Race Report: No more time for idle chit chat, and no more room for shadow boxing. Today’s 224km slog from Barcelona to Arcalis lived up to the billing in levels of excitement, and by the top the GC had its first look at the real contenders. Read on!
The first day in the Pyrenees was a doozy, ending at the summit of the monstrous Arcalis climb. For sure we’d see true heads of state of the Tour de France come to the fore and settle some of the questions being asked since the race started.
Somewhat predictably, an early break went off. Somewhat oddly, it didn’t have an Astana rider in it as some may have thought. For the record, we had Egoi Martinez (Euskaltel Euskadi), José Ivan Gutierrez (Caisse d’Epargne), Christophe Riblon (AG2R La Mondiale), Rinaldo Nocentini (AG2R La Mondiale), Aleksandr Kuschynski (Liquigas), Christophe Kern (Cofidis), Jérôme Pineau (Quick Step), Brice Feillu (Agritubel) and Johannes Fröhlinger (Milram) all out in the early move building up a lead that hovered around the 12 minute mark. And with 50km left to go, the move looked like it might hold the field off, but...
Brice Feillu gave his Agritubel team a lot to celebrate tonight. The Feillu brothers do quite well at Le Tour.
Pre-race, Bruyneel chatted with reporters and downplayed Arcalis saying it “was not that terribly hard” and he even threw out there that Fabian Cancellara might hang on to his jersey if he had his climbing legs on. As the group sped toward Andorra, Astana lead the way with 2 riders setting tempo and the Garmin boys massed up behind them. Entering the principality, the break still held over 11 minutes in hand.
At the foot of the climb a roundabout caused a crash and several big names found themselves on the deck, most notably GC contender Levi Leipheimer. Poor old Tom Boonen found himself horizontal along with green jersey wearer Mark Cavendish and a few others. Leipheimer chased back on as the climb’s lower steps began.
The hard working break was given the appropriate amount of leash to make it to the line today.
In the break up the road, Kuschynski (Luiquigas) bid his farewells to his friends as the road pointed up. AG2R’s Nocentini had everything to ride for as he was the virtual yellow jersey in the race at the time. And still, behind, Astana kept the pace high and nibbled away at the break’s advantage.
Once Arcalis began for real, Astana and Garmin were queued up side by side driving upward. The damage was already being done as the peloton shrank by half in a few kilometers. On the front Zubeldia and Popovych stepped it up a little bit more and damned more men off the back, with Armstrong and Contador tucked neatly in 3rd and 4th wheel. Finally Cancellara gave up his valiant effort under Astana’s constant pressure and drifted off the back with 3 miles.
Ahead, Feillu (Agritubel) attacked his breakaway companions in a desperate bid for victory. Looking comfortable he motored along and victory began to look very real for the young Frenchman.
Fabian Cancellara's magnificent run in Yellow ended today. That wasn't a bad first week!
In the peloton the much awaited attacking began when Cadel Evans lit the touchpaper and blasted off the front, marked immediately by Contador and Lance Armstrong. Garmin’s Wiggins and VandeVelde stayed in contact. The move marshaled, the group surveyed each other momentarily. A decoy move by a Silence Lotto rider rolled off the front and then Contador showed his moxy and took off on the field, attacking with fury.
Going so quickly he had to freewheel around some of the switchbacks, Contador was 100% committed to the move. Andy Schleck took the front to chase the Spaniard down, with Armstrong hanging on tucked into a defensive role. Alberto began to distance himself nicely from the chasing heads of state and just kept pouring it on out of the saddle. Astana firmly held the cards now with their ace up the road and their other strongmen getting a free ride in the chase.
Schleck’s tempo wasn’t bringing the move back, so Evans again went to the front and began reeling. Then Wiggins jumped up and attacked hard, marked by both Levi and Lance. Contador was unstoppable up ahead and he raced for the line with almost scary speed.
Contador looked like he was in fast forward. He was going so fast ahead of the field of favorites. 20 seconds? No problem for the 'defending' Tour champ. He did that in about a kilometer.
Young Brice Feillu stayed away from his group at the very head of the race and held off Christopher Kern of Cofidis to take his first stage win in the Tour. France had to be celebrating the win of Feillu, as well as Nocentini’s yellow jersey for the French AG2R squad, as his finish placed him 6 seconds ahead of Contador. First Italian in yellow in 9 years as well, so Italy had something to cheer for.
Cadel Evans looked solid in the latter going. He'll be doing a fair bit of Astana chasing over the next two weeks.
Today showed us the early flashes of who’s for real in this Tour de France, most notably Alberto Contador who showed all comers he is on form and still as explosive as ever when the road goes up. This weekend’s lumpy course no doubt hold more surprises so stay tuned to PEZ for the best coverage you can find!
Talk about a great day for French teams - Ag2r gets the Maillot Jaune by way of their standout Italian, Rinaldo Nocentini.
Stage 7 Results
1. Brice Feillu Agritubel in 6:11:31
2. Christophe Kern Cofidis Le Credit En Ligne in 6:11:36
3. Johannes FrÖhlinger Team Milram at 00:25
4. Rinaldo Nocentini Ag2r-La Mondiale at 00:26
5. Egoi Martinez Euskaltel - Euskadi at 00:45
6. Christophe Riblon Ag2r-La Mondiale at 01:05
7. Jérôme Pineau Quick Step at 02:32
8. Ivan Gutierrez José Caisse D’epargne at 03:14
9. Alberto Contador Astana at 03:26
10. Cadel Evans Silence - Lotto at 03:47
General Classification After Seven Stages
1. Rinaldo Nocentini (Ag2r) 25:44:32
2. Alberto Contador (Astana) 0:06
3. Lance Armstrong (Astana) 00:08
4. Levi Leipheimer (Astana) 00:39
5. Bradley Wiggins (Garmin) 00:46
6. Andréas KlÖden (Astana) 00:54
7. Tony Martin (Columbia) 1:00
8. Christian Vande Velde (Garmin) 01:24
9. Andy Schleck (Saxo Bank) 01:49
10. Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas) 01:54
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