him closely. With 1km to climb, Verdugo was dropped from the lead group and the peloton, reduced to Periero, Arroyo, Valverde, Schleck, Evans, Horner, Menchov, Boogerd, Rasmussen, Zubeldia, Halgand, Leipheimer, Contador, Popovych and Cobo… who were 2’40” behind. At the top Soler took first place points, Garcia-Acosta was at 1’25” and the peloton was led by Rasmussen 2’25” behind the rider in the virtual lead of the mountains classification.
Approaching The Aubisque
With 25km to go in the stage, the escape group’s advantage on the yellow jersey was 1’25”. Garcia-Acosta dropped out of the lead group and helped set the pace until the base of the final ascent when the advantage of the four escapees was just 45”. Verdugo was caught and passed by Rasmussen’s group at the foot of the Aubisque.
Rasmussen Races Onward A Salute In Yellow…
Soler and Sastre tried to maintain their advantage but a powerful turn of pace by Popovych in the first 5km of the final ascent would be the beginning of the end for the escapees. They were caught with 9.5km to go and dropped immediately by an elite selection that had been whittled down to just Rasmussen, Contador, Leipheimer and Evans. The Spaniard attacked three times but he was chased down each time. The decisive blow for Evans would come from the American. With 4.5km to go, the Australian was out of contention. In the last kilometer Rasmussen raced into the lead and onward to victory. He increased his advantage in the general classification but lost the lead of the mountains classification to Soler. Rasmussen will wear the yellow jersey in stage 17.
On his way to winning his second stage this year, Michael Rasmussen was taunted by the public who booed him from start to finish. He can’t fathom why but has a hypothesis about the attitude of the fans on the road side. Beyond that, the man who leads the Tour de France by over three minutes after 16 stages was only willing to express his opinion on the race, rather than answer questions about the protestations by some teams prior to the Queen Stage of this year’s race.
“It’s true that I was booed at the start and again during the stage also. I believe that, for the moment, there’s a lot of frustration amongst the people who follow cycling and in the peloton about what’s going on – about what happened to ‘Vino’ yesterday – and I think that since he is not here and the Astana team has gone home, people are taking their frustration out on me. I understand now what Lance Armstrong went through for seven years and my respect for him is growing day by day.
“The only good thing there is to say about the Vinokourov case is that it proves that the system is working and to that I can only add that I’ve had 14 negative tests so far during this Tour.
“Now the overall victory is more important than stage wins but with the position that I was able to put myself in – winning the queen stage of the Tour while in the yellow jersey – it was pretty hard to deny taking the opportunity to do so.”
Rasmussen has increased his advantage over all others by winning the 16th stage. The order of the top five hasn’t changed after the stage to the Col d’Aubisque but the time differences have. The new top five scenario is as follows:
1. Michael Rasmussen (DEN) RAB
2. Albert Contador (ESP) DSC - at 3’10"
3. Cadel Evans (AUS) PRL - at 5’03"
4. Levi Leipheimer (USA) DSC - at 5’59"
5. Carlos Sastre (ESP) CSC - at 9’12"
For the second time this year, a rider in the yellow jersey has won a stage. The top five of stage 16 from Orthez to the Col d’Aubisque is:
1. Michael Rasmussen (DEN) RAB - 218.5km in 6h23’21"
2. Levi Leipheimer (USA) DSC at 26"
3. Alberto Contador (ESP) DSC at 35"
4. Cadel Evans (AUS) PRL at 43"
5. Mauricio Soler (COL) BAR at 1’25"
After having to endure a grilling at the press conference on the rest day, Michael Rasmussen has responded in a winning way. He has won the stage 24" ahead of Leipheimer with Contador in third and Evans about to cross the line in fourth place.
Rasmussen is about to claim his second stage victory this year. He is less than 500m from the finish and has a lead of 20" over Contador and Leipheimer.
Rasmussen is now racing clear of the two Discovery Channel riders and appears destined to win his second stage of the 2007 Tour de France, his first victory in the yellow jersey.
