Key moments

Gerdemann: The Future Is Now

Linus Gerdemann might not have been a famous name prior to stage seven of the 2007 Tour de France but he’s become the latest star of the race. Not only did he win the stage in fine style after attacking his escape companions on the Col de la Colombiere, but he will inherit the yellow jersey after the first day in the mountains of the 94th edition. He was 20th overall at the start of the stage, put himself in The Escape with 14 others at the end of the first hour and then collaborated well until the steepest part of the toughest climb of the day. That’s when he launched ahead of Dmitriy Fofonov and onward to a stunning victory 40 seconds ahead of the runner-up Inigo Landaluze. The group containing most of the title favorites finished 3’38” behind the 24-year-old T-Mobile sensation. The stage winner leads the general classification by one minute 24 seconds.

The 198.5km seventh stage, from Bourg-en-Bresse to Le Grand-Bornand, began at 12.10pm. There were 181 riders at the sign on. Freire (RAB) and . The sun shone on the Tour de France at the start of the second week; the temperature was a warm 26 degrees Celsius and it rose to over 30 degrees on the day that the race entered the mountains. The stage boasted four climbs, including the first category-one ‘col’ of the 94th edition. The mountains classification points were contested at the Cote de Corlier (cat-3 at 35.5km), Cote de Cruseilles (cat-3 at 122.5km), Cote de Peguin (cat-4 at 134.0km) and the 1,618m high cat-1 Col de la Colombiere (at 183.0km).
There are now two intermediate sprints per stage. Points for the green jersey were on offer in Pont-d’Ain (at 16.5km) and Anglefort (86.0km).

Establishing The Escape Group
TQuickstep controlled the peloton until the first sprint when Boonen beat Zabel and Bennati. At the 22km mark 16 attacked including: Voeckler, Hincapie, Goubert, Vaugrenard, Gilbert, Garate and Cardenas. They were caught at 25km. On the first climb Rasmussen raced into the lead, passing Wegelius, Verdugo and Paulinho who had broken free at 30km. The only Dane in the race claimed first-place at the top of the Corlier climb. Cancellara, Boonen, McEwen were amongst the riders dropped early. The average speed for the first hour was 40.9km/h. Gutierrez (GCE), Gerdemann (TMO), Flecha (RAB), Landaluze and Perez (EUS), Fofonos (C.A), Martinez (DSC), Lefevre (BTL), Vaugrenard (FDJ), Tankink (QSI), Savoldelli (AST) and De la Fuente (SDV) formed the first true escape group. They were joined by Elmiger (A2R), Pineau (BTL) and Wegmann (GST) at 72km.
Vaugrenard was the best-placed on GC at the start of the stage. Gerdemann raced ahead to claim first at the 2nd sprint. The peloton was behind by 8’30”. This was the maximum gain of the escape group. The average speed for the 2nd hour was 47.5km/h.

Predictor-Lotto & CSC Control Chase
At the 80km mark, both the Predictor-Lotto and CSC teams came to the front of the peloton. “Neither team has anyone in the escape,” said PRL’s Hendrik Redant. "The idea is to try and get the escape to within about four or five minutes before the start of the Col de la Colombiere.” At the feedzone, the deficit of the peloton was 6’00”. De la Fuente surged ahead to claim first place at the 2nd climb. The peloton was led over the summit by O’Grady, Cancellara and Hoste 6’45” behind the escapees. The average speed of the 3rd hour was 37.9km/h. CSC drove the peloton on the descent and up the 3rd climb. De la Fuente repeated his antics and led over the cote de Peguin, 6’40” ahead of the peloton

Gerdemann Launches Into The Record Books On The Col de la Colombiere
On the approach to the final ascent three from the Lampre team came to the front of the peloton which was 5’25” behind the escapees. The entire CSC then took charge of the bunch. Gutierrez attacked with 14km to climb. De la Fuente, then Gerdemann matched him. Fofonov bridge 1km later and then attacked. Only Gerdemann could follow the Kazakh. At Le Reposoir, the steepest section 7km from the summit the 24-yeard-old German launched the decisive attack. He would not be seen by any riders again until after they reached the finish. Over the summit, Gerdemann had a lead of 30” on a rejuvenated Landaluze and 1’00” ahead of De La Fuente. The young T-Mobile recruit proved he could climb and, with the whiff of victory, demonstrated his prowess on the descent as well.
Gerdemann won not only the stage but claimed the yellow jersey, the white jersey and the most aggressive rider prize. He claims that, “today was my day, but tomorrow I’ll work for my team leader, Michael Rogers”. The Australian finished the day in 35th place but with the same time as most of the title contenders, 3’38” behind the new sensation of cycling.

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Sylvain Chavanel – “I didn’t go into the red…”

While some riders like David De La Fuente and Michael Rasmussen moved closer to him in the climbing classification standings, Sylvain Chavanel managed to keep his polka-dot jersey. The Frenchman is starting to enjoy his new costume.

“Today I decided to contain myself. I didn’t go into the red. I fought for the climbing points at the first hill but Rasmussen beat me in a sprint so I then chose to keep my strength knowing perfectly well that I wasn’t going to lose the jersey today. Tomorrow I might have to change my strategy; the best thing would be to try and get into a breakaway… but I don’t want to reveal all my plans. Even if I lose the polka-dot jersey in the Alps, there’ll still be enough possibilities to get it back again. Now that I’m carrying it, I really want to defend it.”

Linus Gerdemann - "This is a good way to start things afresh..."

The winner of the stage, the new leader of the general classification and the best young rider in the race is a 24-year-old German revelation. Linus Gerdemann wanted to thank just about everyone who watched him today and although overwhelmed by the attention he received on a day of a major coup, the T-Mobile rider reminded the media at the finish that this is the start of a new era for cycling.

“It’s unbelievable to do what I did. These are the moments that I train for every day but I never thought that something like this would happen to me. I want to say thanks to everyone who was on the climbs and supporting me, it was a great sensation.
“I was fighting hard the whole time but I wanted to be sure that I was okay even if I had a puncture or something like that.
“It was important to achieve this for the team. I was given the opportunity to start all the races that I wanted to do and I have to say thanks to T-Mobile for having such faith in me.
“Thanks also to the fans who tuned in on television. Cycling has had a big problem lately but I want to say thanks to those who believe in the sport. We have to find a new, clean way to prove how beautiful cycling is and I hope others agree that this is a good way to start things afresh.
“It’ll be difficult to defend the lead. Michael Rogers is the team leader and I will try to support him. Today was my day and I hope the next weeks are good for Michael.”

Rolf Aldag - "It was amazing to watch it unfold like a script..."

The directeur sportif of the T-Mobile squad wanted either Linus Gerdemann or Patrick Sinkewitz to make sure they were part of the escape in the first big mountain stage. The younger of the two candidates achieved that objective... and a lot more. Rolf Aldag explains how their tactics came to fruition to perfection.

“We didn’t expect that he would be able to go so long on his own but he lived up to his promise and did everything that he was told today. It was a similar scenario to the day I was in an escape to Morzine in 2003: it was Saturday, the start of the second week – the riders were super motivated – and all the big guns were always going to start firing.
“We asked Linus to get in the move and take it really, really easy in the escape. We didn’t want him leading or showing how strong he was; we wanted him to stay calm, remain at the back and then we had a plan for the last climb.
“I said before the stage, ‘You can get 10 or 12 minutes and then the peloton will chase and bring it back to four or five minutes then they’d climb steadily but someone one from the break is going to make history and that can be you!’ It was amazing to watch it unfold like a script. There was a bit of luck but it was also what we planned and it’s the perfect outcome.
“He feels like he can’t even step on the bike tomorrow but nobody can take anything away from him. It must be a super feeling to have the jersey and start the big alpine stage in yellow, nobody cares how he finishes tomorrow.”

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