andy schleck tour de france 2011

Andy Schleck pushed the pace again, and Wiggins was gapped, with Armstrong alongside. Cancellara exchanged words with Cadel Evans, and the broadcasters felt he was accusing Evans of not working, but I think Cancellara wanted Evans to go back to the field, and give the fairly strong escape a chance to make a break that could stick (Later, early on the climb of the Col d'Agnes, Andy and Frank Schleck turned up the heat, shedding riders faster than Rock Racing, Yellow jersey Rinaldo Nocentini was among those dropped, but none of the overall contenders, so the Schlecks came off the front and the peloton reformed.As the climb progressed, the leading group shrank, until over the top, 4 riders rode alone at the front of the stage: Sanchez, Efimkin, Mikel Astarloza, and Sandy Casar. The chasers didn't want to do the work to tow their breakmates up to Efimkin, only to lose a sprint, but they soon got together and, with Astarloza doing the majority of the chasing, the slowly reeled Efimkin back. They would catch Klöden near the finish, with Nibali taking 4th on the stage.Lance Armstrong looked exhausted at the end of Sunday's Stage 15. Teams bring multiple spares for their protected riders, who have spent months tracking every calorie to make sure they're at their best race weight.Not so for HTC-Columbia's Tony Martin, who was the 11th rider to start, and covered the 8.9-km course in 10:10, a time that wasn't even approached for more than three hours. Schleck followed.In doing so, Contador changed the complexion of the stage, forcing the favorites — including Evans, Schleck and his brother Frank Schleck — to keep pace. Rabobank did most of the chasing, since they were one of the teams absent in the break, and first 5 riders, then just Leonardo Duque, would escape the break in an attempt to stay clear of the peloton, riding way ahead of the projected arrival times along the route.On the day's final climb, the Col de l'Escrinet, Laurent Lefevre launched from very low on the climb, and was matched by world champion Alessandro Ballan, who would survive until the final 2 kilometers, before being reeled in by the surviving 3 Columbia-HTC riders, trying to set up Cavendish, who survived the climb, shadowed by Hushovd.Hushovd's 2nd place finish limits the damage to his green jersey lead, where he leads Cavendish now 260-235, with 35 points to the winner in Paris on Sunday. Evans’s is his prowess in time trials.

Cav's back, and brash as ever. But Evans, Schleck said, did not seem interested. Evans will start the time trial third to last Saturday. His best opportunity to make time is an uphill finish, and there are just two left: Verbier on Stage 15 and Ventoux on Stage 20. When they caught Frank Schleck, the three rode together, with Wiggins (Wiggins!) Luis Leon Sanchez, Sebastien Rosseler, and Mikhail Ignatiev, so with around 100k/63 miles to ride, 10 riders had about :40 on the field.Hushovd moved to 11 points clear of Mark Cavendish in the green jersey competition.As the 10 leaders began the climb of the Col de Port, they had about 2:20 on the main field, moving slowly enough that the sprinters' group rejoined from behind.With 90k ridden, Oscar Pereiro of Caisse d'Epargne pulled out of the race. One of the riders who might reasonably have feared the day's profile was Sylvain Chavanel, who Instead, Chavanel rode away from the field with only about 15 kilometers ridden on the day, joined by teammate Jerome Pineau, who would take max points over each of the day's climbs to take over the polka-dot jersey, Marcus Burghardt, Matt Lloyd, Reine Taaramae, and 3 others.Behind, the descent of the Col de Stockeu looked like the Cancellara spent a fair amount of time in discussion with the race director, apparently trying to get the day's GC losses neutralized. Riders pre-ride key stages. They danced to techno music blasted through portable speakers and fired up their grills and painted so many names and phrases on the pavement that the road looked like a mosaic.It was as if Friday were a cross between a visit to cycling’s temple and the sport’s version of Bourbon Street. With teammate Daniel Navarro taking a pull worthy of Amtrak, Contador looked safisfied to ride to the line with that group.With less than 2k to ride, Roman Kreuziger of Liquigas was the first man to launch, covered quickly by Contador.