Don't bike without a tail light
« NYC Police Car Hits Cyclist And Drives Away | Home | Radio Shack - Opportunity Lost »
Schleck and Contador - Virtually Equal
By spokesman | July 22, 2010
Andy Schleck and Alberto Contador entered the final mountain stage of the 2010 Tour separated by just 8 seconds. This stage was seen as the last chance for Schleck to gain time and get the yellow jersey back. Despite a tremendous effort by Schleck, he could not ride Contador off his wheel. As a result they finished with the same time. Contador in a gracious act didn’t try to sprint for the finish, so Schleck got the stage victory.
The two competitors have finished with the same time on 13 of the 18 days of racing (prologue + 17 stages) so far. The only differences have been:
- Prologue - Contador gains 42 seconds on Schleck
- Stage 3 - Contador loses 73 seconds to Schleck on the cobblestones
- Stage 8 - Contador lose 10 seconds to Schleck
- Stage 12 - Contador gains 10 seconds on Schleck
- Stage 13 - Contador gains 39 seconds on Schleck when Schleck drops his chain
Stages 8, 12 and 13 were mountain stages and the two riders were virtually equal on these stages with the biggest difference occurring when Schleck had a mechanical problem. The prologue was a time trial and stage 3, which crossed the cobblestones, had the largest differences of all the stages. In the 7 victories by Lance Armstrong, we have become used to the winner being the strongest cyclist by a large margin. Armstrong would gain time in the mountains riding off to solo victories and winning time trials.
If it were not for Schleck, Contador would win in the same style as Armstrong. This is a battle that could continue for years to come and may be remembered as one of the greatest cycling rivalries of all time.
If you like this post then please consider subscribing to my full feed RSS . You can also subscribe by Email and have new posts sent directly to your inbox.
Topics: Professional Racing |
April 7th, 2011 at 11:24 am
Great analysis, I can’t wait till the rematch in the 2011 tour. I think if Andy has his brother Frank to help out, it may swing the race to Andy.