Stage winner Cyril Dessel of France leads the breakaway group as they climb towards Bonette-Restfond pass during the 16th stage of the Tour de France cycling race between Cuneo, northern Italy, and Jausiers, French Alps, yesterday. - AP
JAUSIERS, France (AP):
Frank Schleck of Luxembourg kept the yellow jersey in the Tour de France yesterday with riders pushing themselves through the Alps as the race left Italy and returned to France.
French rider, Cyril Dessel won the 16th stage for his first stage victory in this race. He led a breakaway group of four riders to a downhill finish, completing the 157-kilometre trip from Cuneo, Italy, in 4 hours, 31 minutes, 27 seconds.
Schleck refrained from attacking during the tough mountain climbs, opting to stay with his closest rivals and finished 1:28 minutes behind Dessel to gain ground on two potential rivals - the normally reliable Russian, Denis Menchov and Christian Vande Velde, an American who is contending in a major three-week race for the first time.
Tough stage
A more decisive performance could come today when the Tour's toughest stage ends with the storied serpentine climb to L'Alpe d'Huez.
"We're going to try to make the other riders lose the Tour de France tomorrow," Schleck said.
His main title rivals finished in the same time as Schleck. Bernhard Kohl of Austria remains second overall, seven seconds behind, and pre-race favourite Cadel Evans of Australia is third, :08 back. Carlos Sastre, a CSC teammate of Schleck, is fourth, :49 behind.
Nothing special
Menchov and Vande Velde both had trouble on the technical descent that concluded the stage. Menchov simply couldn't keep up with the other race leaders, while Vande Velde fell.
"Nothing special happened," Menchov said. "I just lost the wheel. The upper sections of the downhill were very technical and difficult ... I didn't panic and I didn't get scared, I just wanted to get down the mountain as safely and as fast as possible."
Menchov lost 35 seconds and dropped from fourth to fifth overall, 1:13 behind. The damage for Vande Velde was far greater, with the Chicago native losing 2:36 and dropping from fifth to sixth in the standings.
