Gerrans & Schleck The Winners Of Dramatic Day!

The Progress Report _ The 183km 15th stage of the 2008 Tour de France began at 12.59pm with 156 riders signing on to contest the race from Embrum to Prato Nevoso in Italy. The non-starter was March Cavendish (COL). There were three climbs on the itinerary including the ‘hors categorie’ Col Agnel, a 20.5km ascent rising to 2,744m at 58km which was also the point of the border crossing from France to Italy. Then came the category-three Colle del Morte (at 157km) and the final climb to the 1,440m high ski station at the end of the stage. The two intermediate sprints were in Guillestre (at 14.5km) and in Rossana (114.5km). The conditions were rainy at the start with a temperature of about 18 degrees Celsius. _ _ Four Reach Col Agnel Summit With 12 Minute Lead _ Attacks began as soon as the flag fell at the wet start but the first escape to gain any time on the peloton was instigated by Egoi Martinez (EUS). He was followed by Pate (GAR) and Arrieta at the 12km mark. They claimed the points at the first sprint and were joined by Gerrans (C.A) at the 16km mark. The peloton was content with the selection and allowed the quartet to build their advantage: 5’00” at 25km; 9’10” at 30km; 13’00” at 41km. Mark Renshaw retired on the Agnel climb. Riders who were dropped by the peloton on the climb included: Brandt and McEwen (SIL) and Devolder, the Quickstep team leader who quit the Tour before the summit. First place points went to Martinez who had a 11’50” advantage over Voeckler who surged forward to add 12 points to his tally and lead the bunch to the line. The yellow jersey was led by Popovych and Vansummeren (SIL) who set the pace for the peloton most of the way up the Agnel climb. _ _ Pereiro Victim Of Nasty Crash _ On the descent of the Agnel pass, Pereiro (GCE) hit a guardrail on the right side of the road and tumbled down onto a stretch of tarmac that looped back after a sharp right hairpin turn at the 80km mark. The peloton eased their pace out of respect for the 2006 champion. Upon hearing the news that he was conscious all along – despite suspected fractures of a shoulder and femur – they began pedaling again. _ The advantage of the escapees when the bunch started riding again had blown out from 12 minutes to 16’40”. Lampre and Silence-Lotto then took responsibility of the pacesetting. At the feedzone (102km), the deficit was 17’10” – this was the maximum gain of the escape. Lampre riders then started swapping off and, at 110km, the bunch was 16’15” behind Martinez’s quartet. CSC then took charge of the chase with O’Grady and Sorensen swapping off ahead of Silence-Lotto riders. Those two blew on the 2nd climb but were replaced by the rest of the CSC squad. The peloton was at 12’50” at the climb of death – Colle del Morte. _ _ Gerrans Claims The Stage Win _ At the start of the final climb, the four escapees had a lead of 9’16”. Martinez attacked the lead group and dropped Arrieta early but with 5km to go, Gerrans and Pate fought back to the lead. They would ride together, slowing dramatically in the final kilometer and, out of the final turn, Gerrans attacked never to look back. He claimed the stage three-seconds ahead of Martinez. _ _ Frank Schleck Into The Lead…! _ The CSC team had the weight of numbers and their pace thinned the yellow jersey’s group to 10: Evans, Frank and Andy, Sastre, Menchov, Vande Velde, Valverde, Kohl, Samuel Sanchez and Kreuziger. This was the selection and almost everyone from this group attacked at one stage or another but it was the CSC team that was most animated. Menchov made one big surge but crashed on the slippery road 8km from the finish. The road was wet but the others in his group waited for him to rejoin them before attacking began again. With 3km to go Sastre and Kohl surged and were followed by Valverde. Evans marked Frank Schleck but the Luxembourger was able to gain an advantage in the final 500m and push his way into the yellow jersey by seven seconds. He is the second rider from Luxembourg to lead the Tour this year. Evans dropped to third, one second behind Kohl and eight seconds behind Frank.