The First Endurance sponsored Astana Cycling team shredded the field on the mountain top finish at Andorre Arcalis today. After his team mates set a blistering pace up the final climb, Alberto Contador took off on his own in pursuit of the remnants of the early breakaway. When the dust settled, Contador had moved up to second place on General Classification with team mates Lance Armstrong in third, Levi Leipheimer in fourth, and super-domestic Andres Klöden in sixth. Another First Endurance sponsored rider, Tony Martin (Columbia-HTC) kept his lead in the young rider competition and is now in seventy place on General Classification.
Race Recap:
A group of nine riders formed the break of the day. The group included Egoi Martinez (Euskaltel Euskadi), José Ivan Gutierrez (Caisse d’Epargne), Christophe Riblon (AG2R La Mondiale), Nocentini, Aleksandr Kuschynski (Liquigas), Christophe Kern (Cofidis), Jérôme Pineau (Quick Step), Feillu and Johannes Fröhlinger (Milram) who built a sizable lead of more than 12 minutes over the first four climbs on the day. Seen riding at the front were Team Astana work horses Gregy Rast, Dmitiriy Muavyev, Sergio Paulinho, Yaroslav Popovych and Haimar Zubeldia controlling the pace and keeping the team safe from mid-pack accidents. Armstrong appreciated the efforts of the team, saying, “The team is good. You saw early on that the team was good, then there at the end Levi and Klöden were strong and obviously Alberto is strong.” Laughing he finished with, “The team won’t be the problem!”
Once the leaders hit the climb the gap came tumbling down and splits occurred in the break as well as the peloton; most notable was race leader Fabian Cancellara (Saxo Bank) slipping off the back to say goodbye to the yellow jersey. Team Astana continued to drive the pace at the front, using up rider after rider as the finish line approached. Feillu attacked his former companions with 6km to go and rode uphill at a steady pace, making a big statement about his abilities as a climber and taking a huge win in his young career.
Cadel Evans attacked at 2km to go with Contador immediately responding, as did Armstrong, Leipheimer, Andy Schleck and others, with the group reforming once again. Then Contador attacked with a ferocious turn of the pedals that sent him soaring up the hill with no reponse from the other riders. As teammates Armstrong, Leipheimer and Klöden sat on wheels while the rivals thought about following…..but never did. Contador didn’t gain enough time to take yellow, but with two more days to ride in the Pyrenees and the top of the GC still dominated by Team Astana riders, a strategic taking of the maillot jaune is probably on the drawing board at this very moment.
Contador’s fan base in Spain is huge and they appeared on the roadside in full force along the route on the first day in the mountains. The fans chant a loud “Con-ta-dor” each time they see Alberto come out of the bus, take to the start line or fly up the mountain. He’s much appreciated in his home country.
GC After Stage 7
1 Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale
2 Alberto Contador (Spa) Astana 6″
3 Lance Armstrong (USA) Astana 8″
4 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Astana 39″
5 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Garmin-Slipstream 46″
6 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana 54″
7 Tony Martin (Ger) Columbia-HTC
