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Tour de France Stage 9
159.5km
Val-d’Isère to Briançon
Start time: 12:30 p.m. (6:30 a.m. U.S. EST)
Estimated Finish time: 5:01 p.m. (11:01 a.m. U.S. EST)

I had the opportunity to spend some time with Levi Leipheimer’s brother Rob at the Amgen Tour of California and I came away a huge fan of Levi. I truly believed that he was going to not only be ready for the Tour de France, but hungry to prove that he could win with authority. I had visions of Levi standing on the podium in Paris wearing the Yellow Jersey celebrating a 9th straight American win. I still am a huge fan of Levi, but I have to wonder about how he has played his hand so far during the tour. Maybe he is just playing the Lance Armstrong play book of fainting the “I am not going to peak until the Pyrenees”. And just when you think he is out of contention he will give his own “look” and leave all of his main GC competitors in his soon diminishing draft.

On Stage 8 Levi had a perfect opportunity to put some serious time on the still hurting Vino (as well as Kloden). But instead he decided to not push the last climb. He looked strong and did not seem to be in any real trouble at all. I am not sure that Levi is going to have many more chances to gain time on Vino. Vino should be well recovered after the rest day, and will much harder to put the hurt on him. Speaking of rest days, how could the GC guys let Rasmussen get that far away on Stage 8 with the rest day the next day. He also will be rested, well fed, and hydrated for the next big mountain stage. Letting Rasmussen get away just might have been a collsall big mistake.

In any case, at this point the GC race is still wide open. And Stage 9 is probably going to be a huge epic mountain battle. Let the Titans Clash!

STAGE 9 MAP

COURSE: Following a rest day at Tignes, the favorites will prepare for what should be one of the Tour’s major climbing days. This stage features the Tour’s highest mountain pass, the Col de l’Iseran (9085 feet) right from the start, which is followed by 70km of downhill and flats before the very long ascent via the Col du Télégraphe to the rugged Col du Galibier (8678 feet). After 35km of descending from the Galibier, the 2km climb to the finish in Briançon averages almost 7 percent.

HISTORY: No less than 32 Tour stages have finished in Briançon, the most recent in 2005 and 2000. Two years ago, Vinokourov beat Colombian Santiago Botero in a two-man break 1:15 ahead of a big group, while in 2000 Botero arrived 2:30 ahead of runner-up Paolo Savoldelli after a solo escape on the Col d’Izoard.

FAVORITES: The question will be whether the strongest riders at Tignes will be the best over the Galibier – which always catches out those riders who are not 100 percent. A small group is likely to contest the victory, with men like Valverde, Klöden and Evans eager to take a prestigious win (and the valuable time-bonus seconds) on the uphill finish in Briançon.

Climbs:
Km 15: Col de l’Iseran: 15.0 km climb @ 6 % grade / hors catégorie
Km 99: Col du Telegraphe: 12.0 km climb @ 6.7 % grade / 1st Cat.
Km 122: Col du Galibier: 17.5 km climb @ 6.9 % grade / hors catégorie

Sprints:
Km 33.5: Le Villaron (Bessans)
Km 60: Bramans