Okay, now it's a wide open Tour. Ever since the time trial, it was the Landis show, but the final climb today change the story of this Tour and broke it wide open. Landis lost over ten minutes today and dropped to 11th overall, off the podium for good. It's now just Pereiro, and Sastre Kloden, and Evans left to duke it out, as Menchov probably lost a bit too much time as well (GC -3:58). The final time trial, sometimes for show, sometimes decisive, will be perhaps the most decisive time trial ever. And there's one more day of Alps before that.
I'll break down today's results by team, as it's the teams that mattered today:
Rabobank: What a day for Rasmussen, who took the stage and the KOM jersey. Rasmussen had been sacrificing KOM points in order to help out Menchov. After Menchov's bad day yesterday, Rasmussen was given free reign and showed the form he's been holding back. Unfortunately for Rabobank, Menchov could have used Rasmussen's help most as Landis cracked, the contenders pushed their advantage, but Menchov couldn't hold with that group. (Friedemann Vogel/Bongarts/Getty Images)CSC: CSC continues to have an amazing week as Sastre gained the most today in the overall, but it wasn't enough to catch Pereiro. Sastre will have to try again tomorrow to take that jersey, but Sastre's bigger concern is the good time trialers who are just behind him in the standings now. Sastre got a lot of help from Schleck and Vandevelde. Schleck somehow managed to find legs after yesterday's hard win and Vandevelde was constantly fighting back into the group to do some pulls and hand over water. Just think, CSC lost Basso and Julich, O'Grady is injured, and they ride themselves to stage victory yesterday and second place overall today.
Caisse: Caisse believed in Pereiro's chances and were there in numbers untl the final attack. I believe I counted three teammates with him (Karpets, Arroyo, and Xandio). Imagine their strength if Valverde was still in the hunt. I expect a strong defense from Caisse tomorrow.
Phonak: I've been dissing Phonak since the Tour of California, and today gives me no reason to stop. Merckx was the only teammate there for Landis, but more often than not he was riding on Landis' wheel or yo-yoing off the back. Landis needed more than one dedicated teammate, because he got hit hard by T-Mobile and CSC today and it wasn't until he had lost about five minutes that Merckx reappeared to pace him into the finish.
Discovery: I guess having Armstrong in the car behind you doesn't help. Popo and CheChu couldn't press the break and Azevedo popped like Landis at the end.
AG2R: Where did Dessel come from? I don't know, but his teammates and him are pulling themselves inside out to stay top 5 and give France something to cheer about in the overall.
T-Mobile: I'm putting T-Mobile last on this list because T-Mobile has the dumbest tactics of any team in the Tour. Last year they chased back an attack by their own teammate Vinokourov, pulling Armstrong with them. In stage 11, they blew their own team and leader up by attacking too hard on the penultimate climb, at a time when they dominated the top ten standings. Today, they made two big mistakes. The first was when Menchov attacked and Rogers latched on: Mazzolini and Kloden pulled the break and their own teammate back, towing Landis with them. That didn't matter too much in the end as Landis cracked, but the second mistake was then never attacking. They had four riders on the final climb. Maybe they didn't want repeat their stage 11 mistake, but instead of pushing the advantage, they watched Sastre climb ahead to victory. Today was a chance to gain time on all the other contenders, but for the most part they just held the status quo. I think they are placing too big of a bet on the time trial. It's a descent bet, but a better bet would have been to trim away a bit of Pereiro's and Sastre's lead.
Pereiro in the yellow jersey again will renew the Landis giveaway debate, but really it didn't matter for Landis. Landis lost so much time today that someone other than him would be wearing yellow. If it matters to anyone, it will be Sastre and Kloden, who now have another contender to knock off. Sastre would be wearing yellow right now, but instead he has to figure out how to get two minutes on a rejuvenanted Periero.
The current overall standings tell the tale: 1. Oscar Pereiro Sio (Sp), Caisse d'Epargne-I.B. 2. Carlos Sastre (Sp), CSC, at 1:50 3. Andr�as Kl�den (G), T-Mobile, at 2:29 4. Cyril Dessel (F), Ag2r Prevoyance, at 2:43 5. Cadel Evans (Aus), Davitamon-Lotto, at 2:56 6. Denis Menchov (Rus), Rabobank, at 3:58 7. Michael Rogers (Aus), T-Mobile, at 6:47 8. Christophe Moreau (F), Ag2r Prevoyance, at 7:03 9. Levi Leipheimer (USA), Gerolsteiner, at 7:46 10. Haimar Zubeldia (Sp), Euskaltel-Euskadi, at 8:06
- VeloNews Stage 16 Summary
- CyclingNews Stage 16 Summary
- Graham Watson Stage 16 Photo Gallery
- Bob Martin's Stage 16 by the Numbers
- Bobby Julich Stage 16 Diary
- Christian Vandevelde Stage 16 Diary
- Floyd Landis Stage 16 Interview
- Cadel Evans Stage 16 Interview
Prediction check: * Prediction: Kloden and Landis will continue to battle, Rasmussen will be free to fly his wings, Discovery will chase with Popo/Aze. Landis will get the stage win because this is the last mountain stage for him to get a win at, and relying on a TT stage win is risky. * Actual: This stage was mostly predictable, I was almost right on all counts, except I missed the most important detail: not only did Landis not win, he cracked horribly. So I guess I did quite bad actually.
TiVo-delayed stage log
Sprint 1: Valjavec, Casar, Rasmussen
Col du Galibier, HC
Valjavec, Casar, Rasmussen with a chase group behind. Phonak is at the front of the peloton, which means that the peloton is closing down any gaps. CheChu is sitting the pace on the chase group for Popovych. 4:30 to the peloton, 2:26 to the Popovych's chase group.
Landis is down to two teammates setting the pace for him.
The peloton is looking a strung-out mess as two Lampre riders (Cunego) try to jump off the front.
Rasmussen has jumped for the KOM points..He needs 15 more points to be the KOM leader as long as de la Fuente doesn't get any poiints, which seems to be the case as de la Fuente has been dropped by the peloton.
Boogerd is at the front of the peloton to try and protect Rasmussen's KOM points. Fothen, Levi and Hincapie are up there with him.
Caucchioli has attacked the peloton and no one is chasing.
The peloton is over the top. Perdiguero, Calvante and Brandt have crashed on the descent. Landis probably needs Perdiguero for the final climb, as it was Perdiguero who did the acceleration for him yesterday.
Popovych is out descending everyone in the chase group.
The leaders are now descending the Col du Telegraphe on the backside of the Galibier.
Bennati has crashed and abandoned. Chavanel has crashed also and is being dodged by cars. Chavanel is getting back on the bike.
Phonak and Gerolsteiner wanted to start chasing but everyone is busy eating.
Popovych is back in the chase group with Rubiera.
Sprint 2: Rasmussen's group rolls through
Gerolsteiner and Phonak are really holding Popo's chase group at 1:10 though Rasmussen's group is 7 minutes ahead. Landis must be happy that other teams continue to do work for his team.
Col de la Croix-de-Fer
The chase group has fractured as the peloton closes on them.
Casar has dropped off of Rasmussen's group.
The peloton has split. Popovych is back in the peloton hanging near the back of one of the groups. CheChu appears to still be a part of that chase.
Rasmussen has popped Valjavec.
Landis has one teammate working for him up front, Landis is riding in the #2 spot. Gerolsteiner is no longer up front helping. Now would be a good time to hit Landis if I were another team, or perhaps several teams hitting him at the same time, as Landis only has one rider to help him chase.
CSC has come to the front and Landis' teammate has disappeared. It's two CSC riders then Landis, now 3 CSC riders (Vandevelde, Schleck, and Sastre) then Landis. The acceleration is whittling down the peloton. Now they are catching the remnants of the chase group. Landis seems comfortable riding in CSC's slipstream. He's probably catching less wind now that he doesn't have to ride second wheel.
All of Discovery's guns have been taken out by the CSC pace: Popo, Egoi, and Hincapie. I don't know where Aze is.
T-Mobile, on the other hand, has almost their entire team there. Only Sinkewitz and Gonchar have dropped.
Levi is attacking. Landis is surrounded by CSC and T-Mobile jerseys. Vandevelde appears to be done with his pacemaking + bottle delivery and is falling off.
The pace-making has levelled off a bit as CSC has eased off the gas. Landis is riding a bit more back now. Some riders are re-attaching.
Levi has gained 1:30 on Landis' group. That moves Levi up in the standings and should start getting other rider's attention. I wonder if Gerolsteiner and Phonak made a little deal to allow Levi to get ahead in exchange for that earlier work that Gerolsteiner did.
Calzati, Boogerd, and Rogers are at the front, then Schleck. If I were them I would push the pace because I can barely see Landis' yellow jersey now.
Merckx is being dropped, which will leave Landis all alone.
Casar has caught on Levi's wheel. Levi took some food before the summit -- I didn't know they could do that.
KOM: Rasmussen takes the KOM lead with his first place Croix de Fer points.
Levi is third over the top with Casar on his wheel.
Landis' group is now over the top almost 8:30 behind Rasmussen.
Merckx has caught back on Landis' wheel.
Pereiro has jumped off the front of Landis' group with a teammate and a couple other riders. It wouldn't take much to get the jersey back.
Col du Mollard
Pereiro is back in Landis' group but Vandevelde is falling off the back again.
Levi has caught Valjavec. Casar has been dropped. It's still five minutes for them up to Rasmussen. The peloton is almost two minutes behind.
T-Mobile has a ton of riders. Are they going to blow their tactics again?
KOM: Rasmussen pads his lead for the KOM, he is 15 points ahead now.
Rasmussen nearly wrecked by overshooting one of the corners on the descent
Levi and Valjavec are crossing about 4:45 behind Rasmussen.
Merckx is moving Landis to the front as they approach the summit of the climb. I guess Landis was just faking back in the middle of the pack.
La Toussuire Les Sybelles, Cat 1
Rasmussen is on the climb and Levi is 4:31 behind, the peloton is at 6:25. Levi is going to have a hard time briding that gap -- things are looking good for Rasmussen.
Caisse is pikcing up the pace as the climb starts. Landis is right behind. T-Mobile and Boogerd have swarmed the front. Now Merckx is moving to the front tp reassert control for Landis.
Levi has dropped Valjavec.
The riders around Landis all need minutes for the lead except for Pereiro, but no one is attacking. Someone will have to attack if they expect to contend.
Rogers has whipped up the pace. That put Shleck in trouble. Dessel is somehow holding on -- anyone predict him top five? Fothen has been cracked. Guerini has cracked, leaving T-Mobile with Rogers and Kloden.
Menchov has finally attacked. Rogers is catching on his wheel (why not Kloden?) Pereiro is coming across, Evans, and Azevedo. Landis is not following. T-Mobilie is pacing things back for Landis. T-Mobile really screwed up tactically again -- if Kloden had made the jump they wouldn't be chasing their own teammate again. T-Mobile is the dumbest team tactically I know of.
Levi hasn't closed any time on Ras, so I think that gives the stage win to Ras.
Sastre has attacked. No one is jumping but T-Mobile is pulling. Landis has cracked. This is the chance. Azevedo has cracked with Landis. The jersey is for Pereiro to take.
Sastre would need 2:17 to take the jersey but more like 4 minutes to actually win in Paris.
Landis is cracking hard.
T-Mobile is still chasing Ssstre with three riders.
Schleck and Fothen went zooming around Landis.
Sastre has caught Leipheimer. Leipheimer is being dropped by Sastre.
Pereiro is holding with Kloden and Menchov. As long as Sastre doesn't get too far ahead the jersey can be Pereiro's again. Rogers and Mazzolini have cracked. Levi is being caught.
Kloden has whipped it up which has dropped Menchov.Menchov and Levi are hanging together now.
It's just Kloden, Pereiro, and Evans now.
Landis is 9:13 behind Rasmussen. Sastre is only 2:55 behind. Six minutes that Landis has lost on Sastre, putting Sastre four minutes ahead. Landis might be able to catch Sastre in an amazing time trial, but not Kloden who is not far behind Sastre.
Rasmussen takes the stage. Sastre takes second.
Pereiro jumped ahead of Evans and Kloden. Pereiro is showing amazing form. They weren't too far behind Sastre.
Moreeau pulls Dessel in.
Levi finally rolls in. The stage was just a bit too long for his attack.
