Key moments

On a stage that boasted the highest pass in Europe, the winner was truly determined by the riders who established an escape at the end of the first hour of racing. Cyril Dessel may not have claimed many climbing points on a day with two “HC’ cols – that honor went to an aggressive Stefan Schumacher and an inspire John-Lee Augustyn – but the French AG2R rider dropped all but three riders on the final descent and outwitted them at the finish to win his first stage of the Tour de France. Augustyn was first at the top of the Cimme de la Bonette-Restefond but his speed on the descent was too much: he crashed over the edge and would limp home on a spare bike. The battle for general classification standings did take a shake with Menchov losing time on the descent and Vande Velde slipping down the rankings after being shed on the ascent. But Frank Schleck retains his yellow jersey after finishing 12th, one place shy of Cadel Evans.

The Progress Report
The 157km 16th stage of the 2008 Tour de France, from Cuneo in Italy to Jausiers in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, began at 12.32pm. There were 153 riders in the race with no riders retiring on the second rest day of the 95th edition. The itinerary featured two ‘Hors Categorie’ mountains, the Col de la Lambarde – a 2,351m high pass that peaked at the 72.5km mark – and the highest road in Europe, the 2,802m Cime de la Bonette-Restefond with the summit at 133.5km. While the final 23.5km were essentially all downhill, the finish was still at altitude of 1,210m. The intermediate sprints were both in Italy: Vignolo (at 20.5km) and Vinadio (50km). The return to France was at the 73km mark.

Fast First Hour & 29 Eventually Break Free
Before Christian Prudhomme could even announce the official start of racing, Sylvain Chavanel attacked. He was one of the most insistent in a rapid volley of escape attempts in the first hour of racing. It wasn’t until the 42km mark, however, that anyone was able to gain a real advantage. Then the aggressor was Dumoulin (COF) who was soon joined by Stefan Schumacher (GST), Le Mevel (C.A), Rosseler (QST). A counter attacking group of 24 was composed of: Popovych, Arvesen, Voigt, Zubeldia, Txurruka, Arroyo, Gutierrez, Portal, Burghardt, Hincapie, Siutsou, Augustyn, Cheula, Fischer, Tiralongo, Dessel, Lequatre, Flecha, Freire, Knees, Gilbert, Syl. Chavanel, Pate and Hesjedal. At the base of the climb, the five led 24 by 40” at the peloton by 4’25”. The average speed for the first hour was 49.2km/h.

Col de la Lombarde
Schumacher was the strongest of the lead group; after 5km of climbing he was on his own at the front of the stage. Cunego attacked the peloton early on the first ascent along with Szmyd, Valjavec, Monfort and Casar. CSC was in control of the peloton and allowed numerous other riders room to move when they attacked. Astarloza (EUS) was the highest ranked rider on GC to attack and he did so with about 8km to climb. At the summit the situation was: Schumacher in the lead; Le Mevel at 2’10”; Voeckler at 3’15”; Popovch’s group at 4’35”; Cunego’s group at 5’05” and the yellow jersey’s peloton at 9’35”.

There was a general regrouping on the descent. Schumacher led a group of 30 riders including: Popovych, Arvesen, Voigt, Txurrka, Arroyo, Gutierrez, Portal, Hincapie, Siutsou, Augustyn, Cheula, Fischer, Cunego, Szmyd, Tiralongo, Pauriol, Dessel, Valjavec, Lequatre,
Flecha, Tschopp, Voeckler, Knees, Casar, Chavanel, Dumoulin, Moncoutie, Monfort, Hesjedal and Pate by 5’50” at the 93km mark. The peloton was at 10’50”.

Cime de la Bonette-Restefond
Schumacher had a lead of 4’40” on a group including Popovych and Cunego at the base of the final climb and the peloton was at 11’45”. Schumacher led until six kilometers from the 2nd summit when he was caught by Popovych, Arroyo, Portal, Hincapie, Siutsou, Augustyn, Valjavec, Schumacher and Casar. They had a lead of 2’35” on the yellow jersey’s group which had dwindled to eight: Frank and Andy Schleck, Sastre, Evans, Menchov, Valverde, Samuel Sanchez and Kohl. In the last 700m of the climb Augustyn attacked and claimed the 40pts and ‘Souvenir Henri Desgrange’ but he would tumble over the end on the descent and lose his chance of winning the stage.

Dessel Wins After Speedy Descent
Dessel, Casar, Arroyo and Popovych gained an advantage on all other escapees early on the climb and raced into Jausiers in that order after a dramatic, rapid descent. Dessel burst into the lead in the final kilometer after brief attacks from Popovych and Arroyo. It is his first stage win at the Tour de France. In the yellow jersey’s group, Menchov lost ground and descended with Cunego and Kirchen, losing 29 seconds to the yellow jersey. Frank Schleck finished 12, 1’28” behind the stage winner and will retain his lead in the general classification.

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The winning advantage was built early in the stage but Cyril Dessel finished off the job on the downhill of the highest pass in Europe, a road he traversed with his father as a 14-year-old.

“From the outset, the tactic was to put myself in the escape but my feelings have not been very good since the start of the Tour and I’ve never had the legs in the morning. I was in very good shape in may, but my preparation was disrupted by saddle sores. Despite this, I confess that the very day was really good for me and I therefore felt ready this morning.
“I was not easy to put myself in the breakaway, which took a very long time to establish, but I was able to get there by joining the counter-attack after the initial move. At first I left the work to be done by the others and when I found myself with Tadej Valjavec, we rode together, both to catch [Stefan] Schumacher and to gain time for my team-mate in the overall standings.
“Then, on the climb to the top of the Bonette, one which I already have done with my father at the age of 14, I saw the rider from Barloworld attack and I have given everything to try and reel him in but didn’t succeed. I went to the second position and we found four men in the lead. I’m good on the downhill but I also knew that, with Popovych there, it would be very difficult to attack on the descent… so, in the last kilometers I waited for the right moment to go. I saw a turn at 400 meters to go which was perfect for speed. Then I saw Arroyo shaping up to go, so I gave it everything and it worked. I was told that I had won 50 meters before the line but I wasn’t going to raise my arms.”

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The rider in second place appreciates the fact that one of his rivals lost half a minute on the final descent. Denis Menchov lost ground but Bernhard Kohl doesn’t believe it was because he and his cohorts took excessive risks in the final 28.5km of an exciting stage. He’s retained his climbing crown for another day and that’s the prize he’s targeting for the Tour.

“It was a difficult day especially as beforehand I thought we’d arrive with about 30 of 40 men but it was quite a selection with the Schlecks and Sastre doing an impressive job but I generally felt capable of following.
“The descent was dangerous but it’s only what you make of it. You’ve just got to try and limit the risk and be wary; the good thing from the downhill is that Denis Menchov lost 30 seconds in the general classification and that buys me a bit of time. It’s an important 30 seconds.
“It makes sense that there weren’t any big attacks on the Bonette-Restefond. It’s a huge mountain of over 2,800 meters, there was a descent to follow, the wind was blowing and I don’t think that big gains could have been made especially as the whole CSC team was so strong. We had to be practical about what could have been done against them. As for happens now, winning the Tour? I don’t think so but hopefully after tomorrow I’ll still have this jersey with the beautiful spots.”

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By default Andy Schleck has found himself back in the lead of the youth classification. It wasn’t part of the original plan and his advantage over Vincenzo Nibali is just six seconds behind the brother of the overall leader came about just because the CSC was doing his job.

“It’s like a dream. Who would think that two brothers could have a prize jersey each at the same time at the Tour de France? I’m really happy right now. There wasn’t actually a thought about this white jersey before the stage but in the end I saw that Vincenzo Nibali was no longer there but I didn’t know how far behind he was. I just did my race, focused on what I had to do and this is the reward.
“We didn’t feel so good today. It wasn’t the right stage to really attack. Cadel knows that his opportunity will come to take time out of us but today wasn’t the right time to attack. Tomorrow is the hardest stage and we’ll try and make the race as difficult as possible for the others.”

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On a day with two enormous mountain passes, there was an opportunity for the yellow jersey to increase his advantage over some key rivals. Frank Schleck was happy to gain time on Denis Menchov but he knows more must be done before the time trial if he’s to keep his overall lead.

“We did a good job today. At the top of the last climb there were just a few riders left and everybody was struggling. When I say everybody, I mean all of us! It was very fast and we had a really quick downhill. I was scared a bit on the descent but I managed and was pretty confident about how it would end. Of course, I thought back about the crash of [Oscar] Pereiro and about the crash that I had in the Tour de Suisse but it was good to be able to stay upright and up there at the finish.
“I have to say thanks to Bernard Hinault talked to me and he gave me a few little tips for the downhill and they worked out pretty well. I had a lot of confidence and have every reason to be satisfied.
“I absolutely have to attack tomorrow and try and break the others. We tried it today but I have to give a big compliment to Carlos [Sastre] who made a really good decision at the beginning. He said, ‘Okay, we’ll let everybody go and we’ll just have to stay with the team together.’ We rode a good tempo and it worked really well. Tomorrow, we’ll have to go!
“Carlos did try to get clear at the top but there was a really strong headwind.
“Today is as nice as the stage before for me. Not just because I kept the jersey but as Andy now has the white jersey. We didn’t expect that. We didn’t ride for it but he’s got such class. He is the future and he’s going to win the Tour one day.”

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