Tour de France - Feillu wins amid Astana battle

Eurosport - Sat, 11 Jul 09:30:00 2009

Agritubel's Brice Feillu won stage seven of the Tour de France in Andorra-Arcalis as Rinaldo Nocentini (Ag2r) rode into the yellow jersey.

CYCLING 2009 Tour de France Arcalis Brice Feillu - 0

Astana's Alberto Contador launched a big attack two kilometres from the finish and dropped his rivals for the overall win, but still fell six seconds short of taking the yellow jersey.

Britain's Bradley Wiggins (Garmin) turned in the best climbing performance of his career to finish level on time with Lance Armstrong (Astana), Cadel Evans (Silence-Lotto) and Andy Schleck (Saxo Bank), 22 seconds down on Contador.

Andy Schleck's team-mate Fabian Cancellara, who had worn the maillot jaune since the opening time-trial, was dropped early on the final climb, and finished more than nine minutes off the pace.

Feillu had escaped right at the start of the mammoth 224 stage as part of a nine-man break, whose lead ballooned to over 14 minutes, as Astana dictated the pace of the peloton behind.

The strength of the Kazakh backed outfit was there for all to see, as they remained at the front of the pack for almost the entirety of the stage, cutting the leaders' advantage to 11 minutes as they went over the other major climb of the day - the first-category Col de Serra-Seca - 97 kilometres from home.

Cancellara was the victim of a puncture that necessitated a hair-raising descent of the Serra-Seca, before he swiftly picked up another puncture in the valley just minutes later.

The gap to the favourites, meanwhile, had plummeted to just six minutes as the peloton approached the foot of the final climb, and Haimar Zubeldia took over at the front for the Astana team.

Further up the road, Aleksandr Kuschynski was dropped along with Jerome Pineau (BBox Bouygues Telecom), as Christophe Kern (Cofidis) tried an attack, before being swiftly chased down by Euskaltel's Egoi Martinez.

With the yellow jersey contenders continuing to keep their powder dry at the head of the peloton, which by now had been whittled down significantly, Feillu could contain his enthusiasm no longer.

He surged clear of his fellow escapees with just over four kilometres remaining, and despite the best efforts of Ag2r duo Nocentini and Christophe Riblon, was not to be caught.

His maiden Tour victory comes just a year after brother and team-mate Romain Feillu took the yellow jersey for a stage.

Further down the mountain, Evans launched a big attack, though was unable to shed his rivals, and it was only in the final two kilometres that it all blew apart, after Contador burst clear with an attack that nobody could follow.

Andy Schleck led the chase as the Spaniard began to put time into his rivals, though further ahead Nocentini managed to cross the line with enough of an advantage to secure the yellow jersey.

Contador finally crossed the line 21 seconds ahead of the Armstrong group to leapfrog his American team-mate in the general classification, while Wiggins, despite his status as a time-trial specialist, managed to cling on gamely to the Armstrong/Schleck group.

Stage eight sees the riders travel 176 kilometres from Andorra-la-Vieille to Saint-Girons, a stage that could again see the yellow jersey change hands.

Stage 8 LIVE at 11am on Saturday 11th July on British Eurosport (Sky 410 / Virgin Media 521); Also available on your PC via the Eurosport Player - click on the link under the picture to subscribe

Michael FitzGerald / Eurosport

Comment 96 - 115 of 115

Sort comments by: Most recent
  1. Doug #117 well said, some sense spoken at last! For­ Contador not to have attacked on one of the few­ mountain top finishes of this Tour would have been a­ rediculous waste of an opportunity to put time on his­ rivals - not just Armstrong but Sastre (the current­ champion remember!), Andy and Frank Schleck, Evans,­ etc. Make no mistake, if Armstrong could have followed­ Contador he would have. He couldn't simple as that­ - don't believe he was being the bigger man and­ following team orders. If he had such respect he­ wouldn't have isolated Contador on stage 3 and he­ wouldn't be dropping in the ambiguous and slightly­ snide comments in interviews regarding Contador and the­ leadership. Armstrong is still a very very good bike­ rider - up there with the top guys it seems - but he­ does not have the right to return to the race and­ suggest that there is an issue as to who is­ Astana's leader just because he dominated the race­ for 7 years. Contador has won the last 3 grande tours­ he's entered. Unless Armstrong can prove otherwise­ on the road Contador has to be their man and have the­ freedom to gain time at every opportunity.

    From impacttiling, on Sat 11 Jul 12:41PM
  2. I've always been a huge Lance fan, but there is­ nothing wrong with Contador's actions. 1) He is not­ some pretender, he won Giro and Tour of Spain in the­ same year.
    2) Lance has hijacked the team that was set­ up to support Contador, claiming when he joined that he­ wouldnt be the leader and wouldnt compete for the­ win
    3) Lance continued in a breakaway that won him 40s­ on Contador
    4) Astana director Bruyneel is­ Armstrong's longtime mentor and friend
    5) Armstrong­ won't go against team orders to attack Contador but­ it would suit him just fine if team orders prevent­ Contador pushing his advantage and results in the Tour­ coming down to a couple of time trials that Armstrong­ would have a chance of winning
    6) Contador just wanted­ to get himself slightly ahead of Lance to put him on­ the front foot and minimise the chance of Astana­ declaring Lance the leader
    7) He bent team orders, but­ only went 2km from the end to grab enough seconds to­ put him even with lance. It wasnt a major breach of­ team orders.
    8) Lance would have done exactly the same­ thing. When Lance was team leader he would always put­ other riders in their place. Why would Lance fans­ praise that in Lance but despise that in Contador.
    9)­ Lance constantly disparages Contador in interviews and­ it's pretty poor class on his part that he doesnt­ realise what a difficult position he has placed­ Contador in.

    From Doug, on Sat 11 Jul 11:51AM
  3. Wouldn't it have been good to have seen Armstrong­ in his prime against Contador? He's a hero to many­ but I think he is too old to win in Paris. Hasn't­ Armstrong helped to make it a fantastic tour so far.­ I’m glad im not Johan Bruyneel he’s going to earn his­ money keeping these two highly competitive­ personalities apart. I hope they don’t spoil it for­ each other.

    From rabbikernow, on Sat 11 Jul 11:25AM
  4. jbandbetsymac u're absolutelly right Armstrong­ defenetelly his not playing fair with Contador, stage 3­ prove exactlly that and nobody complain, so what is the­ problem if Contador wants now to prove that those 20­ seconds that Armstrong said that could be important are­ no longer important? The 2 man's are exactlly in­ the same position so if Armstrong wants to put time on­ Contador he now knows that he have to do it fairlly­ (without the team help), if wants to win he have to­ crack Contador by himself, not team tactics or team­ orders

    From black_portugal, on Sat 11 Jul 11:02AM
  5. Mr DESPERATE CONTADOR ATTACKED HIS 3 TEAM MATES :-). If­ he had the legs and wasnt afraid he would have tried­ that 8-9 ks from the finish. RASMUSSEN is probably­ saying, "I practically won the TDF but they kicked­ me and gave it to this guy, now he is attacking his­ team mates ehhh :-). CONTADOR WON THE TOUR BECAUSE­ RASMUSSEN GOT KICKED OUT, that is written in HISTORY­ BOOKS. IT DOESNT MATTER HOW MUCH YOU TRY CONTADOR CANT­ EVEN BE COMPARED TO BIG MIG ( INDURAIN) LET ALONE TO­ LANCE ARMSTRONG.

    THANKS LANCE, collarbone surgery­ some months ago, coming back 4 yrs after retirement ,­ riding like that with the best at the age of 38, even­ your team mate( we not mentioning his name, what a­ JOKE) has to attack you to gain just 22 seconds.

    From chem452002, on Sat 11 Jul 10:50AM
  6. I guess for LA to come to the TDF and say he just wants­ to compete was a smoke screen, of course he's here­ to win. I am his biggest fan and wish him on daily,­ however team management ie Mr B should of made things­ clear as to the structure of the team and like it or­ lump it riders abide to it until things change.­ LA's face yesterday.... he was Pizzzzed big time­ though he said nothing. I to agree its nice to have NO­ dope scandal and just talk racing and tactics. Come on­ lance dont let the B grind you down

    From Mark, on Sat 11 Jul 9:47AM
  7. I love TDF and im happy people talkin about cycling­ instead of doping scandals this year. ı love­ Armstrong, hes one of the riders that made me a TDF­ fan. Love him or hate him, but at least respect what­ hes done and still doing. Its amaizing. And Contador,­ hes also great and i dont think it was wrong what he­ did yesterday. It was not against his teammate(s), its­ was for extending the gap between his rivals like­ Evans, Schleck, Sastre etc. And i am sure no matter­ what hes said before the stage about if Contador­ attacks, Armstrong could follow him if he had felt­ himself good enough to chase. Those guys make it more­ exciting day by day. And thats enough for being­ greatfull to Armstrong's return to TDF though.

    From ogacemer, on Sat 11 Jul 9:40AM
  8. Contador will probably be in the yellow by the end of­ the day and then all he has to do in reel in attacks­ for the rest of the tour. I can't see him not doing­ this with ease. Theoretically, the Tour is his, unless­ he implodes.

    From Liz S, on Sat 11 Jul 8:49AM
  9. Listen everyone, we should be revelling in the fact­ that the new tour focus is on this renewed battle­ between Armstrong and everyone else on the tour instead­ of the shame of drug cheats. These men, all of them,­ deserve our utmost respect for what they put themselves­ through in this extraordinary test of stamina and­ courgage. I don't hate anyone on tour, I respect­ everyone's achievements from the first to the last.­ The battles between Contador, Armstrong, Evans, Shleck­ et al are good for the tour. Its keeping us glued to­ our screens again. Let's enjoy it

    From offroadrush, on Sat 11 Jul 7:51AM
  10. hey, "erdodogan", listen to me: Contador­ didn't attacked his team because he is stupid, as­ you said, he attacked his team beacause the team is­ against him, especially Armstrong. And I assure you­ that Mr. Armstrong won't win the Tour of France;)­ :)

    From mariootssa, on Sat 11 Jul 6:55AM
  11. Contador - what are great name; Armstrong - was a­ trumpet player - as far as I know....

    From Dragan M., on Sat 11 Jul 6:37AM
  12. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Armstrong is #1 like it or not !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    That is­ a fact !!!!
    Desperate­ Contador attacked his team mates­ because he is stupid.

    From erdodogan, on Sat 11 Jul 6:09AM
  13. I hope armstrong will not follow evans style last -­ riding defensively. i think he should attack if he­ wants to win.

    From MIke, on Sat 11 Jul 5:46AM
  14. Contador and his turn of pace was like ricci in­ mountains last year unbelievable i thought.

    From iancampbell11, on Sat 11 Jul 5:20AM
  15. armstrong reserve his strenght for the upcoming stages.­ contador just piling up seconds because he can't­ hang out with the bigs. the next two stages will shapen­ up the standings. the results will be good enough­ before the itt and the last higg mountain stages. but,­ if the standings going to the itt and last mountain­ stage, i bet my $$$ to lance.

    lance will wear the­ yellow for the 8th time

    From Kobe Bryant, on Sat 11 Jul 5:04AM
  16. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    until armstrong wins wins more than 1 grand tour in a­ year he isn't s**t...

    From , on Sat 11 Jul 4:47AM
  17. webbski - I guess that you are exercising comedic­ license so that you could slip the Knightly/Brand joke­ in there. Have a look again, stages 7, 9, 16, 20 all­ include HC climbs. So the Jo Brand reference is still­ valid because she does have the body of Bibendum (The­ Michelin Man).

    From Chris, on Sat 11 Jul 4:33AM
  18. Seems to be some really biased comment around .
    I­ thought the commentators were appalling yesterday­ .

    The fact is that when Contador made his break ,­ Armstrong was powerless to follow , unless he was­ prepared to break the team apart . The idea of a­ teammate hauling the other contenders back to the­ leader is just ridiculous !!!!

    I am sure Armstrong ,­ who jumped on the wheel of anyone who looked like­ trying to bridge the gap , was hoping like hell someone­ could pull Contador back , but the simple fact is he­ could do nothing himself .
    The reverse position applied­ to Contador when Armstrong was in the break-away .
    The­ Commentators know this well enough , especially Roche­ and Kelly ,so why the ridiculous commentary ???

    The­ interesting thing is how long this team protocol can­ last . One suspects as we head towards the end in the­ Alps it may be everyone for themselves regardless of­ riding on the same team .
    Armstrong was very wise to­ sit there yesterday , its too early to break the team­ and there is a lot of riding to be done .....

    From keith, on Sat 11 Jul 3:56AM
  19. Nobody doubts LA's acheivements (though 7 GT wins­ in 7 years is not as impressive as San Miguels 7 GTs in­ just 5 years...), he's hated because he's a­ @#$%, not because he won a few GTs.

    From Thomas, on Sat 11 Jul 2:12AM
  20. Frogs,
    Excuse "Andreas"#95, he is a fan of­ Ullrich. He is dealing with the pain LANCE CAUSED­ TELECOM and their fans for 7 yrs :-). To add insult to­ injury, he came back to ride with the best and shake­ the cyling world at the age of 38, not even getting­ salary, and surgery after broken collarbone. IT IS TOO­ MUCH FOR LANCE ARMSTRONG HATERS

    From chem452002, on Sat 11 Jul 1:59AM
Sort comments by: Most recent

Not already a Yahoo! user ? to get a free Yahoo! Account