Pierrick Fedrigo of the Bbox-Bouygues team held off the threat of seven-time champion Lance Armstrong to hand the hosts their sixth success on the Tour de France 16th stage on Tuesday.
Astana’s race leader Alberto Contador, who took the yellow jersey from Luxembourg rival Andy Schleck on Monday, came over the finish line just under seven minutes later.
Schleck, who lost the yellow jersey to Contador after suffering a mechanical problem on Monday’s 15th stage, was expected to take his revenge on what was the third and penultimate day of racing in the Pyrenees.
But their anticipated battle over the Tourmalet and Aubisque mountain passes came to nothing after Armstrong and other riders well out of contention joined an early breakaway.
The Luxemburger, who rides for Saxo Bank, is still 08sec behind Spain’s two-time champion ahead of the race’s second and final rest day and two days before the final day of climbing to the summit of the Tourmalet on stage 17.
A day after they fell out because Contador attacked as Schleck tried to fix his mechanical setback, the pair had shaken hands and made up.
But Schleck warned: “It’s the last week of the Tour and I’m sure that we’ll be battling a lot on the [Col du] Tourmalet,” he said. “The Tour is not over.”
Fedrigo had to chase hard to join Armstrong’s early breakaway group as the peloton started the hilly 199,5km ride from Bagneres-de-Luchon with the brutal 11km climb to the Col de Peyresourde.
And he was rewarded for his persistence on another punishing day in the Pyrenees by beating an eight-man bunch, including Armstrong, in a sprint at the finish.
“I knew it was going to be my day,” said Fedrigo, who handed his team their second win of the race after Thomas Voeckler’s impressive victory on stage 15.
“It’s just little details, like seeing fans of the team and some family, but I knew I just had to go for it.”
Armstrong had been among the first riders to attack early on the stage and although their group was larger it was eventually reduced to nine riders as the climbs took their toll.
They went on to build a lead of almost 10 minutes on the yellow jersey peloton, but with 45km remaining Spaniard Carlos Barredo launched an audacious solo bid for victory moments after Frenchman Sandy Casar had closed his deficit in impressive fashion.
FDJ rider Casar, who had shown his finishing skills on a similar profile to win stage nine, had lost ground with the frontrunners on the race’s fourth categorised climb, the Col de l’Aubisque.
But after he made up his gap of 1min 35sec on the descent, Barredo, perhaps sensing the danger, went off on his own only to be caught, agonisingly, with one kilometre to race.
Armstrong, who had been resting his legs for most of the last few kilometres, made a brief bid for the stage win in the final 500 metres.
However Fedrigo dropped down a cog or two and maintained his power to surge up the inside of the barriers to beat Casar into second place at the finish line.
Casar said: “I spent a lot of energy just trying to catch the breakaway, but in the sprint I knew Pierrick would be very fast.”
Armstrong’s team manager at RadioShack, Johan Bruyneel, said Armstrong had told him he was tired with around 15km to race.
But the American did not rule out trying for a 26th and final Tour de France stage win on Thursday when the yellow jersey battle moves up a gear.
“I’m not the best guy in the race but I have the spirit of a fighter,” said Armstrong, who will turn 39 years old on September 18.
“Fedrigo was one of the fastest guys out there today and he was just too fast at the finish. Chapeau.” — AFP