Ricco Climbs to the Win in Stage Nine of the 2008 Tour de France

Saunier Duval rider Ricardo Ricco won his second stage in the 2008 Tour de France, beating the peloton over the first big mountain climbs.

Ricco waited until the final 30 kilometers to attack, after all the other contenders were exhausted form their own attempts. No one could catch him, and he sailed to the finish 1:17 ahead of the peloton.

Kim Kirchner kept the yellow jersey, but Team Columbia dropped from second to sixth in the team standings.

The Mountain Stages Begin

The first real mountain stage, with the first Category one climbs of the Tour, 224 km Stage Nine of the Tour, Toulouse to Bagnères-de-Bigorre gave the climbing specialists the first real chance to leave the sprinters behind.

The stage was entirely uphill; the first 125 km contained four Cat Four and a Category Three climb. The next 100 km saw the first two Category One climbs of the Tour, the Col de Peyresourde and the Col d'Aspin. The final 25 km were a steep descent, dropping 945 meters. A stage like this could open some huge gaps in the general classification.

(From L) Aleksandr Kuschynski, Nicolas Jalabertl, and Sebastian Lang ride in the first serious breakaway during Stage Nine of the 2008 Tour de France. (Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)

Cadel Evans bears the marks of his crash as he rides back to the peloton during Stage Nine of the 2008 Tour de France. (Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)

For the first half of the race front of the peloton was a solid mass of orange, as Euskatel Euskadi took the lead and set a blistering pace, covering 46 km in the first two hours. Euskatel, a Spanish team long know as mountain climbers, were determined to own the stage and show again that in their native Pyrenees, no one can outperform them.

Three riders started a good attack at about 25 km in: Aleksandr Kuschynski of Liquigas, Nicolas Jalabert of Agrtitubel, and Sebastian Lang of Gerolsteiner. This group held a lead of about ten minutes all the way to the base of the first big climb.

Vladimir Efimkin is cheered on by a fan as he rides after Ricardo Ricco in Stage Nine of the 2008 Tour de France. (Joel Saget/AFP/Getty Images)

With 107 km to go Cadel Evans, second place overall, was involved in a crash, scraping his left side, but he got a new bike and pressed on. With 80 km to go, Evans dropped back to the doctor's car for treatment.

With 63 km left, Nicolas Jalobert dropped off the lead breakaway. As the road rose, more and more riders fell to the back, now intent not on finishing well, but rather on not being eliminated from the race entirely. By the peak of the Col de Payresourdes, Sebastian Lang had dropped Kuschynski and was leading on his own.

Col d'Aspin

Attacks came thick and fast on the slopes of the Col d'Aspin.

Stefan Schumacher, Oscar Pereiro Roman Kreuziger, Vincenzo Nibali, Sandy Casar, Eduardo Gonzalo Ramirez all took a shot, but succeeded in nothing but exhausting themselves. Eventually, the peloton caught them.

Riccardo Rico of Saunier Duval climbs the Col d'Aspin during Stage Nine of the 2008 Tour de France. (Jasper Juinen/Getty Images)

Five kilometers from the summit, Ricardo Ricco made his attack, and no one could answer him. Ricco rode as though he were starting, not finishing a stage. One kilometer from the summit, Ricco passed Lang, taking the lead.

About 10 km from the end, three riders—Sandy Casar, Mikel Astarloza, and Vladimir Efimkin attacked the peloton, but by 5 km, Casar and Astarloza dropped off and Efimkin was on his own. The AG2R rider held on to take second.

Ricardo Ricco was uncatchable. He rode the last 25 km limke a time trial, focused forward, ignoring the struggling, suffering pack trying to catch him.

Somehow, after the day's ferocious pace, he managed to ride strongly all the way to the finish, winning his second stage of the 2008 Tour. The rest of the peloton followed in 1:17 behind him.

GC and Team Standings Mostly unchanged

There were not as many changes in the general Classification as had been expected—but then, nothing has gone as expected in this years Tour.

Team Columbia, perhaps paying for leading the pack for so many days, was not able to support Kim Kirchen, though he did keep the yellow jersey, finishing twelfth.

Garmin Chipotle dropped back to 14th in the team ranking; Christian Van de Velde, finishing 20th, was the best placed rider for the team.

Stage Nine Results
1	Ricardo Ricco	Saunier Duval	6	Maxime Montfort	Cofidis
2	Vladimir Efimkim	AG2R La Mondiale	7	Alejando Valverde	Caisse D'Epargne
3	Cyril Dessel	AG2R La Mondiale	8	Roman Kreuziger	Liquigas
4	Dmitriy Fofonov	Credit Agricole	9	Damiano Cunego	Lampre
5	Christian Knees	Gerolsteiner	10	Yarsoslav Popovych	Silence-Lotto

General Classification
Place	Rider	Team	Time	Gap
1	Kim Kirchen	Team Columbia	38h 07' 19"	0
2	Cadel Evans	Silence-Lotto	38h 07' 25"	+ 00' 06"
3	Christian Vandevelde	Garmin Chipotle	38h 08' 03"	+ 00' 44"
4	Stefan Schumacher	Gerolsteiner	38h 08' 15"	+ 00' 56"
5	Denis Menchov	Rabobank	38h 08' 22"	+ 01' 03"
6	Alejandro Valverde	Caisse D'Epargne	38h 08' 31"	+ 01' 12"
7	Stijn DeVolder	Quick Step	38h 08' 40"	+ 01' 21"
8	Oscar Pereiro Sio	Caisse D'Epargne	38h 08' 40"	+ 01' 21"
9	Sanchez Samuel	Euskaltel-Euskadi	38h 08' 46"	+ 01' 27"
10	Sastre Carlos	Team CSC Saxo Bank	38h 08' 53"	+ 01' 34"

Team Standings
Place	Team	Nation	Time	Gap
1	Team CSC Saxo Bank	Denmark	114h 24' 23"	O
2	Caisse D'Epargne	SPAin	114h 27' 52"	+ 03' 29"
3	Saunier Duval	France	114h 29' 10"	+ 04' 47"
4	Gerolsteiner	Germany	114h 29' 44"	+ 05' 21"
5	AG2R-La Mondiale	France	114h 30' 35"	+ 06' 12"
6	Columbia	USA	114h 32' 25"	+ 08' 02"
7	Rabobank	Netherlands	114h 32' 25"	+ 08' 02"
8	Lampre	Italy	114h 33' 51"	+ 09' 28"
9	Barloworld	UK	114h 34' 52"	+ 10' 29"
10	Liquigas	Italy	114h 36' 00"	+ 11' 37"