Au Revoir, Leopard

Pour un an, j'ai été un fan fidèle de l'équipe Leopard Trek.  J’ai attendu avec impatience à voir le maillot de l’équipe, et j’ai acclamé les porteurs de ce maillot.  J’ai vu chaque étape du Tour de France cette année, suivi l’USA ProCycling Challenge, et acclamé mon gars Andy tout le temps.

Mais désormais mon équipe n’existera plus.  Dans un tour très imprévu par tout, l’équipe nationale luxembourgeoise va se joindre à l’équipe américaine Radioshack.  C’est un choque aux fans, parce que Leopard a été crée pour les frères Schleck à pouvoir courir avec une équipe nationale, et avec ses résultats pour sa première saison, cet effort s’est passé bien.

Selon L’Équipe, ce tour est dû au départ du manager, Brian Nygaard (qui, ironiquement, vient à l’équipe australienne, GreenEDGE), et le manager de Radioshack, Johan Bruyneel s’intéresse aux coureurs luxembourgeois depuis longtemps.  Flavio Becca, désormais ex-patron de Leopard, explique dans un entretien récente avec Le Quotidien que cette «double perspective» de Bruyneel a des grandes espoirs pour les frères Schleck, particulièrement pour Fränk.  Avec champion du monde de contre-la-montre Fabian Cancellara, les frères devient les leaders de l’équipe.

La question finale de cette fusion est celle de coureurs.  Avec les règles de l’UCI, une équipe peuvent avoir 30 coureurs dans son effectif.  Quelques coureurs sont déjà départis pour des autres équipes, comme Stuart O’Grady à GreenEDGE, et Becca a dit que tous les contrats qui ont été signé pour l’année prochaine avec Leopard «seront respectés».  Mais il reste beaucoup de coureurs qui n’ont pas tout restent dans l’effectif de la nouvelle équipe, qui a été nommé par le management dans une façon horrible - 

 Radioshack-Nissan-Trek.  Oui, c’est vrai.  Et «Leopard Trek» a apparait si belle.

L'USA ProCycling Challenge 2011

Autrefois le Tour  de Colorado, l’USA ProCycling Challenge est une des dernières courses sur le calendrier professionnel.  Roulé pendant la Vuelta a España, le Challenge a attiré beaucoup de meilleurs coureurs dans le peloton professionnel, qui inclut les coureurs qui ont «podiumé» dans le Tour, Cadel Evans, Andy Schleck et Frank Schleck.

Le prologue contre-la-montre, une course courte de 8,3 kilomètres, a été ajouté aux palmarès de Patrick Gretsch, une coureur allemand qui n’a jamais fini dehors des tops 10 coureurs dans un contre-la-montre.  Le jour suivant la course a commencé en réalité avec l’étape de Salida à Crested Butte, où américain Levi Leipheimer a gagné les honneurs.

Le lendemain, il était le jour pour BMC, avec le co-équipier de Cadel Evans, «Giorgio» Hincapie, avec une bonne victoire dans une fin de sprint.  Et, une fois en plus, le deuxième étape en ligne a été une autre victoire pour Leipheimer, un leader et domestique importante pour son équipe, Radioshack.  L’excitation comme le Tour de France a continué, les deux étapes prochaines gagnées par italien Elia Viviani, un sprinteur avec Team Liquigas-Cannondale.

Mais quand le peloton est arrivé à Denver, Colorado, c’est Levi Leipheimer une fois encore qui portait le maillot leader, qui, dans une autre instance de similarité, est jaune aussi.  La victoire d’étape était à Daniel Oss, un autre italien de son équipe national, et en deuxième place, c’était Viviani encore.  Le jeune américain qui a gagné de la gloire dans le Tour cette année, Tejay van Garderen, ont un peu plus maintenant, avec son maillot blanc du meilleur coureur jeune.  Et puis, l’amusement continu avec la Vuelta a España!

Les Crits Post-Tour

Après la fin du Tour de France, il y a beaucoup de petites courses partout en Europe qui s’appellent «critériums».  C’est un petit-peu comme une parade pour les spectateurs par les coureurs, et bien que les résultats soient souvent déterminés d’avance, ils restent encore intéressant à voir.

Il était 36 critériums post-Tour cette année, et beaucoup de coureurs qui avaient roulé dans le Tour ont roulé dans ces crits aussi.   Cadel Evans, champion du Tour de France 2011, ont gagné le Profonde van Surhuisterveen aux Pays-Bas, portant son nouveau maillot jaune.  Frank Schleck, le frère Schleck aîné, ont gagné son critérium national (le Gala Tour de France Luxembourg), son frère cadet Andy s’est placé troisième et l’héro national français, Thomas Voeckler, entre les deux frères!

L’autre coureur qui a gagné sa course nationale est mon «beau mec», Edvald Boasson Hagen.  Le jeune norvégien ont battu le domestique australien de Team Leopard Trek, Stuart O’Grady, qui a été relégué à troisième place au Sandefjord Grand Prix, à la Norvège.

Stage 21 - Creteil => Paris Champs-Elysees

The final day of the Tour de France.  Traditionally uncontested, the ride up the Champs-Elysees is intended as nothing more than a victory lap for the deserving winner and a final chance for the sprinters to do their thing and cement, claim or lose the green jersey.

And what a victory lap it was.  Cadel Evans was revelling in the glory of his win, making history in more than one way.  Samuel Sanchez and Pierre Rolland were also enjoying their day in the sun, both figurative and literal, as the peloton rolled along the roads from Creteil into central Paris.  With another sprint stage still to come Mark Cavendish's hold on the green jersey wasn't certain, but 62 points ahead of his nearest challenger, Movistar's JJ Rojas,  the much-coveted maillot was likely to remain his.

The day had a rather sombre start to it, with the peloton all pausing for a minute's silence to commemorate the tragic events in Norway two days earlier.  Then it was back on the bikes and pedalling again towards the end of the 98th Tour de France.  For the first half of the race no-one was taking the 'race' part very seriously, the jersey winners riding along congratulating each other, Cadel leading the peloton with his team BMC and sharing the traditional glass of champagne with his DS, John Lelangue.

All camaraderie was out the window once they hit the Champs-Elysees, though.  The pace began to pick up and there was a subtle shift in the demeanour of the riders leading the peloton down France's most famous street.  BMC disappeared back into the main peloton, protecting Cadel from any last-minute mishaps, while the other teams began trying to build a breakaway.

It wasn't until aptly-named British Sky sprinter Ben Swift decided to take his chance that anyone got away.  Followed by four others, they took advantage of the peloton's distraction at the intermediate sprint point and bolted away to a 45-second lead with 35 kilometres left to ride.  While most of the teams were uninterested in the sprint, HTC-Highroad and Movistar in particular were keen to fight it out, Cavendish and Renshaw taking 7th and 8th to push 9th-placed José Joaquin Rojas further back in the race for the green sprinter's jersey.

Despite BMC's efforts, Cadel didn't entirely manage to avoid trouble, though.  It wasn't shown on the broadcast, but he revealed later on that as he slowed down to go around a sharp corner, the motorbike in front of him wasn't quite as considered and went over.  Cadel, with the help of his teammates, managed to dodge the toppled motorbike and continued on to finish the stage without trouble.

As the peloton rounded the final corner signalling six kilometres to go the break was still 20 seconds ahead, and it fell to the teams of the sprinters not represented in the break to try and bring it back.  Swift and HTC-Highroad's Lars Bak were the last two to be reeled in at three kilometres to go, and after that the HTC-Highroad Express blazoned a path down the Champs-Elysees with the rest of the 2011 Tour de France peloton in its wake.  With the high pace being set by Tony Martin and Cav's 'pilotfish', Bernie Eisel, it's not surprising that no-one could escape the clutches of the peloton until the Manx Missile was released to take his fifth stage victory of this Tour and his 20th Tour career victory.  My cutie Boasson Hagen (Sky) and Omega Pharma-Lotto's Andre Greipel came a close third and second, followed by Garmin sprinter Tyler Farrar and a surprising fifth in Fabian Cancellara (Leopard Trek).

And thus ended another gripping, thrilling, heart-rending and triumphant Tour de France.  The first ever winner from both Australia and the Southern Hemisphere stands on the top step of the podium, with the first ever pair of brothers to podium standing to either side.  Cadel has finally combined two second places to make a first, while Andy stands one step down for the third year in a row.  Samuel Sanchez carried off the polka-dot jersey, Cav has finally won his green one, and Alberto Contador was nowhere to be seen, finishing 3:57 down on the overall winner.  French unknown Pierre Rolland stole away with white, Garmin-Cervelo got to stand on the podium with their World Champion as the fastest team, while FDJ's Jeremy Roy (a.k.a. 'our Jeremy') took the prize of 'Supercombativity' - the most aggressive and spirited rider overall.  And while as a devoted Leopard Trek fan girl I would love to see the sky blue and black a step higher up the podium next year, I can't help but have a patriotic feeling that my dear Andy will have a helluva time taking that yellow off Cadel next year.

Stage 19 - Mondane => Alpe d'Huez

Three days left to go in the Tour de France.  It is close, but not decided yet.  How will that change tonight?  Will we know our winner by tomorrow?  Will we know who's lost?  And who will win on Alpe d'Huez?

Today started with - guess what? - another big breakaway.  This time 14 riders jumped off 10 kilometres from the starting line at Mondane, though they weren't destined to be very long-lived on a mountain stage like d'Huez.  The surprising and yet not-surprising move of the day was from our favourite spicer-of-the-mix, Alberto Contador.  Rounding a corner on the extreme inside of the pack, he surged ahead as the gradient increased of the corner and simply didn't look back.  Andy Schleck was right behind him as always, Cadel Evans fought his way to their wheel, and Thomas Voeckler did that thing he does these days where he supercedes his actual abilities and just does what needs doing to protect the yellow jersey.  Unfortunately for Andy, brother Frank couldn't follow the move and waited behind with the rest of Leopard Trek in the peloton.

This was where things got interesting.  Five kilometres from the top of the first climb, the Col du Telegraphe, Contador went again, and while Andy followed, this time both Cadel and Voeckler floundered.  So maybe it wasn't unexpected when Cadel first stopped to check his bike and then, clearly unhappy with it, waited for the team car to change it for a new one.  This was a definite turning-point in this year's Tour.  Cadel had lost enough time on the leaders to be counting it in minutes, not seconds, and there were only three days left, two if you discount the ceremonial ride into Paris.  Could he do it?

While Voeckler sat out in no-man's land, trying to catch up to the two leaders but never quite strong enough, Cadel dropped back to the peloton, being lead by Ivan Basso's Liquigas team, for a bit of support from his own team.  Right out the front, Andy and Alberto were chugging neatly through the forlorn remnants of the breakaway that couldn't take the heat of an Alpine climb.   Only Movistar stage winner Rui da Costa and AG2R climber Christophe Riblon kept up with the big boys after they'd been caught, and the four continued up once more to the heights of the Col du Galibier.

Back at the peloton, BMC had taken over the pace-making from Liquigas, but as we've seen many times this Tour Cadel wanted to ride his own race, and that's what he did.  Sitting at the front end of the peloton, he soon rode them off his wheel and began encroaching on Voeckler, who decided to sit up and wait for the septet of Cadel, Ivan Basso, Samuel Sanchez, Frank Schleck, and three of Voeckler's own Europcar teammates.

And this is where is starts getting messy.  Sanchez jumps off the front, Europcar's Anthony Charteau and Pierre Rolland chase, Voeckler starts to tire, Charteau drops back to Voeckler, Rolland carries on.  Crossing the top of the Galibier, it's Schleck followed by his friends, then Sanchez, Cadel followed a few seconds later by his group, assorted others chasing, Voeckler with two teammates and then the peloton itself.  On the descent, Sanchez catches the leading four, Cadel's group consolidates itself and then effectively chases down the leaders, catching them and forming one big lead group with 25 kilometres to go.

White jersey hopeful Rolland went off the front first, along with Canadian Ryder Hesjedal, and the two had a 47-second gap open at the foot of the Alpe.  In the meantime, Voeckler's teammates had paced him back to the main group to try and stay competitive in the GC.  Only 15 seconds ahead of Andy Schleck, Voeckler's yellow jersey was on shaky ground.  Behind Rolland and Hesjedal, a big push from one of Leopard Trek's domestiques saw riders start tumbling off the back again, including Voeckler and the current white jersey wearer, Estonian Rein Taaramae.  Then Contador attacked at 12.5 kilometres out, catching up to Rolland and Hesjedal before Andy and Cadel could catch him.  Soon after catching the pair, Contador went on ahead, with Rolland chasing his wheel.

At the 10.5-kilometre mark, a group containing Sammy Sanchez and Frank Schleck made it up to Cadel and Andy's group - yes, they're all over the mountain again.  The Schlecks tried to make Cadel's life difficult, but he took everything they threw at him easily.  When Peter Velits (HTC-Highroad) went off the front, Sanchez chased him, passed him and caught up to Rolland, who, despite the Spaniard's urgings, refused to do any leading.  Rolland sat comfortably on the back of Sanchez's wheel until they caught Alberto, and then promptly took off, leaving the two exhausted Spaniards in the dust to come in second and third, while the young French took his first TdF stage win and the white jersey.

So after all that kerfuffle, the changing hands of the white jersey and the unexpected stage winner who wears it, Cadel is now only 57 seconds down on new race leader Andy Schleck going into tomorrow's time trial, and a laughable four seconds down on second-placed Frank.  While Andy will savour his yellow over the next 24 hours, the question remains as to whether Andy can do a brilliant time trial to save that yellow jersey, or whether in 24 hours, that yellow will be Cadel's.

Stage 18 - Pinerolo => Galibier Serre-Chevalier

Oh.  My gosh.  The Col du Galibier.  FINALLY.  Mountains high enough to get some excitement going.  I will confess, though, that one thing does annoy me about the mountain stages - either you have a breakaway that breaks up and leaves scattered riders all over the course until you have no idea who is where anymore, or else everyone goes quietly off the back of the peloton, never to be seen or heard from again.

But moping aside, mountains!  There was, of course, the usual intermediate sprint with all the associated green jersey action, but all the work of HTC-Highroad to get Mark Cavendish up there in front of JJ Rojas was somewhat wasted, given the breakaway made their break only one kilometre from the sprint point, sweeping through with the top 13 places.  Such big names as AG2R-La Mondiale's Nicolas Roche and everyone's favourite battler, Johnny Hoogerland of Vacansoleil.

But what baffled everyone was the inclusion of Leopard Trek riders Joost Posthuma and Maxime Monfort and BMC's Brent Bookwalter in the breakaway.  As the two teams with GC riders most likely to win the Tour, road race tactics dictate they avoid joining breakaways and try to reel in any that do form.  As we were to discover, Leopard Trek was simply enacting their grand plan.  Maybe BMC had conceived the same plan and missed their opportunity too enact it, or maybe they were simply marking Leopard's move.  It's hard to say.

The number of riders in the breakaway went out to 15 just before the Col Agnel, when Marcus Burghardt (BMC), Mickael Delage (FDJ) and Egor Silin (Katusha) caught up to them.  At the beginning of the first hors-categorie climb the now-16 strong breakaway had almost a nine-minute lead over the main peloton.

And then began the fun of the mountain stages.  As the hills kick in, the climbers check in and the not-so-climbers check out, which left the lead group at 11.  Katusha's Maxim Iglinsky was taking the lead, cresting the Col Agnel first with Johnny Hoogerland right behind.  The group moved straight onto the Col d'Izoard, only six making it to the top in the lead, Leopard Trek's pace-making making it difficult to keep away.

The reason soon became apparent, in one of the most gutsy and unorthodox moves in modern cycling.  60 kilometres from the finish of a mountain stage, Andy Schleck went off the front off the group of favourite riders and began to make his way up the Col d'Izoard alone.  No one was sure what the hell he was doing.  No one was sure he could actually do whatever he was doing.  But he is Andy Schleck, one of the most capable riders in the peloton.  He blazed right past the remnants of the breakaway group as he blazoned on up the Col.

And this was where Leopard Trek's unusual tactics began to show.  As the group of the top contenders behind him finally began to up the ante, maybe not believing he could really stay off the front until the end, the two Leopard riders up from front, Joost and Maxime, waited for Andy to catch up with each of them in turn, and then paced him as far as they could go.  But there was still Iglinsky way out in front.

With the help of teammate Maxime and the three other riders around them, Andy caught Iglinsky with 30 kilomeres left to go, by which point he was far enough ahead of Thomas Voeckler to be wearing the 'virtual' yellow jersey.  With 15 kilometres to go, Max Monfort had finally run out of steam and left Andy to go it almost alone, keeping Iglinsky and Nicolas Roche (AG2R La Mondiale) for company.

Meanwhile, Contador had decided that enough was enough and started chasing down Andy Schleck.  The three-time Tour de France champion clearly felt he had already lost too much time on his two-time runner-up and was doing something about it, but pretty soon the pace-making all fell to Cadel Evans.  After a couple of abortive breakaway attempts, the also-two-time runner-up clearly decided to ride his own race and simply paced himself up the hill, coincidentally with the yellow jersey group in tow.  As they hauled themselves up the final climb of the Col du Galibier, almost four minutes separated Andy from the groupe maillot jaune.

Finally within the 10-kilometre mark, Andy clearly saw fit to shed his baggage and raced away up the mountain.  Behind him the gap was slowly closing, as Cadel literally dragged the world's top riders up the world's most famous biking mountain.  Though clearly not finding it easy, Andy stuck to his guns long enough to get them over the finishing line in first place, while Contador couldn't stick to his further downhill and fell off the back of Cadel's group, kissing another yellow goodbye.  Andy's brother Frank found his legs and was able to sprint off the front of Cadel's group in the last few kilometres to take second behind his younger sibling.

In a miraculous twist, Voeckler was able to stick to Cadel's wheel, who brought him in 15 seconds ahead of Andy and thus kept his yellow jersey for yet another astonishing day.  So with Contador is clearly out of the question, the question itself reads thus: Andy or Cadel?  Cadel, or Andy?  And here at Maillot Jaune, I've already picked my side.  It's Cadel, all the way.

Stage 14 - Saint-Gaudens => Plateau de Beille

In every Tour de France which has had a stage finish on the Plateau de Beille, the winner of the stage has gone on to win the Tour.  I highly doubt that this will ring true this year - the stage winner is not a big name; in fact, this is their first win in their entire professional career of seven years.  But like all sport cycling is constantly improving, and I suspect that not only is the quality of riders by this 2011 Tour higher than the last time the Tour rode to Plateau de Beille, but that the high-quality riders are closer together in ability than they have been previously.  In short, there are more equally-brilliant riders than every other time the winner of Plateau de Beille has won the Tour de France.

Today's breakaway was a surprising one - 24 riders, including three from the GC teams of yellow jersey hopefuls Cadel Evans (BMC) and Frank and Andy Schleck (Leopard Trek).  A breakaway of this size was never going to succeed, so some of the riders decided to go it alone.  Julien El Fares of Cofidis and the team leader of FDJ, Sandy Casar, leapt ahead of the pack and were soon joined by Garmin-Cervelo's David Millar.  As the reached the first of the climbs Millar was unable to keep up, but several others from the original breakaway of 24 came forward to join Casar and El Fares to make a total of 11 riders, including Jens Voigt and Linus Gerdemann, the teammates of the Schleck brothers.

Europcar, protecting the yellow jersey of Thomas Voeckler, began setting the pace, before Leopard Trek took over and began upping the ante, putting the pressure on the peloton as they began traversing the second and first category climbs mi-parcours.  Unfortunately Stuey O'Grady may have been warning the riders behind him of the upcoming bends of the descents, but clearly not all got the message, as Rabobank's Laurens Ten Dam went off the bitumen and performed what can only be described as a faceplant over the handlebars into a ditch.  Patched up, he continued chasing, but up in the breakaway Jens Voigt wasn't having any more luck.  Having chosen a nice place to crash, he promptly went off the road into a large pile of soft ferns, and quickly re-emerged, bike held over his head.  The new bike did him no good either, for his wheel slipped on the sun-warmed tar of the road and he hit the deck again.  The peloton soon reeled him in and he joined the "Leopard Trek Express", chuffing Andy and Frank right on up the climbs - the rest of the peloton were participation optional!

Once they hit the final climb, the hors-categorie montee up to the Plateau de Beille, the result was inevitable.  Leopard Trek kept going as long as they had breath and rider, stamping out a pace designed to shred the peloton to pieces.  As usual they did a good job, only a few riders still able to follow the leaders by the time the Leopard domestiques could do no more.  The leaders themselves did the rest of the work, setting a pace only they could handle as they swept past broken remnants of breakaway and attacks long forgotten and now futile.

Though many were saying it was Frank who looked strongest on the climb up to Luz-Ardiden two days ago, today it was Andy Schleck who parried and feinted like a master swordsman, attacking several times on the way up the plateau.  By now the group only held 10 - Andy and his brother; Cadel Evans; Alberto Contador, Ivan Basso (Liquigas-Cannondale); Jelle Vanendert (Omega Pharma-Lotto); Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi); Jean-Christophe Peraud (AG2R La Mondiale); and yellow jersey-wearer Thomas Voeckler and teammate Pierre Rolland.  Lampre's Damiano Cunego clung to the back for a while, but as the group reached the higher climes Cunego had long since disappeared.  Despite Andy's attacks, he achieved no time advantage, for there was always someone waiting to jump on his back wheel, and the rest of the group followed suit.  Though he never actively chased as did Voeckler or Evans, Contador remained in the group, following every attack as closely as all the rest.  Basso seemed to be riding at his own tempo, sometimes falling off the back of the group and at other times leaping to the front to lead it, unable to keep up with the accelerations and decelerations of the others.

The four main rivals were so busy concentrating on each other they didn't notice at first when Jelle Vanendert made his move and got clear, and little did they care, either.  Not high enough on the GC table to be a threat, Evans, Contador and the Schlecks were conserving their energy to battle each either, so neither did the follow when Sammy Sanchez decided now was his time.  Unable to catch the Belgian, the stage played out as a mirror image of Luz-Ardiden, when Sanchez won, Vanendert took second and the main riders shadowed each other to the finish.  This time, however, the Belgian unknown was riding to his first ever victory on the pro circuit, shadowed by the world champion.  As the "peloton" of the top GC riders came in, Andy clearly felt a bit antsy and sprinted for the finish, leaving the others to come in a few seconds behind, not enough to change the overall standings.

The remarkable rider of the day had to go to Thomas Voeckler, who, even though he eventually lost teammate Pierre Rolland who had paced him up Luz-Ardiden and is likely a better climber, still managed to chase the big names up to the top and challenge them for the lead.  If Andy, Cadel & Friends don't manage to dislodge him when they reach the Alps, Tommy Voeckler could suddenly be dangerously close to winning the French a Tour de France.

Stage 12 - Cugnaux => Luz-Ardiden

There is a saying amongst the riders when they reach the Pyrenees - "Le Tour commence aujourd'hui" ("The Tour starts today"), and they would be right.  This is the reason I have been waiting so eagerly for the mountains in the Tour de France - it's where you get to separate the boys from the men, find out who is in good form and who's not, and you can finally tell who's serious about winning the Tour de France.

As expected on such as auspicious day there was a certain amount of chaos from people attacking, falling back, being caught and dropping off, but being the mountains there are only so many riders who can truly handle them, and it wasn't as hard as it sometimes is to keep track of who was where.  The drama (and the television coverage!) started at 80 kilometres from the finish.  As usual there was a breakaway out the front - this time it was Geraint Thomas from Team Sky leading it, Laurent Mangel from Saur-Sojasun, Blel Kadri of AG2R and Ruben Perez of Euskaltel-Euskadi, as well as Jose Ivan Gutierrez (Movistar) and Jeremy Roy (FDJ) for the umpteenth time, all seven or eight minutes ahead of the peloton.

Meanwhile the sprinters were gathering themselves up for the last goodbye - the final green jersey points before the mountains where they would be relegated to the autobus, the group of non-mountain-loving sprinters just trying to get over the finish before the elimination time.  Though the highest points had already been taken the breakaway, the sprinters still took their chances, and it was really no surprise to anyone that it was Mark Cavendish who took the maximum remaining points, followed by teammates Gossie and Renshaw.  The two picked up more points to increase the gap between Cav and his nearest rivals for the green jersey, Philippe Gilbert and Jose Joaquin Rojas, who followed the HTC boys across the line.  After that it was the back of the pack and the autobus for these guys.

It was on the first climb of the day, the Category 1 Hourquette d'Ancizan, that the first move came.  King of the Mountains Johnny Hoogerland, soon followed by first Sylvain Chavanel and then Roman Kreuziger, raced on ahead in the hopes of winning enough extra polka-dot jersey points to keep his hold on the KOM jersey.  While Hoogerland soon reappeared in the peloton's radar, and even Chavanel eventually came home thanks to the relentless riding of the main bunch, Kreuziger went right off and was at one point within 30 seconds of the leading riders, though he never bridged the gap and fell off the back like all the rest as the climbs reached their steepest.

Out the front the lead group was collasping, as Geraint Thomas decided he was better off alone and made it happen.  Thomas had been wearing the white jersey of the best young rider until the crash of team leader Brad Wiggins, where the team stopped to see if the injured Brit could continue and Thomas lost several minutes on his rivals.  Jeremy Roy soon decided that he didn't like left behind and dragged himself up to form the leading pair, leading the race until part-way up Luz-Ardiden, the final hors-categorie (outside classification) climb of the day.

The peloton were having fun too.  Geraint Thomas had earlier had problems on one of the corners - he braked, caused his back wheel to lock and went skidding off the side of the road on a downhill.  Thankfully dodging between the parked cars and falling off his bike before the pair took the short cut down the mountain, he remounted and continued the descent, only to go skidding off the road again at the next corner!  Swapping bikes (there was mud on his wheels from the first incident that caused the second one), Thomas continued the cautious descent, while team staff advised their riders to beware Thomas' issues.  But at that self-same corner Thomas Voeckler also locked his back wheel and crashed gently into one of the parked cars, before turning his bike and heading downhill again.  Other riders weren't so lucky, hitting the deck in the middle of the corner and forcing the peloton around them. No injuries more serious than scrapes and bruises, though.

The peloton continued up the first hors-categorie climb of the Col de Tourmalet, Leopard Trek setting a grueling pace, while two or three different breakaway groups formed and faded away, the only one that never came back being that of Olympic champion Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and Omega Pharma-Lotto unknown Jelle Vanendert.  The peloton slowly grew smaller up the climb, riders like Jens Voigt and Stuey O'Grady sacrificing themselves completely under orders from the Schleck brothers.  By the time they were one-third of the way up Luz-Ardiden it had paid off.  While Sanchez and Vanendert were still a minute or so ahead, the only other riders left were the Schlecks, Cadel Evans, Alberto Contador, Damiano Cunego, leader of Team Lampre, Ivan Basso and teammate Sylvester Smyzd, who was likewise ordered to pick up the pace, and yellow jersey-wearer Thomas Voeckler and teammate Pierre Rolland (Europcar).  The octet paced each other up, watching for the moves, until Andy and Frank pulled the old one-two on the rest, Andy feinting before Frank pulled away and made a move.  The second time Frank went none followed, so the Luxembourg national champion chased down the two leaders and finished just behind Jelle Vanendert, who didn't have the legs to beat Sanchez to the stage win.  Meanwhile the other six, Sylvester Smyzd now having been dropped, continued on up to the high finish, and everyone was surprised to see Andy, Cadel and Basso round the corner without Contador, who eventually finish eight seconds behind.

The general classification is now in disarray, Thomas Voeckler with less of a gap after finishing 30 seconds behind Frank Schleck, who has now leapfrogged Cadel into second place thanks to his breakaway attempt.  Contador, while now ahead of almost everyone else in the GC, is even further behind the riders who really matter - Frank, Andy, Cadel, and even Ivan and Damiano.  Cavendish retains the green jersey, as does Voeckler his yellow, while Sanchez stole the King of the Mountains jersey at the top of Luz-Ardiden, and the white jersey is now being sported by young FDJ rider Arnold Jeannesson, who managed to follow the big names right up the mountain to finish in 13th place.  Oddly enough, Jeannesson was only trying to improve himself in the general classification, and regarded the maillot blanc as a sort of extra benefit on the side!