Luis-Leon Sanchez Wins Crash-Marred Tour de France Stage Nine

BREAKAWAY WIN: Luis-Leon Sanchez celebrates winning Stage Nine of the 2011 Tour de France. Michael Steele/Getty Images

Luis-Leon Sanchez of Rabobank joined a breakaway in the first quarter of Stage Nine of the 2011 Tour de France Sunday, and stayed out front through the rest of the race, winning the stage and taking second in the General Classification.

The 165-kilometer breakaway came down to a three-way sprint finish between Sanchez, Thomas Voeckler, and Sandy Casar—an eerie echo of Stage Nine of 2010 when Casar beat Sanchez in a three-way sprint after a long breakaway over many hills.

“In the end, it’s true that there was a rematch of last year with Casar but Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne was very different because I didn’t know the final very well,” Sanchez said.

“Today I had studied the course and I knew there was a hill and then a turn at the finish. Above all, I had tremendous confidence—I felt very strong.”

Stage Made for a Breakaway

Stage Nine was a challenging stage, with eight categorized climbs and an uphill finish. It looked like the perfect stage for a breakaway to stay away and steal the win. In the end, that is what happened, but not in a way anyone had envisioned.

Instead of surviving on speed, the break stayed away because of a serious crash—one of several in the stage, in a Tour which has been marred by numerous serious crashes since Stage One.

Thomas Voeckler of Europcar made the first successful attack 41 kilometers into the day. He sprinted to the top of the first climb to win the King of the Mountain points, and kept on going. Over the next 15 minutes he was joined by Luis Leon Sanchez (Rabobank,) Niki Terpstra (Quick Step,) Sandy Casar (FDJ,) Juan Antonio Flecha (Sky,) and Johnny Hoogerland (Movistar.)

Shortly before the peak, David Millar (Garmin-Cervelo,) Andrey Zeits (Astana,) Heimar Zubeldia (RadioShack,) Amet Txurruka (Euskatel,) and Lars Bak (HTC-Highroad) tangled and crashed. All were able to continue except Txurruka, who withdrew.

The next rider cut down by fate was Alberto Contador, who collided with a fan and went down ninety kilometers into the stage. The Saxo Bank rider was able to continue, after switching to a new bike.

The six breakaway riders gained almost four minutes on the peloton before Garmin-Cervelo decided to shut it down. Voeckler was only 1:29 behind race leader Thor Hushovd, and Garmin wanted to keep the big Norwegian in yellow through the rest day and possibly even until Stage Twelve, the first real mountain stage.

Next: Another Devasting Crash 

Another Devastating Crash

The break reached the second climb of the day, the Cat Two Col du Pas de Petrol. Nicki Terpstra dropped off; the rest kept on, though the gap was shrinking. It seemed certain that the break would be caught.

Instead a huge accident at 98 km caught up more than a dozen riders and sidelined three General Classification contenders, Astana’s Alexandre Vinokourov, Jurgen Van Den Broeck, and Dave Zabriskie—Vinokourov with a suspected broken pelvis, Zabriskie with a suspected broken shoulder, and Zabriskie with a possible broken wrist. Omega Pharma-Lotto’s Frederik Willems broke a collarbone in this crash and also retired.

The leaders of the peloton decided to slow down and wait for the stragglers to rejoin the group before racing again. This let the breakaway open a gap for the peloton too large for the peloton to erase. 

Garmin Cervelo rode hard to keep Thor Hushovd in yellow, but finally, with a gap of four minutes and only nine kilometers left, the team had to admit the situation was hopeless. They sat up and let the break go. Thor and company decided that it was wiser to save their legs for later stages.

Driving to Endanger

The carnage was not over. Unbelievably, a television crew car tried to squeeze past the breakaway riders with two wheels off the road, then cut back across the road to avoid a tree, slamming into Juan Antonio Flecha and forcing Johnny Hoogerland into a ditch where he somersaulted into a barbed-wire fence.

The TV crew will be banned from the race, as was the motorcyclist who wrecked Nicki Sorenson in Stage Five.

This penalty cannot undo the harm done. Either of these riders could have won the stage; instead, they were lucky to finish, and hopefully are not too injured to continue.

“What happened with Flecha and Hoogerland is a big shame because the worst was over with by then,” Sanchez told letour.com.

“When it happened, we slowed to see if they fell and then we looked to see if they could come back with us. But we soon realized that they had no chance.

“There was a stage win at stake, so Voeckler and Casar and I decided to continue riding.”

Voeckler, Casar, and Sanchez pressed on, riding the final 30 km to the town of Saint-Flour, where they finished in a sprint which Luis Leon Sanchez won.

Thomas Voeckler won the yellow jersey; Luis Leon Sanchez advanced to second overall, and Johnny Hoogerland won the King of the Mountains jersey, despite being flattened by the TV car and finishing well off the back of the peloton.

Monday is a much-needed rest day; many riders have wounds to nurse. Hopefully when the riding resumes on Tuesday, the crashing will not resume as well.

2011 Tour de France Stage Nine Results					General Classification after Stage Nine
1	Luis Leon Sanchez	Rabobank	5:27:09		1	Thomas Voeckler	Europcar	38:35:11
2	Thomas Voeckler	Europcar	0:00:05		2	Luis Leon Sanchez	Rabobank	0:01:49
3	Sandy Casar	FDJ	0:00:13		3	Cadel Evans	BMC	0:02:26
4	Philippe Gilbert	Omega Pharma-Lotto	0:03:59		4	Fränk Schleck	Leopard Trek	0:02:29
5	Peter Velits	HTC-Highroad	0:03:59		5	Andy Schleck	Leopard Trek	0:02:37
6	Cadel Evans	BMC	0:03:59		6	Tony Martin	HTC-Highroad	0:02:38
7	Andy Schleck	Leopard Trek	0:03:59		7	Peter Velits	HTC-Highroad	0:02:38
8	Tony Martin	HTC-Highroad	0:03:59		8	Andreas Klöden	Team RadioShack	0:02:43
9	Fränk Schleck	Leopard Trek	0:03:59		9	Philippe Gilbert	Omega Pharma-Lotto	0:02:55
10	Damiano Cunego	Lampre	0:03:59		10	Jakob Fuglsang	Leopard Trek	0:03:08