A lot went before, but this final slugfest between the two protagonists was eagerly anticipated. Considered by virtually all pundits to be the last chance for Schleck to gain any meaningful time advantage prior to the ITT and hence start last in that stage, with all the inherent advantages of that position, there was no chance that it wouldn't come down to these two.
And so it did: as history will now read, it was Schleck who won the stage, and the battle, but it was Contador who may just have won the war of Le Tour 2010, plus a handy little lift in the popularity stakes courtesy of a gifting of the stage win to Andy. Not that Schleck didn't deserve the win - his relentless charge up the final 10 km of the climb, bringing a shadowing Contador with him, and fighting back against a withering Alberto attack at 4 km to take over the front running again, plus doing the favour to Contador of gapping the 3rd, 4th and 5th riders on GC by handy margins, were all reasons for him deserving first past the line.
But equally, it was also a win for Alberto: having stalked Andy all the way, and having reminded him with that strong attack that he was capable of pressing for a potential stage victory, Contador displayed admirable restraint and great poise to not contest the final meters to the line, half-wheeling Schleck in. Perhaps there was an element of contrition for a previous faux pas, but clearly there is a great respect and friendship between the two: their post-finish embrace was touching and fitting.
Sure, some may rail against a 'manufactured finish', but I don't agree. Andy stormed up the climb, Alberto in tow, and although I am not privy to their thoughts, it seemed fair to assume that if Schleck had not been able to answer Alberto when he attacked , Contador may well have carried on to the win. That notwithstanding, from a strategic point of view, Alberto did indeed have a win: retaining his 8 sec gap to Schleck and, barring anything untoward occurring to either of them during Stage 18, giving him the final start in the ITT and knowing exactly Andy's performance across the timed points.
I thought it was pretty Epic - so 'Bravo'.
Other highlights for the day for me:
- Carlos Sastre's entertaining but ultimately futile escapade of 120 km or so to attempt to put himself in the breakaway and a chance at winning the stage. I also liked his post-race comments about his scampering off the front of the peloton whilst Contador tried to slow the race down to enable Samuel Sanchez, 3rd in the GC who'd taken a nasty tumble, to rejoin: something along the lines of 'spoiled brats' interspersed with comments that no-one had waited for him during this Tour!;
- The aforementioned Sanchez, who initially looked like he'd done some serious damage in his crash, gingerly hopping back on his bike, rejoining the bunch, and then gamely plowing up the Tourmalet to get 5th on the day and even put a few seconds into his main GC rival for the podium, Denis Menchov;
- The flock of sheep which crashed the peloton's party on the Soulor by scaling the low side of the mountain onto the road, and then generally creating woolly havoc and mayhem with their scattered-like-a-grenade-had-been-lobbed-in-theirs-midst antics: a few of them even ran up the climb alongside the riders a la their human spectator counterparts. Mind you, I'm guessing that compared to the antics of some of the human fans, the sheep possessed a collective IQ overwhelmingly exceeding that of these cretins;
- Ryder Hesjedal kicking arse with an excellent 4th place, and Robert Gesink coming in 7th and offering some great support to his team mate Menchov; and
- Jurgen Van Den Broeck, not so much for his 9th place effort, as for his dissing of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who slummed it all day in the Ref's car and whose presence culminated in the creation of a media scrum at the top of the climb which hindered rider's movements to doping controls, and to team buses. Van Den Broeck, whilst heading to doping control, apparently rode through a TV interview 'Le Prez' was giving, causing Sarkozy's bodyguards to have kittens (Jurgen sadly wasn't packing heat with murderous intent), and later dished out some vocal treatment to the pres' car when it blocked his way off the mountain. Fucking celebrity world leaders! Jurgen should have bitchslapped the prez, mooned his guards, and stole his wife for good measure! Now there's an ending to the day I would've payed to see!
Ride Safe!
No comments:
Post a Comment