Astarloza snatches Alps stage win as contenders wind up the pace

Mikel Astarloza, Tour de France 2009, stage 16

published 21 July 2009

Tour de France stage16 photo gallery by Graham Watson>>

Mikel Astarloza gave his Euskaltel-Euskadi squad a badly needed win the Tour de France by attacking solo to take the win in Bourg-Saint-Maurice on Tuesday.

It's hard to eat in to a lead when the rider's you're chasing are hitting 70kph and more, but the gap was slowly coming down as Roche desperately wanted a improve on his second place in Besançon. Astarloza had help from Jurgen Van den Broeck (Silence-Lotto) and King of the Mountains leader Franco Pellizotti (Liquigas), although the Italian's work was done after he gained yet more points in his bid to win the polka dot jersey.

Frank Schleck then attacked but these six riders were sticking together like glue, there was nothing between them. Wiggins became the man to gain the most. Before the stage start he was sitting just nine seconds behind seven-time winner Lance Armstrong and for several kilometres was riding himself in second place on GC. It was another amazing piece of riding from the Brit whose performances are showing no signs of tailing off.

Pellizotti and Karpets were caught just before they hit the Col du Petit Saint Bernard after they'd taken their foot off the gas, but it didn't take long for the attacks to start and for that group of 18 to split once again. Laurent Lefevre (BBox Bouygues Telecom) was the first to attack as small groups formed and settled in to their pace for the 22.6km climb that took the riders back in to France.

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Astarloza snatches Alps stage win as contenders wind up the pace

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