Tour de France: Stage 15 and another French win

Frenchman Pierrick Fedrigo wins his fourth Tour de France stage after peloton decides to let a break have its freedom

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Previous Stages

| Prologue | Stage 1 | Stage 2 | Stage 3 | Stage 4 | Stage 5 | Stage 6 | Stage 7 | Stage 8 | Stage 9 | Stage 10 | Stage 11 | Stage 12 | Stage 13 | Stage 14 |

Yellow Jersey: Bradley Wiggins | White jersey: Tejay van Garderen |
| KoM Jersey:  Kessiakoff | Green Jersey: Peter Sagan | Team: Radioshack Nissan

Prior to the stage today, there was talk of Cavendish versus Greipel for the stage and the sprinters having their day in a race where there has been not a lot for them to fight over. For that to happen though the teams of the sprinters would have to control the breaks and after ninety minutes of continuous attacking and breaks coming and going, the teams eventually gave up.

Six riders escaped and were given the green light to have their freedom and fight out the stage whilst Team Sky did all the work at the front to make sure the break never got out of hand.

At the start when the flag dropped, it was a constant battle between the sprinter teams and those who wanted a break to go clear. While one of the riders of the Tour, Chavanel abandoned the race because of illness, riders wanting that chance of a stage win kept on attacking including Brits Dan Martin and Dave Millar, both of the Garmin team. Whilst it wasn’t to be their day out front, a Garmin rider did make the break, Christian Vande Velde along with Voeckler (EUC), Fedrigo (EUC), Devenyns (OPQ) and Dumoulin (COF).

By the time this happened, over 62 kilometres had passed under their wheels and the story wasn’t over yet. While the race saw more riders abandon the race, Saxobank’s ever aggressive Nicki Sorensen went off to chase the break down. It was slow going for the Dane who has chased down groups on multiple occasions in this Tour and his team played a brilliant tactical game when they got on the front to bring the break back — a message to the break to wait for Nikki or fail. They waited.

Soon there were six in the lead and that was it, race over for the sprinters.

The Stage Summary – Video

Four of the break had already enjoyed success at the Tour including Thomas Voeckler and Pierrick Fedrigo who had claimed three stages each in the past. Once the escape was well clear, the six opportunists: Voeckler, Fedrigo, along with Samuel Dumoulin, Christian Vande Velde, Dries Devenyns and Nicki Sorensen worked well together all the way to the 11 kilometre mark when the attacking started all over again. This time the prize was the stage win and after a move or two by the Saxobank rider Sorensen failed, Fedrigo showed just how powerful he was with a burst of speed that opened up a big gap straight away.

Vande Velde was the only rider to get close and even he had to chase hard to get back to the Frenchman. Unlike the day Millar won, the Garmin rider was unable to deny the Frenchman the stage win as Fedrigo led out the sprint and Christian Vande Velde was simply not fast enough or not strong enough to come off his wheel.

Thomas Voeckler was the best of the rest in third. It was the typical end of stage scramble. A rider breaks for freedom and opens up a gap, the rest squabble over who is going to chase with none of them sensible enough to stop and think — we need to cooperate to bring this guy (s) back. It was their downfall and played into the hands of Christian Vande Velde and Fedrigo.

There was then a long wait for the peloton who dragged their tired asses to the final stage finish before the rest day over 11 minutes later where Andre Greipel outsprinted Tyler Farrar and Peter Sagan. Cavendish was way back having been on team duty in the finale and quite obviously not racing for the Green jersey.

Peter Sagan, like Wiggins with Yellow, has a stranglehold on the Green jersey.

 Reactions

Pierrick Fédrigo: “There are days like this, when one feels that something will happen” he said after the stage win. “And the closer it got, the more motivated I got. When we found ourselves up front with strong riders like Vande Velde and Sorensen, a cunning man like Voeckler, and a fast sprinter like Dumoulin, it is complicated to create a strategy. Sometimes I have to wait a bit to decide how to manage it all. This time I launched the last attack with five kilometres to go.”

“I was going on feel, and I thought it was the right time. And then we had to hang on to our advantage and I bet everything on the sprint [against Vande Velde]. Each stage that I have won offers something special. The first is always moving. The second was in Tarbes, a few miles from my house, which obviously makes it memorable. The third was the Queen Stage of the Pyrenees in 2010, with the Tourmalet, the Aubisque, Aspin and Soulor mountain passes – they are beautiful places for me as I’m from this region.”

“And this is the victory of a comeback after a year of illness, and that means a lot.”

“What I had last year, was more difficult to cope with than riding the Tour de France. Of course we know the painful moments of the race, but [Lyme] disease has taught me to suffer differently. There were 198 riders in the Tour, and there are 21 stages and there isn’t something for everyone – and even less for riders like me. So when you get to win on this kind of stage, when we have targeted it, the satisfaction is even greater. The team started winning with Thibaut Pinot in the first week, and that took some pressure off me. Now we still have to defend his 10th place overall, and why not to take him a little higher. So I will continue to stand beside him to help.”

Wiggins, looking good to take yellow all the way to Paris. Photo: PhotoSport International UK USA Asia

Bradley Wiggins: “Mark has been fantastic these last two and a half weeks. He’s been so committed to my cause – to the yellow jersey – and he’s a great champion and a great friend. Obviously, there is still the stage to Paris for him and we’re going to lay it down in Paris for him and try and get him the win there. He’s also got the Olympic road race which he’s been quite open about: that’s his main objective this year, so it’s a shame that he hasn’t had the chance to race for more stage wins but in the end we’ve got a difficult task on our hands to try and win the yellow jersey.”

“So far, he’s played a big part in that. We’ve seen him going back for bottles and, yesterday, he tried really hard to get over that first climb with us… he’s also been an absolute gentleman this week. I thought the attacks at the start wouldn’t last so long; it went on for almost two hours but the terrain took its toll. There are a lot of tired bodies out there and eventually the break went and it was pretty straightforward. We started [to chase] but we were only willing to use two guys and we were hoping that Lotto would chuck two in, that GreenEdge would chuck two in… but they weren’t interested so that was the end of that.”

“There was a good group ahead with a lead of five minutes already so it was going to be difficult.”

Peter Sagan: Last seen signing a women’s breast before the stage (yes, their is photo evidence!) and with a lead of 102 points in the race for the green jersey, Peter Sagan just has to survive the mountains to become the first Slovakian winner of the sprinters’ classification at the Tour de France. “This morning we agreed that this was going to be a difficult day because we didn’t know what the other teams wanted to do. For the first 80 kilometres almost every rider wanted to be in the breakaway, but after the escape went it was good for me.”

“I was surprised that the other sprint teams didn’t work to bring back the break but also happy. Now I know that the other riders don’t want to do battle with me anymore. I’ll have another two days in the mountains and, after that, I think I can come in to Paris in the Green jersey. I’ll try to have a recovery on the day of the time trial so that I have some strength for the sprint on the final day.”

The ever aggressive Chris Anker Sorenson won the combativity award.

The other angle … this from GreenEdge and why they didn’t chase the break down …

Matt White Talks Stage 15  – “We wanted to put a rider in the break. We knew today would be a day for the breakaway. There were many break attempts during the first 60 kilometres. We missed out on the one that finally stuck. From the questions and comments we’re reading, we know most of you anticipated we would lead the chase.”

“We’ve done a hell of a lot of chasing during the first two weeks of this race. I didn’t think expending the effort was necessary today. Gossy wasn’t on the best of days, and the guys are getting a little tired. I can’t sacrifice them day in and day out. There’s still a week left to race, and they have some difficult mountains to race next week. It didn’t make sense to have them do that much work today.”

Brett Lancaster was our first abandon. He’s been carrying injuries since the start of the Tour. He crashed three times in the last two weeks, with the last crash on Saturday aggravating his injuries from previous crashes. It all caught up with him today, and he couldn’t continue. The team is looking forward to a well-deserved race day tomorrow, and we’ll back at in on Wednesday, five stages away from Paris.”

RESULT

1 Pierrick Fedrigo Equipe Cycliste FDJ – BigMat 03:40:15
2 Christian Vande Velde Garmin – Sharp @ same time
3 Thomas Voeckler Europcar 00:12
4 Nicki Sørensen Team Saxo Bank – Tinkoff Bank @ same time
5 Dries Devenyns Omega Pharma – Quickstep 00:21
6 Samuel Dumoulin Cofidis – Le Credit En Ligne 01:08
7 Andre Greipel Lotto – Belisol Team 11:50
8 Tyler Farrar Garmin – Sharp @ same time
9 Peter Sagan Liquigas – Cannondale @ same time
10 Kris Boeckmans Vacansoleil – DCM Pro Cycling Team @ same time
11 Borut Bozic Astana Pro Team @ same time
12 S̩bastien Hinault Ag2R РLa Mondiale @ same time
13 Koen De Kort Argos-Shimano @ same time
14 Jonathan Cantwell Team Saxo Bank – Tinkoff Bank @ same time
15 Jimmy Engoulvent Saur – Sojasun @ same time
16 Roy Curvers Argos-Shimano @ same time
17 Jurgen Roelandts Lotto – Belisol Team @ same time
18 Matthieu Ladagnous Equipe Cycliste FDJ – BigMat @ same time
19 Michael Schar BMC Racing Team @ same time
20 Janez Brajkovic Astana Pro Team @ same time
21 Cadel Evans BMC Racing Team @ same time
22 Bradley Wiggins Sky Procycling @ same time
23 Christopher Froome Sky Procycling @ same time
24 Vincenzo Nibali Liquigas – Cannondale @ same time
25 Arthur Vichot Equipe Cycliste FDJ – BigMat @ same time
26 Nicolas Roche Ag2R – La Mondiale @ same time
27 S̩bastien Minard Ag2R РLa Mondiale @ same time
28 Jean-marc Marino Saur – Sojasun @ same time
29 Jurgen Van Den Broeck Lotto – Belisol Team @ same time
30 Haimar Zubeldia Agirre RadioShack – Nissan @ same time
31 Anthony Roux Equipe Cycliste FDJ – BigMat @ same time
32 Edvald Boasson Hagen Sky Procycling @ same time
33 Egoi Martinez De Esteban Euskaltel – Euskadi @ same time
34 Michael Morkov Team Saxo Bank – Tinkoff Bank @ same time
35 Tejay Van Garderen BMC Racing Team @ same time
36 Michael Rogers Sky Procycling @ same time
37 Andr̩as Kl̦den RadioShack РNissan @ same time
38 Julien Simon Saur – Sojasun @ same time
39 Kristjan Koren Liquigas – Cannondale @ same time
40 Chris Horner RadioShack – Nissan @ same time
41 Maxime Monfort RadioShack – Nissan @ same time
42 Frank Schleck RadioShack – Nissan @ same time
43 Yohann Gène Europcar @ same time
44 Pierre Rolland Europcar @ same time
45 Cyril Gautier Europcar @ same time
46 George Hincapie BMC Racing Team @ same time
47 Denis Menchov Katusha Team @ same time
48 Marcel Sieberg Lotto – Belisol Team @ same time
49 Thibaut Pinot Equipe Cycliste FDJ – BigMat @ same time
50 J̩rome Coppel Saur РSojasun @ same time
51 Brice Feillu Saur – Sojasun @ same time
52 Philippe Gilbert BMC Racing Team @ same time
53 Mickael Cherel Ag2R – La Mondiale @ same time
54 Guillaume Levarlet Saur – Sojasun @ same time
55 Fredrik Kessiakoff Astana Pro Team @ same time
56 Johnny Hoogerland Vacansoleil – DCM Pro Cycling Team @ same time
57 Chris Anker Sorensen Team Saxo Bank – Tinkoff Bank @ same time
58 Peter Velits Omega Pharma – Quickstep @ same time
59 Danilo Hondo Lampre – ISD @ same time
60 Kevin De Weert Omega Pharma – Quickstep @ same time
61 Steven Kruijswijk Rabobank Cycling Team @ same time
62 Christian Knees Sky Procycling @ same time
63 Aleksandr Kuschynski Katusha Team @ same time
64 Federico Canuti Liquigas – Cannondale @ same time
65 Davide Malacarne Europcar @ same time
66 Andriy Grivko Astana Pro Team @ same time
67 Bert Grabsch Omega Pharma – Quickstep @ same time
68 Richie Porte Sky Procycling @ same time
69 Fabrice Jeandesboz Saur – Sojasun @ same time
70 Cyril Lemoine Saur – Sojasun @ same time
71 Matthieu Sprick Argos-Shimano @ same time
72 Albert Timmer Argos-Shimano @ same time
73 Adam Hansen Lotto – Belisol Team @ same time
74 Jean-christophe Peraud Ag2R – La Mondiale @ same time
75 Manuel Quinziato BMC Racing Team @ same time
76 Anders Lund Team Saxo Bank – Tinkoff Bank @ same time
77 Nick Nuyens Team Saxo Bank – Tinkoff Bank @ same time
78 Michele Scarponi Lampre – ISD @ same time
79 Eduard Vorganov Katusha Team @ same time
80 Bernhard Eisel Sky Procycling @ same time
81 Sandy Casar Equipe Cycliste FDJ – BigMat @ same time
82 Mark Cavendish Sky Procycling @ same time
83 Francis De Greef Lotto – Belisol Team @ same time
84 Simone Stortoni Lampre – ISD @ same time
85 Dmitriy Fofonov Astana Pro Team @ same time
86 Simon Gerrans Orica – GreenEDGE @ same time
87 Rui Alberto Faria Da Costa Movistar Team @ same time
88 Baden Cooke Orica – GreenEDGE @ same time
89 Vladimir Karpets Movistar Team @ same time
90 Ruben Plaza Molina Movistar Team @ same time
91 Juan Jose Cobo Acebo Movistar Team @ same time
92 Gregory Henderson Lotto – Belisol Team @ same time
93 Sergio Miguel Moreira Paulinho Team Saxo Bank – Tinkoff Bank @ same time
94 Daryl Impey Orica – GreenEDGE @ same time
95 Ruben Perez Moreno Euskaltel – Euskadi @ same time
96 Yuri Trofimov Katusha Team @ same time
97 Romain Zingle Cofidis – Le Credit En Ligne @ same time
98 Marcus Burghardt BMC Racing Team @ same time
99 Maxime Bouet Ag2R – La Mondiale @ same time
100 Lars Ytting Bak Lotto – Belisol Team @ same time
101 Nicolas Edet Cofidis – Le Credit En Ligne @ same time
102 Steven Cummings BMC Racing Team @ same time
103 Yaroslav Popovych RadioShack – Nissan @ same time
104 Pablo Urtasun Perez Euskaltel – Euskadi @ same time
105 Dominik Nerz Liquigas – Cannondale @ same time
106 Marco Marcato Vacansoleil – DCM Pro Cycling Team @ same time
107 Karsten Kroon Team Saxo Bank – Tinkoff Bank @ same time
108 Jelle Vanendert Lotto – Belisol Team @ same time
109 Maxim Iglinskiy Astana Pro Team @ same time
110 Jorge Azanza Soto Euskaltel – Euskadi @ same time
111 Laurens Ten Dam Rabobank Cycling Team @ same time
112 Ivan Basso Liquigas – Cannondale @ same time
113 Blel Kadri Ag2R – La Mondiale @ same time
114 Yukiya Arashiro Europcar @ same time
115 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte Movistar Team @ same time
116 Pieter Weening Orica – GreenEDGE @ same time
117 Andrey Kashechkin Astana Pro Team @ same time
118 Giampaolo Caruso Katusha Team @ same time
119 Johan Vansummeren Garmin – Sharp @ same time
120 Martin Velits Omega Pharma – Quickstep @ same time
121 Sylvester Szmyd Liquigas – Cannondale @ same time
122 Patrick Gretsch Argos-Shimano @ same time
123 Amaël Moinard BMC Racing Team @ same time
124 Rein Taaramäe Cofidis – Le Credit En Ligne @ same time
125 Grega Bole Lampre – ISD @ same time
126 J̩rome Pineau Omega Pharma РQuickstep @ same time
127 J̩r̩my Roy Equipe Cycliste FDJ РBigMat @ same time
128 Joan Horrach Rippoll Katusha Team @ same time
129 C̩dric Pineau Equipe Cycliste FDJ РBigMat @ same time
130 Christophe Riblon Ag2R – La Mondiale @ same time
131 Jan Ghyselinck Cofidis – Le Credit En Ligne @ same time
132 Luis Leon Sanchez Gil Rabobank Cycling Team @ same time
133 Vasil Kiryienka Movistar Team @ same time
134 Vladimir Gusev Katusha Team @ same time
135 Levi Leipheimer Omega Pharma – Quickstep @ same time
136 Daniel Martin Garmin – Sharp @ same time
137 Gorka Izagirre Insausti Euskaltel – Euskadi @ same time
138 Luis Angel Mate Mardones Cofidis – Le Credit En Ligne @ same time
139 Rafael Valls Ferri Vacansoleil – DCM Pro Cycling Team @ same time
140 Stuart O’ Grady Orica – GreenEDGE @ same time
141 Julien Fouchard Cofidis – Le Credit En Ligne @ same time
142 Matthew Goss Orica – GreenEDGE @ same time
143 Michael Albasini Orica – GreenEDGE @ same time
144 Daniel Oss Liquigas – Cannondale @ same time
145 Juan Jose Haedo Team Saxo Bank – Tinkoff Bank @ same time
146 Marco Marzano Lampre – ISD @ same time
147 Yann Huguet Argos-Shimano 12:20
148 Jens Voigt RadioShack – Nissan 12:21
149 David Millar Garmin – Sharp @ same time
150 David Zabriskie Garmin – Sharp @ same time
151 Luca Paolini Katusha Team @ same time
152 Bram Tankink Rabobank Cycling Team 12:33
153 Alexandre Vinokourov Astana Pro Team 12:35
154 Christophe Kern Europcar @ same time
155 Sebastian Langeveld Orica – GreenEDGE 12:37
156 Alessandro Vanotti Liquigas – Cannondale 15:31

Abandoned
Yauheni Hutarovich Equipe Cycliste FDJ – BigMat
Kenny Van Hummel Vacansoleil – DCM Pro Cycling Team
Vincent Jerome Europcar
Brett Lancaster Orica – GreenEDGE
Giovanni Bernaudeau Europcar
Sylvain Chavanel Omega Pharma – Quickstep

OVERALL
1 Bradley Wiggins Sky Procycling 66:33:21
2 Christopher Froome Sky Procycling 02:05
3 Vincenzo Nibali Liquigas – Cannondale 02:23
4 Cadel Evans BMC Racing Team 03:19
5 Jurgen Van Den Broeck Lotto – Belisol Team 04:48
6 Haimar Zubeldia Agirre RadioShack – Nissan 06:15
7 Tejay Van Garderen BMC Racing Team 06:57
8 Janez Brajkovic Astana Pro Team 07:30
9 Pierre Rolland Europcar 08:31
10 Thibaut Pinot Equipe Cycliste FDJ – BigMat 08:51
11 Andr̩as Kl̦den RadioShack РNissan 09:29
12 Frank Schleck RadioShack – Nissan 09:45
13 Nicolas Roche Ag2R – La Mondiale 10:49
14 J̩rome Coppel Saur РSojasun 11:27
15 Chris Horner RadioShack – Nissan 12:41
16 Denis Menchov Katusha Team 17:21
17 Maxime Monfort RadioShack – Nissan 17:41
18 Egoi Martinez De Esteban Euskaltel – Euskadi 18:04
19 Rui Alberto Faria Da Costa Movistar Team 19:02
20 Chris Anker Sorensen Team Saxo Bank – Tinkoff Bank 20:12
21 Michele Scarponi Lampre – ISD 20:32
22 Eduard Vorganov Katusha Team 20:35
23 Sandy Casar Equipe Cycliste FDJ – BigMat 27:03
24 Peter Velits Omega Pharma – Quickstep 27:37
25 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte Movistar Team 32:59

 

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