Tour de France 2007/16. stage

Result of the 16th stage
Stage winner	Michael Rasmussen	6:23:21 h (34.199 km / h)
Second	Levi Leipheimer	+ 0:24 min
Third	Alberto Contador	+ 0:35 min
Fourth	Cadel Evans	+ 0:43 min
fifth	Mauricio Soler	+ 1:25 min
Sixth	Haimar Zubeldia	+ 1:52 min
seventh	Juan José Cobo	+ 1:54 min
Eighth	Carlos Sastre	+ 2:12 min
Ninth	Óscar Pereiro	+ 2:27 min
Tenth	Alejandro Valverde	equal time
Most combative driver	Mauricio Soler
Intermediate results after the 16th stage
Yellow jersey	Michael Rasmussen	76:15:15 h
Second	Alberto Contador	+ 3:10 min
Third	Cadel Evans	+ 5:03 min
Green jersey	Tom Boonen	195 p.
Second	Robert Hunter	175 p.
Third	Erik Zabel	174 P.
Dotted jersey	Mauricio Soler	206 P.
Second	Michael Rasmussen	196 p.
Third	Alberto Contador	128 P.
White jersey	Alberto Contador	76:18:25 h
Second	Mauricio Soler	+ 13:31 min
Third	Amets Txurruka	+ 45:54 min
Team evaluation	Discovery Channel	229: 09: 32 h
Second	Caisse d'Epargne	+ 16:48 min
Third	Team CSC	+ 25:01 min

The 16th stage of the Tour de France 2007 on July 25th was 218.5 kilometers long and led the riders from Orthez first through the southwestern region of Aquitaine , more precisely through the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department , over the Pyrenees to the northern Spanish province of Navarra and from there back through the department of Pyrénées-Atlantiques to the Col d'Aubisque above the winter sports resort of Gourette . The seventh and last mountain stage of the tour had a total of five mountain ratings , including two mountains of the highest category (HC) with the Port de Larrau and the final ascent to the Col d'Aubisque .

After the entire Astana team got out of the tour due to the positive doping results from Alexander Vinokurow after the 13th and 15th stage on the previous day of rest under pressure from the organizers, only 20 teams took part in the race. Already at the fictitious start in Orthez, the drivers of the six French teams ag2r Prévoyance , Agritubel , Crédit Agricole , Cofidis , Bouygues Télécom and Française des Jeux , as well as the two German teams Gerolsteiner and T-Mobile , stopped and drove in protest but then also started after the rest of the peloton had ignored the action.

After the real start, which was 2.9 kilometers away from the fictitious start, Stéphane Augé defeated himself with an attack at race kilometer 8 , which was followed a little later by Vicente García Acosta , Gorka Verdugo and Christophe Rinero . They quickly pulled away from the peloton because it did not increase the pace at first. Only when the lead of the quartet had increased to 8:25 minutes after 27 kilometers did the Barloworld team pick up the pace in the main field and control the gap.

On the climb to Port de Larrau , which was tackled for the second time since 1996 as part of a tour stage, the Colombian Mauricio Soler attacked in the main field and formed a three-man chase group with Carlos Sastre and Amets Txurruka . While Txurruka fell behind after a short time, Iban Mayo was able to catch up. In the lead group, Verdugo and García Acosta were able to break away from their opponents and reached the summit with a 25-second lead over Rinero and Augé. They were followed by the chasing trio with 3:05 minutes and the main field around the overall leader Michael Rasmussen in 4:35 minutes .

In the descent that led the riders across the border into Spain , Rinero and Augé lost more time on the leaders, while the group behind them came closer and finally caught up on the climb to Alto Laza . The five chasers arrived at the culmination point two minutes behind the leading duo, the main field followed 5:40 minutes behind. The descent and the subsequent overpass to the foot of the Col de la Pierre Saint-Martin were used by the pursuers to catch up with the leaders at race kilometer 110, and the peloton also reduced the gap to just four minutes. In the climb, Rinero and Augé fell back as the first of the leaders. The leading quintet drove over the summit with a 4:55 minute lead over the field again, under the sole pace of Sastre's work.

Vicente García Acosta was the next rider in the leading group in the first hairpin bends of the Col de Marie-Blanque who had to let his opponents go. Behind the peloton, led by the Rabobank team, slowly accelerated the pace. Finally, a 15-man chasing group around Rasmussen reached the culmination point 2:20 minutes behind, which further reduced the deficit in the subsequent descent.

By the beginning of the final ascent on the Col d'Aubisque , 16.7 kilometers from the finish, the lead of the outliers had shrunk to 42 seconds. After Verdugo quickly lost touch, Sastre was the first to increase the pace after two kilometers on the climb, whereupon Soler had to let both Sastre and Mayo go. The chasing group, which after overtaking Soler had shrunk to five drivers, caught up with the remaining breakaway duo 9.5 kilometers from the finish. After the merger, Levi attacked Leipheimer , who could only be followed by Michael Rasmussen, Alberto Contador and Cadel Evans . Rasmussen was initially able to parry the following attacks by Contador and Leipheimer, but when Contador attacked again, Leipheimer fell back, which was followed by an attack by Rasmussen, which however did not bring about any further selection. It was only when Contador stepped up the pace that Evans got into trouble. As Contador and Rasmussen spied on each other, Leipheimer managed to catch up with the two again and took over the pace work. One kilometer before the finish, the man in the yellow jersey took the lead again and left the two drivers of the Discovery Channel team behind . At the finish, Michael Rasmussen secured his second stage victory with a 26 second lead over Levi Leipheimer and 35 seconds lead over Alberto Contador.

In the overall standings, Rasmussen was able to further extend his lead over Contador, who in turn further secured his white jersey. The lead in the mountain classification was taken by the Colombian Mauricio Soler, who had been wearing the dotted jersey since the 10th stage , representing Rasmussen. With the departure of Team Astana, Discovery Channel took the lead in the team standings again.

In the course of the stage there were two bomb explosions on the Spanish soil, to which the Basque terrorist organization ETA claimed responsibility . However, no one was injured.

In addition, the tour organization announced another doping case as part of the tour following the stage. The Italian Cristian Moreni from the Cofidis team, who had demonstrated against doping with a strike that morning, tested positive for testosterone doping after the 11th stage . His team withdrew from the tour, as did Astana the day before.

In the late evening, the Rabobank team, under pressure from the sponsor Rabobank , with Michael Rasmussen, the wearer of the yellow jersey, withdrew another driver from the race, as he had come under criticism during the tour for missing doping controls and had given the team management false information about his whereabouts during training.

tasks

• 127 Matthieu Sprick - during the stage, stomach ache
• 191 Alexander Vinokurow - before the start of the stage, positive doping result on the 13th stage
• 192 Antonio Colom - before the start of the stage, withdrawal of the entire team after a positive doping result from Vinokurow
• 193 Maxim Iglinski - before the start of the stage, withdrawal of the entire team after a positive doping result from Vinokurow
• 194 Sergei Ivanov - before the start of the stage, withdrawal of the entire team after Vinokurow had found positive doping
• 195 Andrei Kaschetschkin - before the start of the stage, the entire team withdrew after Vinokurow had found positive doping
• 196 Andreas Klöden - before the start of the stage, withdrawal of the entire team after a positive doping result from Vinokurow
• 197 Daniel Navarro - before the start of the stage, withdrawal of the entire team after a positive doping result from Vinokurow
• 198 Grégory Rast - before the start of the stage, withdrawal of the entire team after a positive doping result from Vinokurow
• 199 Paolo Savoldelli - before the start of the stage, withdrawal of the entire team after a positive doping result from Vinokurow

Intermediate sprints

1st intermediate sprint in Mauléon-Licharre (kilometer 36) (140 m above sea level)

First	Christophe Rinero	6 p. And 6 s
Second	Stéphane Augé	4 p. And 4 s
Third	Gorka Verdugo	2 P. and 2 s

2nd intermediate sprint in Laurus (km 200) (536 m above sea level)

First	Carlos Sastre	6 p. And 6 s
Second	Mauricio Soler	4 p. And 4 s
Third	Iban Mayo	2 P. and 2 s

Mountain ratings

Carlos Sastre, Juan Mauricio Soler and Iban Mayo at the Port de Larrau

Port de Larrau , category HC (kilometer 79) (1573 m above sea level; 14.7 km at 8.1%)

First	Vicente García Acosta	20 p.
Second	Gorka Verdugo	18 p.
Third	Christophe Rinero	16 p.
Fourth	Stéphane Augé	14 p.
fifth	Mauricio Soler	12 p.
Sixth	Carlos Sastre	10 p.
seventh	Iban Mayo	8 p.
Eighth	Michael Rasmussen	7 p.
Ninth	Thomas Dekker	6 p.
Tenth	Alberto Contador	5 p.

Alto Laza , Category 3 (km 93) (1129 m above sea level; km at 6.8%)

First	Vicente García Acosta	4 p.
Second	Gorka Verdugo	3 p.
Third	Stéphane Augé	2 p.
Fourth	Christophe Rinero	1 P.

Col de la Pierre Saint-Martin , Category 1 (kilometer 131) (1760 m above sea level; 14.2 km at 5.2%)

First	Mauricio Soler	15 p.
Second	Carlos Sastre	13 P.
Third	Gorka Verdugo	11 p.
Fourth	Vicente García Acosta	9 p.
fifth	Iban Mayo	8 p.
Sixth	Stéphane Augé	7 p.
seventh	Christophe Rinero	6 p.
Eighth	Jens Voigt	5 p.

Col de Marie-Blanque , Category 1 (kilometers 180.5) (1035 m above sea level; 9.3 km at 7.4%)

First	Mauricio Soler	15 p.
Second	Carlos Sastre	13 P.
Third	Iban Mayo	11 p.
Fourth	Gorka Verdugo	9 p.
fifth	Vicente García Acosta	8 p.
Sixth	Michael Rasmussen	7 p.
seventh	Alberto Contador	6 p.
Eighth	Denis Menshov	5 p.

Col d'Aubisque , Category HC (km 218.5) (1709 m above sea level; 16.7 km at 7.0%)

First	Michael Rasmussen	40 p.
Second	Levi Leipheimer	36 P.
Third	Alberto Contador	32 p.
Fourth	Cadel Evans	28 p.
fifth	Mauricio Soler	24 p.
Sixth	Haimar Zubeldia	20 p.
seventh	Juan José Cobo	16 p.
Eighth	Carlos Sastre	14 p.
Ninth	Óscar Pereiro	12 p.
Tenth	Alejandro Valverde	10 p.

* The points of the mountain classification are doubled if the last pass of the stage corresponds to category HC, 1 or 2.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Strike for a clean tour. radsport-news.com, July 25, 2007, accessed August 22, 2015 . 
2. ↑ Tour: ETA detonates explosives on the roadside. radsport-news.com, July 25, 2007, accessed August 22, 2015 . 
3. ↑ Cofidis withdraws team from the tour. radsport-news.com, July 25, 2007, accessed August 22, 2015 . 
4. ↑ Rabobank throws Rasmussen out of the tour. radsport-news.com, July 26, 2007, accessed August 22, 2015 .