Cervelo rider Heinrich Haussler took advantage of the miserable conditions on Stage 13. Haussler and Ruben Perez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and Sylvain Chavanel of Quick Step broke away after 50km of racing and built a gap of 9 minutes against the peleton.
Perez lost contact with the breakaway, Haussler and Chavanel climbed the Cat. 1 Col du Platzerwasel together but Chananel never looked comfortable flying down the descent as did Haussler who found himself alone out in front.
Haussler couldn’t contain his emotions when he reached the line line as he chalked up his most important career win to date.
None of the top contenders seemed to suffer any real pressure from the effort and all re-grouped to arrive together by the stage end.
At the end of the stage, Pellizotti (Liquigas) pulle do the mountain jersey from Martinez (Euskatel), and even Thor Hushovd succeeded in keeping up with the main group, and in the mass sprint of the peloton he scored enough points to take the green jersey from Mark Cavendish (Columbia).
Top Ten Results
1 Heinrich Haussler (Ger) Cervelo Test Team 4:56:26
2 Amets Txurruka (Spa) Euskaltel – Euskadi 0:04:11
3 Brice Feillu (Fra) Agritubel 0:06:13
4 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Quick Step 0:06:31
5 Peter Velits (Svk) Team Milram 0:06:43
6 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Cervelo Test Team
7 Vladimir Efimkin (Rus) AG2R La Mondiale
8 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Garmin – Slipstream
9 George Hincapie (USA) Team Columbia – HTC
10 Andy Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank
General Classification after Stage 13
1 Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale 53:30:30
2 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana 0:00:06
3 Lance Armstrong (USA) Astana 0:00:08
4 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Garmin – Slipstream 0:00:46
5 Andreas Kl?den (Ger) Astana 0:00:54
6 Tony Martin (Ger) Team Columbia – HTC 0:01:00
7 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Garmin – Slipstream 0:01:24
8 Andy Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank 0:01:49
9 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas 0:01:54
10 Luis Le?n S?nchez Gil (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne 0:02:16
