Tour de France down to Two Men
As of the 16th Stage of the 2010 Tour de France, pre-Tour favourite Alberto Contador leads, but Andy Schleck, the best young rider, has something to prove. Schleck finished on the podium in last year’s Tour, second place behind Contador and ahead of third place Lance Armstrong. The seven-time Tour champion is not a threat this year, as his age has finally caught up to him and he’s fallen back into the peloton.
That leaves a two-man race between Schleck and Contador. While some long-shot contenders could theoretically take over in the last three stages, with some luck, the race has essentially boiled down to two opponents, only eight seconds apart. While two-time champion Contador is all confidence, leading in the mountains and well aware that he is the safer bet in the 52km individual time-trial that is Stage 19, Schleck has more to be angry about.
“Theoretically it is an advantage for me, but I know he is also able to gain time against the clock, being the champion of his country,” said Contador. “But before we worry about the time trial there is still the stage on Thursday which is very hard, and there he may be big differences, rather than when we’re racing against the clock.”
Schleck has been wearing the best-young-rider jersey since the 7th Stage, and took the yellow jersey for overall lead in the 9th Stage, after he finished first in the 8th, the first mountain stage of this year’s Tour. Ever since his older brother Frank had to abandon the Tour after breaking his collarbone in the 2nd Stage, Schleck has ridden with the knowledge that his brother is watching from home, rooting for him.
“I promised my brother this morning that I wouldn’t take any risk on the downhill but I think I went down pretty fast... for me, let me put it that way. I didn’t want to lose too much time," said Schleck.
When both of the Schleck's were part of the group crash in Stage 2 to Spa, Contador staged a gentleman’s protest in order to let the brothers catch up to the group. Only Sylvain Chavanel sprinted ahead for the stage win, while the general classification riders stayed together to the end. But when the younger Schleck dropped a chain while struggling with Contador at the end of the 15th Stage, the Spaniard took the chance to attack and stole the yellow jersey off Schleck’s back, in flagrant opposition to his fair-play in Stage 2.
“Last night I posted a video because this situation does not please me,” said Contador. “Today I talked with Andy because I wanted to make things clear. We have always had good relations and I do not want them to be damaged by what happened yesterday. We have explained ourselves and I think our relationship can become as good as it was before.”
Despite the Spaniard’s insistence that there are no hard feelings between the two race leaders, Schleck has still suffered an extremely frustrating bout of bad luck, and means to make up for it.
“I’m still motivated but it’s not like it’s revenge. I just want to win this Tour – that’s my goal – and I know there’s only one chance left and that’s the Tourmalet,” said Schleck. “He knows that he did a mistake yesterday; he shouldn’t have done that, he knows it and, for me, that’s enough now.”
Andy means to regain the yellow jersey in the final mountain stage, the fourth of the Pyrenees and the second climb of the Tourmalet. It is here that the Luxembourg rider has the best chance of gaining the necessary time back, which he will need to strengthen his chances in the Stage 19 time-trial. The two flat stages of the last four are wildcards – it’s anyone’s guess how they could turn out.
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