CYRIL Dessel's masterly descent of the Col de la Bonette-Restefond clinched the prestigious 16th stage of the Tour de France from Cuneo to Jausiers as Frank Schleck retained the yellow jersey.
The Ag2r-La Mondiale rider broke away from the leading group alongside Sandy Casar, Yaroslav Popovych and David Arroyo, who descended together from the highest peak in Tour history.
Dessel made his move 800 metres from the finish, and held his lea
d through a final right-hander 80m from the finish to take his first stage win in a Grand Tour, ahead of Casar, Popovych and Arroyo.
CSC were able to maintain control of the group containing Schleck who stays in the maillot jaune for another day. The big loser was Rabobank's Denis Menchov who struggled on the Bonette and drops one minute 13 seconds behind.
Schleck maintains his seven-second lead on Bernhard Kohl, with Cadel Evans a further one second back.
John-Lee Augustyn was first to pass over the 2,802m-high Bonette, a barren mountain nicknamed the 'rooftop of the world', but the South African came unstuck on the way down.
Augustyn's group of 10 riders overhauled early escapee Stefan Schumacher, and the Barloworld man kicked away 600m from the top to became only the third man to pass the peak in the history of the Tour, joining the legendary climbers Federico Bahamontes (1962 and 1964) and Robert Millar (1993).
But as Augustyn began the dangerous descent, he missed a right-hand hairpin and went straight onto the gravel at the side of the road, ending his chances of a stage win.
Instead, 33-year-old Dessel led home a French one-two on the slopes of a mountain he first climbed with his father.
"Since the start of the Tour, my tactic has been to join an escape, but I haven't felt very well," said Dessel. "So I never had strong enough legs in the mornings.
"I was in good form in May but my preparations for the Tour have been affected by saddle problems.
"It wasn't easy to join the escape, which took a long time to come together. But when it did, it gave me a place in the counter-attacking group.
"You could say that I won 50 metres from the line, but I didn't dare raise my arms."
Augustyn and Dessel shoot up the King of the Mountains classification, but Kohl stays in the polka dot jersey with a 25-point lead on Gerolsteiner team-mate Sebastian Lang.
Schleck remains in the box seat for the overall title, 50 years since Luxembourg last produced a Tour winner, Charly Gaul. But with four riders – Kohl, Evans, Carlos Sastre and Menchov – within 73 seconds, his work is far from done.
Menchov and Evans are both stronger time-triallists, meaning Schleck and Sastre's CSC team must make more gains in the mountains. Their task begins tomorrow with the punishing climb over the Col du Galibier and steep summit finish at Alpe d'Huez.
The full article contains 509 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
