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DAILY RACE COVERAGE: SCHLECK ACCEPTS DEFEAT- THIS TIME
Road Bike Action and AFP
July 24, 2010
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Andy Schleck will win the white jersey in the 2010 Tour de France. Next year, he plans to wear yellow.
(Photo: Roberto Bettini)
Andy Schleck has promised to return to the Tour de France next year and finally overtake Alberto Contador as yellow jersey champion.
Luxembourg all-rounder Schleck will go into Sunday’s 20th and final stage with a 39sec deficit to Contador after starting the penultimate stage time trial eight seconds behind. Schleck lost nearly two minutes (1:45) to Contador in the final time trial of last year’s race when he eventually finished runner-up at 4min 11sec adrift. But the 25-year-old showed he has reduced his deficit to the Spaniard in the all-important discipline, in which he ceded only 31seconds on Saturday.
As Contador savours an impending third Tour victory, adding to 2008 triumphs in the Tour of Spain and Giro d’Italia, the 25-year-old Luxemburger is already making plans for 2011.“I’ve always said I’ve progressed (in the time trial) but to beat Alberto is not easy. I gave it my all, and I just couldn’t beat him,” said Schleck, who was more than Contador’s equal in the mountain stages. “I’ve won two stages here, so for that I’m happy. I will come back next year to win. He is not unbeatable.”
Schleck took the yellow jersey from Australia’s Cadel Evans, also a two-time runner-up, on stage nine to Morzine-Avoriaz, the first stage in the high mountains.
However Contador reduced an eventual 41sec deficit to the Luxemburger on stage 12 to Mende, when he attacked on the steep ‘Jalabert’ climb to cut the gap to just 31seconds. In what was arguably one of the key moments of the race, Contador regained command when he countered a Schleck attack seconds before the Luxemburger’s chain came off his gears. Contador raced ahead, eventually finishing 39 seconds ahead of Schleck to leave him in second overall at eight seconds.
The gap did not change in the stages that followed, leaving Schleck with the obligation of attacking Contador on the final stage in the mountains. On Thursday’s stage 17 to the Col du Tourmalet, Schleck could not shake Contador off his tail as he raced through the rain and fog to claim his second stage success of this year’s race.
It all came down to the final time trial, an exercise in which Schleck is said to have made improvements in the past year. And despite reducing his virtual deficit to two seconds in the early stages, Contador came into his own in the second half of the race to increase his lead over the Luxemburger.
“I rode the first 40 kilometers as fast as I could and so I think I lost most of my time in the final kilometers,” added Schleck. “I always said I would give it everything till the end.” Schleck admitted his only regret was his prologue performance in Rotterdam. As Contador limited his time losses by finishing in sixth and 27 seconds behind Fabian Cancellara, Schleck finished in 122nd place at 1:09 behind his Swiss teammate.
“The Tour last three weeks, and you have to be good every day,” added Schleck. “In the mountains I think we were about the same level. I messed up the prologue. In the Tour, it’s the final result that counts and he’s beaten me by 39 seconds.”
 Alberto Contador in a very forward position onhis way to securing the 2010 Tour de France yellow jersey. (Photo: Roberto Bettini)
Contador Candid about his Performance
Alberto Contador admitted to being pushed to his absolute limits on his way to virtually securing a third yellow jersey triumph on the Tour de France Sunday.
“This year there were times when I wasn’t exactly on top form, today included. The race this year was particularly hard,” said Contador, who came close to losing his yellow jersey to Andy Schleck in Saturday’s final time trial.
Spain’s two-time champion went into the penultimate stage time trial with only an eight-second lead on key rival Andy Schleck. And there was drama right to the wire as Schleck threatened to close his deficit early on before he ran out of juice and Contador came into his own in the latter half of the flat 52km-long course.
In 2009 Contador beat Swiss Olympic champion Fabian Cancellara by three seconds in the final time trial to claim the stage, and rubber-stamp his second yellow jersey triumph. And despite finishing only 35th, at 5 minutes 43 seconds behind a victorious Cancellara here Saturday, it was enough to keep Schleck at 31seconds adrift and heading for a second successive runner-up place.
Contador will now go into Sunday’s final stage to Paris, which is not usually contended by the yellow jersey rivals, with a 39 second lead on the Luxemburger. Ironically, it is the exact figure Schleck lost to Contador on stage 15 when the Spaniard counter-attacked him moments before he suffered an untimely mechanical problem with his gears.
Contador admitted he feared for his yellow jersey throughout the 19th stage race against the clock. “To be honest, I got some information that said I was five seconds behind Andy, and I started to panic,” added the Spaniard. “I started to think, ‘Oh my God, this is it, it’s over’. And I stayed that way until the finish line really.”
With Schleck pushing him so close, Contador knows he is in for a battle in the future. But the Spaniard attempted to put that in perspective by claiming he was not as good as he should have been. “I know Andy well, and he’s a great rider. He’s going to be a major rival for a long time,” said Contador. “But I think this year I wasn’t exactly at my best. Things eventually went well for me today but last night, for example, I didn’t sleep well and I also had a stomach ache.”
Contador also began the race with a cold, which forced him out of the Spanish time trial championships, and from then on it was about managing the dozens of little details that go into fighting for the race’s yellow jersey. “A few days before the Tour I was on antibiotics, and I think this affected my form for the first week,” he added. “From a mental point of view it was very complicated. I had to stay focused all the time, especially on the climbing stages.
“Our team perhaps wasn’t the strongest but we really supported each other. If you think about the efforts I had to make and the riders I had to follow on the climbs.... this was the real key to my victory.”
As well as his climbing and time trialing skills, Contador is also known for his ability to recuperate—a crucial ingredient in long stage races. However it appears the other key to the 27-year-old Spaniard’s win was his ability to handle the pressure, both from rivals and from within. “I think it’s the dream of any rider when you’re small and you start cycling and you get on your bike,” he added.
“From that moment you want to win the Tour. It’s the most beautiful race in the world but what goes with that is permanent tension and pressure. “You feel the pressure from outside and from within yourself. You can’t imagine how relieved I am.”
 Lance Armstrong on his LiveStrong themed time trial bike in Stage 19 of the 2010 Tour de France. Lance must go on, in spite of Landis. (Photo: Yuzuru Sunada)
Landis Continues Defamation
Disgraced cyclist Floyd Landis says he witnessed first hand former American teammate Lance Armstrong using performance enhancing drugs, including receiving transfusions for blood doping. Speaking on an episode of the American news magazine show, ABC’s ‘Nightline’ on Friday, Landis reiterated his sweeping allegations against Armstrong.
“Rather than go into the entire detail of every single time I have seen it yes, I saw Lance Armstrong using drugs.” Landis vehemently denied doping for years until finally admitting to using performance enhancing drug this spring.
Landis told Nightline. “If I am taking on Lance Armstrong then that should be evidence that there is a problem with the system, because I am saying it—a bunch of people did it.
“Look. At some point people have to tell their kids that Santa Claus isn’t real. I hate to be the guy to do it, but it’s just not real.” Asked during the 90 minute interview if he ever saw Armstrong receiving transfusions? Landis answered, “Yes.” When asked if he saw Armstrong transfuse more than once, Landis answered, “Yes, multiple times.” Armstrong won a record seven Tour de France titles and is racing now in what he says will be his final Tour.
Armstrong has denied the doping allegations. A federal grand jury has issued subpoenas to several members of the now-defunct Armstrong-led US Postal Service team. Landis says he witnessed widespread cheating among the US Postal team members during his stint from 2002-04.
“Lance Armstrong handed me some testosterone patches,” Landis said. “It’s just a little patch that you put on your skin. It is not like it’s a—I mean, a blood transfusion is a bit more dramatic. It is a large needle. And it’s blood. But a patch that delivers testosterone. A trans-dermal patch.”
Armstrong has hired a criminal defense lawyer to represent him against a federal probe looking into allegations of possible doping violations. Armstrong’s lawyer Tim Herman told ABC that his client has undergone about 300 drug tests in his cycling career and has never failed one. “I know (Armstrong) to be an athlete that comes along once every couple of generations,” Herman said. “He is extremely focused. He’s gifted physically in ways that are very unique and he is disciplined, dedicated. He’s the hardest working athlete I’ve ever been around. But he is also extremely devoted and committed to his cancer work.”
The federal investigation was sparked by earlier accusations from Landis in a series of e-mails sent to cycling and doping officials earlier this year. Former Armstrong teammate Tyler Hamilton was issued a subpoena on Friday to appear before the grand jury. Hamilton’s lawyer said they would co-operate with the grand jury.
Landis is competing as an independent at Cascade Cycling Classic this week in Oregon.
Ribiero Slapped with 2 Year Ban
Portuguese racer Nuno Ribeiro, winner of last year’s Tour of Portugal, has been handed a two-year ban after testing positive for EPO-Cera during a race, his country’s cycling federation said Saturday. Ribeiro, 33, had been suspended temporarily by the International Cycling Union from September of last year following the result of an August 3 test. Ribeiro is therefore stripped of his ‘Volta’ title with Spain’s David Blanco now handed a third Volta a Portugal title following wins in 2006 and 2008.
Similar bans have also been handed to Ribeiro’s Spanish teammates in the Liberty Seguros team, Hector Guerra and Isidro Nozal. Blanco will be out for another crown in this year’s race, which starts on August 4 at Viseu.
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