Michael Rasmussen and Alberto Contador will resume their battle for the yellow jersey in the 15th stage of the Tour de France, a 196km ride from Foix to Loudenvielle on Monday.
Dane Rasmussen leads his Spanish rival by two minutes and 23 seconds heading to the second Pyrenean stage, which features two category-one climbs and an out-of-category ascent.
”This is a huge stage and even though there isn’t a summit finish, it’s still devilishly difficult,” said Tour competition director Jean-Francois Pescheux.
”It is the moment for the favourites to show what they are really made of.”
German Andreas Kloeden will take over from Kazakh Alexander Vinokourov as Astana team captain and will try to make up for the time he lost in Sunday’s stage from Mazamet to the Plateau-de-Beille.
Third-placed Australian Cadel Evans of the Predictor Lotto team is also expected to react after cracking 5km from the summit of the final ascent on Sunday. – Reuters