Today's stage: The Queen Stage of this year's tour. 3 beyond category climbs ending in the highest summit finish in Tour de France history atop the Col du Galibier.
Who won the stage? Andy Schleck (Leopard-Trek) used perfect team tactics to spring free on the Col d'Izoard 60 km from the finsih and then held on to win the stage by a little over 2 minutes, ultimately over his older brother Frank (Leopard-Trek)
What matters in the GC race? Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) somehow managed to hold on to the lead despite the huge attack from Andy Schleck. For quite some time, Schleck was the overall leader on the road, but Cadel Evans (BMC) pulled himself and Voeckler back to limit the time losses. Voeckler leads Schleck by just 15 seconds. Further down, Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank) and Sammy Sanchez (Euskatel) were both dropped on the Galibier by Evans and lost any remaining chance to win the race. The race at this point is Voeckler, Andy Schleck and Evans. Though Frank Schleck is in third, he is an awful time-trialist and has little to no chance of winning the Tour de France unless he does something even more extraordinary than his younger brother did today.
What matters in the other competitions?
Green Jersey (Best Sprinter): As I write this, Mark Cavendish (HTC-High Road) is still out on the course. Assuming he finishes under the time limit, he will continue to lead this competition, particularly since no other contenders scored any points today. Barring elimination, Cavendish will win the competition.
Polka Dot Jersey (King of the Mountains): No changes at the top. Jelle Vanendert (Omega-Pharma Lotto) continues to hold a slim lead over Sanchez. Not far back is Andy Schleck with Frank Schleck also in range now.
White Jersey (best young rider): Former leader Rigoberto Uran (Team Sky) cracked a couple of different times and also had a minor crash. He surrendered the lead to Rein Taaramae (Cofidis) who now leads Voeckler lieutenant Pierre Roland (Europcar) by 33 seconds.
Biggest surprise: The Leopard-Trek tactics to spring Schleck 60 km from the finish wins out here over Voeckler keeping his jersey today as if anyone was expected to attack from the distance Schleck attacked from, it was Contador. The Schleck attack caught everyone off guard and he quickly got a gap and made it stand up on the Galibier.
Biggest disappointment: On the Galibier, Ivan Basso (Liquigas) and Damiano Cunego (Lampre) refused to do any pace making and left Evans to ride himself back to the gap, following his wheel all the way up. Of course Frank Schleck wasn't going to help chase down his brother and teammate and Sanchez and Contaodr cracked so they couldn't help. The race could be even closer right now had Basso and Cunego (who now sit 5th and 6th place overall) done some work.
Other items of note: Contador and Sanchez were discussing things for quite some time before the Galibier. It appears they planned on working together, but both cracked so it didn't matter... Garmin-Cervelo consolidated their lead in the team competition by having three of the top 12 finishers with Tom Danielson, Ryder Hesjedal and Christian Vandevelde.
What is coming tomorrow? More climbing. The cat 1 Col du Telegraph, the other side of the Galibier and Alpe d'Huez where Frank Schleck has a stage win and the Schleck brothers sprung their teammate Carlos Sastre to his overall victory over Cadel Evans in the 2008 Tour de France.
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