With no breakaway today, the first climb would be decided by attacks from the bunch. Perez Sanchez, Sandy Casar, Jose Rujano, Inigo Cuesta and Cyril Dessel attacked with Perez Sanchez getting the points. The 5 riders looked to drop back but they actually got a 2 minute lead! The reason: Savoldelli hgas crashed, and noone was setting the pace in the peleton.
4 other riders crept away:
Cunego and his polish teamamte with the hard name: Syzmyd (I think), plus Calzati and another Ag2r rider. Liquigas were extroadinarly lazy so I was almost surprised when the pack started chasing, with a mixture of teams realising that they shouldnt allow Cunego to get away.
They were eventually caught, allowing the sprinters a chance to contest the intermediate sprint, which was won by Bennati.
We reached Ventoux, and there were a lot of attacks, with Schleck and Cunego the only ones choosing not to attack. When things settled down, Riccardo Ricco had a solo lead, over Gadret, Moreau and Beltran. The next group contained the rest of the big guns, so Schleck and Cunego definately had the tactical advantage and now have the advantage of the blue bar, should they choose to use it.
Savoldelli could not stick with the pace, and would lose his overall lead.
Beltran dropepd back to the 3rd group as he cracked and could not give up with the frenchmen Gadret or Moreau.
Ricco survived up front to win:
Gadret took 2nd, while Moreau faded badly, still hanging on for 3rd though. Frank Schleck powered away from the rest of his group to take 4th.
1
Riccardo Ricco'
PREDICTOR - LOTTO
5h24'08
2
John Gadret
TEAM CSC
+ 47
3
Christophe Moreau
BOUYGUES TELECOM
+ 1'19
4
Frank Schleck
SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR
+ 1'28
5
Alejandro Valverde
COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE
+ 1'39
6
Damiano Cunego
LAMPRE - FONDITAL
s.t.
7
Alberto Contador
AG2R PRÉVOYANCE
+ 2'05
8
Manuel Beltran
COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE
s.t.
9
Koldo Gil
SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR
s.t.
10
Levi Leipheimer
TEAM MILRAM
s.t.
11
Thomas Dekker
CRÉDIT AGRICOLE
+ 2'24
12
Marzio Bruseghin
LAMPRE - FONDITAL
+ 3'16
13
Francisco Perez Sanchez
DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM
s.t.
14
Kim Kirchen
T-MOBILE TEAM
s.t.
15
José Enrique Gutiérrez Cataluña
FRANÇAISE DES JEUX
s.t.
16
José Rujano
BOUYGUES TELECOM
+ 3'46
17
Cyril Dessel
QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC
+ 3'56
18
Sandy Casar
FRANÇAISE DES JEUX
+ 4'08
19
Paolo Savoldelli
LIQUIGAS
s.t.
20
José Luis Rubiera
DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM
+ 4'37
21
George Hincapie
AG2R PRÉVOYANCE
+ 5'13
22
Pietro Caucchioli
LIQUIGAS
s.t.
23
Samuel Sánchez Gonzalez
DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM
+ 5'26
24
Iker Camaño
SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR
s.t.
25
Iñigo Cuesta
TEAM CSC
+ 5'42
26
Tom Danielson
DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM
s.t.
27
Rubén Plaza
BOUYGUES TELECOM
+ 5'52
28
Magno Nazaret
PREDICTOR - LOTTO
s.t.
29
Carlos Castaño
DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM
+ 6'23
30
Michael Rogers
TEAM MILRAM
+ 6'32
31
Sylwester Szmyd
LAMPRE - FONDITAL
s.t.
32
Sylvain Calzati
AG2R PRÉVOYANCE
s.t.
33
Hubert Dupont
AG2R PRÉVOYANCE
s.t.
34
Sylvain Chavanel
COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE
+ 6'54
35
Ludovic Turpin
AG2R PRÉVOYANCE
s.t.
36
Vladimir Miholjevic
LIQUIGAS
+ 8'35
37
Dmitri Fofonov
CRÉDIT AGRICOLE
+ 9'28
38
Carl Naibo
AG2R PRÉVOYANCE
s.t.
39
David Millar
SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR
s.t.
40
Saul Raisin
CRÉDIT AGRICOLE
s.t.
41
Christophe Rinero
SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR
+ 10'09
42
Francis Mourey
FRANÇAISE DES JEUX
+ 14'42
43
Bradley McGee
FRANÇAISE DES JEUX
+ 14'50
44
Cédric Vasseur
QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC
s.t.
45
Maurizio Morandi
SCOTT - MARCONDES CESAR - FADENP SAO JOSE DOS CAMPOS
s.t.
46
David Loosli
LAMPRE - FONDITAL
s.t.
47
Leonardo Bertagnolli
LIQUIGAS
+ 14'58
48
Amaël Moinard
COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE
s.t.
49
Pierrick Fédrigo
BOUYGUES TELECOM
s.t.
50
Charles Wegelius
LIQUIGAS
s.t.
1
Christophe Moreau
BOUYGUES TELECOM
16h05'20
2
Levi Leipheimer
TEAM MILRAM
+ 49
3
Thomas Dekker
CRÉDIT AGRICOLE
+ 51
4
Riccardo Ricco'
PREDICTOR - LOTTO
+ 54
5
Alberto Contador
AG2R PRÉVOYANCE
+ 1'29
6
John Gadret
TEAM CSC
+ 1'47
7
Frank Schleck
SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR
+ 1'50
8
Alejandro Valverde
COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE
+ 1'57
9
Manuel Beltran
COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE
+ 2'02
10
Paolo Savoldelli
LIQUIGAS
+ 2'08
11
José Enrique Gutiérrez Cataluña
FRANÇAISE DES JEUX
+ 2'19
12
Marzio Bruseghin
LAMPRE - FONDITAL
+ 2'37
13
Damiano Cunego
LAMPRE - FONDITAL
+ 2'47
14
Koldo Gil
SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR
+ 3'08
15
Kim Kirchen
T-MOBILE TEAM
+ 3'25
1
Tom Boonen
QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC
0
52
2
Daniele Bennati
LAMPRE - FONDITAL
6
40
3
Paolo Bettini
DISCOVERY CHANNEL PRO CYCLING TEAM
4
36
4
Paolo Savoldelli
LIQUIGAS
0
35
5
Christophe Moreau
BOUYGUES TELECOM
15
34
1
Riccardo Ricco'
PREDICTOR - LOTTO
40
40
2
John Gadret
TEAM CSC
35
35
3
Christophe Moreau
BOUYGUES TELECOM
30
30
4
Frank Schleck
SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR
26
26
5
Alejandro Valverde
COFIDIS, LE CRÉDIT PAR TÉLÉPHONE
22
22
What can we learn from this mountain stage?
Well, Ricco, Gadret and Moreau seem to be targeting the Dauphine more than Le Tour, while the likes of Schleck and Valverde are only here to test their strength. We also saw Thomas Dekker struggle towards the end of Ventoux, he may be 3rd overall but he was not convincing and will struggle to hold onto a podium spot.
Edited by Roman on 16-10-2016 13:27
