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All do respect to Andy Schleck but Fabian Cancellara is a two time winner of Paris Roubaix, the defending champion at the Tour of Flanders and is a four-time World Time Trial Champion. With credentials like that, Cancellara should be just as big a cog in the Leopard Trek machine as Schleck (if not bigger) and I wanted to know how the move was going to affect him?

The real drama on the day was whether Alberto Contador could hold off the challenge from Andy Schleck. In the end, the Spaniard gained an additional 31 seconds on Schleck, extending his lead to 39 seconds. Coincidentally that margin is exactly what Alberto Contador gained on Andy Schleck when he made his cowardly attack on the climb up Port de Bales in stage 15. Even more interesting is that it appeared Schleck was going to put time into Contador before his chain malfunction. Given what happened today, Schleck would likely have won the Tour de France had the incident not...

Contador puts time into Schleck setting up a showdown in the Pyrenees Team Katusha’s Joaquin Rodriguez took the victory in stage 12 with GC favorite Alberto Contador finishing comfortably on his wheel in second place. More importantly, Contador gained ten seconds on overall race leader Andy Schleck, cutting his lead to just 31 seconds and setting up a showdown in the Pyrenees. Schleck stays in yellow, however, if he’s not able to gain significant time in the Pyrenees, he has little hope of finishing atop the podium in Paris. Contador’s superior time trial skill will allow him to gain at...

Clearly Andy Schleck and Alberto Contador are the two alpha males fighting for supremacy in this year’s Tour de France. The two GC favorites put in a Herculean effort to chase down the remnants of the today’s breakaway on the descent of the Col de la Madeline and cemented their places atop the leader board, setting up a show down in the Pyrenees Mountains. Race leader Cadel Evans cracked on the climb of the Madeline loosing more than eight minutes on the day and ending his chance of winning his first Tour de France. BMC team owner Jim Ochowicz revealed...