Pointy Helmet’s Tour de France commentary: Stage 7.

Today was the first real test for the GC contenders. The stage finished with a long climb of much more than the advertised 10k to a summit finish. As expected, Cancellara relinquished the yellow jersey, though not without two unfortunate strokes of luck (in the form of flat tires) on the approach to the climb.

The stage came down to two stories:

The first story was that of the breakaway. Nine riders got away and distanced themselves from the fracturing peleton. One of those riders, 24 year old tall Frenchman Brice Feilieu, held on to win the first Tour de France stage of his promising career. his older brother, the (currently) more well known Roman Feilieu, finished in the grupetto and was obviously elated about the victory of his teammate and brother.

The second story played out slightly further down the slip. This was the story of the GC contenders, including half of the Astana team. Cadel Evans tried several times to attack, but he doesn’t have the explosive power necessary to make a break stick, and the contenders were able to cover him each time.

Eventually, Contador got sick of the games and busted everyone’s groove up. He attacked with a few K to go and put about half a minute into the rest of the GC contenders by the time all was said and done. His move was strong, quick and decisive, and it had to have demoralized all of the other contenders.

Armstrong chose not to respond to Contador’s attack, though he appeared like he could have at least attempted a response. He instead decided to mark the other GC contenders, knowing that if he did not follow Contador then the other GC contenders would not be able to follow either. This was, in my opinion, solid team tactics and shows that Armstrong is truly here in support of the best rider, Alberto Contador.

Now, perhaps Armstrong will attack Contador later in the Tour. We’ll see. That would be exciting if he does. However, on today’s stage, he made a tactical decision to maximize Contador’s advantage, and I believe that it was a good decision. Plus, if he decides to attack later in the tour, it will be tougher for the other GC men to overcome both him and Contador.

All in all, today’s stage creates more questions than it answers. However, one thing is for sure: Contador is ready to play. And so is Armstrong. And Cadel Evans is not.