Spain's Oscar Freire has consistently been one of the top finishers in the sprints at the 2008 Tour de France. On Saturday he won the final sprint in Digne de Bains, which marked his fourth career Tour de France victory.
Mark Cavendish, the Team Columbia phenom who was looking for his fifth Tour win in Stage 14, lost contact with the peloton on the Col de l'Orme, a category 3 climb about 6 miles from the finish line.
That climb is the first indicator of the looming Alps, where Cadel Evans will be challenged to keep the yellow jersey as the Tour enters its final week. He's just one second ahead of Frank Schleck and 38 seconds ahead of Christian Vande Velde.
Break
The peloton chased a four-man breakaway for much of the 121-mile race from Nîmes to Digne les Bains on Saturday.
Then with about 17 miles to go, Iván Gutiérrez of Caisse d'Epargne attacked. The other three couldn't cover it and eventually fell back to the peloton.
Gutiérrez didn't stay out front for long. The peloton caught him on the Col de l'Orme, about 6 miles from the finish.
Attacks
Several cyclists, such as Alejandro Valverde and Oscar Pereiro, tried attacks that failed on the climb, then Sylvain Chavanel jumped out on the descent, gained a few seconds, but was overrun by the peloton.
Columbia and Milram dialed up the pace in the final mile, and every sprinter surviving from the climb took a shot at the finish. Freire came from eight or nine sprinters back to take the win, just ahead of Leonardo Duque of Cofidis, Erik Zabel of Milram and Julian Dean of Garmin Chipotle.
Saturday marks the sixth day that Freire has been in the sprinter's green jersey, and his first stage victory this year.
Sunday's 114-mile Stage 15 from Embrun to Prato Nevoso is the peloton's introduction to the Alps this year. They'll start climbing immediately to the Col Agnel, an above category mountain in Italy, followed by the category 3 Colle del Morte, and wrapped up with a mountain top finish at category 1 Prato Nevoso.
The top 10 overall:
1 Cadel Evans (Aus) Silence – Lotto
2 Frank Schleck (Lux) Team CSC – Saxo Bank, 1 second behind
3 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30, :38
4 Bernhard Kohl (Aut) Gerolsteiner, :46
5 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank, :57
6 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Team CSC – Saxo Bank, 1:28
7 Kim Kirchen (Lux) Team Columbia, 1:56
8 Vladimir Efimkin (Rus) AG2R La Mondiale, 2:32
9 Mikel Astarloza (Spa) Euskaltel – Euskadi, 3:51
10 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas, 4:18
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