TdF Commentary 7/11

Stage 8 Recap

Schleck makes late attack for stage win, Evans in yellow, Armstrong folds

Nobody won the Tour de France today, but many - including Lance Armstrong - most definitely lost it.  And while the final climbs weren't as filled with attacks as we might have hoped, it was a steady and furious pace dictated first by Team Sky and then by Astana that thinned out the field.  Only in the last 2 km did the attacks start coming, and all of them would be stifled except for a late push by Andy Schleck, who was joined only by Samuel Sanchez.  The two would sprint for the finish, with Schleck coming out on top for his first career stage win on Tour.

It took 42 minutes of attacks at the beginning of the stage for the peloton to settle on an appropriate group of riders for the breakaway.  As expected, these riders would see their lead grow on the flat portions of the stage before seeing it diminish during the final climbs.  The peloton was being pushed at a very rapid pace through the most difficult portions of the stage first by riders from Team Sky, and then by riders from Astana.  This pace thinned out the peloton until it consisted of only the top GC contenders - but most notably absent from this group was Lance Armstrong.

Armstrong was involved in a crash near the foot of the first category-1 climb.  With help from some teammates, he was eventually able to catch up with the group immediately before the climb, but soon was dropped from the pack during the ascent.  It's possible that either the crash or the effort to catch up took a lot of energy out of Armstrong, who normally would have easily been able to keep pace.  Things got even unluckier for Armstrong when riders from Euskaltel-Euskadi continued their tendencies to crash for no apparent reason.  The "bloody carrots" struck again when two Euskaltel riders collided right in front of Armstrong on an ascent (how one can crash at these low speeds is hard to understand).  Armstrong was taken down by the riders but had already been far back enough to concede the Tour.  The seven-time winner finished 11'45" behind the leaders and is out of GC contention.  To make things worse for Team RadioShack, who originally was thought to have as many as four legitimate GC contenders, Andreas Klöden continues to have difficulties on the climbs, and Jani Brajkovic was sent back to help Armstrong, finishing with the same time as him.  At this point, Team RadioShack only has on GC rider remaining in Levi Leipheimer.

Back in the peloton, we might have expected lots of attacks on the final climb, but instead it was the steady by grueling pace that would cause rider after rider to lose contact with the group.  Astana rider Daniel Navarro had a great shift setting pace and for a long time seemed to even be in the running for the stage win until fading with about 2 km to go.  Alexandre Vinokourov also had a good shift up front before Navarro's, but got dropped early and finished 2'23" behind the leaders.  With just 2 km to go and the lead group down to 12, it was looking as if the riders would be content with just riding this stage out and saving their energy for the Pyrenees.  This was until Robert Gesink and Roman Kreuziger started launching attacks.  These efforts would be neutralized easily by the lead group, but at last Andy Schleck launched a great attack that for once made Alberto Contador look not unbeatable.  Schleck was only matched by Samuel Sanchez, and while both riders only finished ten seconds ahead of the rest of the group, Schleck was able to log the stage win - not to mention the huge confidence boost.

The yellow jersey now goes to Cadel Evans, who will likely hold it until the race reaches the Pyrenees - that is, unless BMC Racing Team chooses to deliberately give up the jersey on Tuesday or Wednesday to a non-contender (i.e. breakaway rider) to take some pressure off their team leader.  After today's stage, the top of the ranks has been reduced to only the best GC riders, and the number of legitimate contenders for the podium right now looks to be around 15 (to make a liberal guess) - including Ryder Hesjedal, who is making a surprising effort following the crashing out of Garmin-Transitions team leader Christian Vande Velde.  The previously close-to-unknown Canadian rider has been able to maintain his high standing even in the mountains, and his performance so far is reminiscent of the meteoric rise of a certain Bradley Wiggins.

In the team classification, Rabobank has now taken the lead, and with the downfalls of Team Saxo Bank and now possibly Team RadioShack, Rabobank may have a good shot at winning the team classification, as long as they can consistently get a good third placing behind Denis Menchov and Robert Gesink.

Tomorrow is the Tour's first rest day, which is a little bit of a misnomer because riders will still train hard to keep themselves in form.  Tuesday's stage will be a huge polka-dot jersey battleground.  Stay tuned for the preview to Stage 9, coming tomorrow.

*****

Notable Stage Results

1	Andy Schleck	Team Saxo Bank	4h54'11"
2	Samuel Sanchez	Euskaltel-Euskadi	+ 00'00"
3	Robert Gesink	Rabobank	+ 00'10"
4	Roman Kreuziger	Liquigas-Doimo	+ 00'10"
5	Alberto Contador	Astana	+ 00'10"
6	Cadel Evans	BMC Racing Team	+ 00'10"
7	Jurgen Van Den Broeck	Omega Pharma-Lotto	+ 00'10"
8	Levi Leipheimer	Team RadioShack	+ 00'10"
9	Ivan Basso	Liquigas-Doimo	+ 00'10"
10	Denis Menchov	Rabobank	+ 00'10"
11	Carlos Sastre	Cervélo TestTeam	+ 00'10"
12	Michael Rogers	Team HTC-Columbia	+ 00'20"
14	Ryder Hesjedal	Garmin-Transitions	+ 01'14"
19	Bradley Wiggins	Team Sky	+ 01'45"
27	Alexandre Vinokourov	Astana	+ 02'23"
61	Lance Armstrong	Team RadioShack	+ 11'45"

*****

Notable GC Standings

1	Cadel Evans	BMC Racing Team	37h57'09"
2	Andy Schleck	Team Saxo Bank	+ 00'20"
3	Alberto Contador	Astana	+ 01'01"
4	Jurgen Van Den Broeck	Omega Pharma-Lotto	+ 01'03"
5	Denis Menchov	Rabobank	+ 01'10"
6	Ryder Hesjedal	Garmin-Transitions	+ 01'11"
7	Roman Kreuziger	Liquigas-Doimo	+ 01'45"
8	Levi Leipheimer	Team RadioShack	+ 02'14"
9	Samuel Sanchez	Euskaltel-Euskadi	+ 02'15"
10	Michael Rogers	Team HTC-Columbia	+ 02'31"
11	Robert Gesink	Rabobank	+ 02'37"
12	Carlos Sastre	Cervélo TestTeam	+ 02'40"
13	Ivan Basso	Liquigas-Doimo	+ 02'41"
14	Bradley Wiggins	Team Sky	+ 02'45"
15	Alexandre Vinokourov	Astana	+ 03'05"
39	Lance Armstrong	Team RadioShack	+ 13'26"

*****

For full Stage 8 results and overall standings, visit the official TdF website.  Check back tomorrow for a preview of Stage 9.