Stage 12: Friday, July 16 – Bourg-de-Peage to Mende (210.5km)

A long, up-and-down stage, with a nasty finish on top of the Col de la Croix Neuve, which reaches a 10.9% gradient at a few points.

A large 18-man break went off early on, containing some interesting names. Not overall contenders, but riders with good placings and a chance of moving up – Andreas Kloden (Radio Shack), Alexander Vinokourov (Astana), Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Transitions). Also amongst them was Thor Hushovd (Cervelo), looking for intermediate sprint points. And he bagged those 6 points at one of the sprints, to retake the green jersey from Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre). Hushovd then backed off and rejoined the main pack, his objective for the day achieved.

Around 20km from home, a burst of acceleration from Kloden thinned the lead group out to just four: himself, Vinokourov, Vasil Kiryienka (Caisse d’Epargne), and Hesjedal. The pack was 1′30 behind at the start of the short-but-nasty final climb up to the Mende aerodrome. Hesjedal cracked immediately, eventually followed by Kloden and Kiryienka. Vino soldiered on alone.

Meantime, the main field was closing. Andy Schleck’s Saxo Bank team-mates led the way, but eventually fell back. Alberto Contador (Astana) kept an eagle-eye on his GC rival. Spotting Schleck looking slightly cooked, Contador threw in a spurt of acceleration 2km from the stage finish. Schleck was unable to respond, but was able to up his rhythm and not allow Contador to disappear into the distance. The only rider able to grab Contador’s wheel was Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha). Their speed overhauled Vinokourov almost within sight of the line.

Surprisingly, Contador looked to be interested in fighting out the sprint for the stage win with Rodriguez, rather than concentrating on cutting into Schleck’s overall 41-second to the maximum extent possible. Rodriguez has something of a sprint, and was able to bag the stage victory by half a bike-length over Contador. Vonokourov rolled in 4 seconds behind, with Schleck’s group 10 seconds back.

Whilst not emphatic, today’s stage is very much a result for Contador. If things had remained the same throughout the forthcoming Pyrenees, Schleck’s lead would have not been enough for the final time-trial – a discipline which is not Schleck’s forte. Therefore, the Luxembourgeois needed to gain maximum time advantage over the Astana rider before then. Today’s loss of 10 seconds of his lead further increases the pressure on Schleck. The battle in the Pyrenees will be fascinating.

No changes at the top, except that Schleck now only leads Contador by 31 seconds. Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel), Denis Menchov (Rabobank), and Jurgen ven den Broeck (Omega Pharma-Lotto) retain the rest of the top 5 places.

As mentioned earlier, Thor Hushovd regained the green jersey from Alessandro Petacchi. The King of the Mountains battle once again see-sawed back from Jerome Pineau (Quick Step) to Anthony Charteau (Bbox Bouygues Telecom), who had both been sniffing out climbing points as part of the original 18-man break.

Leader board after this stage:

Overall GC
Andy Schleck (Saxo Bank)

Points
Thor Hushovd (Cervelo)

King of the Mountains
Anthony Charteau (Bbox Bouygues Telecom)

Young Rider
Andy Schleck (Saxo Bank)

Tomorrow’s stage is the 196km from Rodez to Revel. Long & flattish – perhaps one for a breakaway, with the main field trying to catch them and set up a bunch sprint. However, there is a nasty little kick 8km from the end, which could show up any tired legs. Today’s stage has proven that a short, sharp shock of a climb can shake things up big-time.