2009 Tour de France - Stage 13 News and Notes | Bigalke Presents...

96th Tour de France

Stage 13 - Vittel to Colmar - 200.0 km (124.0 mi)

17 July 2009

The race of attrition has claimed yet another big-time rider in the peloton before the Stage 13 ride out of Vittel even began. Levi Leipheimer, who finished in third place in the 2007 Tour, suffered a crash at the end of Stage 12 into Vittel yesterday. It appeared that his injuries were rather minor yesterday, but when he awakened before the mid-mountain stage today the pain was unbearable. Scans revealed a transversal fracture of the scaphoid bone in his wrist, and -- considering how hard it is to grab the handlebars and stand on the pedals while climbing when one has an injured wrist -- Leipheimer was forced to abandon the race.

Which means that Astana is now down to eight riders. One of its dark-horse candidates is gone, which admittedly clears the air a little bit. There have been far too many chiefs on this squad, and now the crowd has been culled just a little. Unfortunately, it had to be one of their strongest climbers who departed just before the final stand of mountains arrived in this year's Tour. Not even a team as strong as Astana can stand to lose its best lieutenants without consequence. So now Alberto and Lance will enjoy a little less protection as the hardest week of racing still remains ahead.

Today, though, we saw some reason to celebrate as the 25-year-old German-Aussie on the Cervelo TestTeam squad scored another victory for the young guns of the sport. Heinrich Haussler, who has already enjoyed breakout performances in 2009 -- winning Stage 2 in Paris-Nice to open the year; getting caught by Cavendish just before the finish line on the Via Roma in Milano-San Remo; taking second out of the pack in the Tour of Flanders, a minute behind winner Stijn Devolder; finishing top-ten in a third of cycling's monument classics, Paris-Roubaix -- looks stronger than ever this year and could be a contender to poach stage victories here for years to come.

The day across five categorized climbs in the Alsace-Lorraine region of northeast France was cooler than the past several, with rain forecast on the horizon. The 164 remaining riders set out from Vittel not knowing what to expect from today's stage. A breakaway soon formed on the road, taking much less time than yesterday for the selection to develop. In the break were seven riders: Heinrich Haussler (Cervelo), Juan Miguel Garate (Rabobank), Jens Voigt (Saxo Bank), Ruben Perez (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Rigoberto Uran (Caisse d'Epargne), Sylvain Chavanel (Quick Step), and Christophe Moreau (Agritubel). Over the next ten kilometers, the leaders gained a minute on the peloton.

Arriving at the first intermediate sprint in Xertigny, the seven had only a forty-second gap on the field as Christophe Moreau took the sprint ahead of Haussler and Chavanel. And then, almost instantaneously, the roads ramped upward onto the third-category Cote de Xertigny. The peloton was never allowing much time... and so, just before the catch around the sixtieth kilometer, three riders -- Haussler, Perez and Chavanel -- attacked their companions. While the dejected four were quickly swept up by the pack, the trio gained 45 seconds in just a couple miles. Apparently one amongst Garate, Voigt, Uran or Moreau had the field nervous enough to keep chasing. Considering that Garate was a full seven minutes behind on GC, and Uran isn't even in the top ten in the points classificaiton, we may never know just what spooked the contenders enough to chase.

The second sprint point passed in Gerardmer, Perez ahead of Chavanel and Haussler, before lunchtime arrived in Xonrupt-Longemer. By then, the gap had grown to over eight minutes as the three leaders set onto the first ramps of the second-category Col de la Schlucht. At the summit, the order ended the same as at the sprint point in Gerardmer, with Perez claiming top points. On the descent, by the town of Munster, the gap was back town to 5:45. The final intermediate sprint, just a few kilometers further in Luttenback, yielded points for Chavanel ahead of Haussler and Perez.

And then the riders were at the foothills of the 3900-foot (1193 m) Col du Platzerwasel, the first of two first-category climbs in the day's stage. Perez was soon dropped by Haussler and Chavanel, with the two leaders now back over seven minutes ahead of the peloton. Linus Gerdemann (Milram) was about ninety seconds ahead of the field, trying to use the climb to springboard into the break. Only Haussler and Chavanel would stay away. Chavanel crossed first, but it was Haussler who would attack alone down the descent toward the final two climbs of the day. An elite selection containing the Astana duo formed below, about three minutes behind the leading duet at the summit.

The third-category Col du Bannstein, with 35 kilometers remaining in the stage, came right after the descent of the Platzerwasel. The climb, which took the riders into the town of Soultzmatt, saw Haussler still ahead of his former breakaway companion to take the full points. 46 seconds later, Chavanel trickled over, and a chase group led by Brice Feillu (Agritubel) and Amets Txurruka (Euskaltel-Euskadi) was a further three minutes back. The peloton with all the GC contenders was two and a half minutes behind the chasers, content to keep everyone just close enough to not affect the GC standings.

On the descent from the Bannstein, Haussler just kept growing his advantage. The Col du Firstplan, the final first-category climb of the day, came soon after his plummet in elevation down to Soultzmatt. Haussler would solo in the rest of the way, ultimately finishing over four minutes ahead of his closest competitor -- who ended up being Txurruka after the Firstplan blew up any hope of the chase group staying together. Txurruka and then Feillu caught and passed Chavanel on the day's final climb, and the final twenty kilometers of descent proved a mere formality. The stage was undeniably marked with the stamp of Heinrich Haussler, who has one-upped his own performance yet again this season...

One more interesting note: A day after declaring that he was giving up on his chances of claiming the green jersey, Thor Hushovd moved back into the garment after finishing with the group of the GC contenders and taking sixth at today's finish in Colmar. While Mark Cavendish has proven the flashier sprinter, with four stage wins already to his name in this year's race, Hushovd has been the far more consistent of the two. Exhibiting scads of Scandanavian dependability, Hushovd has no reason to give up yet. With his ability to climb better than Cavendish, the Norwegian has the opportunity to claim his second maillot vert in Paris. His comments should be taken with a grain of salt, because there's no way that Hushovd is going to give up until the Champs-Elysees...

RESULTS - STAGE 13