Stage 18: Luxembourg Legs

Long legs, long arms, long face, skinny. He’s built like Woody from “Toy Story,” but he’s got a deep manly voice. Today, this gangly cyclist from Luxembourg showed the world that he plans to the win the 2011 Tour de France. Andy Schleck put the hammer down on Stage 18 and eliminated three-time champion Alberto Contador. Now the race is down to Andy and Cadel Evans, with a good chance for Frank Schleck to finish on the podium with his little brother. The legs from Luxembourg delivered.

Stage 18 was the second of three brutal days of climbing in the Alps. Today, the course began in Italy and returned to France at the first summit at Col Agnel, where the altitude reached 2,744 meters (9,002 feet) and gradient surpassed 10% for nearly one third of the 23.7 kilometers of climbing. A breakaway of 19 riders included two men from Leopard-Trek, the Luxembourg team built around native sons Andy and Frank Schleck. The peloton struggled, as all three climbs were rated Hors Categorie, “beyond category.” Current race leader Thomas Voeckler threw his race radio to the roadside in frustration.

Leopard-Trek riders Jens Voigt and Stuart O’Grady drove a hard tempo up toward the second mountain at Col d’Izoard, and at 5K to the summit, Andy Schleck attacked. It was an outrageous move with nearly 70 kilometers of racing to go. If he could not sustain the solo effort and gain time on the other leaders, he would waste immense energy and likely lose the whole race. Commentator Phil Liggett called it “the biggest gamble of his professional career.” Schleck’s rivals did not expect such an early move and did not respond. Past the tree line, alongside the dusty brown landscape, he pulled ahead and starting building a time advantage.

While Contador eventually responded, Andy quickly gained 2 minutes on his rivals. He reached teammate Joost Posthuma who was in the breakaway and got a break riding in his slipstream. On the descent, he reached the other Leopard-Trek rider, Maxime Monfort, recruited to the team to help Schleck in the mountains, and got another break. Meanwhile, the other leaders rode without a concerted effort to catch Andy Schleck. Contador and Sammy Sanchez, Spaniards on different teams, talked on the descent, perhaps discussing how to work together to catch the Luxembourger. Yet the long-legged Schleck continued to gain time, nearly 4 minutes ahead of his rivals when he started the final climb alone.

An epic climb, the road to the Galibier was covered with snow just days ago. Today, Schleck powered ahead with Cadel Evans leading the rest to catch up. Lance Armstrong called Schleck’s strategy “gutsy and smart riding,” and regarding Evans he tweeted, “To say he’s doing all the work would be an understatement. He’s hammering.” Evans led all the top riders chasing Schleck, including Contador, Voeckler, Basso, and Cunego, and singlehandedly limited Schleck’s gains. Andy “Woody” Schleck crossed the line first, gratified by the success of the team strategy and his personal performance. He had successfully announced that he would fight for the win and he had the legs to make it happen.

Nearly 2K to the finish, Evans was the only one left racing to win the Tour de France. Contador was dropped, ending his chances to win the race and revealing weakness he has never previously shown in the mountains. Booed by the crowd at the race introductions due to his unresolved doping issues, he crashed four times in the first week and was said to be riding with “a sore bottom” in Week 2. The Spaniard did not recover from the setbacks, and only a major crash to the race leaders would allow him to finish in the top three this time around.

While Contador’s weakness was a surprise, so was the tenacity of Voeckler. The Frenchman held on enough to keep the yellow jersey for one more day, a remarkable accomplishment for a rider known as a middle-of-the-pack cyclist. He held Schleck off by 15 seconds.

The battle continues tomorrow at the ride to L’Alpe d’Huez. Thousands of spectators have camped out to see the competition and will line the route, shouting encouragement and waving flags at the riders like bullfighters taunting bulls. The ninth kilometer of the final 13.8 kilometer climb is at 11.5% grade, one of the last opportunities for an attack from Evans or Schleck. Evans will have the advantage in the individual time trial on Saturday, so Schleck must secure sufficient time before that.

After nearly three weeks, it is really down to those two riders—the Australian and the Luxembourger. The road up to L’Alpe d’Huez and the final race against the clock will give us the winner. Paris awaits.

Overall standings after Stage 18:

1. Thomas Voeckler (Europcar)

2. Andy Schleck (Leopard-Trek) + 00’ 15”

3. Frank Schleck (Leopard-Trek) + 01’ 08”

4. Cadel Evans (BMC Racing) + 01’ 12”

5. Damiano Cunego (Lampre-ISD) + 03’ 46”

6. Ivan Basso (Liquigas-Cannondale) + 03’ 46”

7. Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank-Sungard) + 04’ 44”

8. Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) + 05’ 20”

9. Tom Danielson (Garmin-Cervelo) + 07’ 08”

10. Jean-Christophe Peraud (Ag2r La Mondiale) + 09’ 27”

Complete overall standings: http://www.letour.fr/2011/TDF/LIVE/us/1800/classement/index.html

Stage 19 map & profile: http://www.letour.fr/2011/TDF/LIVE/us/1900/etape_par_etape.html