Will the true leader of the Astana cycling team please stand up? It's Alberto Contador.
The defending Tour de France champion blasted past race leader Andy Schleck (Saxo Bank) and Astana teammate Alexandre Vinokourov on the final climb of Stage 12 on Friday.
Joaquin Rodriguez (Team Katusha) won the two-man sprint to the finish, but Contador gained 10 seconds on Schleck. He also reminded Vinokourov that he's the team leader.
Who's the boss?
Vinokourov seemed to have trouble understanding that concept in a couple of stages at the Tour de France this year, most notably on Stage 12 on Friday when he attacked and appeared to be trying to put some time into the leaders with a stage win in Mende.
This left defending Tour de France champion Contador in the group of other contenders and Vinokourov up the road apparently trying to gain time on him.
We may never find out what the Astana teammates were told in the pre-race strategy session or what transpired over their radios as the stage came to a close. The Astana team was built around Vinokourov back in 2006 by a group of Kazakh businessmen. But the Kazakh cycling hero has served a doping suspension since then and returned to the team to ensure Contador wins another Tour.
Attack
Contador attacked near the summit of the Montée Laurent Jalabert just when it looked that he was just going to be content to match race leader Schleck to the finish line.
As Contador attacked about 1-1/2 miles from the finish, Schleck couldn't respond. Contador quickly bridged up to Vinokourov, who was struggling at the head of the race before reaching the summit, and flew past him.
With Rodriguez in tow, Contador went over the top of category 2 Montee Jalabert and the two paced each other to the finish, where Rodriguez beat Contador in a two-man sprint.
Other finishers
A clearly disappointed Vinokourov finished in 3rd place, just 4 seconds back, followed by Schleck, who gave up 10 seconds to Contador. RadioShack's Andreas Kloden, Sammy Sanchez of Euskaltel Euskadi and several others finished in the small group with Schleck.
Levi Leipheimer, RadioShack's best hope for a podium position, finished just 17 seconds behind the winner.
Lance Armstrong dropped back on first climb, but quickly regained the peloton. He finished 3:35 behind the leaders.
Farrar abandons
Meanwhile, Tyler Farrar abandoned the Tour de France. He has been riding with a broken wrist since he fell in Stage 2.
He said that the pain was just too much at times. Apparently pulling on the handlebars and braking on a day with no chance of a sprint finish gets to be too difficult.
More at the Garmin-Transitions website.
Top 10 overall
1. Andy Schleck, Saxo Bank
2. Alberto Contador, Astana – 31 seconds
3. Sammy Sanchez, Euskaltel Euskadi – 2:45
4. Denis Menchov, Rabobank – 2:58
5. Jurgen Van Den Broek, Omega – 3:31
6. Levi Leipheimer, RadioShack – 4:06
7. Robert Gesink, Rabobank – 4:27
8. Joaquin Rodriguez, Katusha – 4:58
9. Luis Leon Sanchez, Caisse d'Epargne – 5:02
10. Roman Kreuziger, Liquigas – 5:16
Green jersey — Thor Hushovd, Cervelo
Mountains jersey – Anthony Charteau, Bbox
Young rider – Andy Schleck, Saxo Bank
Team competition – RadioShack
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