ALPE D'HUEZ, France – The King of the Mountains and white jersey for best young rider at the Tour de France were probably determined Wednesday.
Bernhard Kohl kept the polka dot jersey given to the best climber after the final stage in the Alps and Andy Schleck increased his lead in the white jersey standings to 1 minute, 58 seconds over Roman Kreuziger.
Kohl, an Austrian with the Gerolsteiner team, holds a 125-80 lead over yellow jersey wearer Carlos Sastre in the mountain points standings.
While there are some minor climbs remaining, Kohl is virtually assured of maintaining the polka dot jersey when the race ends in Paris on Sunday. He is also third in the overall standings.
“I'm really happy with my situation and I'm really happy with this jersey – I'm going to wear it through to Paris,” Kohl said.
The 26-year-old Kohl finished 31st in his first Tour last year.
Kohl struggled but stayed with the other race leaders in the toughest stage of the Tour, with three major climbs and an uphill finish to storied L'Alpe d'Huez. He crossed 10th, with the same time as race favorite Cadel Evans, but 2:15 behind Sastre, whose CSC team set a blistering pace.
“For sure, this was the hardest day of my life,” Kohl said. “Team CSC made it hard from the beginning.”
Schleck should be able to hold off Kreuziger in the final 32.9-mile time trial Saturday, already having beaten the Czech rider by 22 seconds in the Tour's first race against the clock.
The 23-year-old Schleck is being touted as a future Tour winner. He sits 12th overall, 10:15 behind Sastre, but has had to sacrifice himself for Sastre and his older brother Frank Schleck, who entered Wednesday's stage with the yellow jersey.
“I'm staying with my feet on the ground. Everyone expects a lot and they can talk all they want, but I'm the one that has to do the work and I know I still have some work to do,” Andy Schleck said. “I will come back one day and try to finish on the podium.”
VANDE VELDE BOUNCES BACK: American rider Christian Vande Velde bounced back from a fall a day earlier and kept pace with the race favorites Wednesday.
Vande Velde crossed ninth after the serpentine climb to L'Alpe d'Huez, 2:15 behind stage winner Sastre, but with the same time as pre-race picks Evans and Denis Menchov.
On Tuesday, Vande Velde lost touch on the final climb and then fell in the downhill finish, losing 2:36 and dropping out of contention for the overall victory.
“I was really down yesterday,” Vande Velde said. “I haven't been down like that too many times in my career. But what are you going to do? I'm not going to throw it all away. I spent half my year in training camp and I'm not going to throw it all away now.”
Vande Velde is sixth overall, 4:41 behind Sastre, who took the yellow jersey of the overall leader with a solo attack.
Vande Velde used to be a support rider for Sastre with Team CSC. Now he is the leader of the American team, Garmin-Chipotle.
“It was uncharacteristic of Carlos to attack first. He's usually the one off the back and crawling his way back to the front,” Vande Velde said. “That was awesome of Carlos. I'm proud of him. He deserves it.”
A strong time trialer, Vande Velde is hoping to creep back into the top five in the race's final race against the clock Saturday.
“It's great,” Vande Velde said. “I'm just so happy to be done with these days in the mountains.”
The battle for the yellow jersey appears to be between Sastre and Evans, who is 1:34 behind the Spaniard, with Evans considered a stronger time trialer.
“A minute 34 is still a long time, and Carlos isn't a horrible time trialist by any means,” Vande Velde said. “He's a very good time trialist. It's just everyone has the perception that if you're not top three you're a bad time trialist. He's quite good, but I don't know. It's going to be close.”
HOLLYWOOD AT THE TOUR: The Tour de France got a dose of Hollywood on Wednesday when actor Michael Douglas and former NBA coach Pat Riley were special guests for the race's signature stage.
Douglas – who won an Oscar for his performance in “Wall Street” and starred in such hits as “Romancing the Stone,” and “Fatal Attraction” – and Riley, who is now the Miami Heat team president, were flown in by helicopter to the top of L'Alpe d'Huez and took part in the award ceremonies that followed the stage.
The Americans also were treated to a helicopter ride down from the mountain, Tour officials said, meaning they didn't have to sit through the traffic jam facing most fans.
