Schleck wins, but Contador does not lose.

Cycling is full of famous rivalries, Anquetil vs. Poulidor, Coppi vs Bartali,  Merckx vs. Ocana, Hinault vs LeMond, Armstrong vs Ullrich, (Flloyd Landis vs. Credibility) - now we have Contador and Schleck.

Stage 17 was the end of an epic mountain battle between the two that had seen Schleck drop Contador and take Stage 8 by 10 seconds, Contador managed to drop Schleck on Stage 12 and take back the ten seconds, then of course the now infamous chaingate saga.  The final showdown on the Tourmalet was supposed to separate the two riders and tell us definitively who was the best.
The peloton got moving to chase an early breakaway and reel in Carlos Sastre who tried to bridge across the gap, Saxo Bank did their usual job making a mess of the peloton, decimating the numbers on the early slopes of the Tourmalet. Up ahead the breakaway was fracturing and when the last Saxo Bank support rider pulled off with 10km to race Schleck was on his own against the world. 

Straight away he put on a powerful turn of speed that only Contador could match, they quickly left all the other contenders behind and gobbled up the last remnants of the break away.  They went man to man on the misty Tourmalet, lined three deep with cheering spectators, on and on Schleck powered with a Yellow clad shadow for company. It looked like he was trying to ride Contador off his wheel but post race Schleck said he had accelerated 15 times but Contador was too good.  For just the second time in this years Tour de France Contador attacked with 3.5kms to go - a huge attack that Andy was able to follow.  It was the only time in the whole climb that Contador rode at the front, he went back to Schlecks wheel with the poker face on. . He said afterward it was to remind Schleck that he was still there and felt good.  Schleck tried and tried again but he could not shake Contador. In the end Schleck took a well deserved win, the mutual respect between each dictated the outcome - Schleck would have the stage honours thanks to the work he had done throughout the course of the Tourmalet whilst Contador would sure up his ascendancy overall courtesy of the response to his young rival.  They are good mates, they embraced afterwards smiled and gave a great account of the battle. The conversations, the stares, the attacks.This was an epic battle that will be go down as one of the great stages of all time, these two showed they are minutes ahead of the competition with a climbing display like nothing before. They are going to be doing this a lot over the next few years! It all comes down to the Time Trial - a crash or dare is say mechanical problem will mean that Contador will win this edition of the Tour - Andy is no where near Contador in the TT, he is in the top few riders in the world. 

Results

#	Rider Name (Country) Team	Result
1	Andy Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank	5:03:29
2	Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana
3	Joaquin Rodriguez (Spa) Team Katusha	0:01:18
4	Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin - Transitions	0:01:27
5	Samuel Sánchez Gonzalez (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi	0:01:32
6	Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank	0:01:40
7	Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank
8	Christopher Horner (USA) Team Radioshack	0:01:45
9	Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto	0:01:48
10	Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Liquigas-Doimo	0:02:14

General classifiation after stage 17

#	Rider Name (Country) Team	Result
1	Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana	83:32:39
2	Andy Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank	0:00:08
3	Samuel Sánchez Gonzalez (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi	0:03:32
4	Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank	0:03:53
5	Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto	0:05:27
6	Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank	0:06:41
7	Joaquin Rodriguez (Spa) Team Katusha	0:07:03
8	Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin - Transitions	0:09:18
9	Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Liquigas-Doimo	0:10:12
10	Christopher Horner (USA) Team Radioshack	0:10:37