2006 Tour de France, Stage 12 to Stage 20

These are the profiles for the individual stages in the 2006 Tour de France, beginning with Stage 12 on July 14 and ending with Stage 20 on July 23. A positive test for epitestosterone by Floyd Landis after Stage 17, however, has left the results of the Tour de France in doubt, with the possibility that all of his records may be expunged, pending a hearing with the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

tages

tage 12, Friday, July 14: Luchon - Carcassonne, 212 km

Stage 12 started in the Luchon, which held big celebrations because this was the fiftieth time that the Tour de France visited the city. The stage end location was Carcassonne and in between those cities the course featured four categorized climbs:
*Col des Ares (Category 2 at 27.0 km/16.8 miles)
*Côte des Pujos (Category 4 at 47.5 km/29.5 miles)
*Côte du Pâl de Pailhes (Category 4 at 126.0 km/78.3 miles)
*Côte du Palmiers (Category 4 at 136.0 km/84.5 miles)

There were also two intermediate sprints in Caumont (at 76.0 km/47.2 miles) and Mirepoix (162.0 km/100.7 miles).

This being the first stage after the Pyrenees, many riders were hoping to get an easy day, sitting at the back of the peloton; however, there were also a lot of riders who had lost a lot of time during those mountain stages and who knew that they were not going to get a good position in the general standings. Those riders all tried to get into the escape group which led to everyone chasing everyone for the first 100 kilometers and an extremely fast pace which caused the first riders already passing the 46-kilometre mark after just one hour. As a result, 4 riders dropped from the race during the first hour; among those were Paolo Savoldelli and Benjamín Noval from Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team and the sprinter Isaac Gálvez. Another important fact for the large number of riders trying to escape was the fact that it was the 14th of July, in France known as Bastille Day. On this day the French are extra motivated as it is their national holiday, which shows in the results of the latest years with David Moncoutié winning in 2005 and Richard Virenque in 2004 on this day.

So a lot of changing situations during the first hours of this race, as there was always some team not happy with the current group of escapees. On the first climb of the day the first serious group formed, consisting of 15 riders:
*Michael Albasini, ITA, Liquigas-Bianchi,
*Daniele Bennati, ITA, Lampre-Fondital,
*Sylvain Chavanel, FRA, Cofidis, le Crédit par Téléphone,
*Damiano Cunego, ITA, Lampre-Fondital,
*Stéphane Goubert, FRA, Ag2r Prévoyance,
*Giuseppe Guerini, ITA, T-Mobile Team,
*George Hincapie, USA, Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team,
*Thor Hushovd, NOR, Crédit Agricole,
*David Millar, GBR, Saunier Duval-Prodir,
*David Moncoutié, FRA, Cofidis, le Crédit par Téléphone,
*Christian Moreni, ITA, Cofidis, le Crédit par Téléphone,
*Óscar Pereiro, ESP, Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears,
*Michael Rasmussen, DEN, Rabobank,
*Gorka Verdugo, ESP, Euskaltel-Euskadi and
*Jens Voigt, GER, Team CSC.

This group looked to be getting away from the peloton at first, but suddenly Davitamon-Lotto started working for Robbie McEwen as sprinters Bennati and Hushovd were in this group. They were working hard to keep the gap between the peloton and the group reasonable, but of course the leaders tried to stay ahead too. This led to the gap fluctuating between 45" and 1'15" for a very long time. From this group which formed after about 30 kilometres, six riders dropped as they waited for the peloton after 70 kilometres, knowing that they would not let the group go. Meanwhile Albasini, Bennati, Goubert, Guerini, Hincapie, Millar, Moncoutié, Verdugo and Voigt pushed on. Bennati then won the intermediate sprint and Davitamon-Lotto stopped working, but now the teams from Bouygues Télécom and Team Milram were trying to close the gap as they did not have any riders up front. Finally they succeeded at kilometre 94. As soon as the breakaway group was caught, a new group formed which now consisted of only four riders:
*Alessandro Ballan, ITA, Lampre-Fondital,
*Óscar Freire, ESP, Rabobank,
*Christophe Le Mével, FRA, Crédit Agricole and
*Yaroslav Popovych, UKR, Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team.

Robbie McEwen was not happy again with Óscar Freire among this group, but when he tried to start up the chase again, almost the whole peloton was mad at him as they had been now riding at a huge pace for over 100 kilometres, just one day after a heavy mountain stage. It took him a few kilometres to settle down and give in and so the group did get away. Phonak Hearing Systems was now maintaining a moderate pace just to keep the riders within a reasonable distance but without wasting too much energy. Most riders were happy to catch a break and at that time it was almost sure one of the 4 leaders was going to win the stage.

Looking at the leading group, it was reasonable to think that Ballan, Le Mével or Popovych was going to attack sooner or later, as Freire is a top-class sprinter and would probably beat them all if they went to the finish line together. Yaroslav Popovych was the first to attack and immediately the French got disappointed as Christophe Le Mével dropped and never managed to came back. Alessandro Ballan however closed the gap and brought Óscar Freire back in his wheel. It was then Freire's turn to attack, but again Ballan closed the gap and now brought back Popovych. Popovych and Freire both took turns in attacking but Ballan seemed to be the strongest as he closed the gap every time. However, after a while he was also getting tired and could not respond to yet another attack by Popovych. He did not get any help from Freire in closing the gap and so Popovych won the stage. Freire knew he did not deserve the second place and left it to Ballan; however, this could cost him the green jersey in the end. Le Mével finished as fourth and in the peloton it was Tom Boonen who convincingly won the sprint for the fifth place, 4'25" behind Popovych.

As a result of this stage Floyd Landis remains in yellow and Yaroslav Popovych just moved into the top 10 at place 10. Robbie McEwen still holds a considerable lead of 25 points over Óscar Freire in the standings for the green jersey but sees Freire come 11 points closer, Daniele Bennati 3 points and Tom Boonen 1 point. Michael Rasmussen scored 12 points today for the polka dot jersey, but is still 19 points behind David de la Fuente. Markus Fothen stays the best rider under 23 and also in the team standings nothing changes, T-Mobile Team keeps a small lead over Team Gerolsteiner. Next to the earlier mentioned quitters, today Agritubel also loses two riders who give up: José Alberto Martínez and Samuel Plouhinec. Daniele Bennati, who was not amongst the escaped riders but was almost constantly in the offense during the first 100 kilometres, received the combativity trophy for the day.

;Stage 12 Result

;General Classification after Stage 13

Rest Day, Monday, July 17

tage 15, Tuesday, July 18: Gap - L'Alpe-d'Huez, 187 km

This was a mountain stage with three categorized climbs: the Col d'Izoard (Highest Level) with an ascent of 7% over 14.5 km, the Col du Lautaret (Category 2) with an ascent of 4.4% over 12.1 km and L'Alpe d'Huez (Highest Level) with an ascent of 7.9% over 13.8 km. It started at Gap at 785 m and ended at L'Alpe-d'Huez at 1850 m.

L'Alpe d'Huez is one of the famous climbs that often figures on the Tour de France. Although Fränk Schleck from Luxembourg won the stage, American Floyd Landis' fourth-place finish was enough to regain the yellow jersey.

; Stage 15 result

;General Classification after Stage 16

tage 18, Friday, July 21: Morzine - Mâcon, 197 km

This stage had three categorized climbs: the Côte de Châtillon-en-Michaille (Category 3) with an ascent of 3.7% over 51. km, the Col du Berthiand (Category 2) with an ascent of 6% over 4.7 km, and the Côte de Chambod (Category 4) with an ascent of 6.4 over 1.9 km. It started at Morzine and ended at Mâcon.

The Italian Matteo Tosatto gave the Quick Step-Innergetic team their first stage victory, after team leader Tom Boonen dropped out of the Tour in the Alps. Tosatto's compatriot Cristian Moreni took second, while the yellow-jersey wearer Óscar Pereiro coasted along with American Floyd Landis on his tail.

; Stage 18 Result

General Classification after Stage 19

References

See also