2007 Tour de France, Stage 11 to Stage 20#Stage 17

The 17th stage of the 2007 Tour de France on July 26 was 188.5 km long and took the riders from Pau northeastward through the southwest Aquitaine region, specifically by the departments of Pyrénées- Atlantiques, Hautes -Pyrenees, Gers and Tarn -et -Garonne, after Castelsarrasin in the southwestern region of Midi -Pyrenees. The eighth flat stage had a total of six mountain stages of the third and fourth categories.

After the departure of the wearer of the yellow jersey Michael Rasmussen because of false information about his whereabouts for training purposes against his team launched the stage without a carrier of the leading jerseys. In addition, only 19 teams took part in the tour after the Cofidis team had withdrawn their drivers due to the positive doping finding at Cristian Moreni.

Immediately after the start sat down first at the initiative of Xavier Florencio, a small group from that but was quickly caught up again. After that attack, five kilometers driven, an eight-member group with Martin Elmiger, Daniele Bennati, Daniele Righi, Markus Fothen, Jens Voigt, Matteo Tosatto, Manuel Quinziato and David Millar, behind which is a chase group formed, which was however quickly caught up again. As a result, the breakaway group could settle on the wave profile at the beginning only slowly from the field, because there the team Caisse d' Epargne had in pursuit. She held the edge in a maximum of about 2:30 minutes before the prosecution was abandoned and the outliers from 80 km were able to significantly increase their lead over the target.

In the next 50 kilometers, the outlier built the lead from up to eight minutes before it 19.5 kilometers from the finish, the last small hill of the day, with the consensus in the top group was over, because Millar had first attacked. This was followed by further attacks by Voigt and Fothen, which initially Righi and a little later Quinziato fell back. According to a further tightening pace of Fothen also Millar and Tosatto could not follow, leaving just Fothen, Voigt, Bennati and Elmiger remained in the lead. From this group, then Voigt attacked four kilometers from the finish on again, but could not be solved because Bennati nachsetzte over again. Finally Fothen attacked a short pitch 1,5 kilometers from the finish, but could not make it also settle. Thus, the four drivers drove together one to the finish line, where Daniele Bennati won ahead of Markus Fothen, Martin Elmiger and Jens Voigt. After initially followed Millar and Tosatto and then Quinziato and Righi. The mass sprint of the peloton, which reached the target with a gap of 9:37 minutes on the winner to ninth place decided Tom Boonen for themselves.

After the departure of Michael Rasmussen, the former second-placed Alberto Contador took the lead in the overall standings with 1:53 minutes ahead of Cadel Evans and 2:49 minutes on his teammate Levi Leipheimer. In addition, Contador stayed in the youth classification, Mauricio Soler in the mountains classification, Tom Boonen in the sprint and the Discovery Channel in the team standings at the top of the various ratings.

Tasks

051 Denis Menshov - during the stage
058 Michael Rasmussen - before the start of the stage, withdrawal by the team under pressure from the sponsor for misrepresentation regarding the whereabouts for training
141 Sylvain Chavanel - before the start of the stage, withdrawal of the entire team after a positive doping test at Moreni
142 Stéphane Augé - before the start of the stage, withdrawal of the entire team after a positive doping test at Moreni
145 Nick Nuyens - before the start of the stage, withdrawal of the entire team after a positive doping test at Moreni
147 Staf Scheirlinckx - before the start of the stage, withdrawal of the entire team after a positive doping test at Moreni
148 Verbrugghe - before the start of the stage, withdrawal of the entire team after a positive doping test at Moreni
149 Bradley Wiggins - before the start of the stage, withdrawal of the entire team after a positive doping test at Moreni

Disqualifications

Intermediate sprints

First intermediate sprint in Rabastens -de- Bigorre ( 44.5 km ) ( 215 m above sea level. NN )

Second intermediate sprint in Solomiac ( 146.5 km ) ( 134 m above sea level. NN )

Climbs

Côte de Baleix, Category 3 ( 23 km ) ( 350 m above sea level, . 1.4 km à 8,0 %)

Côte de Villecomtal, Category 4 ( 54 km ) ( 335 m above sea level, . 3.7 km à 4,3 %)

Côte de Miélan, Category 4 ( 59.5 km ) ( 283 m above sea level, . 1.4 km à 5,4 %)

Côte de Sainte- Dode -aux- Croix, Category 4 ( 63.5 km ) (. 283 m above sea level, 2.0 km à 5,0% )

Côte de Theux, Category 4 ( 72.5 km ) (. 283 m above sea level, 1.4 km à 6,4 %)

Côte de la Montagnère, Category 4 ( 169.5 km ) ( 283 m above sea level, . 1.4 km à 5,3 %)

Driver's field

Tour de France 2007

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