Stage 9 Review - Contador and Schleck clear out.

Stage 9 of the Tour saw Andy Schleck capture his first Malliot Jaune after a engaging battle with Alberto Contador on the Slopes of the Col du Madeleine. Sandy Casar (Française des Jeux) took the stage win in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne, and an exciting victory it was — Casar was one of four survivors of an 11-man break who saw Schleck and defending champion Contador chase them down in the final kilometer and nearly steal the stage.  But Casar hung tough in the finale, took the right line around the final corner and held off break-mates Damiano Cunego (Lampre-Farnese) and Luis Leon Sanchez (Caisse d’Epargne) for the victory.


Cadel Evans lost his Yellow Jersey in circumstances that some are calling unlucky.  This fall on stage 8 resulted in a small crack in his left elbow, but BMC chose to keep this quiet on the rest day and he fronted up for Stage 9 only to lose an immense amount of time.  Brave for soldiering on i guess, but it is not the first time Cadel Evans has been 'unlucky', it happens constantly in fact and maybe its time he was told the old adage 'you make your own luck' - that rings true in the world of professional cycling.  Had Cadel not fallen off and fractured his elbow he would have lost the Malliot Jaune anyway, Schleck and Contador would have put time into him like they did to everyone else.  On the climb up the Madeleine Saxo Bank and then Astana did the hard work and they popped many a good climber off the back of the elite group.  Armstong  - gone, Leipheimer, - Gone, Rogers - Gone, Gesink, Saste, Hesjedal, Menchov, Basso and finally Sammy Sanchez - all gone. With the exception of Sanchez they all lost more than 2 minutes and Cadel would have been in with that group, there is no way he could go with the repeated attacks of Andy Schleck - but Contador could.



It was spectacular as Andy tried to crack Contador but as he said after the race "If I'd attacked one more time I'd have dropped myself."  Contador showed some uncharacteristic weakness in the first Alpine stage, where Schleck edged out a few more seconds to add to those gained over the cobbles on stage 3. However on the Madeleine he showed that Schleck can not ride away from him - and yet we did not see Contador attack. He is waiting for the Pyrenees.  Schleck is going to need more time out of Contador as he does not have the time trial ability of his foe, but for now, that can wait for stage 14.  Astana has proven very very strong in the mountains with Tiralongo, Vinokourov and Navarro providing ample support, as good as Contador has last year.  I think the loss of his brother is going to make it tough for Schleck and the fact that Saxo Bank will have its work cut out over the next few stages defending Yellow.

By the end of this race these two are going to be a long long way - maybe 10 minutes in front of the rest.

Results

#	Rider Name (Country) Team	Result
1	Sandy Casar (Fra) Française des Jeux	5:38:10
2	Luis León Sánchez Gil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne
3	Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre-Farnese Vini
4	Christophe Moreau (Fra) Caisse d'Epargne	0:00:02
5	Anthony Charteau (Fra) Bbox Bouygues Telecom
6	Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana
7	Andy Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank
8	Samuel Sánchez Gonzalez (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi	0:00:52
9	Joaquin Rodriguez (Spa) Team Katusha	0:02:07
10	Levi Leipheimer (USA) Team Radioshack
11	Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank
12	Jens Voigt (Ger) Team Saxo Bank

General classification after stage 9

#	Rider Name (Country) Team	Result
1	Andy Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank	43:35:41
2	Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana	0:00:41
3	Samuel Sánchez Gonzalez (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi	0:02:45
4	Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank	0:02:58
5	Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto	0:03:31
6	Levi Leipheimer (USA) Team Radioshack	0:03:59
7	Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank	0:04:22
8	Luis León Sánchez Gil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne	0:04:41
9	Joaquin Rodriguez (Spa) Team Katusha	0:05:08
10	Ivan Basso (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo	0:05:09