History says the winner of the climb to Plateau de Beille goes on to win the Tour de France. Well, as the saying goes, history is bunk.
Jelle Vanendert of Omega Pharma-Lotto will not win this year’s Tour, but he did win Stage 14.
It was the young Belgian rider’s first major win in his career and, combined with his valiant second place up Luz Ardiden, it earned him the polka dot climber’s jersey.
Vanendert made his winning move on the brutal 15.8km slope with seven kilometres left to left to finish. At the time, the small group of 12 riders containing the main contenders were more concerned with covering Andy Schleck’s repeated attacks.
So when Vandendert, who started the day 12 minutes 54 seconds behind the yellow jersey, made his push, the big guns ignored him. They were more preoccupied with playing cat and mouse.
Samuel Sanchez, who had beaten Vanendert up Luz Ardiden, made his move with four kilometres to go. The chase was in vain. Vandendert hung on to win by 21 seconds.
A further 25 seconds behind was Andy Schleck. He finished only two seconds ahead of the elite group containing his brother Frank Schleck, Cadel Evans, Alberto Contador , Ivan Basso and most remarkably, yellow jersey holder, Thomas Voeckler.
The expected fireworks never eventuated. The Leopard Trek team did their best to soften everyone up before the climb as they poured on the pace approaching the final climb.
But, every time Andy Schleck tried to attack and create a gap on the climb, Cadel Evans, who has loomed as his biggest threat, impressively countered every move.
The only time he got away was in the last hundred metres, but the damage was minimal, and it was more of a gesture than anything else.
Alberto Contador showed no attacking intent and was quite to content to sit back and just cover the moves. If he wants to win the tour, he will need to produce something special in The Alps next week.
And you can put Ivan Basso in the same boat.
The cards are falling very nicely for Cadel Evans, he has not buckled under the pressure and looks very strong. He exhibited this by picking up the pace to test his rivals two kilometres from the finish.
“It’s another day spent controlling the other major contenders,” Evans said.
“It’s tough for me to stay close to them.
“I tried to keep it under control.
“It was a long ascent but it was not that steep so I could hang in there.”
Evans knows his rivals need to make time on him before the time trial, but going into The Alps he must be feeling very confident.
Finally, Thomas Voeckler put the final nail in history’s coffin by producing another courageous, but surprising, performance to finish with the overall contenders and keep a hold of the yellow jersey.
He will hold onto this until The Alps and even if he keeps performing miracles there he will still not win Le Tour. History might be bunk but when it comes to Thomas Voeckler’s terrible time trialling it tells no lies.
Tonight’s 192.5 km stage from Limoux to Montpellier will give us an indication of how well the sprinters have recovered from their travails in The Pyrenees. Mark Cavendish made it over and will be aiming for stage win number four.
Stage 14 Results
Rider Team Time Gaps
1. VANENDERT Jelle OMEGA PHARMA – LOTTO 5h 13′ 25″
2. SANCHEZ Samuel EUSKALTEL – EUSKADI 5h 13′ 46″ + 00′ 21″
3. SCHLECK Andy TEAM LEOPARD-TREK 5h 14′ 11″ + 00′ 46″
4. EVANS Cadel BMC RACING TEAM 5h 14′ 13″ + 00′ 48″
5. URAN Rigoberto SKY PROCYCLING 5h 14′ 13″ + 00′ 48″
6. CONTADOR Alberto SAXO BANK SUNGARD 5h 14′ 13″ + 00′ 48″
7. VOECKLER Thomas TEAM EUROPCAR 5h 14′ 13″ + 00′ 48″
8. SCHLECK Frank TEAM LEOPARD-TREK 5h 14′ 13″ + 00′ 48″
9. PERAUD Jean AG2R LA MONDIALE 5h 14′ 13″ + 00′ 48″
10. ROLLAND Pierre TEAM EUROPCAR 5h 14′ 13″ + 00′ 48″
11. BASSO Ivan LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE 5h 14′ 13″ + 00′ 48″
12. CUNEGO Damiano LAMPRE – ISD 5h 14′ 52″ + 01′ 27″
Overall Standings
Rider Team Time Gaps
1. VOECKLER Thomas TEAM EUROPCAR 61h 04′ 10″
2. SCHLECK Frank TEAM LEOPARD-TREK 61h 05′ 59″ + 01′ 49″
3. EVANS Cadel BMC RACING TEAM 61h 06′ 16″ + 02′ 06″
4. SCHLECK Andy TEAM LEOPARD-TREK 61h 06′ 25″ + 02′ 15″
5. BASSO Ivan LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE 61h 07′ 26″ + 03′ 16″
6. SANCHEZ Samuel EUSKALTEL – EUSKADI 61h 07′ 54″ + 03′ 44″
7. CONTADOR Alberto SAXO BANK SUNGARD 61h 08′ 10″ + 04′ 00″
8. CUNEGO Damiano LAMPRE – ISD 61h 08′ 11″ + 04′ 01″
20. VANENDERT Jelle OMEGA PHARMA – LOTTO 61h 16′ 16″ + 12′ 06
Polka Dot Climber Standings
Rider Team Points
1. VANENDERT Jelle OMEGA PHARMA – LOTTO 74 pts
2. SANCHEZ Samuel EUSKALTEL – EUSKADI 72 pts
3. ROY Jérémy FDJ 45 pts
4. SCHLECK Andy TEAM LEOPARD-TREK 28 pts
5. EVANS Cadel BMC RACING TEAM 26 pts
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