jobsanger: Schleck Loses Chain And Lead In Stage 15

Monday, July 19, 2010

Schleck Loses Chain And Lead In Stage 15

Stage 15 of the Tour de France turned out to be a very exciting stage and resulted in a change of the Yellow Jersey due to a technical problem experienced by race leader Andy Schleck, Luxembourg (Saxo Bank). Schleck was attacking on the final unrated climb of the day when his bike's chain slipped off. It took him about twenty seconds to get the chain back on (pictured) and by that time he had been passed by the second, third and fourth place riders.

These riders [Alberto Contador, Spain (Astana) - Samuel Sanchez, Spain (Euskaltel-Euskadi) - Denis Menchov, Russia (Rabobank)] were able to stretch the lead given them by Schleck's chain slip from 20 seconds to 39 seconds in a very fast descent to the finish line. This gives Contador the Yellow Jersey with an 8 second lead over Schleck. There are two stages left in the Pyrenees and both Schleck and Contador have been climbing exceptionally well, so anything could happen and the Tour winner for this year has yet to be determined.

Samuel Sanchez and Denis Menchov both drew closer to the two leaders in today's stage and are only about two minutes behind. It is still possible they could ride themselves back to the leaders, but right now it still looks like the top spot on the podium in Paris will belong to either Contador or Schleck.

There was a breakaway of nine riders today, but they were all so far behind the leaders that the peloton didn't worry too much about them. Three of them survived and finished in front of the race leaders in this stage. The stage 15 winner was Frenchman Thomas Voeckler (Bouygues Telecom) who finished a minute and twenty seconds over the other two. Italian Alessandro Ballan (BMC Racing) finished the stage in second place and Spaniard Aitor Perez Arrieta (Footon-Servetto) took third place.

Stage 15 also saw the Radio Shack team jump out to a significant lead in the team standings. They had started the day 8 seconds behind Caisse D'Epargne, but by the end of the stage Radio Shack had built up a lead of 4 minutes and 27 seconds. However, with two mountain stages left, I wouldn't count Caisse D'Epargne out just yet.

Stage 16 is a 199.5 kilometer ride from Bagneres-De-Luchon to Pau. The race starts with two difficult category 1 climbs and then goes on to two even harder unrated climbs. The only saving grace is that the last quarter of the stage is downhill.

Here are the current standings:

YELLOW JERSEY (Overall Leaders)

1. Alberto Contador, Spain (Astana)

2. Andy Schleck, Luxembourg (Saxo Bank).....0' 08"

3. Samuel Sanchez, Spain (Euskaltel-Euskadi).....2' 00"

4. Denis Menchov, Russia (Rabobank).....2' 13"

5. Jurgen Van Den Broeck, Belgium (Omega-Lotto).....3' 39"

6. Robert Gesink, Netherlands (Rabobank).....5' 01"

7. Levi Leipheimer, USA (Radio Shack).....5' 25"

8. Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver, Spain (Katusha).....5' 45"

9. Alexandre Vinokourov, Kazakhstan (Astana).....7' 12"

10. Ryder Hesjedal, Canada (Garmin-Transitions).....7' 51"