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Tour de France - Contador claims yellow from Schleck
Eurosport - Mon, 19 Jul 16:21:00 2010
Alberto Contador snatched the yellow jersey away from Andy Schleck in dramatic circumstances as Thomas Voeckler won stage 15 of the Tour de France in Bagneres-de-Luchon.
The Saxo Bank rider from Luxembourg saw his chain come off on the final climb of the day, the hors category Port de Bales with a summit 21km from the finish.
That cost the 27-year-old around 30 seconds and he lost further time on the long, rapid descent to the finish, eventually finishing 39 seconds behind the defending champion.
That gives the Spaniard an eight second advantage heading into Tuesday's big showdown into Pau although he was booed on the podium for breaking protocol and attacking a rival after a mechanical problem.
French champion Voeckler was part of a 10-man breakaway that formed midway through the 187.5km stage from Pamiers and he dropped his fellow escapees on the 19.3km climb of the Port de Bales.
After the peloton had thwarted a succession of early escape attempts the 10 men were quickly allowed to open up a large gap as they crossed a pair of category two climbs in quick succession, the Col de Portet-d'Aspet and the Col des Ares.
Their advantage was 11 minutes as they hit the foot of the Port de Bales where Schleck's Saxo Bank team set a rapid pace which whittled down the peloton to an elite group.
Schleck, who had promised to stop playing cat and mouse after Sunday's opening stage in the Pyrenees, had just made his second attack on the ascent to the 1755m summit when he suffered his mechanical problem.
Contador reacted immediately and burst clear with Russia's Denis Menchov and Spain's Samuel Sanchez, the two riders most likely to pose a threat to the podium places, accompanying him.
Contador followed his compatriot Sanchez, regarded as one of the best descenders in the business, down the hill as Schleck fought to regain the lost ground.
As Voeckler crossed the line to claim France's fifth stage win of this year's race, the destiny of the maillot jaune was still in question.
Ballan outsprinted Perez for second place, one minute and 20 seconds behind the leader, as Contador, Sanchez and Menchov caught five more members of the original escape to cross the line 2:50 behind Voeckler.
Schleck, whose 31 second lead at the start of the stage already appeared too slim ahead of the final 52km individual time trial to Pauillac which Contador is likely to dominate, came over the line with Jurgen Van Den Broeck and Alexandre Vinokourov 3:29 behind.
Eurosport - Mon, 19 Jul 16:21:00 2010
Alberto Contador snatched the yellow jersey away from Andy Schleck in dramatic circumstances as Thomas Voeckler won stage 15 of the Tour de France in Bagneres-de-Luchon.
The Saxo Bank rider from Luxembourg saw his chain come off on the final climb of the day, the hors category Port de Bales with a summit 21km from the finish.
That cost the 27-year-old around 30 seconds and he lost further time on the long, rapid descent to the finish, eventually finishing 39 seconds behind the defending champion.
That gives the Spaniard an eight second advantage heading into Tuesday's big showdown into Pau although he was booed on the podium for breaking protocol and attacking a rival after a mechanical problem.
French champion Voeckler was part of a 10-man breakaway that formed midway through the 187.5km stage from Pamiers and he dropped his fellow escapees on the 19.3km climb of the Port de Bales.
After the peloton had thwarted a succession of early escape attempts the 10 men were quickly allowed to open up a large gap as they crossed a pair of category two climbs in quick succession, the Col de Portet-d'Aspet and the Col des Ares.
Their advantage was 11 minutes as they hit the foot of the Port de Bales where Schleck's Saxo Bank team set a rapid pace which whittled down the peloton to an elite group.
Schleck, who had promised to stop playing cat and mouse after Sunday's opening stage in the Pyrenees, had just made his second attack on the ascent to the 1755m summit when he suffered his mechanical problem.
Contador reacted immediately and burst clear with Russia's Denis Menchov and Spain's Samuel Sanchez, the two riders most likely to pose a threat to the podium places, accompanying him.
Contador followed his compatriot Sanchez, regarded as one of the best descenders in the business, down the hill as Schleck fought to regain the lost ground.
As Voeckler crossed the line to claim France's fifth stage win of this year's race, the destiny of the maillot jaune was still in question.
Ballan outsprinted Perez for second place, one minute and 20 seconds behind the leader, as Contador, Sanchez and Menchov caught five more members of the original escape to cross the line 2:50 behind Voeckler.
Schleck, whose 31 second lead at the start of the stage already appeared too slim ahead of the final 52km individual time trial to Pauillac which Contador is likely to dominate, came over the line with Jurgen Van Den Broeck and Alexandre Vinokourov 3:29 behind.
All the top riders are together-- The only people ahead are irrelevant to the overala title. Schleck the overall leader launches an attack on the last hill but then his chain inexplicably pops off. The others see this and immediately counterattack. Once the chain is fixed Schlek rides amazing but cannot make up the gap to the other contenders.
Some would say "fair game" but the Tour has had a bit of tradition of playing fair (well sorta considering how much doping there is --- err I mean was LOL)). In Lance's reign there were a number of instances where lance waited for a contender or they waited for him so the contest would be more determined by riding and not by taking advantage of a mechanical or fan interference or whatnot. I liked the image of riders waiting for the fallen one-- The message was that they were willing to compete as riders in a true contest.
Has that spirit been lost?
In any event kudos to Andy Shleck... To have kept pace alone with a small pack of the top contenders is impressive. he has looked strong but now he trails and he knows he needs a lead coming out of the mountains if he has any hope to take the tour
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