...and will be the key factor for his losing of the tour...
Contador’s shot across the bow: Yellow jersey attack falls short, but sends a signal
By Andrew Hood
Published: Jul. 10, 2009
Contador shows his hand. Can we expect more of the same?
Alberto Contador just couldn’t help himself on the beyond-category steeps of the Arcalis summit high in the Pyrénées in Friday’s seventh stage.
The 26-year-old is a natural born climber and, when he sees a road turn uphill, he’s going to do one thing: attack, even if that means attacking Astana teammate Lance Armstrong and defying team orders.
“There were no instructions from the car (to attack),” said Astana team boss Johan Bruyneel. “We wanted to try to maintain our collective strength and wait for the attacks to come. Those attacks didn’t come.”
Astana was firmly in control in the decisive late stages of the 224km stage, throttling at the front of the pack, with six friendly jerseys among a group of about 20 halfway up the 10.6km Arcalis climb.
No one yet dared attacks against such superiority in numbers and Armstrong was poised to slip into the maillot jaune for the first time since 2005, starting the stage just 0.22 seconds behind Fabian Cancellara.
Yet Bruyneel was putting the brakes on the Astana train, even with Cancellara flagging off the back, because it’s too early in the race to have to carry the weight of the yellow jersey all the way to the Alps.
The Belgian director was telling the troops to ease the pace and allow Rinaldo Nocentini (Ag2r) to stay clear from the all-day breakaway and snag the maillot jaune instead.
But Contador had his own plan.
With just over 2km to go, Contador, who started the stage third overall at 19 seconds back, bolted out of the pack in a daring bid for the yellow jersey.
The acceleration came after the first opening jabs by Cadel Evans (Silence-Lotto) and Andy Schleck (Saxo Bank), two moves that Contador used as his trigger. Jurgen Van Den Broeck, one of Evans’ helpers, inexplicably attacked off the front and that was all that Contador needed.
Contador disappeared up the narrow switchbacks, leaving Armstrong to mark the wheels of the counter-attacks that never came.
Armstrong didn’t hide his disappointment when he said Contador’s acceleration wasn’t part of the team’s script for the day.
“It wasn’t really to the plan, I didn’t expect him to go with the plan, so that was no surprise,” Armstrong said. “It was windy, so it was hard to go alone. Like I said, I wasn’t surprised.“
Contador hammered alone and didn’t find any company. Andy Schleck tried to follow Contador, but he found the strong winds too heavy for his lanky frame and quickly decided to find refuge in the pack of about a dozen favorites.
“In my opinion, (Contador) had a little advantage with the cars and motorcycles in front of him. I was 50 meters behind and I had all the wind in my face,” Schleck said. “It’s not his mistake, but something the organization should look into.”
Armstrong lived up to his word and didn’t chase from behind, staying with the other favorites as he said he would even though the maillot jaune was there for the taking.
“I said all along, I have my obligations to the team,” Armstrong said. “When you have a teammate up the road, you just gotta stay on the wheel – that’s bike racing.”
Contador said he was responding to attacks from his rivals and was not trying to gap his teammates, but he admitted that the strong headwinds short-circuited his bid for yellow.
“We were waiting to see how the race unfolded and we saw Schleck and Evans moving, so I wanted to try. The time differences were small, but it’s good for what lies ahead,” Contador said. “In balance, this is good for the team. I don’t think this changes anything within the team.”
Contador’s gamble backfired and the spindly climber was stymied by fierce headwinds and fell six seconds short of taking yellow. Armstrong slipped into third at eight seconds back.
By attacking contrary to the team’s strategy, he publicly snubbed his nose at Armstrong and all but confirmed that speculation of behind-the-scenes division within the team is true.
Had Contador succeeded in grabbing yellow, he would be protected by the prestige and honor that comes with the race jersey. Now Armstrong will have no reason to hold back if he feels he has the legs to attack.
The escalating tension will push Bruyneel’s balancing act to the limit. While he hasn’t publicly declared his allegiance to either rider – he insists that he simply wants Astana to win the Tour -- it’s obvious where his heart lies.
“It’s very exciting (having Armstrong back on the team). This is something special. I cannot describe it in words. We have gone through so much together,” Bruyneel told Fox Sports of Australia after Friday’s stage. “To have him back on my team and at the front in the Tour is just so special. To see him back at such a high level is just amazing.”
Armstrong, meanwhile, keeps getting stronger by the day and said the relative ease of the Arcalis climb coupled with strong winds made it less than ideal for a major attack.
“I didn’t expect a demonstration like we saw in some of the other years on the first mountain stage. The wind wasn’t conducive,” he said. “We’ll have plenty of days at the end of this Tour when there’s not such a big group and there are only a couple guys together.”
“The team is good,” Armstrong said when asked about Astana. “The team won’t be the problem.”
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