Yesterday, when knees became the virtual leader of the race, it was a Double Double For Chavanel : For the second time this year, Sylvain Chavanel has won a stage and taken the yellow jersey because of his willingness to attack. The Frenchman dared to try his luck on a day when all the major contenders were happy to gauge the form of one another on the first ‘mountains’ of the 2010 Tour. The climbs of the Jura are tough but harder days are yet to come and while the world champion is poised to strike, finishing the seventh stage ranked second overall (at 1’25”), Cadel Evans is happy enough to be in the position he is – as he wants the yellow jersey in Paris, not Station des Rousses at the start of the second week.
The French Quickstep coup was repeated again with Jerome Pineau successfully defending his lead in the mountains classification with another bold move. He started the initial escape in the opening kilometer and only returned to the peloton after collecting first place points at five of the six climbs.
None of the favorites for the title attacked each other, unless you count last year’s 10th place finisher Le Mevel (FDJ) who tried a brief surge only to be caught by the group of Contador, Evans, Schleck, Armstrong et al before rolling into the line as part of the peloton that was 1’47” behind the stage winner and new yellow jersey, Sylvain Chavanel.
And today, the eighth stage, is the day of the high mountains - A sporting perspective
This is where the mountains start. There will be a high altitude finishing line at Avoriaz and even if the gaps are not big, Contador should still go on the offensive. He could even get his hands on the Yellow Jersey, but will his team be able to defend it every day? In 2003, Richard Virenque attacked on the Col de la Ramaz pass to win the stage that finished in Morzine and pick up the Yellow Jersey. To find a stage with a finish at Avoriaz, you have to go back sixteen years to 1994. Latvian Piotr Ugrumov, who was the Tour’s runner-up that year, triumphed before winning the following day’s stage as well.
The destination town today: Morzine-Avoriaz in the Jura mountains
• 17 times a stage town in Morzine
• 6 times a stage site in the resort of Avoriaz
• Population: 3,000
• Town in Haute-Savoie (74)
At the end of the 1970s, Avoriaz, the high-altitude ski resort that is part of the town of Morzine, specialised in hosting hill climb time-trials, in which Lucien Van Impe, the King of the Morzine climb, triumphed twice. Over longer distances Bernard Hinault, in 1979, and Piotr Ugrumov, in 1994, also dominated time-trials here at 1,800 metres altitude. In 1985 Lucho Herrera was the first to reach the “Gateway to the Sun” in a stage similar to the one planned for this year’s riders.
The resort of Avoriaz, perched at an altitude of 1,800 m on a sunny plateau, is part of the Morzine-Arvoriaz municipality. Dreamt up by Jean Vuarnet, downhill gold medal winner at the Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley in 1960 and a resident of Morzine, the construction of the resort started in the following years. The project was supervised by property developer Robert Brémond, who went on to become the founder of the Pierre & Vacances group, as well as the architects Jacques Labro and Jean-Jacques Orzoni. A pioneer in ecological terms, the car-free pedestrian only resort boasts surprising mimetic architecture. Buildings with innovative shapes covered in non-treated wood oriented towards the sun and designed to encourage energy saving make Avoriaz unique. The Fantasy Film Festival that took place here from 1973 to 1993 helped to build the resort’s reputation. Today, new events make sure that Avoriaz is a resort known throughout the world: the Grand Odyssey, The Avoriaz Jazz Up Festival, the International Extreme Sports Festival, to name but a few…
Standing Rider Rider number bib Team Time Gaps
1. CHAVANEL Sylvain 131 QUICK STEP 33h 01' 23"
2. EVANS Cadel 121 BMC RACING TEAM 33h 02' 48" + 01' 25"
3. HESJEDAL Ryder 54 GARMIN - TRANSITIONS 33h 02' 55" + 01' 32"
4. SCHLECK Andy 11 TEAM SAXO BANK 33h 03' 18" + 01' 55"
5. VINOKOUROV Alexandre 9 ASTANA 33h 03' 40" + 02' 17"
6. CONTADOR Alberto 1 ASTANA 33h 03' 49" + 02' 26"
7. VAN DEN BROECK Jurgen 101 OMEGA PHARMA - 33h 03' 51" + 02' 28"
8. ROCHE Nicolas 81 AG2R LA MONDIALE 33h 03' 51" + 02' 28"
9. VAN SUMMEREN Johan 58 GARMIN - TRANSITIONS 33h 03' 56" + 02' 33"
10. MENCHOV Denis 191 RABOBANK 33h 03' 58" + 02' 35"
11. WIGGINS Bradley 31 SKY PRO CYCLING 33h 03' 58" + 02' 35"
12. KREUZIGER Roman 44 LIQUIGAS-DOIMO 33h 04' 33" + 03' 10"
13. SANCHEZ Luis-Leon 161 CAISSE D’EPARGNE 33h 04' 34" + 03' 11"
14. ARMSTRONG Lance 21 TEAM RADIOSHACK 33h 04' 39" + 03' 16"
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