First

On a day where the contenders to the overall and their teams were more than content to let the “right” break go up the road, a group of 13 strong complied and took a flyer after approximately 40km into today’s race.


Norwegian National Road Racing Champion, Kurt Asle-Arvesen (CSC – Saxo Bank) proved to be the strongest over the remaining 127.5km of Stage 11 from Lannemezan to Foix, as he out-sprinted fellow breakaway companions Martin Elmiger (AG2R La Mondiale) and Alessandro Ballan (Lampre) to claim the victory.

For the 33-year old Arvesen, who we interviewed last year after winning the Danmark Rundt for the second time, he follows a laundry list of individuals [Samuel Dumoulin, Stefan Schumacher, Mark Cavendish, Riccardo Riccò, Leon Luis Sanchez, and Leonardo Piepoli] who have all tasted their first Tour de France victory this year.

Results
1 Kurt-Asle Arvesen (Nor) Team CSC - Saxo Bank
2 Martin Elmiger (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale
3 Alessandro Ballan (Ita) Lampre

General Classification After Stage 11
1 Cadel Evans (Aus) Silence - Lotto
2 Frank Schleck (Lux) Team CSC - Saxo Bank
3 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30
4 Bernhard Kohl (Aut) Gerolsteiner
5 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank
6 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Team CSC - Saxo Bank
7 Kim Kirchen (Lux) Team Columbia
8 Juan Jose Cobo Acebo (Spa) Saunier Duval - Scott
9 Riccardo Riccò (Ita) Saunier Duval - Scott
10 Vladimir Efimkin (Rus) AG2R La Mondiale

Butcher’s Bill
“In the war against Napoleon, when Admiral Nelson wanted to know how many people were dead, he'd yell to his orderly, "What's the butcher's bill for today?"

Last year at approximately this same time, cycling’s version of the "butcher’s bill" included the whole of the Alexander Vinokourov led Astana Cycling Team, Michael Rasmussen, and Cristian Moreni and the rest of Cofidis. Coupled with Erik Zabel’s and Bjarne Riis’ confessions of doping prior to the Grand Boucle, the total number of riders forcibly dismissed or who left voluntarily equaled the number of Tour stages, 21.

This year’s tally currently stands at two with the news of Spaniard Moises Duenas (Barloworld) recent positive added to countryman Triki Beltran’s (Liquigas) own positive late last week.

Unfortunately, until the question of "what's the butcher's bill?" is met with silence, the sport of cycling will never be regarded for its true beauty.

Next: Stage 12 - Thursday, July 17: Lavelanet - Narbonne (168.5km). Sprinters on your mark...


More:
PezcyclingNews - TdF’08 St 11: Arvesen by a Tires Width!
Velonews - Tour de France - Arvesen takes stage, Evans holds jersey
International Herald Tribune - Three Tour de France fans hit by team car

Photo: Reuters