In yet another spectacular day of racing in the Tour de France, Norway's Edvald Boasson Hagen captured the second consecutive stage and fourth overall stage win for a country more noted for Nordic Skiing than cycling.
Following country man Thor Hushovd's spectacular win Tuesday, in which he barely lost, Boasson Hagen redeemed himself breaking away on the final climb and bombing down a twisty, treacherous descent, to win. Boasson Hagen had actually scouted the descent outside the Italian town of Pinerolo in training, no doubt giving him an advantageous.
That same final descent played a big role in the general classification as race leader Thomas Voeckler almost crashed twice. It provided an unique opportunity for contenders Alberto Contador and Sammy Sanchez. Contador had attempted and failed on several attacks on the final climb but got away with Sanchez on the descent. It took until the final 500 meters for contenders Andy and Frank Schleck, Cadel Evans to catch the Spanish duo. Voeckler finished 27 seconds behind along with American Tom Danielson, but made it home in one piece. The standings remained mostly intact with slight gains by Contador, Evans, Sanchez, Damiano Cunego and the Schlecks. Evans crept within 1 minute and 18 seconds of the lead, making him the apparent heir to the yellow jersey come Thursday night after the monster stage to the summit of the Col de Galibier, a mammoth climb, which serves the highest point of this year's Tour.
Stage 18 predictions: With three above category climbs, all rising above 8,000 feet, Thursday's stage will no doubt shake out the final contenders for the podium in Paris. The expectation is that Voeckler will loose the leader's jersey and Contador and perhaps Sanchez will be on the attack to peck away at their contenders. Voeckler has presented such good form, that he cannot be ruled out and will be hard to shake. The Schlecks continue to provide a one-two punch that could shoot any individual contender off kilter. With Frank Schleck more than a minute ahead of Andy Schleck, who is thought to be the better of the two as a climber, expect Andy to counter any big moves and wait for the final five kilometers to the finish to attack. If the opportunity presents itself, Frank may push the pace to test the response of other contenders on the Col d'Izoard, the second to final climb. Evans and Basso have showed they are content to follow wheels. And, with his current position, Evans should be following not leading. Waiting in the wing is climbing specialist Jelle Vanendert of Belgium, who is proving he can climb with anyone and may see if a second stage win is possible. Because he remains more than 11 minutes down in the standings, he is a very likely candidate to drift off the front of a suspected small final group on the final climb. His extra incentive is more points toward the KOM leader's jersey. It's Sammy Sanchez, only a few points down in that competition, who may want to go with him, which would suck along all the other contenders, making the push into the high altitude an epic battle. If that happens, Contador will push hard for not only time but stage victory. A wild card in the mix may be American Tom Danielson, who is far enough down in the overall classification to make a push with a rider like Vanendert. Danielson's strength is long climbs and at high altitude. And, racing at altitude can often times shoot off even the best physiological human machines.
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