Alberto Contador’s high-profile and somewhat controversial move on stage 15 was the decisive moment of a dramatic Tour de France.
The opinion has, in the main, been that Contador should have waited for his rival for the yellow jersey, Andy Schleck who suffered a mechanical mishap in the Pyrenees last Monday.
With the two men battling it out on their way to the summit of the Port de Balès, Schleck’s chain came off, forcing him to dismount and put it back on. It took approximately 35 seconds for Schleck to get the chain back on and get moving again. In the meantime, Contador had powered past Schleck and sought to open up as much of a gap as he could. By the end of the stage, Contador had gained 39 seconds, enough to open up an eight-second lead on his rival at the top of the General Classification. He extended the lead in Saturday’s penultimate leg – a 52km time-trial from Bordeaux to Pauillac – and he stood atop the podium in Paris on Sunday having won his third Tour title by a margin of, you guessed it, 39 seconds.
At the time it happened, Channel 4’s co-commentator Paul Sherwen was unimpressed: “This is where fair play is being thrown out of the window.” Had Contador simply marked time until Schleck was back up and moving it would have been one thing. The fact that he got up out of the saddle in the immediate aftermath of Schleck’s breakdown to surge clear, and then continually looked over his shoulder – presumably looking to see if the yellow jersey was anywhere in sight – was what angered Sherwen.
Contador claimed afterwards not to have known what had happened – which is almost impossible to believe given that he had to ride around Schleck following the the Saxo Bank team leader’s breakdown. In any case, Contador’s Astana teammate, Alexander Vinokourov, was on Schleck’s wheel when his chain came off, so it is inconceivable to think that Contador wasn’t aware of the incident.
Afterwards, the Spaniard was, initially at least, less than apologetic. “I was told there was an incident but when I attacked I was not aware of it,” he said. “I planned to attack anyway, and when I knew what had happened to him [Schleck] I was already ahead and racing.”
However, he struck a more conciliatory tone after he had been presented with the maillot jaune in front of a less than impressed crowd, many of whom showed their displeasure by booing Contador. “The race was in full gear and, well, maybe I made a mistake. I’m sorry.”
Paul Kimmage, speaking on Newstalk’s Off the Ball show on Wednesday night, spoke out in favour of Contador, saying that sport “is about bad luck” and that to constantly wait for riders after an accident or crash made a mockery of cycling. He cited the finish to the second stage from Brussels to Spa where the peloton, marshalled by then-leader Fabian Cancellara,  rolled over the line in unison following a huge crash earlier in the stage which took out – among others – Andy Schleck. Kimmage was in the minority, however.
Contador had claimed immediately after stage 15 that, ‘I don’t believe that to lose or win 30 seconds at this point will make you win or lose the Tour de France.’ It is hard to know whether even he himself believed that statement, but if he did then he has surely made a liar of himself.
David Sheehan
