“Nez de Marmande” wins in the gateway to the Pyrénées as he did in 2010 while the peloton shuts off again
Pierrick Fédrigo (FDJ-BigMat) put the disappointment of missing the previous year’s Tour de France behind him as he repeated his 2010 victory into Pau at the end of the 15th stage of the 2012 race. The “Nez de Marmande” - the Nose of Marmande - beat American Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Sharp) at the end of a short, fast stage, after the pair of them escaped from the rest of a six-man breakaway group on the outskirts of the city; taking the FDJ-BigMat’s second stage of the race, and France’s fourth. Stage 10 winner Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) outsprinted Nicki Sørensen (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank) to take third place, 16 seconds back.
After a frenetic first hour and half to the 158.5km stage, the break of the day finally escaped after 62km. With Fédrigo, Vande Velde and Voeckler were Samuel Dumoulin (Cofidis) and Dries Devenyns (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), and they were joined after 82km by Sørensen after a long solo chase - which involved his team intimidating the five leaders by threatening to chase them down if they didn’t wait for him - and the six riders continued to build their lead right to the finish line.
"There are days like this, when one feels that something will happen,” said Fédrigo afterwards. “And the closer it got, the more motivated I got. When we found ourselves up front with strong riders like Vande Velde and Sorensen, a cunning man like Voeckler, and a fast sprinter like Dumoulin, it is complicated to create a strategy. Sometimes I have to wait a bit to decide how to manage it all.
“This time I launched the last attack with five kilometres to go,” he added. “I was going on feel, and I thought it was the right time. And then we had to hang on to our advantage and I bet everything on the sprint.
“Each stage that I have won offers something special,” he explained. “The first is always moving. The second was in Tarbes, a few miles from my house, which obviously makes it memorable. The third was the Queen Stage of the Pyrenees in 2010, with the Tourmalet, the Aubisque, Aspin and Soulor mountain passes – they are beautiful places for me as I'm from this region. And this is the victory of a comeback after a year of illness, and that means a lot.
“What I had last year, was more difficult to cope with than riding the Tour de France. Of course we know the painful moments of the race, but [Lyme] disease has taught me to suffer differently.”
Fédrigo’s triumph was FDJ-BigMat’s second stage victory of the race, but the French team continues to have ambition into the final week.
“There were 198 riders in the Tour, and there are 21 stages and there isn't something for everyone – and even less for riders like me,” said Fédrigo. “So when you get to win on this kind of stage, when we have targeted it, the satisfaction is even greater. The team started winning with Thibaut Pinot in the first week, and that took some pressure off me. Now we still have to defend his 10th place overall, and why not to take him a little higher. So I will continue to stand beside him to help.”
Having raced so hard in the first two-fifths of the stage, the peloton shut down once the break had been established, with the Sky team of Maillot Jaune Bradley Wiggins evidently keen on having an easy day as possible. André Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) won the peloton sprint for seventh place, 11’50” behind Fédrigo.
After a quiet day for the general classification riders, there were no changes overall and Wiggins held onto his 2’05” lead over teammate Froome, and 2’23” over Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale), as the race headed into its second rest day.
As short, “easy” one before the rest day but everybody wants to get to Pau first
Having taken its first taste of the Pyrénées, the peloton was treated to a short, more restful stage between Samatan and Pau, the third most-visited city in the Tour’s history, behind Paris and Bordeaux. On paper, stage 15 looked like one for the sprinters but, with two 4th and one 3rd category climbs - and numerous unclassified bumps - inside the final 52km, it was anything but a simple run in to the finish. Whether the stage finished in a breakaway or sprint would largely depend on the will and strength of the sprinters’ teams, and how easily the peloton wanted to take things, on this short pre-rest day stage.
There was a massive flurry of attacks in the first hour, which was kicked off by a three-man move from Arthur Vichot (FDJ-BigMat), Daniel Oss (Liquigas-Cannondale) and Dries Devenyns (Omega Pharma-Quick Step). Numerous groups managed to get a few seconds clear, one of which included Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) and Fränk Schleck (RadioShack-Nissan), but the peloton was all back together after 31km.
At this point the five-man group of David Millar (Garmin-Sharp), Yukiya Arashiro (Europcar), Andriy Grivko (Astana), Bert Grabsch (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) and Rui Costa (Movistar) got clear; they quickly opened up a 30-second lead, but this was cut to less than 20 as there were repeated attempts from riders in the peloton to bridge. The considerable time trialling power of the five up front was holding them there for several kilometres, but they were still only hovering 10-20 seconds ahead, as more and more groups of riders tried to get across.
The peloton had covered 46.1km in the first hour, but there was still no respite from the counterattacks, despite theatrical requests for “time-out” from Team Sky’s Edvald Boasson Hagen and Bernhard Eisel.
After 57km some riders - including Vinokourov - finally managed to make the junction, but the group was now just a few seconds clear and it was all closed down by the peloton shortly afterwards.
As the peloton eased up, Vande Velde, Voeckler, Fédrigo, Dumoulin and Devenyns - who had been in the very first move of the day - pulled clear with comparative ease, and the break of the day was finally formed at the 62km point. With the gap at just 45 seconds Nicki Sørensen (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank) tried to get across to the group; the former Danish champion dangled at around 30 seconds behind for several kilometres.
Sørensen can’t bridge the gap so his team lends a and from behind
After 77km the five-man group was 6’18” clear, but Sørensen was still 32 seconds behind, but his Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank team came to his aid by suddenly hitting the front and beginning pegging the leaders back. Knowing that the choice was to allow the Dane to catch up or risk capture by his team, the five leaders slowed a little and he was with them at the 82km point. Once their teammate had made it to the front, the Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank riders pulled away from the head of the peloton and the gap began to grow again.
With 75km to go the sextet’s lead reached 6’35”, but this began to gradually fall as Team Sky set a steady tempo at the head of the peloton. As they rolled through the feedzone, in Marciac with 69km to go, the gap was down to 5’25”, but it began to grow a little as the riders in the peloton sorted out their mussettes.
Sørensen rolled over the line at the intermediate sprint, in Maubourguet with 57km to go, as he was the rider in front at the time. Lotto-Belisol had positioned itself on the front of the peloton as it approached, but green jersey Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) was pulled forward by teammate Daniel Oss, and the Slovakian champion took the line unopposed. The gap was now down to 5’20”, and was still falling.
Voeckler led the break over the top of the 4th category Côte de Lahitte-Toupière and, with Team Sky in no hurry on the short climb, the gap had opened up to 6’33”. The British team had no interest in chasing the fugitives and, with nobody else taking responsibility, the gap passed eight minutes with 42km to go.
Voeckler also took maximum points over the Côte de Simacourbe, further securing his fourth place in the polka-dot jersey classification, and the Frenchman had also taken the 4th category Côte de Monassut-Audiracq, before the peloton had reached the top.
With 29.5km to go, the peloton was more than ten minutes behind and, with no further categorised obstacles on the road to Pau, there was no way that the six-man group would be caught. Finally, Team Sky began to lift the temp slightly, and the gap stabilised at 11’30” as the leaders entered the final 20km.
The finish line is in sight and the group’s cooperation evaporates
With 10.3km to go Sørensen put in the first attack, but Voeckler quickly led the others across to the Danish rider before he could get far. Following a corner with 8.5km to go though, Sørensen tried again, but it was Dumoulin that closed the gap this time. The Cofidis rider was undoubtedly the best sprinter of the six, and the others were keen to make him work as much as possible.
Fédrigo put in a big jump with 6.6km, and only Vande Velde reacted quickly enough to follow as the others looked at one another. The two escapees began to work together and, as they passed under the five kilometre banner, they had ten seconds on the others, who couldn’t organise themselves.
Voeckler jumped away from them and tried to close the gap alone but, as he was chased down, the pace went out of his effort. Devenyns tried next, then Sørensen with Voeckler, but the gap was getting bigger as the two leaders had just two and a half left.
At the two kilometre banner Fédrigo and Vande Velde were 23 seconds clear of Voeckler and Sørensen, with Devenyns dropping Dumoulin behind them.
Under the flamme rouge the duo was still together, but Voeckler and Sørensen had closed the gap to 15 seconds. Fédrigo led around the final corner and entered the finishing straight against the righthand barrier; forcing any move from Vande Velde to come over his left shoulder.
Vande Velde kicked, but Fédrigo saw him and opened up his sprint, and the American couldn’t compete with the French rider’s pace. The “Nez de Marmande” raised both arms wide as he hit the line, to repeat his Pau victory of two years before.
As the peloton entered Pau, Team Sky’s Mark Cavendish was the one leading the way, indicating that World champion would not be joining the sprint for second place. Sure enough, the Lotto-Belisol team took over in the final kilometres, leading Greipel to the line.
The German launched his sprint as Farrar started first from behind him, and managed to hold off the attentions of the rest, including Sagan, to lead the peloton over.