Aussie Cadel Evans took the yellow jersey at Tour de France stage 10 on Monday as Saunier Duval teammates Leonardo Piepoli and Juan Jose Cobo finished first and second at the mountaintop finish at Hautacam.
Remaining in third place overall, Christian Vande Velde battled with the general classification favorites all day. Matching their accelerations and making his own attacks, the Garmin-Chipotle cyclist showed he has the right stuff for a podium finish in Paris.
In addition to Evans (last year's second-place finisher), the big winner of the day was Frank Schleck of Team CSC. He and teammates attacked on the Col de Tourmalet to help teammate Carlos Sastre, but Sastre couldn't take advantage. Schleck ended up climbing from 11th place into second overall as he finished right behind breakaway leaders Piepoli and Cobo, nearly two minutes ahead of Evans and Vande Velde.
The big losers on the day were Kim Kirchen of Team Columbia, who lost the yellow jersey after four days. Also, Alejandro Valverde's stream of bad luck continued, and he dropped further back in the overall standings.
The top 10 overall:
1 Cadel Evans (Aus) Silence – Lotto
2 Frank Schleck (Lux) Team CSC – Saxo Bank, 1 second behind
3 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30, :38
4 Bernhard Kohl (Aut) Gerolsteiner, :46
5 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank, :57
6 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Team CSC – Saxo Bank, 1:28
7 Kim Kirchen (Lux) Team Columbia, 1:56
8 Juan Jose Cobo Acebo (Spa) Saunier Duval – Scott, 2:10
9 Riccardo Riccò (Ita) Saunier Duval – Scott, 2:29
10 Vladimir Efimkin (Rus) AG2R La Mondiale, 2:32
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