Rui coasts to victory

Jul 17, 2013 |

Portuguese rider Rui Costa won the 16th stage of the Tour de France while Chris Froome maintained his healthy lead over Alberto Contador as both of them survived a downhill scare on Tuesday.

Costa broke away on the last climb of a hilly trek to secure the second stage win of his Tour career, crossing the line 42 seconds ahead of Frenchman Christophe Riblon.
Froome and Contador finished just over 11 minutes behind Costa, who is not considered a contender for overall victory.
The stage started from the Provence village of Vaison-la-Romaine in the heart of Rhone winemaking country, and featured several medium-difficulty climbs along the 168-kilometre (104-mile) route to the Alpine town of Gap.
In the sprint for second place, Riblon beat Arnold Jeannesson, Jerome Coppel and German veteran Andreas Kloeden.
Early on, about 25 riders started to pull away, including Frenchman Thomas Voeckler, and Belgians Philippe Gilbert and Jan Bakelants — all Tour stage winners.
The group started to split apart up the Col de Manse, a 9.5-kilometre (6-mile) ascent and the last of the day’s three moderate climbs, and where Costa surged ahead. He also won a climb up to Super Besse ski station in 2011.
About halfway up Manse, Contador attacked, but Richie Porte responded and got his Sky teammate Froome back on Contador’s wheel.
Contador attacked again soon after and opened up a gap of about 50 metres before being caught. Contador then tried a third attack and Porte had to drop off, leaving Froome to do the work.

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