photo credit @ LeTour
Rogers claims first Tour win, Pinot moves up on GC
excerpts from LeTour.fr
After Rafal Majka in the Alps, another of Alberto Contador’s domestiques claimed his first stage victory at the Tour de France. Michael Rogers managed to get rid of the Europcar duo formed of Thomas Voeckler and Cyril Gautier to arrive solo in Bagnères-de-Luchon. In the yellow jersey group, Thibaut Pinot took a significant advantage over direct rivals Tejay van Garderen and Romain Bardet while Vincenzo Nibali comfortably retained the overall lead.
21 riders in the lead
A 21-man breakaway took shape in three waves, starting at km 28 just after Rafal Majka (Tinkoff) took the only point awarded at the 4th category côte de Fanjeaux and therefore deprived Joaquim Rodriguez of the polka dot jersey as the two of them were equal on point as the race left Carcassonne following the second rest day. Bernhard Eisel and Vassil Kiriyenka (Sky), Jon Izagirre (Movistar), Michael Rogers (Tinkoff), Jan Bakelants and Michal Kwiatkowski (OPQS), Samuel Dumoulin and Matteo Montaguti (AG2R), Tom-Jelte Slagter (Garmin), José Serpa (Lampre), Jérémy Roy (FDJ), Tony Gallopin (Lotto), Greg van Avermaet (BMC), Cyril Gautier, Kévin Reza and Thomas Voeckler (Europcar), Michael Albasini and Jens Keukeleire (Orica), Roger Kluge (IAM), Anthony Delaplace and Florian Vachon (Bretagne) were united at km 73, right after Montaguti passed the côte de Pamiers alone in the lead. The composition of the breakaway put an end to fifty kilometers of hard racing.
Voeckler in action at Port de Balès
The 21 escapees got a maximum lead of 12 minutes just before climbing to Port de Balès with 35km to go. Voeckler attacked 5km before the summit. A trio contested the KOM: Serpa, Voeckler and Rogers, while Thibaut Pinot attacked in the yellow jersey group with four kilometers to go to the KOM point. His first victim was Tejay van Garderen. Romain Bardet eventually lost contact as well. So did Alejandro Valverde close to the top.
Rogers soloes to victory
In the downhill, Gautier and Kiriyenka rejoined the leading trio where cooperation wasn’t ideal because Serpa and Rogers knew of Voeckler’s reputation of being unbeaten at Bagnères-de-Luchon. With 4.5km to go, Rogers took Gautier by surprise and rode away solo. Europcar had no choice but be content with Voeckler’s second place and Gautier’s most aggressive rider price of the day. Among the GC contenders, Pinot made the biggest profit of the first Pyrenean stage as he preceded direct rival Bardet by 1.50 on the line and took the white jersey over from him. Van Garderen lost much more time and lots of hopes to make the final podium.
Stage 16 Results
AUS 1 ROGERS, Michael (TINKOFF-SAXO) 6:07:10 FRA 2 VOECKLER, Thomas (EUROPCAR) + 9 BLR 3 KIRYIENKA, Vasil (SKY) COL 4 SERPA PEREZ, Jose Rodolfo (LAMPRE – MERIDA) FRA 5 GAUTIER, Cyril (EUROPCAR) BEL 6 VAN AVERMAET, Greg (BMC RACING) + 13 POL 7 KWIATKOWSKI, Michal (OMEGA PHARMA – QUICK-STEP) + 36 ITA 8 MONTAGUTI, Matteo (AG2R LA MONDIALE) + 50 NED 9 SLAGTER, Tom Jelte (GARMIN SHARP) + 2:11 FRA 10 GALLOPIN, Tony (LOTTO BELISOL) BEL 11 BAKELANTS, Jan (OMEGA PHARMA – QUICK-STEP) + 3:33 FRA 12 VACHON, Florian (BRETAGNE – SECHE ENVIRONNEMENT) + 3:45 FRA 13 DELAPLACE, Anthony (BRETAGNE – SECHE ENVIRONNEMENT) + 4:47 FRA 14 REZA, Kévin (EUROPCAR) AUT 15 EISEL, Bernhard (SKY) + 8:14 FRA 16 ROY, Jérémy (FDJ.fr) + 8:32 FRA 17 PINOT, Thibaut (FDJ.fr) ESP 18 VALVERDE BELMONTE, Alejandro (MOVISTAR) FRA 19 PERAUD, Jean-Christophe (AG2R LA MONDIALE) ITA 20 NIBALI, Vincenzo (ASTANA) CZE 21 KONIG, Leopold (NETAPP – ENDURA) BEL 22 KEUKELEIRE, Jens (ORICA GreenEDGE) + 8:35 GER 23 KLUGE, Roger (IAM CYCLING) + 9:07 FRA 24 GADRET, John (MOVISTAR) + 9:12 ESP 25 IZAGUIRRE INSAUSTI, Jon (MOVISTAR) NED 26 TEN DAM, Laurens (BELKIN) + 9:43 FRA 27 JEANNESSON, Arnold (FDJ.fr) ESP 28 ZUBELDIA AGIRRE, Haimar (TREK FACTORY RACING) + 10:00 FRA 29 DUMOULIN, Samuel (AG2R LA MONDIALE) + 10:22 FRA 30 BARDET, Romain (AG2R LA MONDIALE) FRA 31 ROLLAND, Pierre (EUROPCAR) + 10:53 BEL 32 VAN DEN BROECK, Jurgen (LOTTO BELISOL) + 11:32 NED 33 MOLLEMA, Bauke (BELKIN) LUX 34 SCHLECK, Frank (TREK FACTORY RACING) FRA 35 MOINARD, Amaël (BMC RACING) + 12:08 SVK 36 VELITS, Peter (BMC RACING) USA 37 VAN GARDEREN, Tejay (BMC RACING) USA 38 HORNER, Christopher (LAMPRE – MERIDA) GBR 39 THOMAS, Geraint (SKY) ESP 40 MATE MARDONES, Luis Angel (COFIDIS, SOLUTIONS CREDITS)
General Classification after Stage 16 ITA 1 NIBALI, Vincenzo (ASTANA) 73:05:19 ESP 2 VALVERDE BELMONTE, Alejandro (MOVISTAR) + 4:37 FRA 3 PINOT, Thibaut (FDJ.fr) + 5:06 FRA 4 PERAUD, Jean-Christophe (AG2R LA MONDIALE) + 6:08 FRA 5 BARDET, Romain (AG2R LA MONDIALE) + 6:40 USA 6 VAN GARDEREN, Tejay (BMC RACING) + 9:25 CZE 7 KONIG, Leopold (NETAPP – ENDURA) + 9:32 NED 8 TEN DAM, Laurens (BELKIN) + 11:12 POL 9 KWIATKOWSKI, Michal (OMEGA PHARMA – QUICK-STEP) + 11:28 NED 10 MOLLEMA, Bauke (BELKIN) + 11:33 ESP 11 ZUBELDIA AGIRRE, Haimar (TREK FACTORY RACING) + 12:38 FRA 12 ROLLAND, Pierre (EUROPCAR) + 13:09 BEL 13 VAN DEN BROECK, Jurgen (LOTTO BELISOL) + 14:02 LUX 14 SCHLECK, Frank (TREK FACTORY RACING) + 17:37 RUS 15 TROFIMOV, Yury (KATUSHA) + 23:06 GBR 16 THOMAS, Geraint (SKY) + 23:54 AUS 17 PORTE, Richie (SKY) + 24:08 NED 18 KRUIJSWIJK, Steven (BELKIN) + 26:06 FRA 19 FEILLU, Brice (BRETAGNE – SECHE ENVIRONNEMENT) + 26:48 USA 20 HORNER, Christopher (LAMPRE – MERIDA) + 29:54
You must be logged in to post a comment.
