Team Saxo Bank took ownership of the Tour on Wednesday’s stage 17 by placing Frank Schleck 1st and brother Andy Schleck 3rd on the stage. Alberto Contador placed 2nd and the trio finished just over two minutes ahead of Vincenzo Nibali, and Astana riders Lance Armstrong and Andreas Kloden.

The stage worked out almost to perfection as Team Saxo Bank planned to make this day one to remember.  Team Saxo Bank’s rider development manager Bobby Julich said, “It was one of the best races I have ever seen and will go down in history as one of the most epic stages ever. They (Team Saxo Bank) have worked very hard and have always believed that today’s stage would be important. Now, no matter what happens they can be proud of what they have accomplished.”

Chris Anker Sorensen was a key element to the team’s success. Chris and the rest of the team started working hard early within the stage to make sure only a few riders had the strength to accelerate with Andy and Frank Schleck on the final two climbs.

To see Chris Anker’s SRM data and interactive file view stage 17’s race report page.

Welcome to the big leagues. Stage 16 was a monster of a stage. Even though it only had two climbs, they were very long and the final climb was the Category 1 Petit-Saint-Bernard.

Chris Anker Sorensen rode in a support role in today’s stage and is proving to be a very valuable teammate to Andy Schleck. The crucial moment in the race came at the three hour mark when Gustav Larsson was the first Saxo Bank rider to take the reins at the front of the peleton, followed by Nicki, and finally Chris Anker took the final pull on the front before Andy Schleck attacked.

Stage 16: Martigny – Bourg-Saint-Maurice 159km

Brief Results

1 .Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau (Spa) Euskaltel – Euskadi .4:14:20 .

2 .Sandy Casar (Fra) Fran.aise des Jeux .0:00:06 .

3 .Pierrick Fedrigo (Fra) BBOX Bouygues Telecom

59 Chris Anker Sorensen (Den) Team Saxo Bank .0:10:28

General classification after stage 16

1 .Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana .67:33:15 .

2 .Lance Armstrong (USA) Astana .0:01:37 .

3 .Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Garmin – Slipstream .0:01:46

36 .Chris Anker Sorensen (Den) Team Saxo Bank .0:21:35

Chris Anker’s Race Summary: Click here to read the entire race analysis, and to visit Chris’s interactive TrainingPeaks Journal.

Average Watts: 249w

Normalized power: 296

Average heart rate: 154

Mean Max 5-minutes: 382w

Mean Max 20-minutes: 362w

Kilojoules:  4074

TSS: 276

For Stage 10 on Bastille Day, July 14th, Sorensen celebrated by taking it relatively easy. There wasn’t much to do except fetch bottles and keep watch over his team leader Andy Schleck. With little drama throughout the stage, it ended up almost being a recovery day for him.

Stage 11 was almost a complete repeat of stage 10 for Chris Anker Sorensen. The stage was primarily flat and uneventful since Team Columbia HTC had a confident and very dominant Mark Cavendish. Cavendish’s team took control and chased down a two-man breakaway and sealed the deal on a third stage victory for their sprinter.

The tactics by Team Columbia HTC also meant Team Saxo Bank could focus all of their attention on keeping Andy Schleck safe and sound the past two days. Chris did everything possible to make sure his team leader enters the Alps as fresh as possible. Including Monday’s rest day, the past three days have been an opportunity to rest up and look towards the upcoming drama in the Alps.

For all of the files and stage details for stages 1-11 visit the TrainingPeaks Tour de France reports page.

Chris has ridden superbly for his team in the mountains and has been seen several times setting the pace for the front group. He definitely deserves Monday’s rest day and can hopefully recover well for the stages in the Alpes yet to come.

Read all about stages 1-9 on the TrainingPeaks Tour de France Reports page here.

Chris Anker Sorensen’s SRM Power Data:

Stage 8                Stage 9

Distance:                        176km       160km

Time:                              4:33             4:06

Average Watts:              244w         253w

Normalized Power:        306w          311w

Mean Max 5-minutes:   432w*        397w

Mean Max 20-minutes: 383w         388w*

Kilojoules:                    4190kj        3878kj

TSS:                                 309             284

*to date maximum values of the Tour de France for Chris Anker Sorensen.

Chris Anker’s stage 8 file can be viewed here and stage 9 can be seen here.

This chart, taken from TrainingPeaks WKO+, shows Chris Anker Sorensen’s heart rate distribution by zone within stage 9 of the Tour de France.

Stage 7 also saw Team Saxo Bank’s Chris Anker Sorensen’s duties switch from helping his teammate Cancellara, to helping Andy Schleck stay with the group containing the likes of Armstrong, Leipheimer and Cadel Evans.  The effort involved in working for Schleck, along with climbing some of Europe’s highest mountains, resulted in Sorensen’s toughest day of riding so far with a TSS score of 403 after over 6 hours on the bike.

 Check out Chris Anker’s SRM power file from both stage 6 and 7  here. Stage 6 was also brutal, commenting on the 180 km long stage, Sorensen remarked, “I suffered the first 50 km…and the last 130.”

In addition to the power files on TrainingPeaks, stay tuned for race and power analysis articles by Dirk Friel on Velonews.