Cycling Safari

Stage 16: Bourg d’Oisans to La Toussuire, 182 km / 113 mi

- by Cathy Mehl

A second day in the mountains took the peloton over the two HC climbs of the Col du Galibier and Col de la Croix de Fer, with plenty of action on the “easier” Cat 2 climb of Col du Mollard and the uphill Cat 1 finish to La Toussuire. Long steady climbs with twisting high-speed downhills would be on the menu all day long .

Not waiting for the legs to stretch out, Michael Rasmussen (Rabobank) and Sandy Cassar (Francaise Des Jeux) went out right from the start with a large group forming the chase. With plenty of King of the Mountain points available on the day, Rasmussen was in the hunt to grab the polka dot jersey by day’s end and crossed the highest point in this year’s Tour at the top of the Galibier with a big gap over the chasing groups behind.

On the lower slopes of the Croix de Fer, Team CSC moved forward with T-Mobile right behind and looked like they would do some damage on the climb. While succeeding to isolate the yellow jersey, Landis was able to stay with the group and rode on without teammates. Levi Leipheimer, however, did get an advantage off the front and began to move up on his GC placing. Also at the top of the Croix de Fer, Rasmussen slipped into the maillot a pois and began his trek for the stage win.

Once on the Cat 2 Mollard, Leipheimer continued to pick off riders in front of him as he tried to close the gap to Rasmussen. At the top of the climb, Rasmussen still had almost five minutes over the chase. A technical, twisting descent complete with switchbacks provided the final run-in to the last climb.

The final ascent to La Toussuire, being used for the first time in the Tour, was a tough 18.4 km climb with some sections seeing 9% but overall not that steep. Landis was soon seen riding toward the back of the main group, a sign that he was experiencing some difficulty on the final pitch. Then, with 10km to go, Carlos Sastre (CSC) attacked hard and Landis simply cracked, meanwhile Menchov, Rogers, Kloden, Evans and all the other GC contenders rode away looking for higher placings. On the final run, Sastre picked up and passed Leipheimer and tried in vain to reach Rasmussen, but ran out of real estate to make the final catch. Landis could do nothing to respond and was forced to set his own pace as he just tried to finish, looking by all estimations as if he had completely bonked.

Rasmussen soloed in after leading the entire day, taking the stage win and the polka dot jersey all in the same day. Sastre rode in for second as Pereiro pedaled like a man- possessed to fetch himself a fresh Maillot Jaune and reclaiming the race leadership.

* Landis finished 10′03″ back to Rasmussen and now sits 8′08″ back to Pereiro in 11th place on GC and for all intents and purposes lost the race on this stage. While the Tour continues to surprise everyday and changes are still in store, the top finishers looked strong and ready to race all the way into Paris. The question still remains: who will wear the yellow jersey on the Champs-Élysées?!