Tour de France: Rivals go head to head at last

Published on Monday 11 July 2011 18:36

Defending champion Alberto Contador and his main rival Andy Schleck have yet to properly test each other in this year's Tour de France. They have been too busy avoiding serious injury in nine days of manic racing, which came to a temporary halt with yesterday's rest day.

Although Contador has already crashed twice, the Spaniard was somewhat lucky to escape with just a bruised right knee, given that several other riders had to retire with more serious injuries. They include Kazakh star Alexandre Vinokourov (broken thighbone) and British hope Bradley Wiggins (broken collarbone).

"It may be the hardest Tour de France start I have experienced," said Schleck, who rides for Leopard-Trek. "A lot of nervy stages."

Contador is concerned he may lack his trademark uphill acceleration in big climbs later this week. He trained with team-mates yesterday morning, but can only really assess his condition when the race resumes today.

"I'm a bit worried because with a knee injury you can't ride with the same rhythm and the same frequency of pedaling as usual," said Contador, who has swelling on the inside of his right knee.

Schleck, the Tour runner-up to Contador in the past two years, is grateful to have enjoyed more luck than his rivals. Contador crashed early in Sunday's ninth stage - which later accounted for Vinokourov - and banged the same knee he hurt falling on stage five.

"It's sad to see to what degree luck has influenced the course of the race," Schleck said yesterday. "You can avoid crashes to a certain extent, by staying at the front of the bunch and being very aware of possible dangers."

But no race strategy could account for the fact a Tour car knocked Spanish rider Juan Antonio Flecha into Dutchman Johnny Hoogerland in a shockingly careless incident on Sunday. "It's really out of your hands," Schleck said. "We feel very fortunate that none of our team members was involved in a big crash."

.With Contador's knee still bothering him, Schleck will gauge the three-time champion's true fitness in the Pyrenees climbs starting on Thursday.

Schleck is in the driving seat as Contador needs to make up time lost on the first day when he was stuck behind a crash that split the peloton while Schleck stayed ahead of it. He is one minute, 30 seconds ahead of Contador in the overall standings, and 11 seconds behind two-time Tour runner-up Cadel Evans of Australia, the other main contender.

After the rest day, there are two flat stages for sprinters before riders enter the Pyrenees on stage 12, with its colossal climb up Col du Tourmale. That stage is so demanding it could decimate the field.Frenchman Thomas Voeckler leads the race after taking the yellow jersey from Thor Hushovd, while Spaniard Luis Leon Sanchez, who won stage nine, is second overall. Neither man is a realistic contender, however.

Thursday's stage from Cugnaux to Luz-Ardiden lasts a horribly long 211 kilometres (131.1 miles) and ends with a mammoth climb up Luz-Ardiden. Like the Tourmalet, Luz-Ardiden is so tough it is known as an HC - or 'Hors Categorie' - climb, meaning it is even harder than a category one climb and is therefore beyond classification.

The pain does not end there. Friday's 13th stage from Pau to Lourdes features an HC trek up Col d'Aubisque, followed by a hair-raising 40km (24.8-mile) descent to the line.

Saturday's 14th stage starts from Saint-Gaudens and is harder than the previous two - an intense day featuring two nasty category one ascents up Col de la Core and Col d'Agnes and finishing with a long HC climb up to Plateau de Beille.