A True Coup For Contador

The 197km 14th stage of the 2007 Tour de France began at 11.47am. There were 165 in the race with Ventoso (SDV) not at the sign-on. The route from Mazamet to Plateau de Beille entailed three climbs: the cat-two cote de St-Sarraille (at 9km) and two ‘hors catergorie’ ascents: the 2,001m high Port de Pailheres (at 146.5km) and the 1,780m mountain top finish. The intermediate sprints were in Carcassonne (46.5km) and Campagne-sur-Aude (91.5km). _ _ Rasmussen Part Of 27-Man Escape Group _ Verdugo (EUS) prompted the first successful escape on the first climb. He was joined by team-mate Txurruka and Barredo (QSI), De La Fuente (SDV) and Colom (AST). It was caught at the first climb where Soler (BAR) added 9pts to his tally in the mountains classification for second place. At 13.5km the yellow jersey lived up to his promise of attacking in the Pyrenean stages and was part of a group of 27 who gained an advantage of 50” (at the 19km mark). _ The men in the escape were: Gutierrez, Arroyo and Portal (GCE), Kirchen (TMO), Voigt (CSC), Rasmussen (RAB), Gadret (A2R), Zubeldia, Azanza, Perez, Txurruka and Verdugo (EUS), Le Mevel (C.A), Paulinho and Popovych (DSC), Fedrigo and Lefevre (BTL), Mercado (AGR), Kuschynski (LIQ), Vaugrenard (FDJ), Barredo and Garate (QSI), Colom and Navarro (AST), De La Fuente (SDV), Siutsiu and Soler (BAR). The chase was led by Predictor-Lotto. The yellow jersey’s move was reeled in at the 31.5km mark and six men persisted with the escape. _ _ Six Break Free… _ Gutierrez, Perez, Txurruka, Kuschynski, Barredo, Colom pushed on. With Rasmussen back in the peloton, the advantage of the escapees grew quickly. At the 45km mark, the six led by 5’05” and it grew quickly: 8’15” at 47.5km, 11’20” at 63km… this was the maximum gain and Rabobank was in charge of the peloton. The average speed was 46.1km/h for the first hour and 39.3km/h for the second hour. All the riders from the Saunier Duval led the peloton from the 90km mark to the base of the first climb. The average for the third hour was 39.1km/h. The effort of Mayo’s team-mates wasn’t wasted: at 91km the bunch was 10’30” behind, at 121km – 7’35” and by the start of the second ascent, the deficit was just 6’30”. _ _ Port de Pailheres _ The first rider to drop from the lead group was Kuschynski. With 7km to climb, Perez rode away from his escape companions but was caught by Gutierrez, Txurruka and Colom soon after. Saunier Duval led the peloton for the first 12km of the ascent. Dekker (RAB) then led the peloton until the top. Moreau was dropped early and, with 6km to climb, Vinokourov also lost contact. Rabobank took control with Dekker, Boogerd, Menchov and Rasmussen leading the peloton with 4.5km to climb. There were 24 riders in the yellow jersey’s peloton including all the top 10 on GC except for ‘Vino’ and Astarloza. Mayo lost contact in the final 500m when Soler attacked for points. The four led Barredo by 1’05”, Soler by 2’45” and Rasmussen’s group by 2’55” at the top… Vinokourov was at 8’16”! The winner of the time trial would eventually finish 81st in the stage, 28'50" behind the yellow jersey. _ _ Plateau de Beille _ There was a significant regrouping on the descent. Hincapie led the yellow jersey’s peloton in the valley. Rabobank took charge at the foot of the final climb with a deficit of 2’35” to the stage leaders. Dekker led until the base, the Boogerd took over for a while before Popovych (DSC) moved forward and pushed the pace until 9km from the finish. Rasmussen was isolated without team support so he found himself at the front when Popovych peeled off. That was the key for the attacking to begin. The first to launch was Leipheimer but it was a surge to prompt Contador to the fore. The group of Rasmussen, Soler, Evans, Contador, Leipheimer, Kashechkin and Sastre was together until Contador's move, then only Evans could respond. Valverde and Kloden were gone from the lead group early on the climb. _ _ Contador & Rasmussen: 1st & 2nd _ With 4.5km to go, Evans lost touch with the riders in the yellow and white jerseys. The Australian would finish with Kloden and slip from 2nd overall to 3rd. Up ahead Contador and Rasmussen attacked each other once or twice but then collaborated in gaining time on their rivals. With 2km to go they began to talk to each other. They'd passed Colom with 3km to go and were racing for the win. Rasmussen claimed double points for the mountain classification and sprinted for the line but he was past by Contador in the final meters. The Spaniard delivered a series of firsts: his maiden stage win, the first victory for his team in the 2007 Tour and the premier victory for a Spaniard this year. He moved to second overall, 2'23" behind Rasmussen who will wear the yellow jersey in stage 15.