Stage 12 - Contador takes time off Schleck

Alberto Contador took revenge for the time he lost on Andy Schleck last Sunday at Morzine-Avoriaz with short sharp attack on Stage 12. After a long hot day on winding and hilly roads, the stage finished on the short steep climb towards the runway of Mende, where yellow jersey wearer Schleck could not follow Contador's acceleration. The Luxembourg rider wasn't on Contador's wheel when he attacked and he was unable to close him down. The gap between the two protagonists of the general classification is now down to just 31 seconds.

Joaquin Rodriguez (Team Katusha) out-sprinted Contador to take a thrilling victory after the Spanish duo escaped on the steep slopes of the Montée Laurent Jalabert in the finale to an enthralling day’s racing that saw minor but potentially telling chinks exposed in the armour of yellow jersey Andy Schleck and his Saxo Bank team. The Luxembourg rider lost ten seconds to Contador, who laid down an important psychological marker ahead of the duo’s expected showdown in the Pyrenees.

At the foot of the final climb the peloton trailed the four survivors of the day’s early breakaway by 40 seconds, and the gap remained stable as Vinokourov dropped first Ryder Hesjedal and then Andreas Kloden  before finally edging clear of Vasily Kyrienka. Im sure that Vino was thanking about a stage victory  half way up the climb, however when Rodriguez attacked with 2km to go, Contador responded with an explosive acceleration of his own and immediately opened a gap on Schleck who could not go with him.

With Rodriguez clinging on to his wheel for dear life, Contador made up almost forty seconds on his Astana teammate in little over a kilometre, and then proceeded to blow straight past him. Schleck, Van den Broeck, Samuel Sanchez and Menchov managed to limit their losses in the slightly downhill run to the line. Rodriguez did no work on the way up the climb and he timed his sprint to perfection to come around Contador on the line. Vinokourov managed to stay within sight to grab third place on the stage, while Schleck crossed the line in 5th place, ten seconds behind his rival.

The 10 seconds is exactly what Contador lost to Schleck on Stage 8 to Morzine, although i think that this 10 seconds represents more than just an increment of time - Contador landed a physical and psychological body blow by proving that he could accelerate away from Schleck on the steep climb to the finish.

He dropped Schleck here and took 10 seconds - imagine what he is going to do on the Tourmalet.

Bring on the Pyrenees!!

 This is what Schleck and the rest of the Peloton are going to be looking at over stages 14-17.