battling the brothers schleck

96th Tour de France

Stage 17: Saint-Maurice to Le Grand-Bornand, 169km/105mi

By Cathy Mehl

On the final day in the Alps those who needed time on race leader Alberto Contador had no choice but to attack and indeed, a major battle ensued on the climbs headed into Le Grand-Bornand.  Saxo Bank’s dynamic duo of Andy and Frank Schleck knew what they had to do and threw everything but the kitchen sink at Contador on the final two climbs, but the yellow jersey marked each move by getting on the wheel and staying there, arriving at the line with the brothers over two-minutes ahead of teammates Lance Armstrong and Andreas Klöden.  Rewarded for fine work on the stage and burying himself all day for the younger brother, Frank took the stage win after a pat on the backside by Contador confirmed the blessing.  Andy moved into second place and Frank captured 3rd overall at 2:26 and 3:25 respectively. Armstrong is 4th at 3:55 and Klöden in 5th with 4:44.  The biggest loss on the day belonged to Bradley Wiggins (Garmin) who slipped to 6th at 4:53. 

"As a time trial specialist we knew Wiggins was the real danger," said General Manager Johan Bruyneel. "At the moment the Schlecks went Contador and Klöden went so it was fine.  We knew the Schlecks would go to the end because they wanted to get rid of Bradley Wiggins.  The attack from Contador at 3km from the top, I had advised Alberto not to go because he didn’t need to go.  He didn’t need to go because it was clear that the Schlecks would go full gas to the finish.  I told him, ‘You don’t have to attack to win the Tour de France today’.  It’s a bit of a pity that Andreas couldn’t hold on because we could have been first, second and third on GC but now we are first, fourth and fifth." Regarding a late attack by Lance, Johan continued with, " A rider has to know when he can go and Lance really judged that attack.  I know that he had a hard time the last few kilometers, it was a hard stage.  I told him on the final of the Colombiere to go away from Wiggins so in the end we could be 1-2-3.  But in the end you can’t want it all.  Our purpose is to win the Tour and we got a big step forward today.  If we want everything we can end up with nothing and that’s not what we want.  Second and third are not a goal.  If it happens that’s ok but we don’t go after it.  Winning the Tour is the goal."

“We’re still in a good spot,” said Armstrong after the stage.  “We’ll see more after the time trial in Annecy.  We still have two big days left.  The TT will shake things out and then the big day on the Ventoux.”

It was a day of five climbs, all coming in quick succession, wearing down the legs after three hard weeks of racing.  A group of some 20 riders formed the break-of-the-day and included green jersey Thor Hushovd (Cervelo).  On the first descent Hushovd broke away from the others and rode solo over the next climb to claim the sprint points in the valley below, firming up his hold on the sprinter’s jersey by consistently riding well instead of relying on brute strength in the final sprints.

On the last two climbs the goal was to distance Wiggins before Thursday’s time trial, knowing the specialist can make up plenty of ground in a race against the clock.  Carlos Sastre (Cervelo) attacked first with no response from the top riders and soon enough his effort was brought back by the tempo riding of the group.  Frank Schleck was next to go, with Lance, Alberto and Andreas all able to respond.  When Wiggins showed some weakness, Armstrong quickly got on his wheel and a gap developed to the Contador-Klöden/Schleck group.  Lance tried a few times to shed the British rider but when he was unable to do so he shut down his effort and went back to sitting on the wheel, playing the role of dutiful teammate to perfection. Also included in the group were Wiggin’s teammate Christian Vande Velde and young rider Vicenzo Nibali of Liquigas.

Meanwhile….the Schlecks, Contador and Klöden rode steadily in the front group, hoping they were doing enough to keep Wiggins at bay.  Near the top of the Col de la Colombiere Contador put in an attack to distance the Schlecks, but they rode back to him and only teammate Klöden was distanced, never able to ride back to the group.  Contador was then isolated by his own doing, perhaps a miscommunication with his German teammate and looked repeatedly behind him to check on Klöden’s progress.  At that point Andreas had to choice but to establish his on rhythm as he continued his forward progress.  Although the yellow jersey was then successfully isolated, the Schlecks had nothing left to throw at him and the trio rode to the line together.

Armstrong distanced Wiggins before the summit of Colombiere and blazed across the gap to an islolated Klöden, with Nibali joining the trio into Grand-Bornand.  Nibali took the win in front of Armstrong with Klöden gapped off by a few seconds.

Responding to comments that he seems to have found new legs, Lance commented, “Well I have been caught out tactically.  I don’t follow the accelerations of the other guys and I have to work a bit with the other teams.  I didn’t go until I thought I could get away but maybe I should have gone earlier.” Asked about his overall chances at the Tour, he said, " It would be nice to be on the podium so in the time trial I’ll do my best and then go up the Ventoux as fast as I can." 

Tomorrow is the 40.5km/25mi relatively flat time trial in Annecy.  Racing all-out against the clock, look for another re-shuffling of the general classification before Saturday’s final climb up the giant of Mont Ventoux.

Beyond the Finish Line: Le Grand-Bornand was well represented in the 2006 Winter Olympics held in Turin, Italy.  In addition to being the birthplace of Christophe Perrillat, who was a member of the French cross-country ski team at the 2006 Games, it is also the birthplace of Sylvie Becaert and Roddy Darragon.  Becaert won the bronze medal in the biathlon and Darragon won the silver medal in the cross-country skiing individual sprint event.   Champions abound in the region.

Top Ten Results

1 Fränk Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank 4:53:54

2 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana

3 Andy Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank

4 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas 0:02:18

5 Lance Armstrong (USA) Astana

6 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana 0:02:27

7 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Garmin - Slipstream 0:03:07

8 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Agritubel 0:04:09

9 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Garmin - Slipstream

10 Rémi Pauriol (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit en Ligne 0:06:10

Team Astana on Stage 17

55 Haimar Zubeldia Aguirre (Spa) 0:17:33

57 Sergio Miguel Moreira Paulinho (Por)

60 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) 0:21:31

99 Grégory Rast (Swi) 0:29:43

101 Dmitriy Muravyev (Kaz)

General Classification after Stage 17

1 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana 72:27:09

2 Andy Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank 0:02:26

3 Fränk Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank 0:03:25

4 Lance Armstrong (USA) Astana 0:03:55

5 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana 0:04:44

6 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Garmin - Slipstream 0:04:53

7 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas 0:05:09

8 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Garmin - Slipstream 0:08:08

9 Christophe Le Mevel (Fra) Française des Jeux 0:09:19

10 Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 0:10:50

Team Astana on General Classification

26 Haimar Zubeldia Aguirre (Spa) 0:30:59

31 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) 0:36:37

35 Sergio Miguel Moreira Paulinho (Por) 0:39:35

129 Grégory Rast (Swi) 2:40:02

142 Dmitriy Muravyev (Kaz) 2:53:01