Tour de France leader starts to look vulnerable
BLEL Kadri earned France their first Tour de France win this year on stage eight, a 161km trek from Tomblaine, as race leader Vincenzo Nibali showed a first glimpse of weakness yesterday.
Nibali retained the yellow jersey by finishing third, three seconds behind Spaniard Alberto Contador.
Twice Tour winner Contador attacked on the last ascent and the Italian could not respond after teammate Jakob Fuglsang was dropped in the final climb.
American Andrew Talansky, who crashed on Friday, hit the tarmac again on the slippery descent from the Col de la Grosse Pierre with less than 10km to go. The Garmin-Sharp rider lost more than two minutes to Nibali and Contador, dropping to 16th overall.
Australian Richie Porte, promoted to Team Sky leader after defending champion Chris Froome pulled out injured after a crash, finished fourth in the stage ahead of French hope Thibaut Pinot.
“I think it is going to be a duel between Nibali and Contador. I’m still a bit behind,” said FDJ.fr rider Pinot who is third overall, 1min 58sec behind Nibali, with Dane Fuglsang in second spot, 1:44 off the pace.
Contador is sixth, 2:34 adrift of Nibali, just behind fellow Spaniard Alejandro Valverde.
Contador was anxious to get into the mountains, saying before the stage: “I can’t wait to arrive in my territory to start pulling back some time.” Former Giro d’Italia and Vuelta Espana winner Denis Menchov is serving a drugs ban, the International Cycling Union (UCI) revealed yesterday.
Officially, Menchov retired last year, but the Russian’s name figured on a list released by the UCI yesterday, claiming he was banned until April 9, 2015.
Menchov had not raced since disappearing suddenly from the peloton after abandoning the Tour of Catalunya in March 2013. Russian media said he had retired due to knee problems.
The UCI said his biological passport had shown some anomalies.
Though he won the Vuelta in 2007 and Giro in 2009, the only results he has been stripped of are his Tour de France finishes from 2009 (51st), 2010 (2nd) and 2012 (15th). Menchov had long been suspected of doping and being in contact with tainted Italian doctor Michele Ferrari, though he never tested positive for doping. —