"It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by the dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worthy course; who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly; so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat." – Theodore Roosevelt
The Tour de France could ride through the Alps for another 100 years, and never see a better stage. In what must be close to the greatest Tour stage of all time, Andy Schleck came back from the dead and turned the 2011 edition abruptly on its head. But the story of this year’s Queen stage, a 200km journey from Pinerolo to the Col-du-Galibier, can only be truly appreciated by looking at the riders who suffered for over 6 hours in the most brutish of all mountain stages.
1st – Andy Schleck – 6hr 7min 56 seconds. A win for the ages. Andy Schleck turned back the clock to the days of Mercx, Coppi, and Bartoli with an outrageous attack over 60km from the finish, on the day’s penultimate climb, the Col d’Izoard. In a move last seen of Floyd Landis on ‘that day’ in 2006, Andy rode the entire peleton off his wheel. He had a two minute gap at the top of the climb – and kept going! Leotard had played the cards perfectly, and with a couple of their riders up ahead having been part of the days break, Andy was able to extend along the valley floor to the Galibier, and by the foot of the climb had built a 4 minute lead on the peleton – and had one foot on the top podium in Paris. Andy managed to maintain his lead for 2/3 of the climb but, unlike Landis’ drug assisted effort in 2006, his immortal performance started to take its toll in the final 10km. Schleck began to tire, and his lead slowly diminished, first to 3:30 then 3 minutes. In the final kilometre Schleck was all over the road like a drunk, and barely had enough energy to cross the finish line. He did however, and pumped his fists above his head in celebration. He had not only won the stage, but in all likelihood won the tour as well. From a rider that had showed the tactial nuances of a 5 year old for most of this year’s today’s win was an act of sheer genius. But Schleck also needed the form to pull of the move. He had looked down and out over the last couple of days but on this day, the day of days, produced the climbing performance of his career, and arguably the last 30 years, to blow away the peleton and write his name forever in the folklore of Tour history.
2nd – Frank Schleck @ 2:07. Probably the Tour’s (worlds?) greatest c**ksucker. Obviously with Andy in front he did absolutely no work in the main bunch, and then had the temerity to kick clear in the final 100m to take time from the day’s true heroes in Evans and Voeckler (more on this later). Prick of a move from a prick of a bloke. Face it Frank – if you rode for Andy like you always should you would never win a race. Next.
3rd – Cadel Evans @ 2:15. A famous John Cleese quote goes as follows:
“It’s not the despair…I can take despair. It’s the hope I can’t stand.”
Surely there has been no better description of Cadel Evans. The beauty of sport is its ability to combine pure joy with tragic despair in virtually the same moment, and the heartbreak that Cadel must have felt in the last 90 minutes in the saddle was the despair that perfectly offset the ecstasy of Andy up the road. While Andy took the massive gamble, and rode to glory, there is no doubt in my mind that the true hero on the day was Cadel Evans. 169 riders started Stage 18, and while 167 of them sat back in disbelief as Andy tried to steal the Tour from their very eyes, only one man put up a fight. And that man was Cadel. There was no more tragic sight than Cadel looking around the other ‘pretenders’ in the main field on the top half of the Izoard and the valley rode to Briancon. Evans mast have been stunned that none of the other title contenders seemed interested in pulling back Schleck. Andy’s time advantage grew and grew, and STILL no one would help Evans. By the start of the Galibier, Cadel had had enough. He attacked – and while his acceleration was not enough to break the field, his monstrous power was too much for any other rider to come around him. What followed was one of the most dominant displays over power mountain riding ever seen. For the next 15km Evans single handedly dragged a group of about 20 riders up the Galibier. Schleck’s advantage of the Tour elite was reduced from 4 minutes to two and a half minutes – soley because of Evans. He got no help from anyone, and didn’t ask for any. This was one man trying to save his Tour de France against all odds. While 167 other riders were being left strewn across the Alps, Evans and Andy Schleck where in a 2 man purgatory to decide the who would wear the Yellow Jersey in Paris. By the finish, Evans had reduced his deficit to Schleck to 2:15 seconds. It was probably the bravest defence of a podium position seen since Stephen Roche in 1987. Roche would go on to win the Tour that year. We can only hope we can say the same for Evans on Sunday in Paris.
5th – Thomas Voeckler @ 2:21 – Voeckler threw out his suitcase of courage last night and replaced it with an oil tanker of heroism. He was the day’s second biggest hero, and his performance was only slightly less than that of Evans. While the likes of Alberto Contador and Sammy Sanchez were faffing about at the back of the main group. Voeckler was up at the front of the peleton with Evans for pretty much every single one of the final 50km of the stage. While he simply did not have the energy to help Evans on the Galibier, he managed to stick with him the whole way. As Schleck collapsed over the final kilometre, and Evans continued to display his brute strength, it become apparent that Voeckler was on the verge of retaining his golden fleece. The crowds on the top of the climb went ballistic as Voeckler used what little energy he had lift to get out of the saddle and drag himself towards the line. He made it with 15 seconds to spare, in what was probably the best French sporting performance since Zinadine Zidane’s brace in the 1998 World Cup final. Voeckler’s bravery over these last 10 days deserves a podium place in Paris – but like Evans, tragically, he may finish just one place short of his ultimate goal.
Yellow Jersey – Thomas Voeckler
Green Jersey – Mark Cavendish
Polka Dot Jersey – Jelle Vanendert
White Jersey – Rein Taarame
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Schleckmania Still Alive And Well
While The Falcon may have written off the Queen of Luxembourg for another year - there are still some out there that think (hope!) that the more feminine Schleck can get the job done in 2011:
http://allonsyandy.blogspot.com/
http://allonsyandy.blogspot.com/
Stage 17 - History Repeating
As The Falcon predicted to premium subscribers last night, Stage 17, was pretty much exactly the same as Stage 16. A Norwegian won the stage from a break, Alberto Contador attacked on the final climb, Thomas Voeckler lost time, and Andy Schleck cried like a baby all the way down the final treacherous descent. The stage winner was yesterday’s runner up, Edvald Boasson Hagen, who was far too classy for his breakaway companions, winning by over 40 seconds from Bauke Mollema and Sandy Casar.
But again the big story was Contador, who again showed schlecktives of ominous form by breaking the peleton up on the final cat-2 climb of the day. Again Sammy Sanchez (how good is this guy!!!) was able to go with him, but unlike last night, Cadel Evans could not mark the move. Evans was trapped behind Andy Schleck, who was dozing off, and surely thought Contador wouldn’t try exactly the same trick two days in a row, even though it paid massive dividends for him yesterday. Contador and Sanchez crested first, chased by Voeckler, who would have likely made the juncture, had he not overcooked it on the descent and ended up in one of his countrymen’s alpine properties. Unfortunately, that cost the Frenchman dear, as by the time he got back onto the road the other GC men were out of sight. Try as he might, Voeckler could not make up the ground and by the finish he had lost 27 seconds to his Yellow Jersey rivals. That was time he could not afford to lose if he was to pull off one of the great Tour de France miracles, and he will be little chance of defending the jersey all the way to Paris from here.
Now the only reason the rest of the GC boys finished together is because of one man – Cadel Evans. Realising he will never get a better chance to win a Tour, Evans went berserk on the descent to make sure he would catch Contador and Sanchez, who had reached the top of the final climb ahead of him. The Schleck brothers manned up enough to suck his wheel all the way down to the finish, and by the final kilometre Evans heroic effort had ensured he retained his time advantage over all his major rivals. The only man other than Voeckler to lose time was Ivan Basso who also struggled on the descent. He has put in a brave effort at this year’s Tour but has just lacked that bit of an X-factor to hurt the big boys. He now sits in 9th place overall and will be struggling to make the podium from here.
And so to tonight – the big one – the Queen stage. 200km from Pinerolo to the mythical beast that is the Galibier. No less than 3 HC climbs – and they are all epics – the Agnel, the Izoard, and the Galibier. Three climbs all bigger than the biggest mountain Australia has to offer. This is where the Tour will be decided – this is where Cadel Evans can write his name into Australian sporting folklore alongside the likes of Phar Lap, Sir Donald Bradman, and Rod Laver. Contador will attack like a mad man, Cadel will try to hold him to the best of his ability. Andy Schleck will be picking out his best dress for the occasion (obviously one that matches Frank’s shirt). Come 1:30am tonight – we might just know the winner of the 2011 Tour de France.
Yellow Jersey – Thomas Voeckler
Green Jersey – Mark Cavendish
Polka Dot Jersey – Jelle Vanendert
White Jersey – Rigoberto Uran
But again the big story was Contador, who again showed schlecktives of ominous form by breaking the peleton up on the final cat-2 climb of the day. Again Sammy Sanchez (how good is this guy!!!) was able to go with him, but unlike last night, Cadel Evans could not mark the move. Evans was trapped behind Andy Schleck, who was dozing off, and surely thought Contador wouldn’t try exactly the same trick two days in a row, even though it paid massive dividends for him yesterday. Contador and Sanchez crested first, chased by Voeckler, who would have likely made the juncture, had he not overcooked it on the descent and ended up in one of his countrymen’s alpine properties. Unfortunately, that cost the Frenchman dear, as by the time he got back onto the road the other GC men were out of sight. Try as he might, Voeckler could not make up the ground and by the finish he had lost 27 seconds to his Yellow Jersey rivals. That was time he could not afford to lose if he was to pull off one of the great Tour de France miracles, and he will be little chance of defending the jersey all the way to Paris from here.
Now the only reason the rest of the GC boys finished together is because of one man – Cadel Evans. Realising he will never get a better chance to win a Tour, Evans went berserk on the descent to make sure he would catch Contador and Sanchez, who had reached the top of the final climb ahead of him. The Schleck brothers manned up enough to suck his wheel all the way down to the finish, and by the final kilometre Evans heroic effort had ensured he retained his time advantage over all his major rivals. The only man other than Voeckler to lose time was Ivan Basso who also struggled on the descent. He has put in a brave effort at this year’s Tour but has just lacked that bit of an X-factor to hurt the big boys. He now sits in 9th place overall and will be struggling to make the podium from here.
And so to tonight – the big one – the Queen stage. 200km from Pinerolo to the mythical beast that is the Galibier. No less than 3 HC climbs – and they are all epics – the Agnel, the Izoard, and the Galibier. Three climbs all bigger than the biggest mountain Australia has to offer. This is where the Tour will be decided – this is where Cadel Evans can write his name into Australian sporting folklore alongside the likes of Phar Lap, Sir Donald Bradman, and Rod Laver. Contador will attack like a mad man, Cadel will try to hold him to the best of his ability. Andy Schleck will be picking out his best dress for the occasion (obviously one that matches Frank’s shirt). Come 1:30am tonight – we might just know the winner of the 2011 Tour de France.
Yellow Jersey – Thomas Voeckler
Green Jersey – Mark Cavendish
Polka Dot Jersey – Jelle Vanendert
White Jersey – Rigoberto Uran
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Andy Loses The Plot
A few interesting post race comments from the Queen of Luxembourg:
Younger Schleck, Andy, was particularly aggrieved at having lost more than a minute in such an unfair manner."People don't want a race that is decided in a downhill," he harrumphed at the finish in Gap, forgetting that it had been Contador's series of uphill attacks that had really done for his chances."It was a dangerous finish. I was not feeling great when he attacked and I did a bad descent. But is this really what people want to see? A finish like this should not be allowed. We have families waiting for us at home. Do the public want a fair race or a race which ends in hospital?" he added, on a day which saw no hospitalisations.
This guy is the biggest whinger in world sport and has about as much clue as Tony Abbott. I hope he misses the podium.
Quotes courtesy of Eurosport.
Younger Schleck, Andy, was particularly aggrieved at having lost more than a minute in such an unfair manner."People don't want a race that is decided in a downhill," he harrumphed at the finish in Gap, forgetting that it had been Contador's series of uphill attacks that had really done for his chances."It was a dangerous finish. I was not feeling great when he attacked and I did a bad descent. But is this really what people want to see? A finish like this should not be allowed. We have families waiting for us at home. Do the public want a fair race or a race which ends in hospital?" he added, on a day which saw no hospitalisations.
This guy is the biggest whinger in world sport and has about as much clue as Tony Abbott. I hope he misses the podium.
Quotes courtesy of Eurosport.
Stage 16 - Race in Two
After nearly two and a half weeks of high drama racing, the most open Tour de France in years can now be narrowed down to just two possible winners Cadel Evans, and Alberto Contador. While the 163km on Stage 16 between Saint-Paul-Trois-Chateaux and Gap looked relatively innocuous on paper, Contador and Evans (as well as Sammy Sanchez) were able to put time into all their major rivals. They showed strength, their rivals weakness. Thor Hushovd was the stage winner on the day, taking his second win of this years event from breakaway companions Ed Boasson Hagen and Ryder Hesjedal.
But surprisingly, today was all about the GC, when defending champion Alberto Contador showed he was no quite dead yet with an explosion on the Col de Manse. This was only a cat-2 climb mind you, and while his initial attack was matched by all the main GC men his second was far more devastating. 7km from the summit he went – and only Evans and Sanchez could follow. The Schleck brothers were too busy staring lovingly into each other’s eyes to respond, while Ivan Basso and Thomas Voeckler simply could not match the acceleration. Contador, Evans and Sanchez stayed together to the summit of their climb, where Evans took over – his manic descending allowing the three to build up a bigger and bigger buffer over the flailing GC aspirants behind them. Andy ‘dumb as dogs**t’ Schleck, not realising that his Tour might be being decided right here, got a little scared on the descent and so took it easy to lose even more time than his other rivals. Obviously he had left his own suitcase of courage back in Luxembourg. That is not the kind of soft effort that wins a Tour.
In the end, Evans power over the last few kilometres was ominous, and he even broke away from Contador and Evans late to pick up another vital 3 seconds on GC, the holy trio finishing around 4:23 behind Hushovd on the day. The peleton had been blow apart on the Manse, and the other GC guys came in at irregular intervals. Frank Schleck rode away from his sulking brother and lost only 20 seconds to Evans while Basso was another 32 seconds back. Andy was finally led home like a lost sheep by teammate Maxime Monfort, over 70 seconds behind Evans – his winning chances are shot.
Evans performance over the Tour so far has been immense, and he is clearly this years deserving winner in Paris. But the defending champ Contador is not done yet! El Pistelero showed he was starting to get back to his best, riding with the explosive acceleration and panache that has seen him win the last 6 Grand Tour’s he has contested. He still trails Evans by almost 2 minutes though. So the situation is like this. Contador has to try and blow Evans away on the two big Alpine summit finishes on the Galibier and Alpe d’Huez. I’m not sure how much time he needs. Probably those 2 minutes. The two are both quality time triallers, and while Evans has struggled under pressure in final ITT’s in the past, he has never been in this sort of form in the last week of the tour. At this stage I am marking them even in the final time trial and so it will come down to whoever is leading the GC after the finish on L’Alpe on Friday night. Evans has been able to match everything thrown at him so far though, and you would think those 2 minutes would be mighty hard to claw back. For the first time all Tour, Cadel Evans is the bookies favourite to wear the Yellow Jersey in Paris – and I think they have that betting right. But as we have seen in the past, all it takes is for Cadel to have one bad day in the mountains to lose it all. And if that happens – Contador will be ready to pounce. Bring on the Alps!!!!
Yellow Jersey – Thomas Voeckler
Green Jersey – Mark Cavendish
Polka Dot Jersey – Jelle Vanendert
White Jersey – Rigoberto Uran
But surprisingly, today was all about the GC, when defending champion Alberto Contador showed he was no quite dead yet with an explosion on the Col de Manse. This was only a cat-2 climb mind you, and while his initial attack was matched by all the main GC men his second was far more devastating. 7km from the summit he went – and only Evans and Sanchez could follow. The Schleck brothers were too busy staring lovingly into each other’s eyes to respond, while Ivan Basso and Thomas Voeckler simply could not match the acceleration. Contador, Evans and Sanchez stayed together to the summit of their climb, where Evans took over – his manic descending allowing the three to build up a bigger and bigger buffer over the flailing GC aspirants behind them. Andy ‘dumb as dogs**t’ Schleck, not realising that his Tour might be being decided right here, got a little scared on the descent and so took it easy to lose even more time than his other rivals. Obviously he had left his own suitcase of courage back in Luxembourg. That is not the kind of soft effort that wins a Tour.
In the end, Evans power over the last few kilometres was ominous, and he even broke away from Contador and Evans late to pick up another vital 3 seconds on GC, the holy trio finishing around 4:23 behind Hushovd on the day. The peleton had been blow apart on the Manse, and the other GC guys came in at irregular intervals. Frank Schleck rode away from his sulking brother and lost only 20 seconds to Evans while Basso was another 32 seconds back. Andy was finally led home like a lost sheep by teammate Maxime Monfort, over 70 seconds behind Evans – his winning chances are shot.
Evans performance over the Tour so far has been immense, and he is clearly this years deserving winner in Paris. But the defending champ Contador is not done yet! El Pistelero showed he was starting to get back to his best, riding with the explosive acceleration and panache that has seen him win the last 6 Grand Tour’s he has contested. He still trails Evans by almost 2 minutes though. So the situation is like this. Contador has to try and blow Evans away on the two big Alpine summit finishes on the Galibier and Alpe d’Huez. I’m not sure how much time he needs. Probably those 2 minutes. The two are both quality time triallers, and while Evans has struggled under pressure in final ITT’s in the past, he has never been in this sort of form in the last week of the tour. At this stage I am marking them even in the final time trial and so it will come down to whoever is leading the GC after the finish on L’Alpe on Friday night. Evans has been able to match everything thrown at him so far though, and you would think those 2 minutes would be mighty hard to claw back. For the first time all Tour, Cadel Evans is the bookies favourite to wear the Yellow Jersey in Paris – and I think they have that betting right. But as we have seen in the past, all it takes is for Cadel to have one bad day in the mountains to lose it all. And if that happens – Contador will be ready to pounce. Bring on the Alps!!!!
Yellow Jersey – Thomas Voeckler
Green Jersey – Mark Cavendish
Polka Dot Jersey – Jelle Vanendert
White Jersey – Rigoberto Uran
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Stage 15 - Missle Flattens Montpellier
Mark Cavendish became the first rider in Tour history to win 4 or more stages in four consecutive Tours when he was successful in Stage 15 overnight, a 187km transitional stage from Limoux to Montpellier. The Manx man once again benefited from the perfect lead out from his HTC-High Road teammates to take his 4th win at this year’s tour (and 19th overall) from fellow sprinters Tyler Farrar and Alessandro Pettachi. In taking the win, Cavendish increased his lead in the points classification to 37 over Jose Joaquin Rojas who could only manage 5th on the stage. There was no change to any of the other classifications.
In what is arguably the last stage for the sprinters before the finish on the Champs Elysees, Cavendish was never going to be beaten. The stage took the usual form of a flat day out, with a 5-man breakaway allowed to garner around a 3 minute advantage before being reeled in by a combination of Europecar and HTC. Apart from that, not much else happened, although Philippe Gilbert once again tried to break away from the peleton in the closing kilometres to pick up a few extra Green Jersey points. He was easily snapped up by the charging pack however, and was nowhere in the final sprint as a result.
Personally I think those kind of moves are tactically poor from Gilbert, and he probably wastes a lot of energy in undertaken them. He may be being forced into desperation however as the points classification slips from his grasp. Gilbert doesn’t have the pure power to contest a pure sprint finish, and was again beaten into minor placings by Cavendish and Rojas at the day’s intermediate sprint. He probably needs to win Tuesday night’s finish into Gap to have any hope of wearing the Green Jersey on the final podium in Paris.
Yellow Jersey – Thomas Voeckler
Green Jersey – Mark Cavendish
Polka Dot Jersey – Jelle Vanendert
White Jersey – Rigoberto Uran
In what is arguably the last stage for the sprinters before the finish on the Champs Elysees, Cavendish was never going to be beaten. The stage took the usual form of a flat day out, with a 5-man breakaway allowed to garner around a 3 minute advantage before being reeled in by a combination of Europecar and HTC. Apart from that, not much else happened, although Philippe Gilbert once again tried to break away from the peleton in the closing kilometres to pick up a few extra Green Jersey points. He was easily snapped up by the charging pack however, and was nowhere in the final sprint as a result.
Personally I think those kind of moves are tactically poor from Gilbert, and he probably wastes a lot of energy in undertaken them. He may be being forced into desperation however as the points classification slips from his grasp. Gilbert doesn’t have the pure power to contest a pure sprint finish, and was again beaten into minor placings by Cavendish and Rojas at the day’s intermediate sprint. He probably needs to win Tuesday night’s finish into Gap to have any hope of wearing the Green Jersey on the final podium in Paris.
Yellow Jersey – Thomas Voeckler
Green Jersey – Mark Cavendish
Polka Dot Jersey – Jelle Vanendert
White Jersey – Rigoberto Uran
Stage 14 - Stalemate on the Plateau
Another day in the Pyrenees, and another day that generated more questions than answers. Thomas Voeckler’s ‘suitcase of courage’ still remains packed to the brim, as the Frenchman managed to hang onto the coattails of all of the big GC riders to hold onto the Yellow Jersey for yet another day. The unknown Belgian from two days ago, Jelle Vanendert, ensured his name would forever more be in the history books, by breaking away on the final climb to win the 168km stage from Saint Gaudens to the Plateau de Beille. In a reversal of Thursday night’s stage, he defeated Samuel Sanchez in second, while Andy Schleck filled the podium third, gaining a pair of precious seconds on the rest of the GC men.
The two main stories of the day were Vockler’s ability to stick with the world’s best climbers, and the fact that men at the top of the overall standings continue to neutralise each other. After Leopard Trek again set the place over the earlier climbs, it seemed to be every man for himself on the final climb to the summit finish. But the big fireworks that were expected again failed to materialise. Andy Schleck was the main protagonist, putting in a number of explosive attacks without reward. Each time he made the move either Voeckler or Cadel Evans was straight on his wheel, and the rest of the lead pack would eventually catch up. Basso also had a crack at riding his rivals off his wheel through the use of brute power but he never had that explosiveness need to shake off the other leaders. In the end, it was the young unknown Belgian who was left free to fly, and he took advantage to take the solo win at the top. The big names also gambled in letting Sanchez go, and while he left it too late to catch Vanendert, he did manage to gain another 25 seconds over the lead pack by the finish. Schleck’s attacking did pay off in the final 500m when he sprinted clear to pick up a couple of cheap seconds over the rest of the leaders. But he is going to need to do more than that to get his hands on the Yellow Jersey.
So all in all, that pretty much leaves us in the same position we were in after the climb to Luz Ardiden. Perhaps the only difference is that Voeckler must now be viewed as a genuine for the contender for the overall title. He looked in zero trouble on the stage and was actually the only man outside of Evans to chase down multiple attacks from Andy Schleck. He still has a lead of nearly 2 minutes over his nearest rival (Frank Schleck) and if he keeps this kind of form up, geez he will be tough to run down. It would be great to see him win the thing! Alberto Contador still looks like he lacks the form to overturn his 4 minute time deficit, while Ivan Basso and Evans are still ticking all the right boxes. We will have to wait for the next rendezvous in the Alps to see if anything changes.
There were a couple of changes in the prize classifications. Jelle Vanendert now has the Polka Dot jersey to go with his stage win, his first place finish at the summit enough to see him take a 2 point lead in the mountains classification from Sammy Sanchez. The lead in the youth classification also changes hands, with the White Jersey now sitting on the shoulders of Rigoberto Uran, who was the only under 25 to finish with the leaders on the stage.
Yellow Jersey – Thomas Voeckler
Green Jersey – Mark Cavendish
Polka Dot Jersey – Jelle Vanendert
White Jersey – Rigoberto Uran
The two main stories of the day were Vockler’s ability to stick with the world’s best climbers, and the fact that men at the top of the overall standings continue to neutralise each other. After Leopard Trek again set the place over the earlier climbs, it seemed to be every man for himself on the final climb to the summit finish. But the big fireworks that were expected again failed to materialise. Andy Schleck was the main protagonist, putting in a number of explosive attacks without reward. Each time he made the move either Voeckler or Cadel Evans was straight on his wheel, and the rest of the lead pack would eventually catch up. Basso also had a crack at riding his rivals off his wheel through the use of brute power but he never had that explosiveness need to shake off the other leaders. In the end, it was the young unknown Belgian who was left free to fly, and he took advantage to take the solo win at the top. The big names also gambled in letting Sanchez go, and while he left it too late to catch Vanendert, he did manage to gain another 25 seconds over the lead pack by the finish. Schleck’s attacking did pay off in the final 500m when he sprinted clear to pick up a couple of cheap seconds over the rest of the leaders. But he is going to need to do more than that to get his hands on the Yellow Jersey.
So all in all, that pretty much leaves us in the same position we were in after the climb to Luz Ardiden. Perhaps the only difference is that Voeckler must now be viewed as a genuine for the contender for the overall title. He looked in zero trouble on the stage and was actually the only man outside of Evans to chase down multiple attacks from Andy Schleck. He still has a lead of nearly 2 minutes over his nearest rival (Frank Schleck) and if he keeps this kind of form up, geez he will be tough to run down. It would be great to see him win the thing! Alberto Contador still looks like he lacks the form to overturn his 4 minute time deficit, while Ivan Basso and Evans are still ticking all the right boxes. We will have to wait for the next rendezvous in the Alps to see if anything changes.
There were a couple of changes in the prize classifications. Jelle Vanendert now has the Polka Dot jersey to go with his stage win, his first place finish at the summit enough to see him take a 2 point lead in the mountains classification from Sammy Sanchez. The lead in the youth classification also changes hands, with the White Jersey now sitting on the shoulders of Rigoberto Uran, who was the only under 25 to finish with the leaders on the stage.
Yellow Jersey – Thomas Voeckler
Green Jersey – Mark Cavendish
Polka Dot Jersey – Jelle Vanendert
White Jersey – Rigoberto Uran
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