Schleck wins the stage, but Contador smells victory

However, it was Schleck who won the day’s stage after a nail-biting neck-and-neck climb with Contador.

 The scene was set on Thursday for an epic showdown between the pair. Contador, who leads the Tour de France, started the day with an eight-second lead over Andy Schleck in second place.

Schleck knew that it was in this fourth and final mountain stage in the Pyrenees that he needed to pull out all the stops to retake an overall advantage of at least two minutes, seize the yellow jersey and stand a chance of winning this year‘s Tour.
 
That final clash of the Titans took place in the fog and rain on the celebrated slopes of the Tourmalet, which was first climbed in the 1910 Tour de France by Oscar Lapize.
 
In a tense final 35 minutes in the rain and fog, Contador and Schleck pedalled side by side, carefully surveying each other and both attempting to launch an attack to leave the other behind. But what became clear as the stage neared its end was that both Contador and Schlek are equal riders and neither has the capacity to beat the other.
 
A final attempt by Contador to attack Schleck three kilometers from the finish came to nothing. As the two riders reached the end of the stage, it was Schleck who was the first over the finishing line, proving that he is the King of the Tourmalet. But with Contador following right behind, the two riders still remain eight seconds apart with Contador in the lead.

Prior to Thursday’s stage, Schleck said the rider who had the yellow jersey at the top of the Tourmalet would go on to win the Tour de France. But after reaching the summit, Schlek said he had changed his mind and still wanted to win the Tour de France.
 
Although his chances are looking slim, Schleck still has one last occasion to retake the yellow jersey and win the race. That will be on Saturday during the final 52-kilometre time trial in Bordeaux. The problem is that Schleck is known to be less good at individual time trials than Alberto Contador; and Contador, knowing he is close to victory, will not be prepared to leave anything to chance. Although he only has an eight-second advance over Schleck, the Spaniard is now looking increasingly sure of winning a third Tour de France, even though the final outcome of the Tour will only be known in Paris on Sunday.