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

Alberto Contador, Andreas Klöden, Levi Leipheimer and Lance Armstrong took 2nd, 4th, 6th and 10th, making Team Astana the winners for the Team classification, a clear sign that the boys in blue are feeling healthy and ready to fight for a Tour win.  The first yellow jersey went to Cancellara as well, after suffering a tough early season but recently turning things around with a win at the Tour de Suisse.  Contador was first at the halfway check point on the summit of the climb, earning him the King of the Mountains polka dot jersey which he will wear on stage two Sunday.   Overall it was a smashing opening-day success for Astana Cycling Team, a position the team intends to improve on during the next 20 stages. “The mountain jersey is very nice, but I prefer to change the color in a few weeks,” smiled Contador.

After the race Contador said, “I am very glad with the result. I didn’t come here to win the stage but to go as fast as possible. I knew Cancellara would be to hard to beat. In the Tour of Switzerland he was already flying. I took not much time on the favorites for the GC but this is good for my confidence.” Asked about leadership for the team, he continued, ” I don’t want to talk about who is leader now in our team. Most importantis that I saw that I am in good shape.”

Starting just seventeen minutes into the event was Lance Armstrong, making his much-anticipated return to the Tour a reality at last.  Straight out of the blocks and up out of the saddle, Armstrong gave it full effort right from the start.  Showing steady rhythm and power on the bike, he looked entirely comfortable on his time trial machine as he methodically went about setting the best time in the early part of the stage, stopping the clock at 20:12 on the finish line along the port of Monaco.   But his top position didn’t last long as just behind him Columbia-High road rider Tony Martin (who’s also sponsored by First Endurance) quickly took over the top slot with a finish time of 20:05.

After the race Armstrong talked about the course saying it was “very technical, hard to find the rhythm but I am happy with the ride. I had no real racing after the Giro. It was a tough way to start but I am content about it.” Commenting on his ambitions coming to the race, Lance said, “I didn’t have big illusions. I didn’t expect to win or take the jersey. I was nervous which is logical. It’s been a long time since I was on a ramp of a TT in the Tour.” He continued, “I am happy and having fun. I really wanted to be here. What a beautiful setting here in the Principality. The people were great.”

Leipheimer then established the new time to beat at 20:02, making the top three Levi, Tony Martin and Lance in the opening hour of racing. Levi’s time held up for well over an hour until teammate Klöden became the first rider to go under the 20-minute mark with a time of 19:54, showing that he is another card the team can play in the three-week Tour.  Later in the stage Wiggins displaced Klöden with a new best-time of 19:51.

Alberto Contador set the fastest time at the top of the only checkpoint.  Riding for the first time in his Spanish national Time Trial kit won last week, Contador looked truly fast to the naked eye as he pushed over the pedals and chased Cancellara.  But the Swiss champion dominated his specialty once again and claimed the spoils in the opening stage of this year’s Tour. Other team riders rode well too, with Sergio Paulinho taking 33rd at 1:15 off the winning pace.

Top Ten Results

First Endurance rider Tony Martin Wins Stage 8 of Tour de Suisse. Clad in the King of the Mountains jersey, the young German rider powered away with less than a kilometre to race to cross the finish line at Crans-Montana alone. Second was Italian Damiano Cunego, four seconds back.  Martin’s victory brings Columbia-Highroad’s total of stage wins from the Tour of Switzerland to six and counting. Mark Cavendish has won two, and Bernhard Eisel, Kim Kirchen, Michael Albasini and Martin one each.

On a highly successful day’s racing for Columbia-Highroad, Saturday also saw Marco Pinotti clinch the Italian National Time Trial Championships for a fourth time. In addition Columbia-Highroad women’s team won all top three places overall in the RaboSter Tour in Holland.

“I realized Cunego was chasing behind, and he got fairly close, but I made it in the first place to the finish all the same,” Martin commented. “I’d tried the same kind of move yesterday at the mountain-top finish in Juraparc but it didn’t work out. This time round was different. I waited a lot longer and finally accelerated 500 metres from the line. I got a good gap, and then I knew that I was going to be able to win.”  Already victorious in the time trial stages of the Criterium International in France and the Bayern Rundfahrt in Germany this year, the second-year pro said he considered his Swiss victory “to be the first big win of my career.  Hopefully I can do a good time trial on Sunday, too.”  The Tour of Switzerland’s last stage is a 38.5 kilometre race against the clock, starting and finishing in Berne.