MENDE, France — Joaquin Rodriguez of Spain won a hilly 12th stage of the Tour de France on Friday, beating title contender Alberto Contador in a two-man sprint to the finish.
Rodriguez and the defending champion burst from the pack in a steep final climb, leaving behind race leader Andy Schleck and overtaking several breakaway riders.
Contador ended up gaining 10 seconds on his rival and now trails Schleck by 31 seconds.
Rodriguez, a 10-year veteran on the Katusha team riding in his first Tour, held off Contador in the last few hundred yards of the 131-mile course from Bourg-de-Peage to Mende.
Rodriguez stretched out his arms, looked back and smiled as he nosed Contador at the line in 4 hours, 58 minutes, 26 seconds.
Contador’s Astana teammate Alexandre Vinokourov was third.
“I knew to anticipate, and I knew it was going to be difficult,” said Rodriguez, who won the Volta of Catalunya in April. “I did it perfectly. I knew I’d be able to resist Alberto.”
Rodriguez said he had ridden well in the Tours of Italy and Spain in the past, but “I just needed to win in the best race in the world.”
Schleck finished fifth and Samuel Sanchez of Spain placed sixth to remain third overall, 2:45 back. Levi Leipheimer of the United States finished 11th, 17 seconds off the lead as he tries to keep pace in the overall standings in hopes of securing a place on the podium in Paris. He is sixth overall, 4:06 behind Schleck.
In the final miles, the pack scaled the La Croix Neuve pass — featuring nearly 1.2 miles with an average gradient of more than 10 percent.
Vinokourov and three other breakaway riders were the first at the foot of the climb. Initially, he and Belarus rider Vasil Kiryienka slugged it out and the Kazakh star rode out alone.
But with just more than a mile to go, Contador caught Schleck off-guard by racing out wide in the climb and mustering a burst of speed. As the Spaniard rose up out of his saddle, his bike rocking side to side, Schleck couldn’t or wouldn’t make a chase — and kept seated pedaling a steady rhythm.
Contador and Rodriguez then overtook Vinokourov, who is riding in his first Tour since serving out a suspension after being kicked out of the 2007 Tour for blood doping.
Schleck sensed he wouldn’t keep up with Contador.
“I knew this was going to be a really tough climb,” he said of La Croix Neuve. “I don’t like this climb, it doesn’t fit me. I’m happy I lost only 10 seconds in the end.”
Tour organizers said U.S. sprint specialist Tyler Farrar of the Garmin-Transitions team dropped out of the race during Friday’s stage. Neither they nor his team immediately explained why, though Farrar had been riding with a broken left wrist from one of numerous crashes on rain-slicked roads in Stage 2.
AT A GLANCE
Friday’s 12th stage of the Tour de France:
Stage: The sinewy route featured five mid-grade climbs on a 131-mile trek from Bourg-de-Peage to Mende, finishing with a short but punishing category 2 ascent up Cote de la Croix-Neuve.
Winner: Joaquin Rodriguez of Spain won in 4 hours, 58 minutes, 26 seconds. Defending champion Alberto Contador of Spain was second with the same time, and Alexandre Vinokourov of Kazakhstan was four seconds behind them in third.
Yellow jersey: Andy Schleck of Luxembourg kept the yellow jersey, but his lead over Contador was trimmed to 31 seconds.
Spanish rider Samuel Sanchez is 2:45 back in third.
How Lance Armstrong did: Armstrong lost time to the leader for a third straight day — crossing in 57th place, 3:35 back of Rodriguez. He’s 32nd overall, 21:16 behind Schleck.
How Garmin-Transitions did: Ryder Hesjedal had Garmin’s top finish — 24th — but dropped one spot in the overall standings to 13th place and lost 43 seconds on Schleck, and is now 6:25 behind. Garmin is 18th of 22 in the team standings. The injury bug continued to plague the team, as sprinter Tyler Farrar withdrew because the pain in his fractured left wrist was finally too much to bear. Christian Vande Velde withdrew after a Stage 2 crash exacerbated previous injuries, and Robbie Hunter could not start Stage 11 because of lingering pains.
Quote of the day: “I’m happy I lost only 10 seconds in the end.” — Schleck
Next stage: Today’s 13th stage takes riders 121.7 miles from Rodez to Revel, over five low-level climbs. On Sunday, the race enter the Pyrenees and four punishing mountain stages.
Denver Post staff and wire services
