Contador faces backlash after stage 15
In stage 15 of the Tour de France, Alberto Contador took the yellow jersey from Andy Schleck. When Schleck lost his bike chain on the final climb, Contador saw him drop off and went on the attack. When the new Tour leader was told about Schleck’s mechanical problem, spectators wondered about his gentleman’s strike in stage 2, and asked why he didn’t stage another.
Since the stage finish, Contador received considerable backlash from spectators and commentators, including jeers at the finish line and on the podium. Schleck himself, while full of anger and frustration, is keeping his head on straight.
“What happened, happens,” said Schleck. “I cannot change the situation even if I’m mad. Of course I wouldn’t have minded to throw my bike into the fence and just hit someone but you’ve got to keep yourself under control in situations like this. If you just stay calm it’s worthwhile. If yell at people, it won’t change the situation. It is how it is.”
Schleck’s team director, Bjarne Riis, was similarly cool about the mishap, offering the cyclist the advice of putting the anger into his bike in the coming stages. The director was vague and non-committal when asked about Contador’s actions, expressing that he hope he would have waited, but never saying that he should have.
“I don’t know,” said Riis. “Was it possible for Contador to wait in that situation, with [Samuel] Sanchez and [Denis] Menchov attacking? He has to follow those guys, for sure. He might not need to pull or attack, but he has to follow those guys.”
Riis, like many others, points to the Tourmalet at the decisive point. The mountain is climbed twice this year, on Tuesday and Thursday, the latter of which is a summit finish which will hold off the chase groups. It is necessary for Schleck to take back some time before the 19th stage in order to survive, but Riis knows it’s a difficult fight.
“To be honest, I don’t really see one of them [as being] stronger than the other on the climbs.”
Schleck’s Saxo Bank teammate Brad McGee responded to Riis speech just as coolly, commending his team leader as well as his director for their reasonable response to the situation in a team meeting after the stage.
"Today was a big day and there’s still a while to go to Paris… for the sake of the rest of the Tour, it’s in our benefit to just say that it’s back luck," said McGee. "We’ll let the media and spectators and commentators say what they want but we don’t want to get caught up in the whole controversy of whatever happens.”
Three men profited from Schleck’s bad luck: Contador, third place Samuel Sanchez, and fourth place Denis Menchov. Menchov followed Contador on his attack and was similarly unwilling to make a judgement call about the escape.
"I can't explain because I didn't see what happened,” said Menchov. “We know that Alberto and Andy play with each other. We have to follow one of them. I saw the reaction of Contador and I thought it was decisive, so I tried to follow him."
Lance Armstrong, certainly the most famous cyclist in the U.S., was of course asked for his input, but like the others he refused to point the blame. He pointed out that the race is at such a heated and decisive point that you can’t chastise a for attacking for a jersey in the heat of the moment.
"I didn't see exactly what happened because I was a bit behind," said Armstrong after finishing the stage. "But if Alberto attacked when he saw that Andy was behind, then it's probably not correct but I have to see the images first. But it's a shame if he didn't get back up and so lost the jersey.”
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