After 19 stages of the Tour de France, Andy Schleck finally grabbed the yellow jersey from Thomas Voeckler in the bike race's final day in the Alps on Friday.
The big question now is whether the cyclist from Luxembourg can hold the lead for more than a day. Accomplished time trialist Cadel Evans (BMC), trailing by 57 seconds, must be licking his chops for the chance to overtake him in the penultimate stage in Grenoble on Saturday.
Asked about his chances against Evans in the time trial, Schleck (Leopard-Trek) said:
“Many riders say the yellow jersey gives you wings, and I hope that's the case tomorrow.”
Frenchman wins stage
Meanwhile, defending champ Alberto Contador (SaxoBank) thrilled the crowds on l'Alpe-D'Huez with a last ditch effort to be relevant in this Tour, only to be caught by Frenchman Pierre Rolland (Europcar) less than 2 miles from the top and beaten by 23 seconds.
You'd recognize Rolland (left) as the cyclist who ushered teammate Voeckler through many climbs in the Pyrenees and Alps. This was the 26-year-old's first Tour de France victory, and the first stage win by a Frenchman in this year's Tour.
Contador won the award for the day's most aggressive rider, but afterward said all that really mattered was victory at the Tour de France. He lost serious time in a crash early in the Tour this year and never recovered.
Three climbs
The peloton faced three major climbs on Friday, Col du Telegraphe, Col du Galibier and Alpe-d'Huez. With Andy Schleck and Contador scampering up the first climb, the race appeared over for Evans as he suffered some type of mechanical problem with his bicycle.
A full minute behind the Brothers Schleck (Andy and Frank) and Contador, Evans grappled his way back to the Schlecks at the base of the Col du Galibier. In fact, Voeckler and many other favorites who had been dropped on the Telegraphe and Galibier caught up with Schlecks-Contador after the screaming downhill run.
Contador attack
As soon as it all came together at the base of the L'Alpe-D'Huez and its 21 switchbacks, Contador attacked. Andy Schleck and Evans gave chase, keeping the Spaniard within a minute.
Further up the mountain, Rolland latched onto an attack by Sammy Sanchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi). The duo passed two previous chasers before reaching Contador about 2.4km from the summit. Rolland kept going and the other two couldn't hang on, with Sanchez eventually putting a few seconds into Contador at the finish line.
Evans also attacked near the summit, not to win the stage but to erase some of the time gap between himself and the Schleck. He wasn't successful, however, as he finished with them in a small group.
Time trial
As the overall leader, Andy Schleck will be the last cyclist to ride the 42km (26-mile) individual time trial around Grenoble. Then we'll know whether yellow jersey gave him the wings to win what is turning out to be a very close finish to the Tour in Paris.
Top 10 Overall
Top 10 overall
1 Andy Schleck, Leopard Trek
2 Fränk Schleck, Leopard Trek — :53
3 Cadel Evans, BMC Racing Team — :57
4 Thomas Voeckler, Team Europcar — 2:10
5 Damiano Cunego, Lampre – ISD — 3:31
6 Alberto Contador, Saxo Bank — 3:55
7 Samuel Sanchez, Euskaltel-Euskadi — 4:22
8 Ivan Basso, Liquigas-Cannondale — 4:40
9 Thomas Danielson, Team Garmin-Cervelo — 7:11
10 Pierre Rolland, Team Europcar — 8:57
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