Germany's Linus Gerdemann scored a major upset by winning the first mountain stage of the Tour de France to pull on the race's fabled yellow jersey in Le Grand Bornand, France, on Saturday.
Gerdemann, of T-Mobile, crossed the finish line after the 197.5km run from Bourg-en-Bresse to Le Grand Bornand 40 seconds ahead of Spaniard Inigo Landaluze after a dramatic descent.
Euskaltel climber Landaluze had been one of three Spaniards chasing Gerdemann in the race's final 20km, after the race debutant attacked Kazakh rider Dmitriy Fofonov, of Credit Agricole, 7km from the summit of the Colombiere ascent.
PHOTO: EPA
Gerdemann came over the top of the race's first category one climb after a 16km slog with a 17-second lead on Landaluze, who had by then overtaken a tiring Fofonov on his way up.
However, if his attack on the way up set pulses racing, Gerdemann's descent provided further drama.
The 25-year-old flirted with disaster on more than one occasion, skirting the concrete of a roadside barrier after taking a left hand bend far too tight and keeping his team on tenterhooks as he did everything possible to hold off his pursuers.
Suffering from cramps and the fear of being caught by Landaluze, Gerdemann eventually crossed the finish line in triumph.
His victory will mean a lot to a team who, almost 10 years ago to the day, celebrated former race champion Jan Ullrich first stage win.
"It's a dream come true," said Gerdemann, who has been heralded as one of T-Mobile's new generation since a total shake-up of the team's management in the wake of doping revelations by former riders.
"I really only began to think about savoring my win 300m from the finish line," he said.
He admitted the hardest part had been the solo ride to the Colombiere summit.
"The last kilometer on the climb was so long, I was looking for the 500m [to go] sign, and of course it wasn't there - because there aren't any on the climbs of the Tour," Gerdemann said.
A beaten Landaluze said: "I gave it everything to catch him on the descent, but it was impossible."
Gerdemann now leads Landaluze, a former winner of the Dauphine Libere stage race, by 1 minute 24 seconds in the race's general classification.
However, the race to replace disgraced American Floyd Landis is only just beginning.
"It doesn't mean a lot," said contender Cadel Evans when asked how T-Mobile's possession of the yellow jersey will change the strategies of the contending team. "It's still very early."
Germany's Andreas Kloden is the best placed of the yellow jersey contenders.
The Astana rider is sixth at 3:39, with a 30 second lead or so on most of his challengers.
Kloden was riding his second day since fracturing his tailbone on Thursday's fifth stage and the peloton's decision - or inability - to take time off the former runner-up will prove a boon to the embattled Astana team.
His team leader, Alexandre Vinokourov, also finished the race intact, losing no time to his main rivals despite racing for the second day with more than 30 stitches in deep cuts on his knees.
Vinokourov is now 44th at 5:16 behind Gerdemann.
However, team manager Marc Biver admits they are not yet out of danger.
"None of the favorites attacked each other, but that's normal. The riders will be keeping that for tomorrow's stage" the Swiss said.
Evans, his fellow Australian Michael Rogers, Spanish pair Oscar Pereiro and Alejandro Valverde, and American Levi Leipheimer, are all within 10 seconds of each other.
Valverde's team had been given room to breathe when Caisse d'Epargne rider Ivan Gutierrez had been part of the early breakaway.
But Valverde said it had been important to keep a close eye on their rivals.
"Personally, I feel fine," said the Spaniard, whose hopes of a top finish on the race have been dashed by two early exits in 2005 and last year due to injury. "The heat made the stage a bit more difficult, but the pace [of the peloton] wasn't too hard."
Discovery Channel team manager Johan Bruyneel said he was happy to see all his main riders playing leading roles.
"Leipheimer, [Alberto] Contador, [Yaroslav] Popovych and [Vladimir] Gusev were all up there with the peloton," said the Belgian, who oversaw all seven of Lance Armstrong's victories on the race.
"I'm happy the way it went, but I'm expecting the attacks to go on Sunday [yesterday]. It will be a very difficult stage."
Yesterday's stage from Le Grand Bornand to Tignes was tipped as the hardest day of three in total in the Alps. It featured six climbs in total, three of which were graded category one, and the race's first summit finish.
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