The Hindu : Sport / Cycling : Mickael Rasmussen wins toughest climbing stage

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jul 20, 2006

Sport

Sport - Cycling

Mickael Rasmussen wins toughest climbing stage

LA TOUSSUIRE: Denmark's Mickael Rasmussen, of Rabobank, won the 16th stage of the Tour de France, considered the hardest climbing stage on this year's race here on Wednesday.

Phonak's Floyd Landis lost the Yellow jersey in dramatic fashion to Caisse d'Epargne's Oscar Pereiro after the Spaniard finished third at 1min 54sec behind Rasmussen.

Pereiro, who led the race at the start of the week, now leads fellow Spaniard Carlos Sastre, of CSC, by 1min 50secs ahead of Thursday's hilly stage in the Alps.

Landis dropped out of the race's top ten after losing more than nine minutes having spectacularly failed to respond to an attack by Sastre early on the day's fourth and final climb to the summit finish here.

Sastre, who began the day in fifth place with a 2:17 deficit to Landis, finished second at 1min 41secs behind Rasmussen thanks to an extraordinary display of climbing which has boosted his Yellow jersey chances.

Dramatic finale

In a dramatic finale to the hardest stage of the race in the Alps, Russian Denis Menchov, of Rabobank, was left trailing by co-favourite Andreas Kloden when the German upped the pace inside the last 5 km well after Sastre had attacked. Menchov is now sixth overall at 3:58.

Kloden's turn of pace prompted another contender, Australian Cadel Evans, to follow as well as former race leader Oscar Pereiro of Spain. Pereiro sprinted in the finale to take third place ahead of Evans, meaning he was comfortably able to pull on the Yellow jersey. Evans is fifth overall at 2:56.

Kloden, who began the day in sixth place at 2:29 behind Landis, is now in third overall still at 2:29. The German, who finished a runner-up to Lance Armstrong, is now a major favourite for the Yellow jersey.

Pereiro, a former Phonak teammate of Landis, regained the leader's jersey a day after losing it to him. The lead has alternated between the two since Landis took it last Thursday after a stage in the Pyreenees.

Rasmussen, who won the polka-dot jersey for the best climber at last year's Tour, started the stage as the third best climber but moved up to No. 1. It was the 32-year-old Dane's second career Tour stage win after collecting one last year.

Riders ascended the mammoth Col du Galibier, the highest point of the race at 2,646 metres, just after the start and then faced the tortuous Col de la Croix-de-Fer before the uphill finish. — Agencies

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport