Team Astana rider Alexandre Vinokourov, once favored to win the Tour, then written off after a damaging crash, then back in the hunt after a brilliant time trial win, then once again dropped after cracking and crashing in the mountains on Stage Fourteen, proved his riding ability by leading the field by almost a minute through the toughest mountain stage of the Tour, taking the Stage Fifteen win by almost a minute.
Stage Fifteen of the Tour de France is one of the toughest mountain stages of this year's race, offering many opportunities for the climbers to punish or drop some of the tour favorites. With a rest day following, riders could afford to dig a little deeper into their legs to gain pints and time in this stage.
Stage fifteen of the Tour de France contains five difficult climbs, two each Category One and Two, and one Out-of-Category climb. The seven-kilometer, eight percent Col de Menté is the steepest, the Out-of Category Port de Balès climb the longest at nineteen kilometers, rising to nearly 6000 of elevation. The stage finishes with the Col de Peyresourde, a seven-point-eight percent Category One climb that takes up ten of the final twelve kilometers.
The race started with hard sparring and multiple small attacks.
A group of twenty-five riders broke out after only five kilometers, and by mid-course had an eight-minute lead over the peloton.
Race leader Michael Rassmussen had five Rabobank teammates with him at the front of the peloton, giving him a great opportunity to defend the yellow jersey.
As the leaders approached the Port de Balès climb, Euskaltel-Euskadi rider Iñigo Landaluze led a small break of the front off the lead group. Astana's Sergei Ivanov, Bouygues's Johann Tschopp, Bernhard Kohl (Gerolsteiner) and David Arroyo (Caisse d'Epargne) stayed with Landaluze. Rabobank's Denis Menchov crossed the gap to the lead five with 50 km to go.
Vinokourov brought another group of four across the gap to the front five. Sergei Ivanov dropped back to pull Vinokourov across the gap, and was barely able to stay on his bike afterwards. The peloton was still eight minutes behind.
At the same time, Bouygues's Johann Tschopp broke off the front of the lead group, setting out on his own to t try to win the stage.
With 45 km to go Astana's Andrej Kashechkin decided to chase the leaders, opening the race for the yellow jersey. Rabobank's Michael Boogerd and Rasmussen reeled in Kashechkin slowly, saving their legs but also not allowing any contenders for the yellow jersey to break free.
The peloton was unable to hold together up the long climb, breaking up into bunches and singles, as more and more riders proved unable to match the pace set by Rabobank's Boogerd and Rasmussen in their pursuit of Kashechkin.
At the peak of the Port de Balès, riding through clouds at 2000 meters elevation, T-Mobile's Kim Kirchen passed Tschopp and began the descent.
With 32 km to go, the steep Col de Peyresourde and a fast and very technical descent still challenged the riders. At this point, Kirchen and Tschopp, joined by Caisse d'Epargne's Arroyo, opened a sizeable gap over the five riders behind them, which led another dozen or so, as the lead group fragmented.
At the approach to the final climb, the leaders had 25 seconds on the first chase group, which lead the peloton by six-and-a-half minutes. As the climb began, Kirchen and Arroyo dropped Tschopp. Vinokourov caught the leaders with 18 km to go. Vinokourav, who crashed very badly and was severely injured early in the Tour, crashed again yesterday, and is so far behind in time that he has no chance of winning the Tour overall. Despite that, he is pushing himself to win stages and demonstrate his ability.
With 15 km to go, Vinokourav broke free of the competition, attacking hard up the face of the Col de Peyresourde.
Meanwhile, back in the pack, Rabobank had two riders to support Rasmussen in his fight to protect his overall lead. Only a dozen-and-a-half riders remained in the chase group, but all the competitors for the overall Tour win were there.
At the peak of the Col, Vinokourov had a thirty-second lead over his nearest chase rider, Haimar Zubeldia of Euskaltel.
With 10 km to go, Contador attacked, almost escaping the field, but Rasmussen was finally able to chase him down. Discovery rider Alberto Contador attacked repeatedly, trying to lose Rasmussen, but he was not able to crack Rasmussen.
By the 5 km mark, it was clear that no one would be able to catch Vinokourov. Vinokourov rode flat out through the twists of the descent and charged up the final kilometer-and-a-half climb, not slowing at all; while he was out of the overall race
Kim Kirchen and Zubeldia were fifty-three seconds back at the one-kilometer mark, with the chase group 6:30 behind them. At the finish line, Kirchen won the sprint to take second.
Four minutes back, George Hincappie led teammate Contador and overall leader Rasmussen. As the group hit the final 1.5 km. climb, Contador again attacked, leaving Hincapie, but not able to lose Rasmussen. Contador kept the edge, however, and sprinted to the line just ahead of Rasmussen, taking tenth place and holding his place in the overall standings.
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