Stage 15: Monday, July 19 – Pamiers to Bagneres-de-Luchon (187km)

Nasty climb up the Port de Bales, two-thirds of the way through today’s stage, followed by a very fast descent into the finish. A classy climber could open up a gap over the pass, but the long run-in could allow fearless descent specialists to catch up significant time.

A ten-man break was allowed to roll off the front. Once they reached an 11-minute lead, the peloton woke up and started reeling them back in. On the climb of the Port de Bales, the gap was down to 6 minutes. French national champion Thomas Voeckler (Bbox Bouygues Telecom) sensed the possibility of stage victory, and leapt off the front of the lead group as they cracked one by one.

Back in the pack, Saxo Bank’s riders put down a strong tempo, shepherding their team leader, yellow jersey Andy Schleck, up the climb. But the Luxembourgeois was running out of lieutenants, with Alberto Contador and several of his Astana team-mates lingered menacingly on Schleck’s shoulder. More mind-games between the two leaders were in prospect.

Meanwhile, up ahead, Voeckler crested the climb alone & settled in for a crazy descent.

3km from the top of the climb, Schleck put in a burst of acceleration to test the elite group’s mettle – only Vinokourov (Astana) responded instantly. But then the huge random number-generator that is the Tour de France came into play. Still accelerating, Schleck’s chain came off, leaving him helpless. Due to the crowded, narrow road up the climb, his team car was nowhere near, and so couldn’t swap out his bike. Schleck stopped, dismounted, and re-engaged the chain at the second attempt.

GC contenders Alberto Contador, Denis Menchov (Rabobank), and Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel) imediately seized on Schleck’s misfortune to attack and leave the yellow jersey floundering. Sportsmanship fell by the wayside – unlike in many of the battles of old between Lance Armstrong and Jann Ullrich – and the trio sped off. Schleck was by now underway again, around 25 seconds back. Visibly angered by his predicament, he stomped up the climb in search of the Contador group, eventually going over the top 25 seconds behind them.

A crazy descent followed. At the front, Voeckler briefly locked up his back wheel, and very nearly lost it while rounding a high-speed corner. The Contador/Sanchez/Menchov group looked smooth and fast with Sanchez making much of the running. The desperate Schleck, quickly joined on the descent by Jurgen van den Broeck (Omega Pharma-Lotto) and then by Vinokourov, used every inch of the corners to try to gain time on his rivals.

Voeckler rolled in first for a great stage win. The minor stage placings were accounted for by the remnants of the early break. Contador’s group came in 2′50 back, and then it was all eyes on the clock. Schleck had a 31-second overall advantage on Contador, but crossed the line 39 seconds back. The race lead therefore changed hands, with the Spaniard ahead of Schleck by a slim 8 seconds. Sanchez is third at 2′00, Menchov fourth at 2′13, with van den Broeck fifth at 3′39.

TV cameras observed Schleck whispering something into Contador’s ear, backstage of the podium. Was it a reference to Oedipus? Later interviews showed Schleck cool and collected, but using words such as ‘revenge’. A fascinating few days coming up…

Leader board after this stage:

Overall GC
Alberto Contador (Astana)

Points
Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre)

King of the Mountains
Anthony Charteau (Bbox Bouygues Telecom)

Young Rider
Andy Schleck (Saxo Bank)

Tomorrow’s stage is the 199.5km from Bagneres-de-Luchon to Pau. A punishing day featuring a gallery of famous Pyrenean climbs: the Col de Peyresourde, the Col d’Aspin, the 2,115m monster Col du Tourmalet, and the Col du Soulor/Col d’Aubisque double-header. Then, a frantic 60km descent to the finish. Not really the kind of stage where Andy Schleck could attack. But this Tour is turning out to be something of a lottery. What happens next?