Haussler Wins First Tour Stage by a Mile

Cervelo rider Heinrich Haussler attacked two kilometers from the start and was more than two kilometers ahead when he crossed the finish line in first place in Stage Thirteen of the 2009 Tour de France. This was Haussler’s first stage win in his third Tour.

Haussler rode with Sylvain Chavanel for much of the race, but dropped Chavanel on the final climb. Chavanel gave his all, but simply couldn’t match the pace, dropping back rapidly. He ended up in fourth.

Euskatekl-Euskadi rider Amets Txurruka, always good in the mountains, attacked on the final climb, crossing the gap to the leaders, passing Chavanel and taking second place.

Brice Feillu, who won Stage Seven, rode with Txurruka for most of the final 20 km, but dropped back when Txurruka attacked again just before the peak of the final climb. Feillu finished third.

The expected fight for the yellow jersey never materialized. A group of top-rank riders, led by Saxo Bank riders, attacked on the climb up the Plazterwasel, temporarily split the peloton, but the peloton slowed when none of the major GC contenders cracked.

Conditions couldn't have been much worse. The temperature was in the fifties, and rain was falling, soaking the riders and the road. 

 “It was crazy today from start to finish,” said Christian Vande Velde after the race. “Everyone was worried, scared of crashing … We went really hard. It was hard for everybody.”

Vande Velde said the high pace was one reason there were not more attacks. “I don’t think they could [attack]; we were going really hard. And everyone had rain jackets one—we weighed like 100 pounds out there.”

Stages like this are exceptionally draining, said Vande Velde. “It was freezing cold. I had two vests on, and a jacket … We had guys finishing a mountain stage with rain jackets on. It doesn’t happen often”

The yellow jersey remains with Rinaldo Nocentini, and probably will until the start of the French Alps on Sunday.

A Stage Made for Attacks

Stage Thirteen, 200 km from Vittel to Colmar, promised to shake up the field with its five categorized climbs, including the Category One Col du Platzerwasel, a long steep climb that offered great possibilities for attacks.

Twenty kilometers from the end, the Cat. Two Col du Firstplan gave riders one more opportunity to shake off pursuers and break for the finish. The final five kilometers were absolutely flat, and presented a great setting for a field sprint, if any of the sprinters could keep up over the climbs.

Garmin leader Christian Vande Velde predicted a combative stage: “It’s going to be a hard day today. The people who are behind are going to have to start making some moves. I am not going on the Platzerwasel, but I will be going toward the end.

Leipheimer Out

The day started with some very bad news from Team Astana—Levi Leipheimer broke his right wrist in yesterday’s late-race crash, and was forced to withdraw. This hurt Astana in many ways. Leipheimer was a contender for the overall win—he won the Tour of California to start the year. He was a very strong rider who could ride with the team leaders to help with the workload thorough the mountains. Further, he was a firm supporter of Lance Armstrong.

As the Tour heads into the mountains, Leipheimer will be sorely missed.

“I was caught off guard a little bit by the corner; I started to slide a little bit and ended up going over someone’s wheel,” Leipheimer explained. “The last thing I remember is seeing the curb coming and thinking that it was going to be bad. I went over the curb and got up and thought, “Wow that didn’t hurt that bad.”

“As the night went on the wrists was hurting quite bad, so I just got and x-ray and the scaphoid is broken

“Yesterday my legs were feeling really good; I thought, it’s a great sign for what’s to come because, the real race starts on Sunday.

“The pain of the wrist doesn’t compare to seeing the Tour de France leave you and continue on without you.”

Lance Armstrong said Levi’s loss hurt for many reasons: “It’s a serious blow to our team; you saw in the Pyrenees when there was an attack, we had four guys there; now one’s gone. Not only does it hurt us, it helps the others, in terms of their morale, thinking perhaps that the team has been weakened.”

The bad news continued, as rain rolled over the course, making the riding that much more dangerous and unpleasant. The high-speed descents became especially tricky—negotiating narrow roads with steep, high drop-offs and no guardrails at 50+ mph on tires less wide than a finger is difficult under the best conditions. Lubricating the roads with rain ratchets up the danger to a ridiculous level. 

Haussler in Early Attack

Two kilometers into the race, Christophe Moreau (Agritubel) and Heinrich Haussler (Cervelo) attacked successfully, drawing a five man counter-attack—Juan Manuel Garate (Rabobank), Jens Voight (Saxo Bank) Ruben Perez Moreno (Euskatel), Rigoberto Uran, (Caisse), and Sylvain Chavanel (Quickstep).

At 57 km, Haussler, Perez Moreno, and Chavanel attacked, dropping the other five, who were absorbed by the peloton. The three attackers opened a gap of five minutes at the 71 km mark.

Three riders counter-attacked on the slopes of the first big climb, the Col de la Schluct: Carlos Barredo (Quickstep), Franco Pellizoti (Liquigas), Christophe Kern (Cofidis), soon joined by Ahmets Txurruka (Euskatel), Fabain Cancellara (Saxo Bank), Egoi Martinez (Euskatel), Nicholas Roche (AG2R).

An even larger group attacked once the counter attack grew; sixteen riders eventually joined the chase group. Brice Feillu attacked to bridge the gap to the lead three, while Astana, seeing too many good riders in the counter-attack, turned up the pace to run down the counter-attack.

Coming up the foothills of the Platzerwasel, the three leaders held a gap of almost seven minutes, followed by Milram rider Linus Gerdeman struggling on bravely alone, while behind them, the lead riders in the peloton kept sharp eyes on each

A third of the way up the Platzerwasel, Perez Moreno dropped away from the other two leaders, Christophe Kern attacked the peloton, heading up the road towards Gerdemann, who was still laboring upward.

First Mountain Attack

Two thirds up the climb, Saxo Bank, who had reconnoitered the climb, picked its spot and attacked, led by Andy Schleck and Nicki Sørenson. This was the first big attack, and people started dropping.

A group of about thirty riders opened up a small gap over the peloton. Astana and Saxo Bank were well-represented in this group; these two teams were announcing their readiness for combat in the Alps.

Just before the top of the Platzerwasel, Lance Armstrong and Alberto Contador moved to the front of the peloton, demonstrating that even though Astana had lost a man, they had not lost their strength.

The counter-attackers had all been run down by the peak. Amets Txurruka attacked just over the peak, with Brice Feillu on his wheel. The gap to the escape was just under three minutes ahead and the chase group about thirty seconds behind, halfway down the mountain.

Haussler Pulls Away

Heinrich Haussler opened up a lead on Sylvain Chavanel on the descent down the Platzerwasel, showing more agility in negotiating the high-speed turns in bad weather. There were still two categorized climbs; a Three at the very bottom of the descent, leading to the Cat. Two Firstplan. Likely Chavanel could catch up on the climbs. Likely also, more attacks would come on the final climb.

The peloton eased the pace once over the peak. Having split the field once without dropping any of the big contenders, the peloton leaders seemingly decided to conserve energy.

When Haussler hit the slopes of the Cat. Three Col du Bannstein, he accelerated, stretching his lead over Chavanel. He was up by thirty-five seconds at the peak, with the prospect of making even more time on the descent. It seemed Haussler would win the stage.

Txurruka attacked Brice Feillu near the peak of the final climb, as Feillu punctured. Txurruka pressed on, catching Chavanel just before the final peak. Feillu pressed on, but couldn’t keep up with Txurruka. He did manage to hold on to third.

 

Stage Thirteen Results
Rider	Team	Time
Heinrich Haussler	Cervelo	4:56:26
Amets Txurruka	Euskatel	+4:11:03
Brice Feillu	Agritubel	+6:13:04
Sylvain Chavanel	Quickstep	+6:31:05
Peter Velits	Milram	+6:43