Tour de France Word For The Day -- Unrelenting

Stage 16 of the Tour brought a serious sorting out of the peloton.  It was an unrelenting climb through the Alps, from Italy back to France.  Today's stage was a grueling 157 km with two major climbs on the highest road in Europe.  The high point on the second climb was over  9 000 feet.  For those riders ascending the nearly 16 mile "hill" the lack of oxygen also came into play.

The Schleck brothers were a hard driving force on the climb for CSC with younger brother Andy setting the pace for most of the final climb which was followed by a thrilling descent at times reaching 90 kilometres per hour.

Hard luck team, BarloWorld, had a moment of glory as new rider J. Lee Augustyn reached the high point of the Alps first and looked as if he might find a place on the podium today.  It was not to be as he had a spectacular crash on the descent.  He failed to negotiate a sharp bend and left the road at a point well above the tree line, sliding head first down rocks and rubble.  His bike continued well into the valley.  He crawled back up to the road, but had to wait for his team car to bring up a spare bike.  The delay put him well back.

The first across the finish today was Cyril Dessel, cheered on by fellow Frenchmen.  Frank Schleck retains the yellow jersey, followed by Kohl, Evans, Sastre and Menchov.

Tomorrow the race continues in the Alps.