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"Frandy-town"
"Frandy-town" is the word that Robbie McEwen used to speak of the place where he attended the Gala Tour de France tonight, and he was surely right. The whole town of Luxemburg only had eyes for them, for Frank and Andy Schleck, the two first brothers in the history of cycling that were able to climb together on a podium of the Tour de France. The performance was historical and the welcome that they received in Luxemburg lived up to the expectations, at a point that the other stars only played second roles today, as Voeckler, Petacchi, Greipel, Martin, Nuyens and also McEwen could attest.
The weather was chilly and gray with big clouds hanging over the city of Luxembourg, in the late afternoon. A large rain shower
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big bunch
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just had come down and soaked the asphalt, inducing the riders to prepare for the race in the warmth of the lounge of the hotel Molitor, close to the starting line. Outside, the fans were cheering and, despite the bad weather, they were as numerous as in recent years to applaud the heroes of the Tour de France. The avenue de la Liberté continously filled up with crowd and, an hour before kick-off, the good places along the barriers had become rare. On the road, there were also lots of people since the peloton of the 15th Gala Tour de France was quite impressive: 106 registered riders on the start list, this is surely a record for a race like this. Fortunately, a ray of sunshine had appeared in the meantime and the road began to dry, dispelling some of the fear of the participants.
After having paraded during a lap in the company of the happy young winners of a contest organized by Asport as presentation of the race, the peloton headed out for 50 laps with a minimal delay on the schedule, unlike last year.
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first attackers
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Sieberg leads the pack
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Serious things began from the gun as Frank Schleck was the first to launch an attack, accompanied by Laurent Didier. They were still a bit frightened in the slippery corners,
but went full gas in the long straights of the Avenue de la Liberté, managing to hold a small gap on the peloton where the sprinters had already taken the front places: Petacchi and McEwen were up there and the riders from AG2R-La Mondiale were chasing for Sébastien Hinault. The break thus had little chances after a few laps, but the Schleck brothers made of course common tactics: just after the junction, Andy Schleck went out with Nicolas Roche and Tony Martin. Those were three big names in front of the race and Petacchi soon asked Danilo Hondo to organize the chase at the front of the peloton. Rather than bring everyone to the front, the German joined forces with David Moncoutié and bridged up to the three leaders, but just before the intermediate sprint of the lap ten, the regroupement was complete.
The sprint was a beautifull one with McEwen, Petacchi and Greipel playing the game. 79 stage wins in Grand Tours for the trhee of them and it was Andre Greipel who was fastest ahead of the Australian, recent winner of a stage in the Tour de Wallonie. Petacchi had to settle down with third place, the Italian once again rode both the Giro and the Tour this year and maybe is a little bit tired now. Apart from a solo attempt by Australian Will Clarke from the Leopard-Trek team, the pack stayed calm for a few group laps and was mostly led by Fumyuku Beppu for McEwen and by Marcel Sieberg, faithful helper of Andre Greipel when it comes to preparing the sprints. While the battle for the next intermediate sprint was going on, the first riders started to get into trouble at the back of the bunch.
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intermediate sprint
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attacks
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Together with the home amaterus, the members of Kenya's national team struggled to hold on to the wheels: they are all tremendous climbers, but the tight corners of the city of Luxembourg and the constant accelerations they cause are not their cup of coffee.
After round twenty, there was another series of attacks going on: a large group went clear with Beppu, with Andy Schleck, Romain Zingle, the German National champion Robert Wagner, fast Jurgen Roelandts and evergreen Pascal Triebel, who participated in each of the 15 editions of the Gala. Over the next few laps, more riders bridged up to the group, causing it to split up and leave Beppu and Roelandts at the front, along with Jakob Fuglsang, Laurent Didier, Ben Gaustauer, John Gadret, the fourth of the last Giro and Danilo Hondo. Sprinters were well represented at the head of the race, forcing the other stars to show a reaction if they did not want to see their chances of victory fade away. Thomas Voeckler put himself ahead of the peloton along with teammate Anthony Charteau and demonstrated his huge form by chasing down the group almost all by himself. Perfectly delivered by Jurgen Roelandts, Andre Greipel won the third intermediate sprint ahead of Petacchi and Hinault, taking a serious advantage in this extra ranking.
The road was completely dry now and the pace got faster and faster. Jempy Drucker wanted to try his luck, too, and the rider from Luxembourg joined a group which broke away in the 32nd lap, together with Voeckler, Sieberg, Roche, Christian Poos and Tony Martin. The winner of the time-trial at the Tour de France took a risky option by deciding to go clear all by himself, as usual with his biggest gear.
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deciding break
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But the Leopard-Trek riders did not want to give him too much room and accelerated at the head of the pack behind the German, before launching a deciding breakaway that quickly took 40 seconds of advantage despite the chasing of the AG2R-La Mondiale team behind them.
Maxime Monfort, Andy Schleck, Frank Schleck, André Greipel, Alessandro Petacchi, Robbie McEwen, Thomas Voeckler, Laurent Didier and Nick Nuyens, the winner of the last Tour of Flanders, bridged up to Martin. A little bit later Andy Schleck launched a missile with 10 kilomtres to go but unfortunately for him, he received the company of Alessandro Petacchi, who would of course have been far too fast for him in case of a sprint decision. The hero from the Galibier thus waited a little bit, before attacking again together with his brothers.
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Frank Schleck wins
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The magical duo of the Tour de France took the lead of the race, accompanied only by Thomas Voeckler, who wanted to honor the Luxembourg public by a stong performance too. Behind them, everyone looked at each other and despite Laurent Didier working for Nuyens, there was no real agreement. Tony Martin, once again, attempted to redress the situation by bridging up solo, but it was already too late.
At the front, the three heroes of the Tour de France made their show and, of course, the two Schlecks tried to bring Voeckler into difficulties with successive attacks. Andy went three laps from the finish and, as soon as the French rider was back on his wheel, brother Frank attacked during the penultimate lap. At the bell ring, the champion of Luxembourg was a few metres ahead of his chasers and this was enough to take the win, and even have time to enjoy the fireworks welcoming his success. Frank Schleck wins the 15th Gala Tour de France solo, 2 seconds ahead of Thomas Voeckler, who was faster than the younger Schleck in the sprint for second. 10 seconds behind them, Andre Greipel won the sprint of the next chasing group, taking the fourth place at the finish and ensuring the final victory in the intermediate sprint rankings, while Tony Martin was named as the most aggressive rider by the race jury. Of course, all of these riders appeared on the podium after the race and were welcomed by an appreciative audience that couldn't have been happier with the outcome of the race.
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