Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team had its share of impressive efforts in the second week of the Tour de France.
As the race entered the mountains — and the Pyrenees by the end of the week — Dries Devenyns and Peter Velits were able to make breakaways with some of the best in the peloton. Peter Velits was even a King of the Mountain victor on the Col de la Madeleine in Stage 11, a brutal stage which included 71km of climbing out of 148km. Dries Devenyns made his second successful breakaway of the Tour in deceptive flat Stage 15.
Levi Leipheimer bridged to Peter Velits in the difficult Stage 11, but was caught up in a crash resulting from the chaos of tacks left in the road on Stage 14. Photos of those tacks were taken by OPQS Press Officer Alessandro Tegner shortly after the stage ended.
Jerome Pineau and Martin Velits took their chances in respective breakaways, attacking in Stages 13 and 14.
Sylvain Chavanel was diagnosed with bronchitis just days after finishing fifth in the Stage 9 time trial. Despite such misfortune, the French rider fought through the illness with antibiotics. However, he withdrew at the beginning of Stage 15 with a fever in a hectic stage that featured non-stop attacking for the first hour.