A WEEK-and-a-half after the start in Rotterdam, the RadioShack team finally had something to smile about in this year’s Tour de France when the Portuguese rider Sergio Paulinho won the 10th leg of the race.
He was part of a breakaway group that formed 36km into the mountainous 179km stage, then later pushed forward with Vasili Kiryienka (Caisse d’Epargne) and outsprinted him to the line in Gap.
The team had entered the race with strong hopes of winning, but a combination of misfortune and a lack of top form has seen the general classification contenders Lance Armstrong, Levi Leipheimer and Andreas Klöden all lose significant time.
Race leader Andy Schleck (Saxo Bank) and last year’s champion Alberto Contador (Astana) are over two minutes clear of the other contenders and look set to battle for yellow all the way to Paris.
Leipheimer is best of the RadioShack riders in sixth, and is a full four minutes behind.
Wearied after two tougher stages in the Alps, it was a quiet day for the race favourites yesterday. However, one who showed real aggression was Nicolas Roche. He blasted clear of the peloton on the day’s final climb and crested the summit well clear, then continued to build his advantage on the remaining downhill and flat roads.
Grimacing with the effort of chasing every possible second, he took an excellent seventh place on the stage.
More importantly, he finished one minute and 21 seconds ahead of the bunch and jumped from 17th to 13th in the overall standings.
“It was a long, tiring day in the bunch and I decided to just give it a shot,” he said yesterday evening. “I had expected a break to go clear and the bunch to let them go, and with a dangerous descent to the finish I thought it might be worth trying something with 15km to go.
“Normally I love to attack and have had to hold back during this Tour (to save energy for the mountains), so it felt great to do what I did today.”
He moved ahead of Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana), Michael Rogers (HTC Columbia), Carlos Sastre (Cervélo Test Team) and Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) with his effort, and is now six minutes and 23 seconds behind Schleck.
The fatigue of the previous nine stages meant that the peloton relaxed a little, allowing Paulinho, Kiryienka, Dries Devenyns (Quick Step), Pierre Rolland (Bbox Bouygues Telecom), Mario Aerts (Omega Pharma-Lotto) and Roche’s team-mate Maxime Bouet to gain a substantial advantage.
Paulinho was delighted to hold off his rival in the final sprint and put an end to Team RadioShack’s anti-climatic showing in the Tour.
“In the last 10km, Mario Aerts was willing to try to attack. After he was caught, another Belgian attacked and when we got [Dries] Devenyns back, I decided to try as well.
“In the finale it was just between myself and Vasili Kiryienka,” he said.
“It was a close sprint but the most important thing is to win and so this moment, for me and my team, is a good one. I hope that in the coming days the team can achieve a few more victories.”
Race leader Andy Schleck enjoyed his first day in the maillot jaune and said that he planned to take it as steady as was possible.
“It was not a day for me to do anything, even if it was quite up and down. I was lucky because I had bad legs from yesterday and so did all the others who actually rode really hard.”
Today’s stage to Bourg les Valence is far flatter and will most likely be settled in a bunch sprint. However, tomorrow’s uphill finish at Mende will be very important, and Roche will psyche himself up to do well there.
“I did the climb in Paris-Nice this year and it’s very hard,” he stated. “I hope that it goes well for me.”
STAGE 10 DETAILS
179km, Chambery to Gap
1. S Paulinho (Por) RadioShack 5:10:56
2. V Kiryienka (Bel) Caisse ”
3. D Devenyns (Bel) Quick-Step +1:29
4. P Rolland (Fra) Bbox ”
5. M Aerts (Bel) Omega +1:33
6. M Bouet (Fra) AG2R +3:20
7. Nicolas Roche (Ire) AG2R +12:58
8. R Pauriol (Fra) Cofidis +13:57
9. M Cavendish (Brit) HTC +14:19
10. A Petacchi (Ita) Lampre ”
11. T Hushovd (Nor) Cervelo ”
12. R McEwen (Aus) Katusha ”
13. L Mondory (Fra) AG2R ”
14. S Turgot (Fra) Bbox ”
15. JJ Rojas (Spa) Caisse ”
GENERAL CLASSIFICATION
1. A Schleck (Lux) Saxo Bank 49:00:56
2. A Contador (Spa) Astana +41
3. S Sanchez (Spa) Euskaltel +2:45
4. D Menchov (Rus) Rabobank +2:58
5. J Van den Broeck (Bel) Omega +3:31
6. L Leipheimer (US) RadioShack +3:59
7. R Gesink (Neth) Rabobank +4:22
8. LL Sanchez (Spa) Caisse +4:41
9. J Rodriguez (Spa) Katusha +5:08
10. I Basso (Ita) Liquigas +5:09
11. R Kreuziger (Cze) Liquigas +5:11
12. R Hesjedal (Can) Garmin +5:42
13. Nicolas Roche (Ire) AG2R +6:23
14. A Vinokourov (Kaz) Astana +6:31
15. M Rogers (Aus) HTC +7:04
16. C Sastre (Spa) Cervelo +7:13
17. B Wiggins (Brit) Sky +7:18
18. C Evans (Aus) BMC +7:47
19. T Lofkvist (Swe) Sky +8:03
20. A Kloeden (Ger) RadioShack +9:05
KING OF THE MOUNTAINS
1. J Pineau (Fra) Quick-Step 91pts
2. A Charteau (Fra) Bbox 90
3. C Moreau (Fra) Caisse 62
4. M Aerts (Bel) Omega 58
SPRINTERS
1. T Hushovd (Nor) Cervelo 138pts
2. A Petacchi (Ita) Lampre 131
3. R McEwen (Aus) Katusha 116
4. JJ Rojas (Spa) Caisse 98
