Chalk up another Tour de France victory for the French as Pierrick Fedrigo won Stage 9 on Sunday by slightly more than a nose in Tarbes.
Fedrigo (aka “le nez de Marmande”) and Franco Pellizotti were the sole survivors of a breakaway that escaped about 10 miles into the 100-mile race from Saint Gauden to Tarbes.
The pair remained in front as the route coursed over the Col d'Aspin and Col du Tourmalet in the Tour's final day in the Pyrenees.
In spite of some half-hearted attacks on those climbs, the overall leaders came together as the peloton had more than 40 miles from the summit of Col du Tourmalet to the finish line.
Rivals
Astana teammates and rivals Alberto Contador and Lance Armstrong stayed near the front of the action and concluded the day two seconds apart in second and third place behind yellow jersey Rinaldo Nocentini.
Armstrong made a couple of accelerations early in the race, but it only served to keep the other riders on edge. He told Eurosport that a reshuffling of the overall leaders might not come until the mountaintop finish in Verbier; that's the Alpine stage next Sunday.
Fedrigo
The French winner on the BBox cycling team was paired with Italy's Pellizotti through more than 40 miles to the finish. They worked in harmony to hold off the peloton until the last kilometer.
That's when Pellizotti refused to take his turn at the front and sat in Fedrigo's slipstream. Then the Italian jumped around him at the final turn, but Fedrigo had left enough in the tank to grab his wheel then attack to the finish. Quoted at the Tour de France website. Fedrogo said:
the final corner in the lead but failed but ultimately it ended on a
high note because I came around him and into the wind in the last 200
meters.”
VeloNews' John Wilcockson noticed something when watching the tapes of the finish.
finish sprint, Pellizotti appeared to look down at his gears and so
lost just enough momentum to allow Fedrigo to pass him.”
Fedrigo won previously on Stage 14 in Gap in 2006 in a two-man breakaway.
The upcoming week
I'd be surprised to see much action among the overall leaders until the end of the week. Monday is a rest day, and Tuesday through Thursday are days suited to the sprinters. The peloton enters the Alps on Friday, but it's a stage much like today's, with a long downhill run to the finish. Saturday is hilly, but not mountainous. Sunday's stage is a mountaintop finish that might result in changes.
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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