Casar wins the stage as Schleck and Contador go head-to-head

Sandy Casar wins, Tour de France 2010, stage 9

published 13 July 2010

The Col de la Madeleine has spoken. And now the Tour de France is a two-horse race. Andy Schleck versus Alberto Contador.

But that doesn't begin to tell the story of a most absorbing day of racing in the Alps. For a half-hour spell as the gradient of the Madeleine began to bite, the race was turned upside down.

Schleck and Contador were left together and, briefly, they toyed with each other to see who would take up the pace. After a while, sensing they could make significant gains over the other favourites, they started to co-operate. Towards the summit, they caught Voigt, who dug deep to give Schleck one last turn. Somewhere between them and the next group was Euskaltel's Samuel Sanchez. And behind it was chaos, with small groups everywhere. The only certainty was that everyone was losing time to the big two - the question was how much?

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Sports journalist Lionel Birnie has written professionally for Sunday Times, Procycling and of course Cycling Weekly. He is also an author, publisher, and co-founder of The Cycling Podcast. His first experience covering the Tour de France came in 1999, and he has presented The Cycling Podcast with Richard Moore and Daniel Friebe since 2013. He founded Peloton Publishing in 2010 and has ghostwritten and published the autobiography of Sean Kelly, as well as a number of other sports icons.

Casar wins the stage as Schleck and Contador go head-to-head

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