American cyclist Floyd Landis' gambit to let another rider's team lead the Tour de France peloton worked — at least for Tuesday — as he climbed back into the lead on the slopes of fabled l'Alpe d'Huez.
Now it's his beleaguered Phonak team's turn to control the race as it struggles through two more days in the Alps before the final time trial on Saturday and Sunday's finish in Paris.
Luxembourg cyclist Frank Schleck deservedly won the mountaintop finish, jumping out of the saddle and sprinting away from Damiano Cunego in the final mile on the last of the day's three Alpine mountains. Schleck had been helped along the way by CSC teammates David Zabriskie and Jens Voigt, who joined him in a 25-man breakaway earlier in the day.
But the battle for the yellow jersey played itself out further down the mountain, as members of a splintered breakaway mixed it up with the Tour's leaders who charged up the 21 switchbacks of l'Alpe d'Huez's 7.9% slope.
One of the big losers of the day might have been Denis Menchov, the Russian cyclist for Rabobank. In spite of help from his teammates, Menchov lost ground to Landis and T-Mobile's Andreas Kloden who finished about a minute ahead of him.
Those who could wear yellow
About halfway up the mountain a small group of yellow-jersey wannabes formed — Landis, Menchov, Kloden, Cadel Evans, and Levi Leipheimer. When Kloden attacked, Landis was the only one able to answer. The two finished together, about a minute behind Schleck, along with Stefano Garzelli, a breakaway rider they picked up near the top.
Landis captured a 10-second lead over Oscar Pereiro, who took the yellow jersey two stages ago. His nearest realistic challengers are now Menchov, 2-minutes-12 behind; Kloden, 2-minutes-29 behind, and Evans, trailing by 2-minutes-56.
American cyclist Leipheimer, while 6 minutes and 18 seconds back, has struggled up the standings from 64th last week to 9th place on Tuesday.
Phonak's turn again
With Landis back in the lead, it's time for Phonak to once again control the peloton and try to bring back the breakaways. Considering how Phonak fared on Tuesday, Landis might be spending some time alone.
Belgium's Axel Merckx spent the day in the breakaway, then fell back to help set the pace for Landis on the climb.
The other Phonak cyclists either paced themselves to save energy for the rest of the week, or struggled. Four finished 30 minutes or more behind the winner, and others finished 10 and 20 minutes back.
These cyclists will be charged with controlling the race for Landis now.
Early breakaway
A small breakaway formed early in Tuesday's stage and was joined by a chase group comprising 25 cyclists — including Americans George Hincapie (Discovery) and Zabriskie (Team CSC) — at the 23-mile mark. This bunch had about a 5-minute lead on the peloton as they started up the day's first ascent — the Col d'Izoard, a 9-mile climb with an average 7% slope.
Spanish cyclist Garzellli (Liquigas) attacked and drew off a dozen riders then broke away his own, to make a solo attempt for the summit of Col d'Izoard; 15 cyclists hung on about a minute behind.
The cyclist flew down the other side of the mountain, with Discovery's Egoi Martinez crashing. After splitting up the remaining cyclists in the Tour into 6 separate groups, Garzelli slowed down and waited for the chase group to catch up.
Col du Lautaret
Mountain jersey holder David de la Fuente joined Paxti Vila to attack on Col du Lautaret, a shorter, less steep climb; de la Fuente won extra points for the polka dot jersey by being the first over the mountain.
Meanwhile, the main bunch kept within about 4 minutes of the leader. While the strategy of having Pereiro's Caisse d'Epargne team worked early in the stage, T-Mobile, Rabobank and Phonak all had to put riders on the front to keep the gap to the breakaway manageable.
Belgium's Tom Boonen was forced to abandon on Tuesday without a stage win, although he had held the yellow jersey earlier in the Tour.
Wednesday's stage
Stage 16 is the killer of the Tour. The 112-mile race through the Alps encounters 2 “beyond category” climbs — Col du Galibier and Col de la Croix de Fer. The mountaintop finish at La Toussuire is an 11-mile grind at 6%.
OLN begins its live coverage at 6:30 a.m. (ET) Wednesday. An alternative for Tour followers in Seattle is the free Cyclefest Outdoor Cinema from 6-10:30 p.m. at Magnuson Park. Excerpts from Stage 16 will be shown on a 15-by-25-foot inflatable screen. Yes, beer is for sale. More information at the Cascade Bicycle Club website.
The top 10 are:
1. Floyd Landis (US) Phonak
2. Oscar Pereiro (Sp), Caisse d'Epargne, :10 behind;
3. Cyril Dessel (Fr) AG2R, 2:02;
4. Denis Menchov (Rus), Rabobank, 2:12;
5. Carlos Sastre (Sp) CSC, 2:17;
6. Andreas Kloden (Ger), T-Mobile, 2:29;
7. Cadel Evans (Aus), Davitamon Lotto, 2:56;
8. Michael Rogers (Aus), T-Mobile, 5:01;
9. Levi Leipheimer (US) Gerolsteiner, 6:18
10. Haimar Zubeldia (Sp), Euskaltel, 6:20
Where the remaining 6 Americans are placed:
1. Landis (Phonak)
9. Levi Leipheimer (Gerolsteiner), 6:18
29. Christian Vandevelde (CSC), 17:35
38. George Hincapie (Discovery), 28:16
75. David Zabriskie (CSC), 1:10.17
86. Chris Horner (Davitamon Lotto), 1:21.23
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