The final of today's stage 13 in the Tour de France was quite active, with attacks flying left and right on the final ascent, the côte de Saint-Ferréol. Before Alexander Vinokourov made his race-winning move, Alessandro Ballan had tried and Luis León Sánchez was also in the thick of the action.
Sánchez's move was a bit of a surprise, even to himself. "I didn't have today's stage especially marked, but an opportunity for an attack in the climb of the Saint-Ferréol opened up, so I had to make use of it," Sánchez said after the stage. The location of the top was a perfect distance to try something. "Situated at seven kilometers to go, there were good opportunities to stay away until the finish," said Sánchez.
Unfortunately for Ballan, Sánchez and the others, they didn't manage to do what Vinokourov accomplished - save 13 seconds over a bunch that tried to put its sprinters in place. Vinokourov was already looking sharp yesterday and was finally rewarded for his ever-aggressive style of racing.
Sánchez had the additional problem of being watched by RadioShack. "I knew it would be difficult because we are in the hunt for the teams classification and I'd be a marked man. Nonetheless, I attacked hard."
As the Spaniard soon found out, so did the Kazakh. "Vinokourov countered, we had to give him a few meters and he took out a well-deserved victory," Sánchez added.
All eyes are now on Sunday. "Tomorrow, the last part of the Tour begins, the most demanding. I think we are all a little afraid." Today's attack was also a little test for Sánchez to check out his overall condition. "I hope the legs will respond in the Pyrenees. I would love to be up front, but it won't be easy and I prefer to take it day by day to see if I can do something nice before arriving in Paris."
Sánchez ended the day in 37th place, to stay in the top ten. He lies 5'02 behind Andy Schleck, in ninth spot.