Stage 14 - Saint-Gaudens => Plateau de Beille

In every Tour de France which has had a stage finish on the Plateau de Beille, the winner of the stage has gone on to win the Tour.  I highly doubt that this will ring true this year - the stage winner is not a big name; in fact, this is their first win in their entire professional career of seven years.  But like all sport cycling is constantly improving, and I suspect that not only is the quality of riders by this 2011 Tour higher than the last time the Tour rode to Plateau de Beille, but that the high-quality riders are closer together in ability than they have been previously.  In short, there are more equally-brilliant riders than every other time the winner of Plateau de Beille has won the Tour de France.

Today's breakaway was a surprising one - 24 riders, including three from the GC teams of yellow jersey hopefuls Cadel Evans (BMC) and Frank and Andy Schleck (Leopard Trek).  A breakaway of this size was never going to succeed, so some of the riders decided to go it alone.  Julien El Fares of Cofidis and the team leader of FDJ, Sandy Casar, leapt ahead of the pack and were soon joined by Garmin-Cervelo's David Millar.  As the reached the first of the climbs Millar was unable to keep up, but several others from the original breakaway of 24 came forward to join Casar and El Fares to make a total of 11 riders, including Jens Voigt and Linus Gerdemann, the teammates of the Schleck brothers.

Europcar, protecting the yellow jersey of Thomas Voeckler, began setting the pace, before Leopard Trek took over and began upping the ante, putting the pressure on the peloton as they began traversing the second and first category climbs mi-parcours.  Unfortunately Stuey O'Grady may have been warning the riders behind him of the upcoming bends of the descents, but clearly not all got the message, as Rabobank's Laurens Ten Dam went off the bitumen and performed what can only be described as a faceplant over the handlebars into a ditch.  Patched up, he continued chasing, but up in the breakaway Jens Voigt wasn't having any more luck.  Having chosen a nice place to crash, he promptly went off the road into a large pile of soft ferns, and quickly re-emerged, bike held over his head.  The new bike did him no good either, for his wheel slipped on the sun-warmed tar of the road and he hit the deck again.  The peloton soon reeled him in and he joined the "Leopard Trek Express", chuffing Andy and Frank right on up the climbs - the rest of the peloton were participation optional!

Once they hit the final climb, the hors-categorie montee up to the Plateau de Beille, the result was inevitable.  Leopard Trek kept going as long as they had breath and rider, stamping out a pace designed to shred the peloton to pieces.  As usual they did a good job, only a few riders still able to follow the leaders by the time the Leopard domestiques could do no more.  The leaders themselves did the rest of the work, setting a pace only they could handle as they swept past broken remnants of breakaway and attacks long forgotten and now futile.

Though many were saying it was Frank who looked strongest on the climb up to Luz-Ardiden two days ago, today it was Andy Schleck who parried and feinted like a master swordsman, attacking several times on the way up the plateau.  By now the group only held 10 - Andy and his brother; Cadel Evans; Alberto Contador, Ivan Basso (Liquigas-Cannondale); Jelle Vanendert (Omega Pharma-Lotto); Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi); Jean-Christophe Peraud (AG2R La Mondiale); and yellow jersey-wearer Thomas Voeckler and teammate Pierre Rolland.  Lampre's Damiano Cunego clung to the back for a while, but as the group reached the higher climes Cunego had long since disappeared.  Despite Andy's attacks, he achieved no time advantage, for there was always someone waiting to jump on his back wheel, and the rest of the group followed suit.  Though he never actively chased as did Voeckler or Evans, Contador remained in the group, following every attack as closely as all the rest.  Basso seemed to be riding at his own tempo, sometimes falling off the back of the group and at other times leaping to the front to lead it, unable to keep up with the accelerations and decelerations of the others.

The four main rivals were so busy concentrating on each other they didn't notice at first when Jelle Vanendert made his move and got clear, and little did they care, either.  Not high enough on the GC table to be a threat, Evans, Contador and the Schlecks were conserving their energy to battle each either, so neither did the follow when Sammy Sanchez decided now was his time.  Unable to catch the Belgian, the stage played out as a mirror image of Luz-Ardiden, when Sanchez won, Vanendert took second and the main riders shadowed each other to the finish.  This time, however, the Belgian unknown was riding to his first ever victory on the pro circuit, shadowed by the world champion.  As the "peloton" of the top GC riders came in, Andy clearly felt a bit antsy and sprinted for the finish, leaving the others to come in a few seconds behind, not enough to change the overall standings.

The remarkable rider of the day had to go to Thomas Voeckler, who, even though he eventually lost teammate Pierre Rolland who had paced him up Luz-Ardiden and is likely a better climber, still managed to chase the big names up to the top and challenge them for the lead.  If Andy, Cadel & Friends don't manage to dislodge him when they reach the Alps, Tommy Voeckler could suddenly be dangerously close to winning the French a Tour de France.