Tour de France Stage 17 Results: Contador and Schleck in Epic Battle

It is perhaps fitting that the 2010 Tour de France was settled on the last climb of the last mountain stage of this year’s race—the 174 kilometer Stage 17 from Pau to the summit of the Col du Tourmalet.

Time is immaterial. For the race winner to have legitimacy, they must, at some point, stamp their authority on the race. In this case, it is to crush their rivals on the 18.6  km climb up the hors categorie slopes of the Col du Tourtmalet.

After 78 hours of cycling, there were only four riders who stood any real chance of claiming victory: yellow jersey holder Alberto Contador (Ast), Andy Schleck (Sax), who is only eight seconds off the lead, Sammy Sanchez (Eus), at two minutes, and Denis Menchov (Rab), at 2:13.

After the controversial finish to Stage 15, where Contador inherited the yellow jersey from Schleck, it was has been expected that Schleck would seek revenge. Not only that, but it is widely believed that he needs at least a two minute lead on Contador to be able to defend the lead on the Stage 19 time trial.

Again, there was a breakaway from about the two kilometer mark of the race, but, again, the focus was elsewhere in the race. 2008 Tour winner Carlos Sastre gamely attempted to catch the leading bunch, but fell short, was eventually caught, and then was passed by the peloton.

Predictably, it was Astana and Saxo Bank who took control of the bunch for the final climb. As has been the pattern, they set a frightening pace, the peloton shattered, and riders started slipping off the back.

As Schleck did when he was wearing the yellow jersey, Contador simply sat on the wheel of his challenger and prepared to match every move.

At 10 kilometers to go, the move came from Schleck with Contador in his shadow, as they disappeared into the mist. Everyone else fell away, and suddenly, it was the two leaders who were alone and fighting for the yellow jersey and the chance of victory in Paris.

It came down to a contest between the world’s best climber, in Contador, and the world’s best young rider, in Schleck.

Climbing these big mountains in the Tour de France, while physically and mentally challenging in the expected way, is also an incredibly risky proposition. The roads are lined with tens of thousands excitable, enthusiastic, and, occasionally, completely mad spectators who have little concept of personal space as they run perilously close to the riders.

It was a tremendous and very personal battle, not only physical but psychological. Schleck seemed to be questioning Contador, trash talking when nearly every other rider in the race was struggling just to breathe.

Contador eventually responded with a vicious acceleration with just under four km to go, however, Schleck was not phased, and he was not dropped. He just moved back to the front and picked up the pace-making yet again.

And that was the way that they crossed the line. The two men were separated by less than a bike length, and with Contador seemingly allowing his friend to cross the line unchallenged, almost as a consolation.

Schleck threw everything that he had at Contador and the Spaniard took it all. Both men can go to Paris satisfied that they had tested each other to the limit. The scenes of them embracing after the stage showed the depth of respect between the two men. Both looked completely knackered.

Barring incident, Contador will go on to win the Tour and he is a worthy winner. Schleck will finish second and again take out the white jersey, while Sanchez and Menchov will fight it out for third.

For now, we should just savour a magnificent battle between two incredibly closely matched riders. It is certainly one to remember.

Standings after Stage 17

1.    CONTADOR A.             83h 32' 39"
2.    SCHLECK A.                00' 08"
3.    SANCHEZ S.                03' 32"
4.    MENCHOV D.               03' 53"
5.    VAN DEN BROECK J.      05' 27"
6.    GESINK R.                   06' 41"
7.    RODRIGUEZ OLIVER J.    07' 03"
8.    HESJEDAL R.                09' 18"
9.    KREUZIGER R.               10' 12"
10.    HORNER C.                 10' 37"