July 27, 2007: 18th stage of the Tour de France: Cahors – Angoulême (210 km).
The atmosphere is rather gloomy in Cahors this morning. During the last two days, no less than 17 runners left the race. Two positive tests on Alexandre Vinokourov from the Astana team and Christian Moreno from Cofidis resulted in their exclusion. They were followed by all their teammates. And the day before, the Rabobank formation dismissed its leader, the Danish Michael Rasmussen convicted of doping, while he was wearing the button of gold tunic.
Second in the general classification, the Spaniard Alberto Contador refuses to don the yellow jersey. Towards Catus, Boogerd unleashes an attack to which Willems, Lefèvre and Casar respond. Combining their efforts, they count 10 km further, nearly 3 ‘ahead. It is at Lavercantière that a dog runs into Sandy Casar head-on, who pulls Willems down in his fall. The Belgian does not insist, while Casar finds an ally in Axel Merckx, who has gone on a counter-attack. Together, they join Lefèvre and Boogerd at the exit of Degagnac, a few kilometers before entering the Dordogne. Their lead only grows, to such an extent that after Brantôme, they are more than 17 ‘ahead.
In the last 10 kilometers, each courier tries his luck in vain. But at 3 km, taking advantage of a central median to surprise his opponents, Sandy Casar gets down to the board and plays his all-out. Too bad, Boogerd brings the trio back. We think that the French chances are over. But no, Casar relaunched 150 meters from the line and won clearly ahead of Axel Merckx and Laurent Lefèvre.
The peloton arrived eight minutes later, with the leaders, but 4 km from the line, the Australian Cadel Evans hit a spectator, avoiding a heavy fall. He retains his 2nd place overall, 1 ’50 “behind Alberto Contador who puts on the yellow jersey. American Levi Leipheimer, 3rd overall but convinced of doping, will leave the race the next day. Sad times.
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