With Americans Levi Leipheimer and Floyd Landis in his wheel,
Vuelta winner Denis Menchov struck a blow to the trio's main rivals
with victory at the summit finish of Stage 11 of the Tour de France
in the Pyrenees on Thursday. Phonak's Landis took the yellow jersey
from Frenchman Cyril Dessel.
Landis, the winner of Paris-Nice, now leads Dessel (AG2R) by
eight seconds in the GC, while Rabobank's Menchov moved into third
overall at 1'01" behind Landis.
The top three finishers pulled away from a lead group that
included fellow GC contenders Christophe Moreau (AG24), Carols
Sastre (CSC), Andreas Kl?den (T-Mobile), and Cadel Evans in the
final assault on the 13-km-long Cat. 1 Pla-de-Beret climb.
Evans and Sastre finished fourth and fifth respectively, while
Kl?den, isolated from his T-Mobile team-mates, dropped to ninth
place 1'31" behind the eventual winners. France's Moreau finished
tenth at 2'29" behind Menchov.
(eurosports.com via China Daily July 14, 2006)
