(Photo: Roberto Bettini)
Sylvain Chavanel became the first Frenchman since Laurent Jalabert to claim two stage wins in a Tour de France today in Station des Rousses. On the first summit finish of this year's race, the Quick Step team put on a textbook show of teamwork and timing as Jérôme Pineau launched himself in an early break to earn maximum king of the mountains points, eventually resisting alone on the final climb. Teammate and stage 2 winner Sylvain Chavanel made his own counter-attack from a chasing group to catch and pass Pineau, soloing to victory and a new yellow jersey.
Sylvain Chavanel solos to stage victory, and into the yellow jersey for the second time in this Tour de France. (Photo: Roberto Bettinit)
Yellow jersey Fabian Cancellara cracked completely on the final climb, having clawed his way back to the field on each of the previous to climbs. In the end, he knew his stint in yellow was done and languished home many minutes later. For Chavanel, the disappointment of losing his yellow jersey after stage 3 was wiped away as he improbably fought his way back to the top of the standings.
"The farther along we got in the Tour de France, the more disappointed I was not to have the jersey back," Chavanel said at the finish, acknowledging the unlikely scenario that played out in today's stage. "Today I had the legs and this is a bit of revenge for me."
"I wanted to win again but I didn't expect this second victory to come so quickly," he added. "I just want to enjoy this moment right now."
The overall favorites stayed together, as expected, and with a minor shuffling of the classification after Cancellara's loss of time, the race looks ready for the first real GC showdown tomorrow on the slopes to Avoriaz.
Textbook Racing
Heading into today's seventh stage, Quick Step had a primary objective and that was to conserve its lead in the king of the mountains classification. Polka dot jersey Jérôme Pineau was indeed vigilant enough to place himself in the early break and consequently earned the maximum points available on every climb except the last rise to Station des Rousses. The 165.5km stage featured six mid-level climbs on the road from Tournus to Station des Rousses, increasing in difficulty as another hot day wore on.
Jerome Pineau (Quick Step) retains the polka dots another day, as well as winning the prize for the most aggressive rider on the day. (Photo: Roberto Bettini)
Pineau was joined in the early move by German national champion Christian Knees (Milram), Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidids), Danilo Hondo (Lampre), and Ruben Perez (Euskaltel Euskadi). By the summit of the day's second climb, the Côte de l'Aubépin, the quintet had moved more than eight minutes clear of the peloton, having covered the fastest opening hour of racing since the Tour began.
The gap then fell slowly but steadily and was down to 4 minutes by the summit of the Côte du Barrage de Vouglans. Summiting the penultimate climb, the Col de la Croix de la Serra. Pineau once more claimed maximum points on the summit, his work essentially done for the day given the unlikely chances of this break staying away until the finish. He had whittled his breakaway down to just one other man, Hondo, and the duo were now pursued by a constantly shifting chase including Damiano Cunego, Thomas Voeckler, .Sylvain Chavanel, Matthew Lloyd, among others. Nonetheless, the polka dot jersey inspired Pineau and he carried on.
Danilo Hondo (Lampre-Farnese Vini) taking his turn in front of Jerome Pineau (Quick Step). (Photo: Roberto Bettinit)
Pineau and Hondo had 2'20" on the yellow jersey of Fabian Cancellara and 50 seconds on the chasers as they plunged towards the final difficulty of the day, the Côte de Lamoura, which would take the field to its first summit finish at Station des Rousses.
Chavanel's move to bridge to the chasing group put him in the virtual yellow jersey ahead of the final climb. He knew this, and decided his fate would be better sealed alone. He jumped clear from the chase group in an effort to bridge to Pineau, who himself had attacked and dropped Danilo Hondo.
Quick Step has more than made up for sprinter Tom Boonen's absence, with the Chavanel-Pineau duo racing every day for the polka dot and yellow jerseys and enjoying their success and camaraderie. Today's display on the run-up to the Côte de Lamoura was textbook racing.
"I gave everything on the last climb," Pineau explained. "I knew Sylvain was behind me and when I saw he was on his own I thought I'd help him for a few meters. But the way he went by me I knew he was really strong."
When asked what words were spoken as he passed his friend and teammate, Chavanel said that Pineau's only words were, "go! go!"
"I have a great team around me and Jérôme was very strong today," the new yellow jersey said as he received hugs of congratulations at the finish. "I was well-placed on the final climb so I thought ok, I'm going to go."
GC Favorites Stick Together
The contenders for the overall Tour title nervously watched each other on the lower slopes of the Côte de Lamoura. Lance Armstrong and Andy Schleck eyed each other while Alberto Contador had his Astana team set the tempo on the middle slopes of the climb. Ultimately, all of the favorites would stay together, preferring to wait for tomorrow's tougher Alpine stage to test their legs and their rivals. Along with Fabian Cancellara, the only casualty of the top five overall was young British rider Geraint Thomas of Team Sky. The white jersey would move to the shoulders of Andy Schleck by day's end.
"I knew when I saw the profile that we weren't going to drop Cadel (Evans) or anyone today and I expected him to take the jersey," Schleck commented later.
"To be really honest, today was a lot harder than expected," he admitted. "I looked around and I tried to find weaknesses... I couldn't find any."
Cadel Evans moves into second place overall, 1 minute 25 seconds behind Chavanel, while Garmin's Ryder Hesjedal hung tough to move himself into third, well-positioned against the remainder of the favorites. Alberto Contador sits in sixth place while Lance Armstrong has some ground to make up from 14th place, 3 minutes 20 seconds behind Chavanel (1 minute 51 seconds back from Evans).
GC favorites Alberto Contador (Astana) and Lance Armstrong (RadioShack) bide their time on Stage 7. (Photo: Roberto Bettini)
Stage 8 Preview
As many expected, today's stage 7 provided a worthy winner but no real fireworks among the favorites for the general classification. Stage 8 could be a very different story as the first category 1 climbs make their appearance and the Tour de France enters the Alps. Covering 189km from Les Rousses to Morzine-Avoriaz, the tough Col de la Ramaz will test the field with a 14km ascent averaging 6.8% in gradient. The summit comes 35km from the finish in Avoriaz with few meters of flat before the peloton tackles the final test.
The climb from the town of Morzine to the final summit in Avoriaz lasts 13km and will likely provide the first real launching pad for the heads of state who feel their legs can match their ambition. Sylvain Chavanel will dig deep but is less likely to survive with the leaders until the finish. Defending champion Alberto Contador is the man everyone expects to throw down the gauntlet and attack on the Alpine slopes.
With a peloton already worn down from several days in the extreme heat and a tougher than usual first week of racing, who will be the freshest in Avoriaz? Conservation will be the name of the game in the early part of stage 8 as the final showdown before the Tour's first rest day (Monday) looms large.
Results:
Stage 7: Tournus to Station des Rousses, 227.5km
1. Sylvain Chavanel (FRA) Quick Step in 4 hours 22 minutes 52 seconds 2. Rafael Valls (ESP) Footon-Servetto at 57 seconds 3. Juan Manuel Garate (ESP) Rabobank 1 min 27 sec 4. Thomas Voeckler (FRA) Bbox Bouygues Telecom 1 min 40 sec 5. Mathieu Perget (ESP) Caisse d'Epargne s.t. 6. Daniel Moreno (ESP) Omega Pharma-Lotto s.t. 7. Pierrick Fedrigo (FRA) Bbox Bouygues Telecom 1 min 47 sec 8. Ryder Hesjedal (CAN) Garmin-Transitions s.t. 9. Ruben Plaza (ESP) Caisse d'Epargne s.t. 10. Eros Capecchi (ITA) Footon-Servetto s.t.
General classification after stage 7:
1. Sylvain Chavanel (FRA) Quick Step in 33 hours 1 minute 23 seconds 2. Cadel Evans (AUS) BMC Racing at 1 minute 25 seconds 3. Ryder Hesjedal (CAN) Garmin-Transitions 1 min 32 sec 4. Andy Schleck (LUX) Saxo Bank 1 min 55 sec 5. Alexandre Vinokourov (KAZ) Astana 2 min 17 sec 6. Alberto Contador (ESP) Astana 2 min 26 sec 7. Jurgen Van Den Broeck (BEL) Omega Pharma-Lotto 2 min 28 sec 8. Nicolas Roche (IRL) AG2R La Mondiale s.t. 9. Johan van Summeren (BEL) Garmin-Transitions 2 min 33 sec 10. Denis Menchov (RUS) Rabobank 2 min 35 sec
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