Denmark's Niki Sörensen brought home a solo breakaway victory at the Tour de France on Thursday on a day that many thought would see a fifth stage victory by Columbia's Mark Cavendish.
Although the 131-mile route from Tonnerre to Vittel sported several small climbs, Stage 12 was well-suited to the sprinters in the peloton.
In fact, several early attacks by riders were pulled back by the peloton. It wasn't until relatively late in the race — with 50 miles behind them — that a 7-man breakaway finally escaped.
Breakaway
Italian Franco
Pellizotti of Liquigas was probably the most notable cyclist in the bunch with a third place overall finish in this year's Giro d'Italia to his credit.
But as the break lengthened its margin over the peloton to some 6 minutes, it was obvious that the Columbia or the other sprinters' teams weren't interested in chasing down the 7 to contest the finish.
Then with less than 10 miles remaining in the race, Sylvain Calzati attacked the breakaway and Team Saxo Bank's Sorensen joined him. The two hung just out front for several miles, only seconds from the five-man chase group.
Then Calzati appeared to tire and Sorsensen sprinted away with 3 1/2 miles left, leading the chasers to the finish line by about 50 seconds.
The rest of the peloton arrived about 6 minutes later, and Cavendish used a lead-out by Thor Hushovd's Cervelo cycling team to win the bunch sprint and solidify his standing in the green jersey competition.
Levi Leipheimer and Cadel Evans crashed on a turn within the final 3K, so they didn't lose overall time and were able to get back on their bikes and ride in. Leipheimer:
wrist hurts but not broken, lost some skin, it couldve easily been much
worse. Not sure what happened? All I remember is … seeing the curb coming and thinking it was game over.“
Mountains looming
With mountains on tap for Friday, neither Alberto Contador or Lance Armstrong saw fit to challenge Rinaldo Nocentini for his yellow jersey on Thursday and there were no changes in the top 10.
The 124-mile bike race from Vittel to Colmar on Friday should see more action, although it's officially termed a medium mountain stage. There are three difficult climbs on tap — Col de la Schlucht, the Col du Platzerwasel, and the Col du Firstplan.
Top 10 overall
1. Rinaldo Nocentini,
AG2R
2. Alberto Contador, Astana – 6
seconds
3. Lance Armstrong, Astana – 8
seconds
4. Levi Leipheimer, Astana – 39
seconds
5. Bradley Wiggins, Garmin – 46
seconds
6. Andreas Kloden, Astana — 54
seconds
7. Tony Martin, Columbia –
1:00
8. Christian Vande Velde, Garmin –
1:24
9. Andy Schleck, Saxo Bank –
1:49
10. Vincenzo Nibali, Liquigas – 1:54
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