Just as his former teammate Pierrick Fédrigo had done into Pau on the previous stage, Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) repeated his 2010 victory into Bagnères-de-Luchon to take a second stage win in the 2012 Tour de France. The former French champion escaped from compatriot Brice Feillu (Saur-Sojasun) in the final five kilometres of the Col du Peyresourde, and managed to hold off the attentions of Chris Anker Sørensen (Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank) to take the Queen Stage of the race by a margin of 1’40”.
Gorka Izagirre (Euskaltel-Euskadi) beat Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) in the sprint for third, 3’22” back, after the Kazakh pulled his foot out of his pedal on the approach for the line, but the big story of the day was unfolding behind them as third place overall Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale) went on the attack.
Having allowed the Sky team of race leader Bradley Wiggins to control the race for most of the day, Nibali put teammate Ivan Basso to work on the last two climbs of the day - the Cols d’Aspin and du Peyresourde - in an effort to put Wiggins and teammate Chris Froome under pressure. Both managed to stay with the Italian’s subsequent attacks on the Peyresourde, but they managed to distance the rest of their overall rivals.
Defending champion Cadel Evans (BMC Racing), who started the day in fourth overall, was the biggest casualty of the day. The Australian was dropped on the Aspin, and again on the Peyresourde, and conceded almost five minutes to Wiggins, Froome and Nibali at the finish.
“This morning at the start, considering the number of mountains that were spread across the stage, I couldn't really claim that I was the best rider to go and hunt the polka-dot jersey,” Voeckler said afterwards. “There were at least a dozen riders who were in a similar position. Then, once the escape of 38 riders was established, I really felt I had good legs. But anyway, I approached this stage as if there were four races, one to the top of each of the climbs.
“I said we had to increase the pace on the climb of the Tourmalet, because the gap to the peloton was not significant enough,” he explained. “I worked with [teammate] Yukiya [Arashiro], who already accompanied me during my victory on the day I won at Bellegarde-en-Valserine. And then, when I was with Feillu, and only 30 seconds ahead of Sørensen and Vinokourov, I attacked because it was not sure of myself if I reached the top with them nearby; but once I crested the Peyresourde with a lead of a minute and a half, I could begin to appreciate what had been achieved already. I'm a good on descents so the stage victory then became a priority.
“I am very proud of what I did, because it resembles what I saw on TV when I was a kid,” he added. “I'm in another dimension. It's cycling as I like to practice it. Now my priority is to defend the polka-dot jersey. And normally, my Tour will effectively be over once we finish the stage tomorrow!”
Voeckler, Feillu, Izagirre and Vinokourov had been part of a 38-man breakaway group, which escaped in the opening 20km of the stage, and led over the first climb of the Col d’Aubisque. The two Frenchmen escaped the rest on the Col du Tourmalet, and managed to hold off the groups of chasers behind them over the top, and over the Aspin that followed, with Voeckler taking enough points to secure the polka-dot mountains jersey. With Feillu tiring however, Voeckler attacked on the Peyresourde, and took the top alone; descending to the finish, the Frenchman was able to enjoy the cheers of the crowd as he took the victory.
The remains of the break trickled over the line in the minutes that followed, with Nibali outsprinting Wiggins and Froome after 7’09”; 58 seconds ahead of the next group, which contained Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Lotto-Belisol), Haimar Zubeldia (RadioShack-Nissan) and Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing).
The classic Pyrénéen stage sees the biggest escape group of the race
For many, the route between Pau and ‘Luchon is the classic Pyrénéen stage; taking in the four climbs of the Cols d’Aubisque, du Tourmalet, d’Aspin and de Peyresourde, in what has become known as the “Circle of Death”. The first of two big stages in the southern mountain range, stage 16 offered the rivals of Maillot Jaune Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) the opportunity to attack. They would need to take it.
The top of the Peyresourde would come at 15.5km to go, but it would be downhill all the way to the finish, and time gained over the top might well be held all the way to the bottom.
After a number of opening attacks, a 38-man breakaway group escaped after 20km. Included in the group were polka-dot mountains jersey Frederik Kessiakoff (Astana), and his main challenger Thomas Voeckler (Europcar), as well as FDJ-BigMat stage winner Pierrick Fédrigo, and Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana). The best-placed of the break was Egoi Martinez (Euskaltel-Euskadi), who was just 18’04” behind Wiggins in 18th place, but 19th and 20th places were also present in the shape of Rui Costa (Movistar) at 19’02”, and Sørensen at 20’12”.
Team Sky was quite happy with the group’s composition though, despite it containing just under a quarter of the 115-strong peloton, and allowed it to gradually pull away as the Col d’Aubisque approached. Voeckler beat Kessiakoff over the top, after 53.5km, and the peloton followed the group over the top 3’40” later.
Through the feedzone, in Adast after 87km, the gap to the leaders was up to 5’40”, which continued to grow slowly as the climb to the Tourmalet began. Some of the less able climbers in the group began to be dropped, but sprinter Danilo Hondo (Lampre-ISD) attacked.
Voeckler and Feillu escape in search of polka-dots and glory
Dan Martin (Garmin-Sharp) increased the pace, but it was Voeckler and Feillu that led over the top however, 1’08” ahead of the Irishman, with Kessiakoff and teammate Vonokourov, Sørensen, Laurens Ten Dam (Rabobank), Jens Voigt (RadioShack-Nissan), George Hincapie (BMC Racing) and Simone Stortoni (Lampre-ISD) following after 1’30”.
Team Sky was still leading the peloton behind them, shedding a large number of riders, but was 10’10” behind as they rolled over the top of the climb.
A fast descent saw Voeckler and Feillu arrive at the foot of the Aspin, with 59.5km to go, with their lead over the chase group increased to 1’50”, with Martin in between. The Irishman was joined by Sørensen, Ten Dam, Vinokourov, Hincapie and Voigt, but Voeckler and Feillu were pulling away once more.
With Kessiakoff dropped he would be unlikely to score any points at the top of the climb, which meant that Voeckler was closing in on the polka-dot jersey. Sørensen and Voigt left the rest of the chase group behind though, and began to try to close in on the leaders.
With the peloton more than ten and a half minutes behind, Liquigas-Cannondale took over on the front and began to lift the pace. Several riders were dropped immediately, as Nibali’s team tried to put pressure on Wiggins’ Team Sky.
Voeckler led over the top, with 46.5km to go, and Vinokourov led Sørensen and Voigt 1’10” behind them. Izagirre soon caught the trio on the descent, but the two leaders were still pulling away.
Cadel Evans’ podium hopes dashed by a two-time Giro winner
Ivan Basso was leading the peloton for Liquigas-Cannondale, with Nibali on his wheel, but Wiggins still had Chris Froome, Richie Porte and Michael Rogers with him. The pace set by the two-time Giro d’Italia winner put defending champion Evans - one of Nibali’s big rivals for the podium - into trouble however, with the Australian unable to match the pace.
The peloton was just 9’15” back as Basso led Nibali over the top, with Evans 46 seconds behind. Up ahead, Feillu and Voeckler had arrived at the bottom of the descent and were approaching the foot of the Peyresourde, and were now 1’17” ahead of the four-man chase group. Vinokourov and Sørensen soon accelerated, initially dropping Voigt and Izagirre, and the four began to inch their way up to the two leaders.
As the peloton arrived at the foot of the climb Lotto-Belisol hit the front, with Jelle Vanendert setting the pace; Evans was still 45 seconds behind, and Van Den Broeck was looking to overtake the Australian. Evans had three teammates with him however, and managed to rejoin before the climb began.
As Voeckler and Feillu began the climb, with 25km to go, they still had almost a minute’s lead over the four chasers. The next group - of Ten Dam, Hincapie, Martin and Stortoni - was another minute and a half behind, while the gap to the peloton was down to 8’40”.
Vinokourov and Sørensen forged ahead of Voigt and Izagirre again, and were gradually pulling back the two leaders as the climb went on. With 6.5km still to climb however - knowing that they were being hunted down - Voeckler jumped away from Feillu and set off alone.
Team Sky was back in control of the peloton as it arrived on the climb, with Rogers leading Porte, Froome and Wiggins. Izagirre meanwhile, managed to climb back up to Vinokourov and Sørensen, and they soon caught Feillu; with 20km to go, and with 4.5km to climb the four-man group were 45 seconds behind .
Vanendert moved to the front of the peloton again, and quickly thinned out the peloton. Basso then took over, which dropped Evans once more, but Porte and Froome were still there to look after Wiggins.
Voeckler accelerated again, at the head of the race, as Sørensen dropped the chase group behind him. The Frenchman was a minute ahead of the Danish rider, and was still increasing the lead, with the rest of the chasers dropping further back.
Voeckler soloes as Nibali attacks but Froome and Wiggins respond
Shortly afterwards Nibali attacked, forcing Froome to chase him, and the Team Sky rider pulled Wiggins across the gap. The two Team Sky riders soon joined the Italian, and Froome took up station on the front to keep the rest of their rivals at bay.
Voeckler crested the top of the climb, taking the lead in the mountains classification, and set about the 15.5km descent to the finish. Sørensen followed him over 1’28” later, with Vinokourov leading Izagirre over 2’45” back, and Feillu at 3’25”.
Behind them on the climb, as Froome led the three-man yellow jersey group, but on the steepest final kilometre, Nibali jumped again, forcing Wiggins himself to close the gap. The three of them were together over the top, 7’45” behind Voeckler, and the group containing Van Den Broeck, Zubeldia and white jersey van Garderen was a further 50 seconds back.
With 5km to go Voeckler had increased his lead to 1’50” and, as he entered the finishing town he began to milked the applause of the crowd; shaking hands with team manager Jean-René Bernadeau as he approached the finish. He sat up for most of the final kilometre and - blowing kisses to the adoring French crowd - took his second straight victory in the historic spa town. Sørensen followed 1’40” later, with Izagirre beating a frustrated Vinokourov to third after 3’22”.
As the yellow jersey group came into the finish, Nibali tried to escape the two Sky riders, but was unable to shake them off and the three of them finished in the same time.