Posts from the ‘Champagne’ Category

Starting in Saint-Paul-Trois-Chateaux, just outside the region of Northern Rhone and approximately 30km from Gigondas, Stage 16 was one of undulating hills with one categorized climb just 11.5km from the finish in Gap. By 100km an escape group of ten men, including Thor Hushovd, had formed; and by the third hour the roads were wet and the sky was storming. Ryder Hesjedal of Garmin-Cervelo, who’d launched the initial attack, rode aggressively up the final climb, taking his teammate Hushovd.  With a fellow countryman and a teammate in the break, Thor held the advantage until he reached the finish. And though the stage was done with the top three men in, the race for the GC was still for the taking. Behind the trio, with 7km to go, the defending champion Contador kept attacking, putting the hurt on Voeckler and the brothers Schleck, who couldn’t keep responding. By the end of the day, it was Contador who didn’t stop, climbing from 7^th place overall to 6^th, forcing Frank Schleck down from 2^nd to 3^rd, four seconds behind Cadel Evans.

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