LONDON, England (BBC) – Frenchman Pierrick Fedrigo produced a late burst to edge out Italy’s Franco Pellizotti on stage nine of the Tour de France from Saint Gaudens to Tarbes yesterday.

The pair, who broke clear of a four-man breakaway on the Col du Tourmalet, successfully held off the peloton’s attempts to reel them in.

And Fedrigo out-sprinted Pellizotti to the line with the peloton closing in.

Italian Rinaldo Nocentini finished in the peloton to keep the yellow jersey, with no change among the leaders.

The 160.5-km stage, from St Gaudens to Tarbes, saw Fedrigo and Pellizotti form part of a 12-man breakaway group in the opening five kilometres.

Jens Voigt and Leonardo Duque were also involved and they joined Fedrigo and Pellizotti before the day’s climbing began with the category one slog up the Col d’Aspin.

Duque was dropped near the summit, leaving three up front and when Fedrigo and Pellizotti attacked on their way up the fearsome Col du Tourmalet, Voigt faded too.

They still had 70km to hold out from the summit of Tourmalet to the finish in Tarbes, some 1,800m beneath them.
The peloton, dragged along by the Caisse d’Epargne team, closed the gap with every passing kilometre, but as they entered the outskirts of Tarbes, the chase became disorganised allowing Fedrigo and Pellizotti to stay clear.

“At first we were four, then three, finally two and then I won. It’s a great moment of happiness,” said the 30-year-old Fedrigo, who won his previous Tour stage in 2006.

It was a second stage win of the Tour for the Bouygues Telecom team, following Thomas Voeckler’s victory on stage five.

Spain’s Oscar Freire out-sprinted the main bunch to snatch third place.

Astana’s Alberto Contador and Lance Armstrong, who are second and third overall respectively, finished alongside Nocentini in the main bunch, as did Britain’s Bradley Wiggins who continues to have an excellent Tour and lies fifth.

Fellow Brits David Millar also came home in the pack, while Charle Wegelius was just over two minutes back.

Meanwhile, Mark Cavendish finished alongside green jersey rival Thor Hushovd 25 minutes after Fedrigo. The Norwegian keeps the jersey.

Spain’s Egoi Martinez, who rides for the Euskaltel team, took the king of the mountains polka dot jersey from Christophe Kern.

Overall standings:
Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita/AG2R) 34 hours 24 minutes 21 seconds

2. Alberto Contador (Spa/Astana) + 06 secs

3. Lance Armstrong (USA/Astana) + 08

4. Levi Leipheimer (USA/Astana) + 39

5. Bradley Wiggins (GB/Garmin) + 46