While the Tour of Switzerland is dominated by the team leader Thibaut Pinot, the Route du Sud is the race for the future of FDJ. After Olivier Le Gac was caught 250m from the finish line in Saint-Gaudens, Pierre-Henri Lecuisinier took a very nice tenth place in the queen stage won by Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo)
Peyresourde, Val Louron-Azet and the Port of Balès were scheduled for this decisive day in the Pyrenees and as expected it turned into a duel between two of the favorites of the Tour de France, Contador and Quintana (Movistar) who decided the race on the final descent. Pierre-Henri Lecuisinier has worked a lot to improve his climbing and got a good result by taking tenth place.
"They went very fast up the Peyresourde, explains sports director Frédéric Guesdon, "and that was fatal to many riders, including Cédric Pineau who was not a good day. Once the breakaway was formed, the peloton got back together and the race was decided on the Port de Bales."
Contador, with the help of his teammate Rogers, accelerated several times and whittled the peloton down to a dozen riders. Lecuisinier was one of the last to let go and he ended up delivering a result that bodes well for the future.
"He did the descent with Bizkarra (Murias Taldea) that did not help much and they were caught by a small group with two kilometers to go but it is a good result," says Frédéric Guesdon. "It'll be good for his morale. He is twelfth in the overall standings because he was caught out in a small split last Friday but we are satisfied with both him and Olivier Le Gac."
In this stage, Francis Mourey who recovered very well from his Giro, had no success. He had a mechanical 4 kilometers from the bottom of the Port de Bales. Anthony Geslin was there to help him but it was impossible to get back. Without this mishap, he was likely to have been in the mix.
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