Tour de France battle spicing up
The first rest day is a much-needed one for the riders in the Tour de France. The weekend saw the first mountain climb begin, scorching heat and the seven-time champion Lance Armstrong out of contention for the Tour win.
He suffered two falls on the eighth stage, which was won by Andy Schleck, with a fall coming at a roundabout after clipping a front pedal causing the front tyre to roll off.
This year will be the American’s last in cycling’s grand occasion. Now that he doesn’t have a chance to win an unprecedented eighth Tour, he will still continue to ride. “The Tour is over but I'm gonna hang in there,” he said.
Armstrong now finds himself placed 39th in the overall standings, with Australia’s Cadel Evans holding the yellow jersey for the first time since 2008. Last year’s champion Alberto Contador has climbed up to third, but was unable to hold onto Schleck after yesterday’s stage victory.
It was the man from Luxembourg taking his first stage win, and very much opens up the Tour. Sylvain Chavanel has two stage victories in this year’s Tour, while Mark Cavendish also has two, winning back to back in stages five and six. He may not be the challenger for the yellow jersey, but he is a strong contender for the green jersey in the points standings.
Britain’s hopes of a first Tour winner lay on the shoulders of Bradley Wiggins. He is now 14th place, having dropped from 11th, and the climb took its toll on him, as he now has a lot of work to do if he is to match his fourth-place position from last year or better it.
Evans is the first world champion for 20 years to lead the Tour, and he has opened a gap of 20 seconds to Schleck and has over a minute’s lead over Spaniard Contador.
The mountain climb is usually a good judge for how the rest of the Tour will pan out. Wiggins crumbled, Armstrong crashed out, and Contador has his hands full.
Stage nine provides the main alpine complex for the riders to climb, beginning at Morzine-Avoriaz and finishing 204.5 kilometres later at Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne.
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