So Andy Schleck proved himself an adept card player yesterday by messing with Alberto's head, on a climb that was better suited to the Spaniard. But even he knows that he will need more than 31 seconds ahead of the 51km Time Trial later in the week. He hinted that he might go all out today, but then again he might not.

Second of the four days in the Pyrenees celebrating 100 years of mountains in the Tour, with the deux jours du Tourmalet to follow.

Though it isn't a mountain top finish the Port de Bales climbs for over 20km and contains sections of over 11%. This is likely to cause some splits in the main group, though the descent to the finish may see a regrouping.

So what are our thoughts for today:

i) who goes in the break?
ii) which frenchman busts a gut to get another home victory
iii) when will a true climber start trying to win KoM points
iv) will the leaders finish together
v) will Armstrong try something, or has he been losing time because he is all in
vi) does Thor go for the sprint points at Clermont
vii) will Wiggins fall out of the Top 20
viii) will Gadret cement his place as top french rider on GC

So many questions. And, I have to work in the office today

Anyone's guess. The only thing that's certain is that Cunego will try bridging up to the break at some point



I'm actually rooting for/believing in a victory for one of the big boys this time. Think the contenders won't wait as long as they did yesterday. If AS/AC start playing games again, expect to see others start trying much earlier than yesterday.



Good question. I'm wondering whether Cunego has some half-baked plan to make an attempt. Hasn't seemed able to make up his mind so far, though.



AS/AC will finish together. They might lose time to Sanchez on the downhill and finish behind him.



Hasn't got anything left in the tank.



Tries to, but ends up sitting in the bunch behind a >3-man breakaway after Lampre once again blocks all his attempts at getting in a break.



No.



Yes

The big question: will Armstrong show that he is actually in the race to still do something (because as a helper he is not there... what have yet to see a single picture of him fetching anything for anyone, and considering the media coverage he gets, if it had happened, I am sure there would be pictures to prove it).

If he is to do something, today - Casartelli day - would seem like the day to do it.

I agree Strategy. I think he has been losing those huge chunks of time in the last few days on purpose. When he was getting shelled early yesterday he was smiling and nodding at the camera, not exactly hanging on for dear life.

Today would be a day for him.

And Petacchi takes a point towards the KOM classification! Gunning for polkadots? :P

Clearly riders got wrong information since Pineau took points in intermediate sprint.

Tempting explanation, though I submit that it's hard to confuse the road markings for KOM points and sprint points

It seems to be an ideal stage for Sanchez to do something with that long downhill to the finish. I wonder if he has anything left in the tank after yesterday.

It is my understanding that the downhill is not only long but technical, so if a good descender like Sanchez gets a lead they should be able to hold off the pack. Not as much chance of a regrouping as on other times when the last climb is so far away from the finish. I'm hoping that means we have some fireworks today.




Ain't live a #####???

I was pondering this same question today and feel that Lance is saving himself for an ideal breakaway stage or the ITT. If he's fresher than all of the other GT riders and specialists going into the Stage 19 then I think he has a real shot of winning it, although Cancellara will and should be favored.

THat's strange ... the top 5 were left and then there was a huge regrouping ... or are my feeds delayed?


SCHLECK DROPS HIS CHAIN!! THAT'S IT

What a big man Contador is to finally show his cards once he loses Schleck by a mechanical

The only good thing to come out of this is that on the Tourmalet, Schleck can really put the hammer down to salvage a podium place, which was all he was ever going to get anyway.

Gotta say I'm surprised that Contador attacked when Schleck dropped his chain; seems like a classless and disrespectful thing to do to the yellow jersey. A few live updates are claiming that he didn't know about the chain, but that seems far-fetched. Hmmm...anybody watching this have an opinion?

That's disgraceful. I expected better from Contador.

ullrich waited

stealing stages from teammates, attacking the yellow jersey at a mechanical . . . bad, bad form AC

EDIT: I can't believe that not one of AC, SS and DM has the class to say "hey, we need to wait"

EDIT MK 2: A pox on the houses of Contador, Sanchez and Menchov!!!

Those damn SRAM chains are at it again!

I am not surprised at the RED RUSSKIE Menchov (thanks OAR) but I expected better from Sanchez.

Did it break, or did he drop it. A break we can blame on SRAM. A drop, not so much.

All's fair in love and war and the Tour. You won't hear me say it's a glorious victory if AC ends up winning because of this deficit but I would have done the same.

Sanchez was always going to do something on this stage, it was made for him. If anyone is at fault it is Contador but debatably. At least we saw today who deserves to win the Tour.

The doping I can accept but the lack of sportsmanship the last few days is appalling. Cue the mandatory remedial sportsmanship courses to be taught by Herr Professor Ullrich.



If those three have any honor once their heads clear away from the heat of battle they will make a pact to each sit 39 seconds on the start ramp of the final ITT.

To me, the reason for the chain drop seems largely irrevelant. Everybody's attention is on Contador and whether it was correct to attack during the leader's mechanical. Following tradition and the unwritten rules, he was clearly in the wrong, IMHO. There are gonna be some good quotes from riders after the stage!

The chain dropped, so you're right.


I agree and on the replay on the Luxembourg streaming feed I was able to watch, you can see the agression level rise the minute AC and company saw that he had a problem with his chain. AC saw it as an opportunity to go on the offensive, while Menchov and Sanchez simply followed his lead. I'm not sure what's protocol in that situation, as dropping a chain could be construed differently than having broken it. I'm sure this will be debated by those with opinions on both sides of the argument, both here, the media and the race participants. It's kind of a sad way for AC to get the yellow, IMHO.

boo!!!! hiss!!!!! complete lack of class from ac.

Where's Cancellara to knock these knuckleheads into line??? I am so disappointed in Contador given the events of the past few days . . . prior to which I really, really liked the guy. Never had a big opinion one way or the other on Sanchez and Menchov, but they come down a peg too.

Contador was quite a few meters behind Schleck when the mechanical happened, and Schleck was standing more or less still trying to fix his bike when AC went by.

A real bastard move.

Contador is going to get slated by the French press tonight

BTW, great stage win by Voeckler today. Nice to see the national champions jersey cross the line first. What a Tour the French are having this year. Chapeau!

What a sucky way to lose the yellow jersey. Especially when Andy had - for once - divested himself of Contador's shadow for a few moments (it was Vino on his wheel). This would have been an epic showdown.... I think Contador would have clawed his way back to Andy's wheel, but now we will never find out.

Andy's luck just isn't there this Tour - first with the loss of Franck (who would have saved his brother today), and now with the chain.

Not very classy from Contador/Sanchez/Menchov, but <shrugs shoulders>; that's how the sport sometimes goes down.

I think this reinforces my conclusion from Contador's behaviour in stealing Vino's (first) stage - he's running scared. He's a gentleman as long as he knows he can drop your @ss in the mountains but now he's up against some who is as strong - or possibly stronger - and he's rattled.

Footon riding well too. I'm starting to like these guys.

Ohhh, listen to the jeers for AC on the podium...

Yeah - a pity the drama behind partially overshadowed this epic win. It is always a pleasure to see Voeckler win.

mechanicals with the chain is not just a matter of luck, switching gears on inclines is a skill. i'm glad he went on, after all, it is a race.

I hope for three things. First, Vino pulls Contador aside and has a talk with him about how to race, so he stops this crap, Kazah "persuasion methods" optional but preferred. Second, Contador has a very restless night's sleep. Third, Schleck puts three minutes into him on the Tourmalet.

my wife just said pretty much the same thing.

Maybe AC will refuse to wear the yellow jersey tomorrow ala Eddy Merckx when Luis Ocana crashed in the 71 TdF.

i'm with him. somebody attacks me, i attack back. period.

Schlecklett didn't wait for AC who was stuck behind his brother's crash on the cobbles, but no one attacked him for that... nor would they if it had been AC who had dropped his chain after an ill-advised attack.

double standards.

i saw Contador slow up on the attack, but obviously not enough... there are boos in the crowd. Andy is their darling!

and for anybody who doubted Vino as a team man, he showed it today.

Wrong. If the yellow jersey falls or has a mechanical you do not attack. It is impossible in the heat of the race to evaluate to what extent the mechanical or crash invovled rider error (most crashes involve some degree of rider error, after all), determine whether some magic percentage of fault vs. faultless is obtained, and then decide whether to wait or ride.





AC wasn't the yellow jersey, so completely different consideration.

that would be a good move... perhaps you should suggest it?

Please tell me AC didn't do any of that pistolero crap on the podium after that display. If he did, I think you have the answer to your question.

you definitely can't blame sanchez and menchov for this . . . if contador goes, so must they.

Everyone knows who the contenders are and aren't, so I don't buy who's wearing the yellow jersey as a determining factor. I do think the very nature of the course makes the situations different however (ie. cobbles versus climbing where you have only the contenders around).

Was something preventing them from just sitting on?

watching the replay, i don't even think Contador saw that Schlecklett had a mechanical.

oh, forget it.

too much hatred here for my taste.


but thank you for this before i bid adieu

I will be very interested to see the race (yes, I'm basing my rantings on the live ticker . . . ) but from what I understand it would have been very difficult for Contador to miss it, unless he thought that perhaps Schleck just pulled over to the side of the road to take in the view . . . ?



What do you mean by hatred?









Yeah, I know what you are saying, but still . . . that's a tough call. Would Armstrong have been a "contender"? Obviously it would have been folly to wait for him. Or Basso, Wiggins, Kreuzinger, etc., etc. Thus I think while it might be a nice gesture to wait for a "contender" the rule that you wait pertains only to the yellow jersey. Where it gets more fuzzy is that the yellow jersey probably has to be worn by someone who is also a contender for the GC, i.e., if a sprinter still holds the yellow jersey when the race hits the first mountain pass and he gets a mechanical, obviously nobody would think you need to race . . . so, admittedly, the rule isn't 100% black and white.

Contador was caught napping when Schleck attacked. Vino then got onto Schleck's wheel and Contador still didn't seem to have spotten what had happened. By the time Contador started trying to bridge he was almost certainly in panic mode and that correlated with the moment that Schleck dropped his chain. I can believe that Contador didn't know exactly what happened in that scenario.

I'm reserving judgment until I read the riders' comments. They were there, we weren't. They know the protocol & all the ins & outs thereof.

It has come to be known as the 'Schleck crash'. Actually, it was Tony Martin and another rider who caused the crash. Fränk Schleck was just the only one who got seriously hurt. So: Schleck the Elder is not the reason for the split in the field, but only guilty of being horrible at falling.

That said, I'm not sure where I stand on this. Sure, I'm sad to see AS loose the jersey in this way. On the other hand this was the ultimate finale, and different rules, even on the unwritten rules, apply. I'm not sure AS would have waited either.

@Burkni: you give Contador way too much credit. He is the best stage racer in the peloton but he is far from superiour, infalible and has only once won a GT with a solid lead. His first was a gift from Rabobank, his second was very underwhelming and narrow and he wasn't the best climber in that Giro. His 3rd he almost lost in the last TT against Leipheimer. This one he may win because Schleck was unlucky and too eager to finish him off - it happened as Schleck was about to shift to a higher gear. He might have gotten back on, true, but in any case this is still far from the Contador of 2009. He is obviously worse, and every move he makes suggests he isn't sufficiently confident in his own abilities.

I don't really care one way or the other in this situation but since when can you call dropping a chain a mechanical problem. I always thought it was just poor riding skills.

Now a broken chain .....I accept .... but dropping a chain ..... well he should learn how to change gears or better yet use Campagnolo.

Contador certainly hasn't endeared himself to the fans though so probably a big mistake to press the advantage.

Thanks,

Buddy

Where's Campybob when you need him to explain that this is all Saxo's fault for not riding Campy?!? Clearly that is the most elegant answer.
EDIT: Wow, buddy, thaks for filling Campybob's role so ably and with astonishing timing!