By Craig Lewis
July 22, 2010
Could the 2010 Tour de France be any closer as it heads into the final three days? Alberto Contador (Astana) and Andy Schleck (Saxo Bank) are racing as if they were identical twins. Matching each other's accelerations and riding side by side, as they leave the rest of the race several switchbacks down the road.
On paper, Contador should prevail over Andy in the 52-kilometer (32-mile) race against the clock on Saturday. Yet, the way Andy rode the cobbles on Stage 3 and beat Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel) in a two-up sprint on Stage 8, he could easily have the best performance of his life in the final time trial and upset the favorites. For me, the winner of this year's Tour is still about as foggy as the finish on the Col du Tourmalet today.
With all of the mountains of the Tour de France now in the books, the race takes a flatter route up north to Paris. The 18th stage will start in the shadows of the Pyrenees and finish in the epicenter of the wine world, Bordeaux. With all but two riders now out of contention in this year's race, there will be nothing to lose at this point.
The riders of the Tour will now be confident in making the finish in Paris and will not hesitate to throw in a few attacks along the way. Trying to capture a little more face time on televisions around the world, racers will be extra motivated to get in the day's breakaway. This means the first one to two hours of tomorrow's stage will be very quick, and with the added possibility of crosswinds off the Atlantic coast, the stage will not be an easy spin through the vineyards.
The French riders are having one of their best Tour's in terms of stage wins in recent history and will look to add to their tally of six stages as a country. There are also many other teams that do not want to leave the Tour empty handed. Milram is still hoping to secure a title sponsor for next year and a stage win would certainly help in the effort to keep the 75-plus members of the organization employed. If that doesn't provide some motivation to go for a stage, I am not sure what else would.
For the sprinters, the 18th stage will be calling their names. The green jersey competition is still just as tight at the race for yellow with Thor Hushovd (Cervelo) leading Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre-Farnese Vini) by just four points. Thor and Alessandro will most likely be just trying the distance themselves as much as possible from each other. Petacchi has another fast teammate, Grega Bole, and they will try to place him ahead of Hushovd at the finish or even in the intermediate sprints to steel away valuable points.
Mark Cavendish (HTC-Columbia) will be hard to beat in the final 200 meters. With three stages already in the bag, Cav should have no problem picking up a fourth tomorrow and most likely a 5th in Paris. Cav is, however, lacking the best lead-out man in the world, Mark Renshaw, but Cav is a sprinter that can also find his own way to the line and will prove that the rest of the week.
Posted by Brian Pinelli on 7/22/2010 at 12:48PM
It was an epic duel staged in an eerie mist to the 6940-foot summit of the daunting Col du Tourmalet. With everything at stake, two sensational climbers tested their physical and mental limits while battling mano-a-mano.
One-hundred years and one day after Tour riders first ascended the venerable Pyrénées climb - Andy Schleck (Saxo Bank) and Alberto Contador (Astana) paid homage doing the same. Reaching for everything in his power, the Luxembourger tried and tried - ultimately unsuccessfully - to crack his Spanish rival. Arriving together at the top of the vicious 11.5-mile grueling ascent, it was Schleck winning the battle, but Contador most likely winning the war.
In a gesture of goodwill - following their dispute of only two days ago - Contador allowed Schleck to cross the mountaintop finish line just slightly ahead. Their time was 5 hours, 3 minutes and 29. Most importantly, the Spaniard maintained his overall lead of 8 seconds, drawing ever so close to his third Tour de France title.
"Despite all that, I'm very happy to win this stage. It's always a dream to win the Tourmalet," said Schleck when asked about his inability to escape from Contador.
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