96th Tour de France - Stage 16 Report  & Team Reactions
A bold attack out of the break won the day; as the continuing battle of the favorites raged on in the Alps.  Stage 16 report and team and rider reactions...

Stage 16
Martigny - Bourg St Maurice 159km

Astana sent a clear challenge to the peloton in the last week, Attack or we will take yellow to Paris.With this attitude of "Bring the racing to us", Saxo Bank, Cervelo, Silence-Lotto, Garmin, and other teams geared up for another decisive day in the Alps on the tri-border of France, Italy, and Switzerland.

The hors categorie Col du Grand-Saint-Bernard gave a "warm" welcome to the riders to begin the stage. Breaks started flying off meters into the race, but were kept to a minimum advantage. A large break of 18 riders formed, with KOM leader Franco Pellizotti being the most significant member.

Katusha's Vladimir Karpets climbs the Petit Saint Bernard with the break.
Photo © 2009 Fotoreporter Sirotti

Vladimir Karpets placed the biggest threat in the GC, 20th and 5:56 off of Contador's pace. Pellizotti padded his lead in the King of the Mountains competition by finishing first in both of today's climbs. Mikel Astarloza boldly bridged the gap of the breakaway to join after crossing the first mountain.

The GC racing began when the peloton reached the final climb, the Cat. one Col du Petit-Saint-Bernard (the little Saint Bernard for those interested in French). With the top riders all in one pack, Andy Schleck once again put his foot on the gas. Contador was able to keep pace, but the action shedd-ed Lance Armstrong, Cadel Evans, and a fast fading Carlos Sastre who couldn't respond to the explosive attack.

What happened next could only be explained as an episode on the History Channel. Armstrong stormed off the front of his chase group, only Kim Kirchen followed him. Within a few minutes, he had rejoined Contador's group. It appears to me that Lance did not want to follow Contador up the road, and tow Evans and Sastre with him.

Astarloza joined Franco Pellizotti as the Liquigas continued on track to lock up the point to hold on to the polka dot jersey in Paris. Photo © 2009 Fotoreporter Sirotti

When Lance  was ready he launched a blistering attack none could follow and joined his team leader. With this blowing the result for Saxo Bank, they stepped off the pace and dropped riders rejoined the group for the descent.

The most dangerous part of the day was the final descent. Jens Voigt took a terrifying fall, that almost seemed deadly. Word out of the Saxo Bank camp has Voigt recovering in a Grenoble hospital with a fractured cheek and a bad concussion. Thankfully to him and his many fans around the world his injuries are not life threatening.

Two bold moves proved successful for Mikel Astarloza for the victory.
Photo © 2009 Fotoreporter Sirotti

Mikel Astarloza survived the descent, attacking the break in the final 2.5 kilometers to ride to a memorable solo victory. The scene at the finish reminded me why I love the Tour so much. Astarloza raised his arms in victory, and pumped them while screaming with joy. He could not believe he had achieved his dream of winning a stage for the first time. Euskaltel will be delighted with his performance and accomplishing a "Must do" target at the 2009 tour of winning a stage.

Tomorrow morning's stage can only be classified with one word: hell.Four Cat. one climbs will grace the riders, including the Cormet de Roselend, Col de Romme, and Col de Colombiere. It's 169.5 kilometers in length, but will feel like 1,600 km by the end of the day. With a time trial looming on Thursday, expect Saxo Bank and Silence-Lotto lining up the attacks on Contador and his strong Astana team.

Follow tomorrow's action with the DP's live tickers, until then,

Vive le Tour!

Team Comments Stage 16
Caisse d'Epargne's Rigoberto Uran
Rigoberto Uran, who finished the 15th of stage 16 of the Tour de France today; he climbed the final climb of the day, the “Petit-Saint-Bernard” together with the best riders.

"The idea this morning was to go with the breakaway to win a second victory for the team Caisse d’Epargne but it was not possible. I felt very well with good sensations already in the first climb and then better and better as the kilometers passed, which gave me the ability to go with best till the top of the second climb and with them to the finish. "

"Yesterday was perfect to rest my legs and my head. I will keep on looking for a stage win because there are still some good possibilities to do it. But the most important thing for me is the experience of my first Tour. I am learning a lot of things and the most important is that I am feeling really good during the third week which mean that I recover very well."
 

 Lampre - NGC Simon Spilak
 This time no riders of Lampre-NGCgot in the breaks. However, Loosli and Spilak rode a strong stage following the best riders pace until Piccolo San Bernardo. The two riders finished with a group of 28 at 3:55.

Fabrizio Bontempi
"Spilak and Loosli showed that they could follow the pace of the head of the race until the battle among the top riders began; Spilak tried to rejoin the group of Contador, but then he had to keep his own pace."

Cervélo TestTeam
Jose Angel Gomez Marchante in winning breakaway - Sastre Moves Up
Marchante crashed on the day's final descent and then waited to help team captain Carlos Sastre. Cervélo's Sastre was able to stay with the top favorites and climbed from 11th to ninth overall.

Cervélo TestTeam sport director Alex Sans Vega
"The stage was very fast from the beginning, with two of the longest climbs we've seen so far in this Tour. As expected, a break went early and we wanted to have a rider present. Astana controlled the stage and then Saxo Bank started to attack on the last climb. Carlos was able to ride at his own pace and stay with the top favorites. I am sure that the riders will notice the pain in their legs tomorrow."

Cervélo initially had three riders into the break, with Heinrich Haussler and Hayden Roulston in the opening kilometers of the grinding 40.5 km climb up the Col du Grand-Saint-Bernard to open the stage  Marchante was able to follow the pace up the long climb, but he crashed on the final climb to lose his options for the stage victory.

"We had three riders in the breakaway early and when the later attacks came, Marchante was able to go with the main moves, so that was good for the team. Carlos was able to follow the favorites and we could expect that later if he did not have any problems, Marchante had the freedom to go for the stage win," Sans Vega said. "Unfortunately, he had some bad luck and  he fell on the last descent. He wasn't seriously injured but he lost his options for victory."

In other team news, Thor Hushovd retained the green jersey as there were no major changes in the points standings. Once the breakaway pulled clear, Hushovd could ride conservatively over the grueling two climb stage. Hushovd holds his lead of 218-200 to rival Mark Cavendish with only five stages to go.

Thor Hushovd
"These mountain stages are not easy for us sprinters. It's good when a breakaway is off the front because then we don't have to worry about the intermediate sprints."

The 96th Tour continues Wednesday with the decisive, five-climb stage across the heart of the French Alps from Bourg-Saint-Maurice to Le Grand-Bornand. The 169.5km 17th stage tackles four first-category climbs, including the Col de la Colombière with 15km to go. It's all downhill before a slight rise to the line.

Alex Sans Vega on tomorrows stage...

"Tomorrow is the most difficult stage of the Tour. There are going to be a lot of attacks. We expect another break to go early, much like today's stage, without anyone of danger. The last two climbs will be the most important part of the stage and we can expect Saxo Bank to attack again," Sans Vega said. "Carlos will be vigilant and, depending on how he feels, will try to stay with the best and take advantage of the attacks of the others."

Peter Velits
"I didn't feel so well today," Peter Velits said after the stage, which brought the peloton back to France. "The second mountain was damned hard, I had to fight my way to the finish,"MILRAM's Slovak said.

 Christian Knees
Things went better for Christian,  "I felt very good and could ride my own tempo consistently. In the end I was able to join the group with Peter Velits."

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