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The film of the stage

Tosatto: From Lead-Out Man To Stage Winner!

The transitional stage from Morzine to Macon was destined to feature an big escape and 15 men promptly obliged by breaking free at the 53km mark. At the end of the long, hot day no one had an answer to the power of Tom Boonen’s reliable lead-out man Matteo Tosatto. The Italian easily beat his rivals to the line to give Quickstep its first stage win of the 2006 Tour.

Stage Details
Three climbs: The Cote de Chatillon-en-Michaille (category-3, 5.1km long - 3.7% at 98.0km), the Cote du Berthiand (cat-2, 4.7km – 6.0% at 130.5km) and the Cote de Chambod (cat-4, 1.9km – 6.4% at 139.5km).
Intermediate sprints: La Tour (29.5km) and Polliat (169.5km).
Weather conditions: The temperatures at the start in Morzine were 30 degrees Celsius in the air and 43 degrees at road level.
Number of starters: 142 – Oscar Freire (RAB) was the only non-starter. Official start time: 12.48pm.

The Progress Report

An Early Surge…
Millar (SDV), Popovych (DSC) and Vaugrenard (FDJ) attacked at the 1.5km mark. Vaugrenard dropped back to the peloton after 12km. At the 15km mark, the peloton was 1’20” behind Millar and Popovych – this was the maximum gain before the Liquigas team began chasing. Moments later the advantage was just 50”. The points at the sprint in La Tour were won by Popovych, Millar and McEwen; the leader of the points classification was 18” behind. At the 32km mark, the escapees were caught by the peloton. The average speed for the first hour was 52.0km/h.

“The Escape” Established
Martinez (DSC), Zabriskie (CSC), Sinkewitz (TMO), Calzati (A2R), Leipheimer and Scholz (GST), Flecha (RAB), Aerts (DVL), Tossato (QSI), Hinault (C.A), Isasi (EUS), Moreni (COF), Vaugrenard (FDJ), Quinziato (LIQ) and Pineau (BTL) attacked at the 53km mark, 10km later they were 3’30” ahead of the peloton. The Saunier Duval-Prodir team led the peloton and appeared intent on keeping the escape honest. The 15 riders reached a maximum gain of 4’00” at the 83km mark. The chase began to have an effect and, at 92km the peloton was at 3’30”. The average speed for the 2nd hour was 44.8km/h. The points at the first climb were won by: Aerts, Zabriskie, Hinault and Calzati; the peloton was at 3’35”. The points at the top of the Col du Bertiand were won by: 1. Calzati 10pts; 2. Tossato 9pts; 3. Scholz 8pts; 4. Quinziato 7pts; 5. Martinez 6pts; 6. Isasi 5pts. The peloton still led by Saunier Duval and was 3’45” behind. The average speed for the 3rd hour was 41.6km/h.

Attacks Begin With 53km To Go…
Calzati was the first to attack the lead group. He surged with 53km to go but was quickly chased down. The next to go was Isasi with 50km to race. He was joined by Leipheimer and Pineau was the next to respond to the attack. The peloton was at 3’45”. Pineau’s chase didn’t last long and he was caught with 47km to go. With 40km to go, Leipheimer and Isasi lead the 13 others by 30” and the peloton by 4’30”. The points for the 2nd intermediate sprint were won Leipheimer, Isasi… and Hinault led the other escapees to the line 40” behind. The peloton was at 6’10”. With 20km to go, Leipheimer and Isasi were caught by the other escapees. Scholz attacked with 17km to go. Moreni and Tosatto caught the Gerolsteiner rider with 14.5km to go. This trio worked well together and was never seen again by the rest of the escape group. Quinziato tried to bridge the gap with 4km to go but failed in his pursuit.

Tosatto Earns Quickstep A Victory!
Scholz was forced to lead out the sprint. He was at the front from 1,500m to go until 400m before the finish line. Tosatto came from second position and burst into the lead with 250m to go. Moreni quickly raced past Scholz but didn’t have the power to overcome his former team-mate. Tosatto gave his Quickstep team its first stage win of the 93rd Tour. The average speed of the stage was 46.126km/h.

Another Day In Yellow For Pereiro
The peloton was led home by Eisel (FDJ), Paolini (LIQ) and Zabel (MRM) eight minutes behind Tosatto. The Pereiro finished 25th with the same time as Eisel. He will wear the yellow jersey in the time trial for stage 19.

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