Squeezing into the Top 5 of the Tour
Barring tragedy, Andy Schleck and Alberto Contador will definitely finish in the top five, if not the top two of this year's Tour de France. However, the rest of the top five contenders are pushing and shoving for that 3rd podium spot. Furthermore, the lower top 10 are feeling the pressure to squeeze into the top five. Rounding the top five, as of the 16th Stage of the Tour, are Samuel Sanchez, Denis Menchov, and Jurgen Van den Broeck.
Sanchez is the reigning Olympic road race champion and targeted the top spots of the race before the Tour began. His 3rd place standing is two minutes behind Contador, the leader, but only thirteen seconds ahead of Menchov, his biggest threat for a podium spot.
"It's going to be difficult to beat riders like Menchov, he's got a lot of experience in the three-week Grand Tours," said former teammate Gonzalez de Galdeano to AFP. "And in the time trial, normally he is a lot stronger than Samuel.”
The two opponents took advantage of the marking game between Contador and Schleck to close the gap by 14 seconds in the 14th Stage, then gained 39 seconds on Schleck in the 15th, as did Contador, which won him the yellow jersey.
"Contador will be difficult to beat in the time trial," said Menchov. "But I have a chance of overtaking Schleck, because he's not as strong in the time trial as me or Alberto."
Van den Broeck sits in fifth place, 1:26 behind Menchov, and 1:22 ahead of sixth place Robert Gesink. The Belgian is modest about his well-earned fifth place in his first Tour de France as a team leader. He has maintained his standing for the first three of the four Pyrenees stages, and doesn’t seem to be in a position to lose it. He gained time on his two closest rivals, Gesink and 7th place contender Levi Leipheimer, in the 14th Stage.
"I'm still going for the top 10. It would be stupid to think it's over already, there's still a week of racing left; anything can happen," he told Cyclingnews. “The Peyresourde will hurt at the beginning but the other stages are much more important."
Gesink overtook Leipheimer in the overall classification after the 15th Stage when Alexandre Vinokourov’s aggressive pace dropped them both from the peloton and only Gesink was able to recover. Leipheimer still has the pressure of being the virtual leader of team RadioShack, first place in the team classification. Since Lance Armstrong dropped out of the running as a race leader, Leipheimer was happy to fill his shoes and climb into the top ten. He now stands in 7th, 5:25 behind Contador, and 24 seconds behind Gesink.
Twenty seconds behind Leipheimer is the 8th place contender, Joaquim Rodriguez. The Katusha team member won the 12th Stage and has been in the top 10 since stage nine. The team has otherwise had a poor Tour, especially Robbie McEwen, who has been suffering from crashes and illness.
“Rodriguez already rode both the Giro and the Vuelta on several occasions but it's his debut at the Tour de France,” said director Sergio Parsani to Cyclingnews. “The Tour's different for several reasons: different roads, more stress, better rivals. We were confident he could ride a good Tour. He's right there now and we hope he can make it into the top 5.”
Rounding off the top ten are: Alexandre Vinokourov, who won Stage 13 and the ‘Fighting Spirit’ award, and who now stands at 7:12 behind Contador, and 27 seconds behind Rodriguez. And, Canadian Ryder Hesjedal, who is in 10th place; 7:52 behind Contador, and 39 seconds behind Vinokourov.
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