Tour de France stage 15: Embrun>Prato Nevoso with Vande Velde

Author: admin

20 Jul

Location:
Hautes-Alpes, France & Cuneo, Italy

Overview:
Team Garmin-Chipotle riders are recording the stages of the 2008 Tour de France with their Garmin Edge 705s for all you data hungry fans out there. Each day we will feature one rider and his data.

Stage 15 takes the riders through the Hautes-Alpes into the mountains of northern Italy. The peloton crosses the Italian border by way of the hors category Col Agnel climb. After descending into Cuneo, the stage is relatively rolling with one category 3 climb and the uphill finish on the category 1 Prato Nevoso in Italy.

The theme for today’s cold, stormy stage for Christian Vande Velde was to survive and stick with the leaders. Though he did get caught up with several other riders in a minor crash, Christian caught back up with the lead group coming into the final climb. Multiple attacks and counters splintered the 10-man group Maillot Jaune on the final Prato Nevoso climb. Christian held his own in the intense battle and finished tenth on the stage, moving into fifth overall.