This has been a punishing Tour all right, with the result that at least two otherwise tantalizing mountain stages (including today’s) have been busts as far as the lead pack goes.

It was a docile run, enlivened only by an 8-rider breakaway that included ageless — well, aged maybe is more accurate — Lance Armstrong and even more senior French champion Christophe Moreau. In the end a Frenchman, Pierrick Fedrigo, did win — the sixth stage for the host country in this edition of the Tour — and Moreau closed to within 15 points of the polka-dot mountain jersey. In a surprise, Thor Hushovd regained the green jersey from Alessandro Petacchi, who entered the stage with a new doping cloud over his head.

Otherwise the general category stayed the same at the top, with Alberto Contador maintaining an 8-second edge over Andy Schleck following yesterday’s controversial 39-second win. We fantasized a sportsmanlike finish today where Contador rode to within 5 feet of the finish, then stopped for 39 seconds before crossing the line. But it was not to be.

It’s unfortunate not one of the Top 10 riders chose to press any kind of attack, because Stage 16 is one of the toughest in this year’s Tour and by rights should’ve provided some fireworks. World champion Cadel Evans, who fell from the back of the peloton, tweeted @cadelofficial, “All suffered here today. I rode in with a group that indicates my level…can’t remember a time I came in after the preso was done ( “

Putting this stage up against tomorrow’s rest day was probably a strategic mistake by the organizers. The riders obviously held back with the thought of focusing on Thursday’s climactic Pyrenees stage as the ultimate decider of this year’s race, the penultimate time trial notwithstanding.

Full report from VeloNews.

Italian Alessandro Ballan jumped off the front in the final uphill riser, then Kazakhstan’s Alexander Vinokourov caught and passed him with 7 kilometers still remaining, speeding 14 and then 18 seconds ahead of the peloton. It was justice served for Vino, who nearly won yesterday’s Stage 12 before being passed by two Spaniards, Astana teammate Alberto Contador and stage winner Joaquim Rodriguez a few hundred yards before the finish.

This time, Vino was all alone.

We were happy for Vino, who has put his dope-clouded past behind him and, perhaps more significantly, seems to have adopted a “no-whine rule.” We once joked that “vino” is a synonym for “whine,” but he kept the lip zipped yesterday.

Brit Mark Cavendish took the ensuing bunch sprint, edging out Italian two-time stage winner (in this Tour) Alessandro Petacchi (our crack research team is calculating exactly how many “Alexes” there are in this year’s Tour). We’re still majorly bummed that Tyler Farrar had to pull out yesterday; this would have been the perfect stage for a head-to-head between Tyler and Mark the Mouth, both having lost their main leadout men. Make no mistake, Cavendish proved that he deserves the title of fastest man on two wheels. But that’s only as good as the next sprint, and we hope to see Tyler and Cav square off many times again in the future.

For now we’re looking forward to the next four days in the Pyrenees, starting with tomorrow’s Stage 14 ending in Ax-3 Domaines. Go Andy!

Full results from Cyclingnews.com.