- Cadel Evans had a tough day, losing time on the final climb and slipping to 7th overall.
- Bradley Wiggins stays in yellow – boring as batshit.
“He rides with his gut, he rides with courage, he rides on instinct.” – Paul Sherwen.
He rides on crazy. In yet another heroic, grimace filled ride, Thomas Voeckler eschewed a radio and a computer to claim a solo victory on stage 16 and reclaim the polka-dot jersey.
Voeckler and fellow Frenchman Brice Feillu had a lead of 9:40 over the yellow jersey group at the top of the iconic Col du Tourmalet, with the remnants of a 38-man breakaway group strewn down the road in between.
Cadel Evans’ BMC teammate and all round good dude George Hincapie crashed at the top of the Tourmalet. Although he injured his shoulder, there are unconfirmed reports that he dusted himself off, grabbed a beer from one of the speedo-clad, sandal wearing Aussie fans and took off down the mountain laughing. A true legend.
Needing to break the Team Sky stranglehold on the race, Vincenco “Nibbles” Nibali’s Liquigas team upped the tempo at the front of the yellow jersey group on the Col d’Aspin. Their effort put Evans into deep trouble. The defending champ lost 30 seconds and just managed to tag onto the back of the Wiggins group by the bottom of the final category one climb up the Col de Peyresourde.
Voeckler and Feillu started the climb with a lead of around a minute over a chase group of Chris-Anker Sorenson, Gorka Izaguirre and the ageing warriors Jens Voigt and Alexandre Vinokourov. As Sorenson struck out alone to reach Voeckler – who had ridden away from Feillu with a couple of kilometres still to climb – Evans was dropping off the back of the yellow jersey group. His chances at tour victory long gone and the podium slipping away, Evans was riding merely to salvage a top five finish.
When Nibali attacked the main group a couple of kilometres from the top, only Chris Froome and Wiggins could go with him. While the Nibali offensive shed all other contenders, it wasn’t enough to put the two Brits into difficulty and the top three riders in the tour would finish the stage together.
Unlike his first stage win a week ago when he could barely muster the energy to celebrate, Voeckler lapped up the cheers in the final kilometre and coasted, arms spread wide, to a famous victory. Sorensen finished 1:40 back, with Izaguirre and Vinokourov 3:22 behind.
Evans simply didn’t have the legs this year. He finished over 11 minutes down on Voeckler, almost five behind Wiggins and slips to 7th overall at 8:06.
The polka-dot jersey is the only leader’s classification to change. Voeckler – who won maximum points on every climb – has a four point lead over Fredrik Kessiakoff.
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Valiant Voeckler Rides To Another Legendary Win appeared first on
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