Well, we all knew that Andy Schleck was not going to last in yellow, now didn’t we? Whether or not his chain malfunctioned on a climb like the Port de Balies (which it did, by the way) Schleck was destined to come in for heavy attacks from Alberto Contador at some point. Speaking of attacking and racing, Contador’s behavior following Schleck’s “mechanical” does not seem all that unusual to me. Third placed Sammy Sanchez had already taken off up the road and while Contador doesn’t have to worry about him too much, he does have to worry about Sanchez. So he had to keep on racing.
Not that Andy Schleck needed to forgive him. Schleck is 25. Contador is 28. These guys are going to be racing against each other for at least the next five years. Andy Schleck faces the very real possibility of being to Alberto Contador what Jan Ullrich was to Lance Armstrong: the guy in second place. Schleck needs to get more of an edge on him, as does Tyler Farrar, if those boys are going to win a whole bunch of races.
Speaking of winning a whole bunch of races, do you think it’s all those gold medals in Armstrong’s back pockets that are holding him down? What is the difference between gold bricking and sand bagging anyway? Yesterday morning, Lance and team director Johan Bruyneeyleeeye admitted as much. Lance has been holding back in order to try and win a stage or two. That’s fine except I thought Lance was supposed to be helping out Levi Liephiemerererer. Victor, who knows such things, seems to think that Levi is riding about as well as he can without Armstrong’s help. I don’t know. I think Lance is a bit of a distraction to the Radio Shack team’s focus.
Then again, the team would probably not exist without him. And I got excited about Lance in the breakaway yesterday. He could try again tomorrow, but Andy Schleck will be busy trying to bury Alberto Contador on the Col du Tourmalet. That is where Andy would have to win the race anyway, because he can’t beat Contador in the time trial. I would be surprised to see Schleck put the 2 plus minutes into Alberto that he needs to win. If he does, good on him. For all intents and purposes, the Tour de France ends tomorrow. Call in sick if you can.