Interesting to see how good a sober Lance Armstrong is.
Roche at 14th overall.
I think Schleck is brainless myself. Contador not the rider of previous years. No outstanding contender this year.
I thought Schleck would be uninhibited since Frank crashed out, but he seems to be as unwilling as ever to take the initiative.
Schleck seems pretty happy with how things went yesterday judging by his comments. Talking about how Contador wasn’t able to drop him. Well maybe his timetrialling has dramatically improved and the prologue was an aberration but he seems to be setting himself up for a fall if he’s content to ride passively. Armstrong could do that. Schleck can’t.
I agree with balbec in that Schleck is just brainless myself. He will try something today I’m sure.Stage today is made for Sanchez.Should be interesting viewing anyway
Blistering pace from Saxo.Setting it up for Schleck.Took them a while to put hammer down but sure doing it now
Disastrous.Roche punctures at worst time possible and very messy tire change with it taking what seemed like an age.
Mad stuff altogether.
Not sure about that from Contador.Schleck very impressive to ride back up to Gesink group after that.Horrible timing
A broken chain costs Schleck the yellow jersey. Contador leads by 8 seconds.
Precedent set would indicate that Contador etc should have waited.One thing to wait suppose it is another thing to attack.Again Schleck looked stronger than Contador.
Roche arguing that it was Schleck’s own fault that his chain came off therefore it’s not comparable to a fall or a puncture, so it was fair game for Contador to attack. Contador couldn’t have been behind a better man on the descent there than Sanchez. Gained 26 seconds on the descent. Tough stage tomorrow but the the last 60 km are downhill or flat which really limits the chances of any time gains for Schleck. Tourmalet on Thursday is his only real chance I think.
Lot of booing for Contador as he took jersey.
Really disappointing that Gadret didn’t help Roche when he punctured.He drops to 17th overall.That puncture cost him a few minutes in the end
irishtimes.com - Last Updated: Monday, July 19, 2010, 17:48
Schleck vows revenge after Contador grabs yellow
Cycling: Andy Schleck today lambasted Alberto Contador after the Spaniard seized the Tour de France leader’s yellow jersey by taking advantage of his rival’s mechanical problem.
Thomas Voeckler (Bbox Bouygues Telecom), resplendent in the French national champion’s jersey, won the 187.5-kilometre stage from Pamiers to Bagneres-de-Luchon, but in a highly-eventful Tour there was yet another twist.
Schleck (Team Saxo Bank) lost around 40 seconds when his chain slipped as he attempted to attack on the 19.3km Port de Bales hors categorie (beyond category) climb and he finished 39 seconds behind Contador (Astana) to fall back into second place overall with five days of racing remaining.
“My stomach is full of anger,” said Schleck, who now sits eight seconds behind the two-time champion, having begun the day with a 31-second lead. “The race is not finished and I want to take my revenge. I can end it like a champion.”
Two climbs of the fabled Col du Tourmalet come in the next two race days — on tomorrow’s 16th stage from Bagneres-de-Luchon to Pau and Thursday’s 17th stage, which finishes at the summit of the 18.6km climb.
But Schleck is now chasing Contador, who is seeking a third Tour title in four years in Paris on Sunday.
With 3km to the summit of the Port de Bales, Schleck attacked. Moments later he was undone by his chain slipping.
Contador went ahead, passing a stationary Schleck and reaching the top of the climb 27 seconds ahead of the yellow jersey incumbent.
The summit came 21.5km before a steep descent to the finish and Contador extended his advantage in the closing kilometres and finished two minutes 50 seconds behind Voeckler — but crucially 39 seconds ahead of Schleck.
Alessandro Ballan (BMC Racing) was second to Voeckler — the fifth French stage winner of the Tour so far — finishing 1min 20secs behind alongside Aitor Perez Arrieta (Footon Servetto).
Contador was one of eight riders to finish in the third group, while Schleck finished 3:29 behind Voeckler today.
Schleck was not impressed. The 25-year-old, who will tomorrow wear the white jersey for best young rider, was among a swathe of riders who crashed on the second stage from Brussels to Spa, when the peloton controversially waited.
He added: “These guys waited in Spa when I crashed, so that was fair. Today is a different story.
“I would not have raced like that and taken advantage of that situation. For sure these guys don’t get the fair play prize today.”
Ireland’s Nicolas Roche fell back to 17th spot in the provisional general classification after losing time on the last climb to finish 37th on the stage, seven minutes and 52 seconds behind Voeckler.
Interesting that it was Vino who closes gap to Schleck initially and not Contador who was caught napping a bit. Schleck grabbed Contador as he was coming off podium today and had words in his ear.
Roche fairly tears into Gadret in his diary in the Indo this morning.
Said he wanted to put his head through the window of the team bus after the race.
Great piece. I’m gonna bak him at 30/1 for today’s stage. Anger can be a great motivator.
Cycling: ‘I wanted to smash his head in. I couldn’t stand to be near him’
If John Gadret is found dead in his hotel room in the morning, I will probably be the primary suspect. The 31-year-old French climber has been a team-mate of mine at Ag2r for the past two years.
Although we never had more than what you could call a workmanlike relationship, we never had any reason to fall out or take a dislike to each other over the past two years. But after today’s stage, as he sat beside me on the team bus I had great difficulty in not putting his head through the nearest window.
Today was yet another really tough mountain stage, with the summit of a massive mountain coming just 20kms from the finish.
At 25km long, the ascent of the Port de Bales is one of those climbs that is too hard to rank and is classed as an Hors Category climb. If anyone was going to attack the leaders today, this is where it would be.
As usual, the Saxo Bank team of yellow jersey Andy Schleck set a fast tempo on the climb and the peloton began to lose riders out the back door.
I knew that if I could hang on going over the top, I could take a lot of time out of some of the guys in front of me on the overall classification and move up a few places from my overnight position of 14th overall.
Halfway up the climb, I was riding pretty comfortably in the Contador and Schleck group and some of the guys ahead of me like Basso and Kloden were beginning to struggle. As most of the other team leaders were left on their own, I was looking to move into the top 10 overall and still had Gadret with me for support. Or so I thought.
Six kilometres from the top of the climb, just as the pace began to increase at the front, I punctured a front wheel. I pulled over to the side of the road and as Gadret was riding behind me, I asked him for his wheel as he rode alongside.
This is a perfectly normal request if the team car is not around. To save time, a team-mate will often give his team leader a wheel or even his bike if necessary. I have done it plenty of times over the years, as have most cyclists, amateur or professional, at some stage in their careers.
As our team car was No 11 in the cavalcade and it would take a lot of time for them to get to me through the streams of dropped riders, I asked Gadret – who was there to help me – for his wheel. I couldn’t believe what happened next. He just shook his head and said ‘Non’. At first I thought he was joking, but soon realised he wasn’t when he kept riding past me.
As my team manager, Vincent Lavenu, in the car behind shouted into Gadret’s earpiece to wait, I took my wheel out and waited for a new one. All the time the group – including Gadret – was riding up the mountain, away from me.
After what seemed like an eternity, I eventually got a front wheel off the yellow Mavic neutral service car. Because the Mavic cars have to service any rider that needs a wheel or is in mechanical difficulty when their team car can’t get to them, they don’t have their wheels set up to fit everybody’s frames instantly.
My wheel change took way longer than normal as the mechanic unscrewed the wheel’s skewer to fit my front fork. At this stage, I was like a bull. I hopped back on my bike only to discover that my new wheel had been put in at an angle and was rubbing off the brake blocks. I leaned down and opened my front brake and, fuelled by rage, started passing groups on the climb.
All I could think of was getting to the finish as quickly as possible. Rage alone though, wasn’t going to get me back up to the front of the race. Unbelievably, Gadret had attacked Schleck and Contador near the top, even though there was a group five minutes up the road and he had absolutely no chance of winning the stage.
Vincent was still screaming in our earpieces, calling Gadret every name under the sun and telling him to wait for me on the descent and help me claw back some time on the long run in to the finish. Gadret, though, just ignored him and kept riding.
Encouragement
There were loads of Irish flags on the climb and the encouragement from the fans, some of whom were wearing GAA jerseys, spurred me on even more. I flew up the last kilometre and having passed lots of riders on the way up, I found myself on my own on the descent. I nearly killed myself on the first two corners because in my state of rage and frustration I had forgotten that my front brake was still open.
I had to tighten it as I was descending, which slowed me down again. I spent the rest of the stage on my own, chasing like a madman. I didn’t know who I had passed or who was in front of me. I could see world champion Cadel Evans up the road and was fixated on catching him next but the line came too quickly.
I had finished almost eight minutes behind stage winner Thomas Voeckler but more importantly, I lost between three and five minutes to some of the guys that I should have put time into and dropped three places to 17th.
My team-mate Lloyd Mondory had also been in the early break and did a fantastic job to get fourth on the stage. Lloyd is a sprinter and this wasn’t his type of stage at all, so to get fourth was a tremendous ride and even though I was angry at Gadret, I was really happy for Lloyd.
After the stage, I reminded Vincent that Gadret was on the team for another two years, and that I hoped he never asked me for anything again, because I would not forget today for a long time. Gadret finished three minutes ahead of me and now lies just two places and two minutes behind me. He is the first French rider overall. Maybe he wants to be the first Ag2r rider too.
By the time I got onto the team bus, Vincent was already in the middle of a blazing row with Gadret.
Although I wanted to smash his head in, and had visions of a baldy French climber exiting through the windscreen, I let Vincent do his job as team manager and said nothing. I got off the bus as quickly as possible and travelled to the hotel in the team car. I couldn’t stand to be near him. I will have to keep my hands in my pockets at the dinner table.
Although I am too angry to have thought about it properly yet, I will possibly have to go on the attack now to gain back the time I lost today. If I want to finish in the top 15, I have two options.
I can hang in there on the climbs and hope some of the guys in front of me blow up like they did today, or I can get in an early move and try to stay away to the finish, taking back a bit of time.
I know a move like this can be suicidal and can cost you a lot of time, but I want to finish in the top 15. I’m 17th, so I have nothing to lose.
- Nicolas Roche
Irish Independent