Cycling Shirts Guide

Non-stop attacks were the order of the day in the Tour de France for Stage 16, with almost perpetual attempts to break free for the first two hours. In fact the only two riders who did not try to break free from the pack were the two GC leaders, Contador and Schleck. The 199.5 km route from Bagnères-de-Luchon to Pau provided some fiendish climbing, with two category 1′s and a couple of back to back HC climbs to overcome. For the sprinters there were two opportunities to pick up intermediate points. By the 5 km mark, a posse of 18 riders had broken off the front of the peloton, which included Armstrong (RSH), Wiggins (SKY), Hesjedal (GRM) and others. The group shrunk down to 11 by the summit of the first category 1 climb, the Col de Peyresourde, and as the field split up on the climb, Van den Broeck attacked the Contador Group, a group of 30 or so men in front of the main peloton. Kreuziger and Szymd (LIQ) led the breakaway group to the top, and the pursuing bunch was led by a trio of Astana riders.

The next climb was another category 1, the Col d’Aspin, and precipitated another flurry of attacks and counterattacks. Lloyd fell out the back of the leading group, and waited to be caught by Van den Broeck, and they assisted each other to the crest. Omega Pharma riders, marked closely by Astana led the peloton, keeping the escapees within 30 seconds reach. In several cases, less able climbers were dropped on the ascent only to regain entry into their respective chase groups during the subsequent descent down the other side. Cunego attacked the main group just before the summit, and caught the breakaway, while Casar extricated himself from this leading group with a burst of pace, and gained a 20 second gap.

(Photo of Pierrick Fedrigo by Gsl. Reproduced under Creative Commons licence.)

As the leaders approached the first major challenge of the day, an HC climb called the Col du Tourmalet (a climb so famed you can even buy tourmalet shirts to commemorate it!), a large bunch dropped back to get reabsorbed into the peloton. Armstrong eventually chased down Casar on the climb, and the small group behind, Fedrigo, Cunego, Moreau and van de Walle organised themselves to get back into contention at the front. In the event, Armstrong led, but was caught by Fedrigo and Cunego with the peloton lagging behind by over 2 minutes. This front group was quickly joined by Horner, Plaza and Barredo, and then 4 km from the top, Konovalovas also joined in the breakaway. Astana took over the pace making of the peloton, hoping to close the gap to the 10 man escape team.

No sooner had the riders triumphed over one hors categorie climb, when they were confronted by another one, looming over them, the Col d’Aubisque. The leading group of 10 – Armstrong, Barredo, Casar, Cunego, Fedrigo, Horner, Konovalovas, Moreau, Plaza and Van de Walle – amassed a hefty lead on the ascent of 7 minutes 30. In his last Tour de France, Armstrong was desperate to get another stage win, and attacked the leading group, splitting it in two, and taking only Barredo, Cunego, Fedrigo and Plaza with him. Others returned, to this front splinter group, and Armstrong attacked again, but could not pull away from his rivals. Barredo also failed to get free of the pack, and eight riders reached the summit together, with Moreau taking maximum points at the top. The road to the finishing line was still some way away, and the rest of the field was stretched out, with Casar reaching the summit in 9th place and Konovalovas 10th. The peloton lay some 10 minutes behind, led by Astana’s Tiralongo.

With 47 km to go Casar caught up with the front runners, just in time for further skirmishes. With 44 km left, Barredo mounted a brave and perfectly timed escape attempt. At that distance out, the other riders failed to respond, and Spanish rider put some serious time between himself and his pursuers. He amassed 40 seconds before the following group finally tried to organise themselves to catch him. The expectation was that another attack would have been needed to inject serious pace into the proceedings, but as it turned out, and rather disappointingly, they simply shared the pace making to gather in Barredo by the 1 km to go point. It was a pity he wasn’t to gain more from his heroic 44 km last ditch attempt to claim a stage win for himself.

As it turned out, the experience of the chasing riders was the thing that held them back from their pursuit, as they all knew that as soon as Barredo was captured, the real competition for the stage victory would begin, and this small group flew; they all knew they were far enough ahead of the main peloton. The Caisse d’Epargne riders took control at the front, and it was Armstrong who threw everything he had into an attack for the line, starting from second to last position in the group. Fedrigo spotted it and put his foot down; the rest would be chasing for second place. So Fedrigo won hs third ever Stage of the Tour de France, with Casar rolling in second. Another famous victory for the French in their home tournament. That takes the tally up to six French riders winning stages this year, an achievement last seen back in 1992.

The other riders fighting for the General Classification were happy to amble home later on, and that left the cycling shirt situation completely unchanged after today’s racing, as far as the Yellow Jersey competition is concerned.

Here are the results for Stage 16 and the Overall GC Standings:

The notable result of today’s stage, apart from another French victory to add to the collection, is the rather surprising name at number 10 in the Stage Standings: Thor Hushovd. A sprint specialist who managed to cling to a fast group over some killer mountain climbs, and come in to get more than a handful of points, which saw him poach the Green Jersey back from Petacchi. The Green Jersey competition is anybody’s game now between those two.

Mercifully for the riders, tomorrow is the second Rest Day of the Tour, and then they are back in the saddle for another Pyrenees stage on Thursday, the last mountain stage, and the final Polka Dot Jersey will be assigned after that. Then the riders will be within touching distance of Paris and the spoils of victory.