Triple Crankset: Feillu Precocious, Contador Flies The Coup

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Feillu Precocious, Contador Flies The Coup - 96th Tour de France Stage 7

Credit should be given when it is due. Brice Feillu (Agritubel), a first year French professional and brother of sprinter Romain Feillu (Agritubel), was simply superb on a day, which saw the first mountains of the 96th Tour de France.

Likewise, the Italian Rinaldo Nocentini (AG2R La Mondiale) surprised himself and rode his way into the maillot jaune.

But, the battle behind the breakaway overshadowed everything.

Alberto Contador (Astana) would make his opening statement in the debate for leadership of Team Astana, and for the Tour. In a move which seemed to catch his teammates, including Lance Armstrong by surprise, Contador accelerated away from a select group of riders, climbing his way into second, a scant 2 seconds ahead of the 37-year-old Texan.

Although he is not working the Tour, perhaps our commentator friend, Dave Towle, could describe it best. "It's On, On Like Donkey Kong!"

Stage 7 Results
1. Brice Feillu (Fra) Agritubel
2. Christophe Kern (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit en Ligne
3. Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Team Milram

As you can imagine, the first mountainous stage of the 2009 Tour de France brought with it some major upheaval. Rinaldo Nocentini (AG2R La Mondiale), seemingly forgotten on the GC, takes the maillot jaune by virtue of being in the breakaway.

General Classification After Stage 7
1. Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale
2. Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana
3. Lance Armstrong (USA) Astana
4. Levi Leipheimer (USA) Astana
5. Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Garmin - Slipstream
6. Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana
7. Tony Martin (Ger) Team Columbia - HTC
8. Christian Vande Velde (USA) Garmin - Slipstream
9. Andy Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank
10. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas

Jersey Leader's After Stage 7