Boonen Breaks Up The Traditional Transitional Formula

The 178.5km 12th stage of the 2007 Tour de France, from Montpellier to Castre, began at 12.58pm. There were 168 riders at the start. Two men abandoned during stage 11 – Calzati (A2R) and Anton (EUS) – and Zabriskie (CSC) finished outside the time limit. The itinerary included four climbs: three cat-4 ascents – the cote de Cantagel (at 27.5km), cote du Mas-Rouet (58km), col du Buis (74.5km) and the cat-2 Montee de la Jeante (130.5km). The intermediate sprints were in Herepian (81.5km) and Olargues (101km). _ _ Escape Begins Immediately _ As soon as the flag fell to signal the start, Chavanel (COF) launched an attack. He was joined at the 2km mark by seven others – Merckx (TMO), Isasi (EUS), Wegmann (GST), Garate (QSI), Grabsch (MRM), Navarro (AST) and Cardenas (BAR). The escape was caught at the 17km mark. There were several other escape attempts with Chavanel the main aggressor but the peloton was together at the first climb with Gilbert (FDJ) leading over the summit. The average speed was 43.4km/h. No escape gained any momentum after that and the bunch remained together until the 52km mark. Ongarato (MRM) crashed at 7km and abandoned the Tour soon afterwards. _ _ Fedrigo & Txurruka Make A Move _ At 52km Txurraka (EUS) and Fedrigo (BTL) rode ahead of the peloton. There was no reaction to their move and they quickly gained a good advantage. At 60km they led by 3’00” and no one bothered to try and bridge the gap until Burghardt (TMO) rolled ahead of an apathetic peloton at 65km. It was hardly a committed attack rather a mild acceleration. At the Col du Buis the advantage was 6’25” over Burghardt and 8’35” over the peloton. At the 85km mark, the leading duo reached their maximum gain: 11’35” over the peloton (6’20” over Burghardt). Liquigas then sent rider to the head of the pack to start chasing. At the 96km mark, the advantage dropped: Burghardt was at 5’50” and the peloton at 10’05”. _ _ Closing In On The Escapees _ The Liguigas team reeled in Burghardt with 65km to go. Txurruka and Fedrigo were still 6’40” ahead. The average speed for the third hour was 37.9km/h. On the approach to the Montee de la Jeante, the Predictor-Lotto team moved near the head of the peloton which was 5’15” behind the two escapees with 60km to go but Liquigas were still the ones responsible for the pace of the pack. Caisse d’Epargne moved to the front of the peloton. All the riders in the top 10 of GC were nestled just behind Karpets who led until 500m from the summit. Soler attacked for points but was matched by Dekker and Popovych who claimed third-place points ahead of De La Fuente, Dekker and Soler who reduced his deficit to Rasmussen to just nine points in the climbing classification by collected 10 points. The deficit of the peloton was five minutes at the top. _ _ Quickstep Set Tom Up For Another Win _ On the descent Lampre and FDJ joined forces at the front of the pack. With 35km to go, the deficit to the two escapees was 3’20”… it then dropped steadily: 1’45” with 20km to go, 1’00” with 10km to go. With 7km to go, Quickstep also moved to the front. Most of the sprinters teams were vying for a good position but none could made a dent on the advantage held by Quickstep. They controlled the peloton, swallowed up the two escapees 1,200m from the line, and led the charge to the finish line. It was the traditional arrangment after the 'flamme rouge': De Jongh taking charge until 500m to go, then Steegmans until 200m and then Boonen bolts ahead to finish off the job. Zabel and Hunter finished second and third respectively, about a bike length behind but only centimeters separated them. _ Rasmussen finished 47th and will be the last rider to start the time trial in Albi for stage 13 as the leader of the Tour de France.