Match Sprint

This year’s Tour de France has been interesting to say the least. There has rarely been a dull moment through 18 stages. And if not for the unfortunate circumstance of several doping violations, this Tour may well have gone down as one of the more memorable.

Today’s Stage 18 from Bourg d'Oisans to Saint Étienne brought us a one-on-one battle between Marcus Burghardt (Team Columbia) and Carlos Barredo (Quick Step) for what seemed like the entire length of the 196.5km course.

Fast friends on the breakaway turned to no holds barred bare-knuckle pugilists once the pair got closer to the finish line. At times, Burghardt and Barredo looked like a bickering couple.

In the final kilometers the scene resembled a match sprint semi-final on the velodrome with the winner set to take on Theo Bos rather than an open road finale at cycling’s most hallowed stage race.

With Burghardt in the familiar lead out position that he had grown accustomed to over the stage, he would survive one last attack from Barredo; the Spaniard never came close to getting around the 25-year old German.

"I'm really happy to win a stage in my second Tour appearance," ... "He tried to always stay behind me, and attack from behind. But I was always very focused, and he couldn't get away" said an exuberant Burghardt.

His victory marked Team Columbia’s 5th in this year’s Tour [with Mark Cavendish claiming the other 4 victories] and a bit of redemption for a team that couldn’t seem to stay upright the day prior [Adam Hansen, George Hincapie, and Bernhard Eisel all tasted pavement yesterday].

Results
1 Marcus Burghardt (Ger) Team Columbia
2 Carlos Barredo Llamazales (Spa) Quick Step
3 Romain Feillu (Fra) Agritubel

General Classification After Stage 18
1 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Team CSC - Saxo Bank 79.16.14
2 Frank Schleck (Lux) Team CSC - Saxo Bank 1.24
3 Bernhard Kohl (Aut) Gerolsteiner 1.33
4 Cadel Evans (Aus) Silence - Lotto 1.34
5 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank 2.39
6 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30 4.41
7 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 5.35
8 Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 5.52
9 Tadej Valjavec (Slo) AG2R La Mondiale 8.10
10 Vladimir Efimkin (Rus) AG2R La Mondiale 8.24

Eggs In A Basket
As if we needed any further proof to not risk losing everything by putting all your effort into one course of action [especially when it comes to the Tour de France], you need only look at the example of Damiano Cunego (Lampre). Touted as one of the favorites, Cunego and Lampre placed all of their collective efforts on winning this year’s Tour. They even named their Tour nine well before anyone had even named their riders for the Giro.

Stage 18 had to be especially frustrating for the Italian squad as Cunego crashed hard and needed to be shepherded to line by his teammates. They would arrive some 22 minutes after Marcus Burghardt raised his arms in victory.

The Immortal Third
Raymond Poulidor, one of the most beloved figures in French cycling despite finishing second in the Tour de France on three separate occasions earning him the nickname, the eternal second, has nothing on countryman Romain Feillu (Agritubel). The Agritubel rider finished third on Stage 18, which made it the fourth time he has done so in this year’s Tour.

Next: Stage 19 - Friday, July 25 - Roanne – Montluçon (165.5km)


More:
Guardian.co.uk - Burghardt savours sweet revenge on Tour
Times Online - Marcus Burghardt claims 18th stage of Tour de France
NYT - Working Together, a Young Team Climbs to the Top

Photo: Laurent Rebours/Associated Press