LAVAUR, France — Defending Tour de France champion Alberto Contador wants to show his rivals he is still the world’s best climber when the race hits the Pyrenees today. It just depends whether his troublesome right knee lets him.
The three-time champion has been bugged by a swelling in his right knee since he crashed in last week’s fifth stage, and he banged the same knee again when falling of his bike on the ninth stage Sunday.
With two mammoth climbs up the Col du Tourmalet and an uphill finish to Luz-Ardiden awaiting him in today’s 12th stage, the Spaniard feels quietly confident his body will not let him down. It had better not, otherwise Andy Schleck and Cadel Evans, his main Tour rivals, will not hesitate to try to knock him out of contention.
Cruel, but that’s the Tour. After all, Contador did not wait around when Schleck’s chain came off last year.
“My knee is responding well, so I’m obviously very happy,” Contador said Wednesday. “But keep in mind that I didn’t climb the Tourmalet today. I have to see how it responds, and on that basis I will make a decision how to do the race on the last climb tomorrow.”
British sprinter Mark Cavendish won Wednesday’s 11th stage with a blistering late attack to clinch his third Tour stage win of the race, and Frenchman Thomas Voeckler kept hold of the race leader’s yellow jersey for another day.
Evans is the best placed of the main Tour contenders. The Australian veteran leads Schleck by 11 seconds overall, and Contador by 1 minute, 41 seconds. Schleck, who lost last year’s Tour to Contador by just 39 seconds, now leads Contador by 1:30.
But after today’s stage, those times could well be very different.
Stage 12 is a 131.1-mile trek from Cugnaux to Luz-Ardiden and has three significant climbs that sprinters dread and climbers like Contador love.
Tour de France
A brief look at Wednesday’s 11th stage:
Stage: A 104-mile, rain-soaked trek from Blaye-les-Mines to Lavaur.
Yellow jersey: Thomas Voeckler of France, who spent his second day in yellow after capturing the jersey Sunday and will have the honor of wearing the coveted tunic on France’s Bastille Day holiday Thursday. Voeckler is not considered a contender for the title but leads second-place Luis Leon Sanchez by 1 minute, 49 seconds. Where’s Contador? The three-time winner finished safely without losing any time to his principal rivals. Contador trails Cadel Evans and Andy Schleck of Luxembourg by 1:41 and 1:30, respectively, before the race enters the high mountains, his favorite playground. He is 16th overall, 4:07 behind Voeckler.
Garmin-Cervelo: Tyler Farrar finished third overall, finishing in 3:46:07, the same time as Mark Cavendish. Two of Farrar’s teammates finished in the top 50: Christian Vande Velde in 35th, and Tom Danielson in 49th.
Quote of the day: “My most dangerous point is my acceleration. I’m super happy. I hope I get to keep the green jersey (for most points) this year. We’ve been fighting for it all along.” — Cavendish
Next stage: Today’s 131-mile stage will take riders from Cugnaux in southwest France to the top of the Pyrenees’ punishing Luz-Ardiden peak, where race favorites are likely to launch their first serious attacks.
The Associated Press
