Menchov wins, Landis leads
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ByEurosport
Published 13/07/2006 at 15:18 GMT
With Americans Levi Leipheimer and Floyd Landis in his wheel, Vuelta winner Denis Menchov struck a blow to the trio's main rivals with victory at the summit finish of Stage 11 of the Tour de France in the Pyrenees on Thursday. Phonak's Landis took the yel
CYCLING 2006 Paris-Nice Phonak Saint-Etienne > Rasteau Landis
Image credit: dpa
Landis, the winner of Paris-Nice, now leads Dessel (AG2R) by eight seconds in the GC, while Rabobank's Menchov moved into third overall at 1'01" behind Landis.
The top three finishers pulled away from a lead group that included fellow GC contenders Christophe Moreau (AG24), Carols Sastre (CSC), Andreas Klöden (T-Mobile), and Cadel Evans in the final assault on the 13-km-long Cat. 1 Pla-de-Beret climb.
Evans and Sastre finished fourth and fifth respectively, while Klöden, isolated from his T-Mobile team-mates, dropped to ninth place 1'31" behind the eventual winners. France's Moreau finished tenth at 2'29" behind Menchov.
Landis, who came into the Tour after a poor performance in the Dauphiné Libéré, said he felt like he was pulling most of the load in the lead group, but could not feel any better.
"I couldn't be happier," the American told Eurosport. "I didn't want to do all the work, but I didn't really have a choice. Cadel helped a lot, but unfortunately he was dropped at the end."
"I didn't expect it to go quite so well, but I'll take it."
Though he fought hard for the victory at the line after doing much of the work up front, Landis praised Menchov's victory.
"Menchov is strong obviously, and he was strong in the Dauphiné too."
Now Landis' Phonak team has the difficult task of protecting the yellow jersey with half of the race, including a week in the Alps, left to ride, a job Landis knows all too well from his days as a lieutenant for Lance Armstrong at US Postal.
The 30-year-old admitted that the yellow jersey can be both a burden and a boon.
"I would just as soon waited to get it, but you can't turn down the chance and race easy just to let someone else do the work."
Happy to keep up at Rabobank
In one of the most challenging mountain stages of the Tour, with four Cat. 1 climbs and the legendary HC Tourmalet, Menchov was simply happy to keep up with his GC rivals.
"The last few kilometers were hard because today's stage had a lot in it," Menchov said. "It was important for me to stay with Floyd Landis and (Carlos) Sastre, but I'm satisfied now."
"For me it's important to win the first big test of this Tour. Now I have more confidence and I've seen what riders are going well and I'm one of them."
Michael Boogerd, who was among those dropped in the final ascent and ultimately finished one minute and four seconds behind his Russian team-mate, called Menchov the race's new favourite.
"If he keeps riding like this, he is," the Dutchman told Eurosport at the finish line.
Rabobank kept three men in a lead group up through the final two climbs, but 2005 polka-dot jersey Michael Rasmussen was dropped in the final ascent.
"We were riding and we tried to be with as many people in the front as possible," Boogerd said. "T-Mobile was pulling and they blew themselves, and we were with three, and we thought it was so important to win this stage."
T-Mobile worked with a strong group at the peloton for much of the day, but left Klöden alone on the final ascent.
Asked about the other favourites, the 2004 runner-up said, "They were just stronger than me."
Being the closest to Landis of the main favourites, Menchov did not want to make any predictions, however.
"I was waiting almost two weeks for this day and it's good to be able to perform when it's important. We will see what happens in the coming days and I know that it's really hard in the last week so I don't want to say what I can do from here."
Discovery struggle, new polka-dot jersey, Mayo cooked
Lance Armstrong's former team had their worst day in the saddle yet, as Discovery could only manage to keep one rider, Jose Azevedo, in the lead group, and the Portuguese rider eventually crumbled on the final assault.
"Is not a good day for me and for the team," Azevedo said after finishing in the sixth group 4'10" behind Menchov.
It was a worse day for his team-mates, as Yaroslav Popovych lost 6'25" on Landis, and both George Hincapie and Paolo Savoldelli lost more than 20 minutes on their main rivals.
"George, Popo is not feeling so good," Azevedo said. "They tried to do their best, but it happens. Not every day is like what people want, but today is not a good day for Discovery."
It was another bad day for Euskaltel in Basque country, as team leader Iban Mayo did not make it to the thousands of screaming fans, many wearing Euskaltel orange, who were waiting at the top of the Pla-de-Beret.
The Spaniard was forced to abandon his race midway through after being dropped by the peloton on the opening Col du Tourmalet clilmb.
Mayo's compatriot David De la Fuente (Saunier Duval) had one of his nation's best day's at this year's Tour, however, finishing first atop three of five climbs including the HC Col du Tourmalet.
De La Fuente also claimed the polka-dot jersey for best climber when the stage finished in Spain.
Follow LIVE coverage of the Tour de France all the way to the last finish line on the Champs Elysees right here on www.eurosport.com.
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