Ivanov waited until several other riders launched their attacks, then made his own, opening a small gap that was enough to make his tired pursuers pause. With that edge, he had what he needed to keep pulling away while the rest of the escape battled itself.
Columbia rider George Hincapie was part of the twelve-man breakaway, which solidified around the 14 km mark, and he pushed the pace, hoping to win the yellow jersey. He started the stage 5:25 behind Nocentini, and for most of the race kept a lead of seven to eight minutes. AG2R seemed too tired to defend the jersey for any length of time. Astana pushed the pace for most of the start of the race, not wanting Hincapie, a capable rider, to get the lead.
Towards the end of the stage, Garmin-Slipstream, which has been engaged in something of a rivalry with Columbia all season, picked up the pace, cutting Hincapie’s gap. Columbia had to choose between contesting the sprint for the green jersey, or protecting Hincapie for the yellow.
In the end, both efforts failed. Hincapie lost the yellow jersey by five seconds, and Cavendish was penalized for blocking during the field sprint, and was dropped to the back of the pack.
George Hincapie was bitterly disappointed; the thirty-six year old has ridden fourteen Tours and only once worn the yellow. He did move into second place overall, but that was small consolation.
“I am just extremely disappointed,” Hincapie said after the race. “I don’t know why Astana was riding, but that’s highly insulting to me. I am very disappointed; I got so close.
“They were basically doing the work for AG2R; I don’t understand it.
“I could have done it. I just don’t understand what was going on, why Garmin and why Astana were riding. It was the chance of a lifetime for me, and it’s gone.”
After the race, Lance Armstrong said, “We wanted him to get the jersey. There must be something personal between those two teams [Garmin and Columbia].”
Last Sprinters’ Stage
After the climbs of the day before, Stage Fourteen, Colmar to Besançon offered gentle rolling hills, the last chance for the sprinters to win a stage until the final day on the streets of Paris.
After the terrible weather of Stage Thirteen, Stage Fourteen looked to be a repeat. The day started dark and cool. However, after a bit of rain at the ten-kilometer mark, the clouds lifted and the roads dried, making for a great day for cycling.
Many people had expected a series of attacks and counter-attacks in Stage Thirteen; these never materialized.
Armstrong also mentioned the weather.
“I think it was just so cold and so nasty and people had on so many layers of clothing it was just hard to go. They also knew the last climb was a long way from the finish, so it wasn’t going to be that selective. Once again we had a stage which, on paper, was very difficult, bit in the race, in reality, it was neutralized.
“But I think the headline is, that we were literally freezing. To go from days and days of close to one hundred degrees to a day well below fifty, windy and rainy … it felt like it was …. Well, freezing.”
The weather spoiled what could have been a dramatic battle for the yellow jersey, Silence-Lotto leader Cadel Evans told reporters. “With the conditions as they were—wet, cold, and windy—there was little any of us could do against a strong Astana.”
2008 Tour winner Carlos Sastre echoed Evans’ opinion: “The cold and the rain took the fight out of some of us.” Sastre was still pleased with the day’s outcome.
“It was a really cold and difficult stage, but it was a great day for Cervelo. We won with Heinrich [Haussler] and took the green jersey back with Thor [Hushovd].The final climb was too far from the finish line for the top rivals to rally have any have any impact. I’m ready to see what happens in this third and decisive week of the Tour.”
This year’s Tour was designed so that all the hard stages were in the final week. This certainly increases anticipation for the final stages, but also means that some of the intermediate stages are not hotly contested.
“It’s probably better for the fans and the media if there is a little more selection at different parts of the race,” said Armstrong. “I think it will make for a great last week and I think that’s what they wanted, but there really hasn’t been a shake-out aside from the opening time trial and the team time trial and a medium hard uphill finish in Andorra, so … You either have to put in a few more uphill finishes or a long individual time trial otherwise there’s not a ton of drama.”
Hincapie Leads the Escape
This group contained Saxo Banks perennial workhorse Jens Voigt, and Team Columbia’s veteran laborer George Hincapie. Columbia sprinter Mark Cavendish was originally in the group, but the pace was too much and he dropped back.
Jens Voigt had the tremendous bad luck to ruin across a mechanic having a bad day. Voigt needed a new rear wheel, and the mechanic botched the job (which usually takes fifteen seconds for these professionals) and cost Voigt so much time he had no chance of catching back up with the breakaway.
The twelve escapees at this point were Hayden Roulston (Cervelo), Christophe Le Mevel (Française des Jeux), Martijn Masskant (Garmin), Sebastien Minard (Cofidis), George Hincapie (Columbia), Serguei Ivanov (Katusha), Nicholas Roche (AG2R), Gerald Ciolek (Milram), Daniele Bennati (Liquigas), Albert Timmer (Skil Shimano), Frederick Willems (Liquigas), Daniele Righi (Lampre).
With seventy km finished, the lead group had five-and-a-half minute lead, making George Hincapie the virtual leader of the Tour.
At this point Astana decided to chase down the escape; Silence-Lotto, Quickstep, Rabobank, and Euskatel joined in.
Teams Decide Not to Chase
With 100 km done, the escape had opened a seven-minute gap.
Team Columbia race director Brian Holm explained his team’s tactics: “We are definitely not going to chase the escape today. We have a rider in the lead group, and currently George is the virtual leader of the Tour. My feeling is that the twelve will get to finish to contest the stage victory and we may yet get a reward, but I believe Nocentini will keep the yellow jersey for another day.”
When Astana realized that neither Columbia nor AG2R were willing to help with the pace-making, they too eased off. Astana knew that even if Hincapie took the yellow, he probably wouldn’t hold on through the Alps. Hincapie, a two-time Tour runner-up, was Lance Armstrong’s wingman through every one of Armstrong’s Tour victories. Possibly Armstrong was willing to let his old teammate have a day of glory, since it wouldn’t likely affect the final result.
With 130 km gone, the lead group had an eight-minute lead. The entire peloton seemed resigned to letting the escape succeed.
Fighting for the Stage and the Lead
With only twenty kilometers to go, the escape had a gap of seven minutes. The riders were eyeing each other, sizing up who would be the toughest competition for the stage win.
In the peloton, AG2R was pushing hard, but none of the other teams were helping, no team wanted to burn out trying defend another teams yellow jersey.
With 15 km to go, Marijn Masskant attacked. Serguei Ivanov responded. The increased pace dropped Willems. Serguei Ivanaov attacked, dropping Masaskant. Nicholas Roche attacked next, trying to catch Ivanov.
Next. Le Mervel attacked with Hincapie on his wheel, and Bennati in pursuit. Roche was the next to go, then Timmer, with Hayden Roulston.
At the 10 km mark, Ivanov was well in the lead, opening a gap of ten seconds. Roulston and Timmer opened a gap over the rest of the chase.
Le Mervel tried again to bridge the gap, still with Hincapie, but no one seemed able to catch Roulston and Timmer, ten seconds ahead; Ivanov was now twenty seconds ahead of the pair of pursuers.
The chase group was splintered by the repeated attack. George Hincapie, hoping to capture yellow led a charge.
Roche attacked with a kilometer go, forcing himself to accelerate across the gap to Roulston and Timmer. Roche drove hard, passing the pair and moving into second. Roulston finished third.
Cavendish Penalized
Garmin took the lead at the 2 km mark. Then Silence-Lotto moved to the head.
In the final kilometer, Columbia started out. Cofidis offered the first challenge; then Thor Hushovd squeezed into the Columbia train. The Cofidis riders Samuel Dumoulin and Leonardo Duque, faded and Columbia spread across the front of the peloton, blocking the other teams. Thor Hushovd, seeing all routes closing, broke wide to the right and attacked, probably earlier than he wanted to, While Cavendish was still on Renshaw’s wheel. Meanwhile Française des Jeux rider Yauheni Hutarovich punched through on the left.
Cavendish won the sprint, with Hushovd just behind him (and a bit agitated about the blocking maneuvers of Cavendish and Renshaw.) Hushovd was closer than he has ever come to actually outsprinting Cavendish, but again the Manx Missile edged him out.
After the finish, race officials reviewed the films and determined that Cavendish had deliberately altered his line to keep Hushovd from getting by. Hushovd was awarded the place, the green jersey and the sprint point; Cavendish was sent to the back of the peloton and got no points. This gravely endangers Cavendish’s chances of winning the green jersey on the Champs Elysees.
From Besançon, the Tour heads into the Swiss alps for some serious mountain climbs. Here almost certainly the top overall contenders will launch their attacks, determined to gain back time on their rivals and drop whoever is not among the strongest. Every stage of the rest of the Tour could potentially be the decisive stage.
| Stage Fourteen Results | General Classification After Stage Fourteen | |||||||||||
| Rider | Team | Time | Gap | Rider | Team | Time | Gap | |||||
| 1 | Serguei Ivanov | Katusha | 4:37:46 | 00 | 1 | Rinaldo Nocentini | AG2R | 58:13:52 | 00 | |||
| 2 | Nicholas Roche | AG2R | +16:03 | 2 | George Hincapie | Columbia | 58:13:57 | + 00:05 | ||||
| 3 | Hayden Roulston | Cervelo | +16:04 | 3 | Alberto Contador | Astana | 58:13:58 | + 00:06 | ||||
| 4 | Martijn Masskant | Garmin | +16:05 | 4 | Lance Armstrong | Astana | 58:14:00 | + 00:08 | ||||
| 5 | Sebastien Minard | Cofidis | +16 | 5 | Christophe Le Mervel | FDJ | 58:14:35 | + 00:43 | ||||
| 6 | Daniele Righi | Lampre | +16 | 6 | Bradley Wiggins | Garmin | 58:14:38 | + 00:46 | ||||
| 7 | Christophe Le Mervel | FDJ | +16 | 7 | Adréas Klöden | Astana | 58:14:46 | + 00:54 | ||||
| 8 | George Hincapie | Columbia | +16 | 8 | Tony Martin | Columbia | 58:14:52 | + 01:00 | ||||
| 9 | Daniele Bennati | Liquigas | +16 | 9 | Christian Vande Velde | Garmin | 58:15:16 | + 01:24 | ||||
| 10 | Gerald Ciolek | Milram | +22 | 10 | Andy Schleck | Saxo Bank | 58:15:41 | + 01:49 | ||||
