During Stage 15 of the Tour de France, Andy Schleck’s chain popped off, which has been the talk of the Tour as of late. As you can see in the video, Alberto Contador passes right by Schleck, with minimal hesitation. After the Stage, Contador is wearing the yellow jersey, and Schleck is knocked to second place. What many are debating, should Contador have waited for Schleck? Leave a comment on your opinion.
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In Bagneres du Luchon this afternoon, stage 15 of the Tour de France was solely won by Bbox Bouygues Telecom rider, Thomas Voeckler. The relentless drama between Alberto Contador (Astana) and Andy Schleck (Saxo Bank) on its boiling point never bothered the Frenchman a bit as he cherished his stage 15 win of the Tour de France, his second year in a row.
Voeckler admitted that he nearly abandoned the Tour, “I worked hard for this stage win. It has been a really difficult race for me and, if there had been crosswinds on (the stage during) July 14 instead of a headwind, I would almost certainly have pulled out. In the past three days I’ve been feeling much better.”
Voeckler, nicknamed, “le chouchou” or “France’s darling” was in no doubt to be the strongest among the breakaway group of 10 riders halfway through the 187 km…
Friday launched Stage 12 of the Tour de France, and Alberto Contador moved up to 2nd place in overall standings, while Joaquin Rodriguez won the stage, a 131.5 mile race. As you may know, Contador was last years Tour de France winner, who is known for his vicious uphill accelerations, pushing him towards the number 1 spot.
On the overall standings, Contador is in 2nd place, only 10 seconds behind Andy Schleck, both are crowd favorites for the year. Schleck’s team Saxo Bank had to play some serious defense, but it was not enough.
Bjarne Riis, Saxo Bank team manager said “We never declared that Andy would run away with this race,”.
Even with the heat in the 90 degree range, all cyclists showed a tremendous amount of dedication. “This is the hottest tour I’ve ever been a part of,” said Lance Armstrong about the 2010…
Alberto Contador hopes to defend his title at this year’s Tour de France. Together with his teammates at Astana, Contador rode through the Pyrenean stages for four days.
Contador was with Dmitri Fofonov, Paolo Tiralongo, Benjamin Noval, Daniel Navarro, David de la Fuente, Jesus Hernandez and Oscar Pereiro. He also met up with the Schleck brothers, Andy and Frank of the Saxo Bank team. They approached the Col de Tourmalet from the Col de Soulor direction, opposite the road which the Astana team took.
The Tour’s stages 14-17 will be at the Pyrenees. The first day will be on Ax-3 Domaines plus two mountainous days; then the stages will culminate on the final day’s finish at the Tourmalet. Contador states, “We’ve seen the stages that will decide the Tour.”
Contador sees the stage win at the Tourmalet might just be a preview as to the overall standing of the race. Contador calls it…
Alberto Contador feels that for this year’s Tour de France, the man to watch out for is Andy Schleck. Although Schleck suffered some knee problems, Contador thinks that with Schleck’s experience, it will not be easy to beat him. “Andy Schleck tested me a lot in the mountains last year,” said Contador.
Contador noted that the absence of Lance Armstrong and Johan Bruyneel from the Astana team makes a huge difference. “Last year there were several strengths and we would see who was better positioned in general ,” he said.
Contador emerged to be the strongest contender on the team and this led to Armstrong and Bruyneel’s exit. After the Tour, they formed the RadioShack outfit.
Contador is currently Astana’s sole leader and started his season in high spirits by winning the Paris-Nice and Volta ao Algarve.
Contador was not present in the Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco due to the Tour preparation….
A lot of hype is being built around the Criterium International which is going to be held this weekend at Corsica. Most of the hype revolves around Lance Armstrong and Alberto Contador racing against each other in the event, which would be their first ever since last year’s Tour de France.
However, Contador is downplaying the challenge that his former Astana teammate supposedly presents, saying that many other riders are in much better shape than Armstrong as of the moment, and is instead acknowledging Cadel Evans to be a stronger threat.
Armstrong and Contador were not even supposed to meet each other in this weekend’s Criterium International. The two feuding cyclists were instead expected to race in the 2010 Tour de France, not before, but somehow Contador decided to drop his scheduled participation in the Tour of Catalunya to instead ride in the Criterium.
Contador has called Armstrong as “a rider…
After his victory at Paris-Nice, Alberto Contador reschedules his calendar for the next two months. He believes it would be good sense to take it easy during the earlier part of the season.
“I’ve had very good results in my first two races this year,” Contador commented. “My preparation is well underway – ahead of schedule, in fact – so we decided to change our plans, to put less wear on me and my team.”
Contador found the Paris-Nice race stressful on both mental and physical levels. This led to his decision not to join at the Volta a Catalunya on March 2-28 and the Vuelta al País Vasco on April 5-10.
However, Contador will definitely ride in the Criterium International because he feels the race suits his form and personality. He will also race at the Vuelta a Castilla y León on April 14-18, the Fleche Wallonne on April 21…
