The first major mountain stage of the Tour de France dealt Alejandro Valverde and Damiano Cunego a cold dose of Pyrennean reality. Jens Voight and the CSC power zombies crushed the field up the Col de Tourmalet climb. Voight is not a climber, just a power zombie bent on feeling pain. His twisting face was seen powering a select group of Tour contenders up the highest climb of the entire Tour de France while shatter riders lay behind on the switchbacks. CSC had declared a three pronged attack of Carlos Sastre, Frank and Andy Schleck. Sastre has been the eternal Tour contender who lacks the full all around ability of a winner. Sastre could not really capitalize on the work done by Voight to nail down a win or a solid punch to the rivals other than Cunego and Valverde. Sastre’s attacks were quickly pounced upon while Franck Schleck was able to take advantage of this and fly away with two Saunier Duval riders to get within a second of Yellow.

(AP Photo/Bas Czerwinski)

Leonardo Piepoli and Juan Jose Cobo set a pace Schleck could not keep up. It was Piepoli’s turn to cross the finish in first on one of the toughest days of climbing so far in the Tour. Cobo seemed unable to keep up with Piepoli’s pace after the duo dropped Schleck, but Piepoli would shepard the Spaniard along so they could cross the finish one-two.

Meanwhile teammate Riccardo Ricco tended to the top Tour favorites. While Ricco launched a few attacks, Evans, Menchov, Vande Velde and Sastre did not give him much daylight. The top contenders were trading attacks with menchov usually coming to the front to keep the pace respectable so he does not blow, while others attacks. Vande Velde showed great form while setting the pace in the final few kilometers up the Hautcam Vande Velde kept in third place, but he looked very fresh compared to the others. Perhaps his form is coming in just in time for the tough parts of the Tour.

(AP Photo/Bas Czerwinski)

Behind, Valverde may be on the backside of his peak or could be suffering from the effects of a crash two days ago. He could also be suffering from the first day in the mountains. Whatever the problem could be, his Tour is close to being over. His chances are not completely gone as he could recover enough with better performances later. But there are so many favorites that he may still be a marked man. Valverde and Cunego suffered badly on the Col de Tourmalet losing several minutes to the main favorites. The two riders now sit about six minutes back with some serious planning to do for getting back into top contention for the Tour.

Vincenzo Nibali is riding into a top placing. The Sicilian rider stayed mostly with the main group and now finds himself in 9th. Perhaps driven by his rivalry with Ricco, Nibali was seen launching attacks but also getting dropped a bit. So far the Pyrennes have been very friendly to Italian hopes with back to back wins by Saunier Duval Italian riders. Soon the Tour will pay a visit to Italy and stop in Cuneo.

Back to Schleck who must now be kicking himself for not grabbing an extra second. Or maybe not. He is one second away from Yellow, but does not have to do the extra work a Yellow Jersey wearer is required to do such as extensive interviews and such. Schleck can take it easy on the rest day while Evans will be interviewed like crazy. Look for CSC to try to get time bonuses or some other crazy moves with the CSC power zombies who live on pain. This Tour is far from over.

Ahh, the Vuelta is sometimes the place of redemption. A cyclist having a bad year can go to the last Grand Tour and make a season positive. Denis Menchov is trying to help Rabobank forget about Micheal Rasmussen and Roberto Heras. Menchov looks like he is bulding a healthy lead in the Vuelta and could win it and savor his podium unlike a few years ago when he received the Amarillo jersey after Heras lost it due to doping.

Now, the best part of cycling is also back. Carlos Sastre is not too happy with the cozy situation between Denis Menchov and little Italian climber leonardo Piepoli. The two used to be teammates on the Banesto team. It seems like they are still wearing the same jersey by the way they worked together in the tough mountain stage. Carlos Sastre is PO’d and is speaking out.

Sastre even pulled a “Lance” type move by acting as if he was in trouble to see what Piepoli and Menchov would do.

“I played a little theater today to see if what I was thinking was true,” Sastre continued. “Piepoli straight away attacked the group. That proves that alliances are at work here.”

Piepoli, who finished seventh in the eight-up sprint won by Menchov, calmly denied he was blatantly working for Menchov.

“The comments by Sastre are overblown and came at the heat of the moment after finishing the stage,” Piepoli said. “All I did was ride my own race. I was the only rider who attacked up until 4km from the finish.”

Piepoli’s tactics could be mistaken as working for Menchov. However, look at Piepoli’s riding style and his performance at the Giro. The man wins climbing stages because he is a climber. He won the stage and the only way he could do it was to keep a high pace and keep everyone from attacking. It seems that Piepoli’s tactics meshed well with Menchov’s but that is simply fortunate for Menchov. Piepoli is always at the front going for stage wins, what else would he do?

Cycling is getting fun again, it is refreshing to talk about team tactics and polemics rather than lost sponsorships and positive dope tests.

Velonews article