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96th Tour de France

Stage 16 - Martigny to Bourg-Saint-Maurice - 160.0 km (99.0 mi)

21 July 2009

Mikel Astarloza has had a career so far that surged immediately with burgeoning promise but has advanced quietly forward to the present. Astarloza, who turned professional in 2003 and proceeded to immediately win the season-opening Tour Down Under. Showing an astute sense of tactical acumen, Astarloza jumped his way into the winning move in the penultimate stage and then holding on to begin his career with one win in one attempt. After such an audacious start to his career, Astarloza beamed, "The only thing that has changed is that I believe in myself now."

But belief alone cannot sustain a cyclist if he is to make it in this sport. Astarloza has taken part in every Tour de France since turning pro, with his highest finish being ninth in 2007 after joining the Euskaltel-Euskadi squad. That in and of itself is enough to rest one's laurels upon as a career effort. Astarloza, though, didn't merely settle. There has always been promise in his legs, but ultimately the Basque rider has been unable to realize that potential and turn it into results. Today, though, the tables finally turned for the 29-year-old from Gipuzkoa.

Astarloza survived the three-country slog over the twin Saint-Bernards today to capture his first stage victory in his seventh go-around. Surging on the self-actualizing belief that led him to perform so brilliantly in his first race down in Australia, Astarloza pulled away from his remaining breakaway companions -- yes, another breakaway survived yet again in this unorthodox edition of the Tour -- with two kilometers to go, entering Bourg-Saint-Maurice and riding the final slightly-uphill kilometer to cross the line six seconds clear of the chasing hordes.

Now the fun came down to how much time Astarloza would gain from his victory. Behind, amongst the most elite riders in the peloton, a battle was emerging that threatened to shake up the general classification even further. After riding all day together, Bjarne Riis' Saxo Bank, challenging the supremacy of Johan Bruyneel's Astana, threatened to blow the race upon its head. The hors-categorie Col du Grand-Saint-Bernard, leading the riders from Switzerland into Italy almost immediately at the start of the stage, afforded the opportunity for a lot of vetting among the various superstars. Then, halfway up the first-category Col du Petit-Saint-Bernard, on the Franco-Italian border, the fireworks were lit.

Andy Schleck, the younger of the two brothers and a pre-race favorite, started the accelerations for Saxo Bank eight and a half kilometers from the summit. The yellow jersey group was shed down to six riders -- Andy and Frank Schleck, maillot jaune Alberto Contador and Astana teammate Andreas Kloden, Garmin-Slipstream's Bradley Wiggins, and Liquigas youngster Vincenzo Nibali. Notable in his absence was Lance Armstrong, the seven-time Tour winner who was dropped by the Saxo Bank accelerations.

Armstrong, it seemed, was finally showing all of his 37 years on this planet. Drifting further back, the gap grew to thirty seconds before the Texan found new reserves. Punching the pedals, he jumped into the gap. Pulling second after second back, Lance clawed his way up the mountain to tag back along with his two teammates. Looking like the Lance of old, for one glorious moment, Armstrong reintegrated and would finish the group alongside his two well-placed teammates along with the ballooned peloton that caught up on the descent. Drained from their efforts and demoralized by their apparent lack of effect, Saxo Bank tumbled back down to earth.

For the team's German veteran Jens Voigt, the super-lieutenant which has helped everyone from Hamilton to Basso to Sastre to Schleck, that tumble would happen quite literally on the descent into Bourg-Saint-Maurice. Bombing down the winding mountainside, Voigt's front wheel hit a divot in the road and washed out on him, causing him to lose control and fly face-first into the tarmac. Bleeding from his head, Voigt was airlifted to Grenoble, where he is resting after the diagnosis revealed a fractured cheekbone and a concussion from the blow. The Tour de France is inevitably a race of attrition, but we can all be thankful -- no matter who you root for to win -- that we did not suffer another Casartelli moment in what has been to this point a positive Tour.

The three riders suffering most on the stage were former maillot jaune Rinaldo Nocentini, Cadel Evans and Tony Martin. Nocentini, who grabbed the yellow jersey in the breakaway to Arcalis by six seconds over Contador and held on to the slim margin through the Pyrenees until Contador's stage victory on the first Alpine stage, ended up almost three minutes behind the GC leaders. Evans, who was the runner-up in each of the past two Tours, finished alongside Nocentini in the chase group. It increasingly appears that time has passed Cadel by, and perhaps that his two previous high placings were due more to the advantages of a depleted field than any true podium-level talent of his own. Martin, who had been to this point among the young riders showing the most promise in his inaugural Tour, suffered the greatest fall of the three. Finally finding out how hard the race truly can be, Martin wheezed his way in over ten minutes in arrears on this second of three Alpine stages to fall all the way from eighth to 34th in the general classification.

The two strongest teams of the race are now at polar opposites of the momentum spectrum. Astana, realizing that their aging former champion still has a little magic in his legs, was able to maintain its composure and preeminence to stave off every challenge despite being a man down after Levi Leipheimer's departure. Saxo Bank, having thrown everything possible at the leaders, coming up short and losing one of their strongest assistants in the bargain, is likely suffering a crisis of confidence. Time is running out before Paris. Tomorrow's final Alpine stage and Mont Ventoux afford the last opportunities, but it seems that we could go another three weeks and still yield the same result.

In the end, Astarloza gained just under a minute on the maillot jaune group. Punching the air to accentuate his joy, the Basque cyclist moved up to eleventh for his effort. No matter what happens come this weekend, today is a day that will live forever as a golden memory for at least one man. Regardless of how the rest of his career plays out, Astarloza realized his potential once again...

RESULTS - STAGE 16

1. Mikel Astarloza (Euskaltel-Euskadi) 4:14:20
2. Sandy Casar (Francaise des Jeux) +0:06
3. Pierrick Fedrigo (Agritubel)
   
4. Nicolas Roche (AG2R-La Mondiale)
   
5. Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Silence-Lotto)
6. Amael Moinard (Cofidis)
7. Franco Pellizotti (Liquigas) +0:11
   
8. Stephane Goubert (AG2R-La Mondiale)
   
9. Christophe Moreau (Agritubel) +0:59
10. Alberto Contador (Astana)

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION

1. Alberto Contador (Astana) 67:33:15
2. Lance Armstrong (Astana +1:37
3. Bradley Wiggins (Garmin-Slipstream) +1:46
4. Andreas Kloden (Astana) +2:17
5. Andy Schleck (Saxo Bank) +2:26
6. Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas) +2:51
   
7. Christophe Le Mevel (Francaise des Jeux) +3:09
   
8. Frank Schleck (Saxo Bank) +3:25
9. Carlos Sastre (Cervelo TestTeam) +3:52
10. Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Slipstream) +3:59

POINTS CLASSIFICATION

1. Thor Hushovd (Cervelo TestTeam) 218
2. Mark Cavendish (Columbia) 200
3. Jose Joaquin Rojas (Caisse d'Epargne) 126
4. Gerald Ciolek (Milram) 122
5. Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Slipstream) 110
6. Nicolas Roche (AG2R-La Mondiale) 100
   
7. Oscar Freire (Rabobank) 97
8. Franco Pellizotti (Liquigas) 96
   
9. Lloyd Mondory (AG2R-La Mondiale) 74
10. Andreas Kloden (Astana) 67
    

KING OF THE MOUNTAINS

1. Franco Pellizotti (Liquigas) 159
2. Egoi Martinez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) 101
3. Pierrick Fedrigo (BBox-Bouygues Telecom) 97
4. Mikel Astarloza (Euskaltel-Euskadi) 86
5. Sandy Casar (Francaise des Jeux) 71
   
6. Brice Feillu (Agritubel) 64
7. Christophe Kern (Cofidis) 63
8. Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Silence-Lotto) 57
   
9. Sylvain Chavanel (Quick Step) 56
   
10. Alberto Contador (Astana) 52

BEST YOUNG RIDER

1. Andy Schleck (Saxo Bank) 67:35:41
2. Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas) +0:25
3. Roman Kreuziger (Liquigas) +2:14
4. Brice Feillu (Agritubel) +7:34
   
5. Peter Velits (Milram) +8:28
6. Pierre Rolland (BBox-Bouygues Telecom) +13:47
7. Nicolas Roche (AG2R-La Mondiale) +14:22
8. Tony Martin (Columbia)  +16:22
9. Chris Anker Sorensen (Saxo Bank) +19:09
10. Yury Trofimov (BBox-Bouygues Telecom) +20:06

TEAM CLASSIFICATION

1. Astana -- 201:08:46
2. AG2R-La Mondiale -- +2:32
3. Garmin-Slipstream -- +5:54
4. Milram -- +11:29
5. Saxo Bank -- +11:43
6. Euskaltel-Euskadi -- +13:12
7. Cervelo TestTeam -- +13:41
8. Cofidis -- +16:45
9. Liquigas -- +17:10
10. Francaise des Jeux -- +18:10