Sylvain Chavanel Takes Stage 7 of the Tour
For the second time, Sylvain Chavanel attacked for a stage victory and took the yellow jersey from Fabian Cancellara.
“At first I was afraid to attack, because I did not want to take any riders up to Jérôme [Pineau]. And when I did eventually catch him, he told me: ‘Go ahead!’ He was exhausted,” said Chavanal.
The seventh stage of the 2010 Tour de France was the first mountainous stage and all the leading contenders were gauging each other’s form. However, the overall 2nd place rider, Cadel Evans, is not concerned that Chavanel will get in his way, explaining that second place was a good position to attack from later in the race.
"We saw today all of the GC guys looking at each other and, particularly in the final, it was strange – really hot conditions to start with, pretty high tempo Bbox, and then in the final it was tough," said Evans after the race.
Chavanel’s Quick Step teammate Jérôme Pineau started the initial escape and won the first place points in 5 of the 6 climbs, to keep his polka-dot jersey.
“I like this polka-dot shirt and I have good legs, so we do not set limits,” said Pineau. “And if ever Sylvain must take a chance, he will do so without any problem and with our support because it will only do so if he feels strong," he added.
The general classification favourites sat back for the stage, observing each other rather than attacking. Lance Armstrong finished 1 minute 47 seconds behind the stage winner. The leisurely pace of the race favourites was expected. The previous yellow jersey holder, Fabian Cancellara, finished 14 minutes and 12 seconds behind Chavanel.
“It was not a day that is going to decide the winner of the Tour,” said Schleck. “To be honest, I didn’t expect it to be as hard as it was. It was a difficult stage with the heat and everything – that’s something I didn’t expect for today.”
Chavanel has previously won the second stage of this year’s Tour and took the yellow jersey from Cancellara, who took it back from him the next day. With his second stage win, he managed to make the same grab from the previous overall leader.
“I know that the battle will mainly concern Contador, Schleck and Evans,” said Chavanel. “In the midst of it, I’ll always give everything but if I lose it does not matter. Right now I’m on my little cloud, I’m floating and I don’t know how else to describe it.”
The eighth stage is the first high mountain stage, and was an opportunity for the overall contenders to use what they learned in the seventh stage to climb up in the top ten.
“It'll be another day where the main contenders look at each other, test themselves and we’ll see if someone really wants to lay it on the line and blow it apart,” said Chavanel.
Chavanel went on to lose the yellow jersey to Cadel Evans and the eighth stage win to Andy Schleck. Schleck himself went on to take the yellow jersey in the ninth stage, while Sandy Casar took his first stage win. Chavanel now stands in 10th place in the points classification and in 9th place in the "King of the Mountains" competition.
Schleck and Contador hold first and second place overall, respectively, as Chavanel predicted, but after a 42nd place finish in the 9th Stage, Evans fell from 1st to 18th, 8 minutes and 9 seconds behind the stage leader. Schleck, 25, also holds the young rider classification for the third day in a row, 2 minutes and 5 seconds ahead of runner-up Robert Gesink.
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