So is he just leaving it for the last mountain stage, trying to conserve as much energy as possible for that and give Contador as little time as possible to recover time (ie just the TT)?

Or has he just not got anything to attack Contador with?

He said he was close to his limit the other day and couldn't keep attacking. He does need to put some more time on Contador though.

What's happened to Lance though. Lots of talk at the start of the tour and he's given up now and seems to just be out for a ride. Most disappointing.

are you watching the tour or just dipping in and out ? – lance was caught up in about a million crashes near the start which meant he was down the field fairly early… so looks like hes just sat up and taking it easy now

I think Schleck is pretending to be weaker than he is.* He keeps talking publicly about how hard he's finding it and how Contador has got him covered – if that were entirely true why would he talk about it openly?

*Based on no real knowledge of professional cycling or indeed Andy Schleck.

I dont know why Saxo Bank didnt turn the screw before the climbing today, doesnt make sense at all.

Meanwhile whilst they are fannying around Menchov and Sanchez are starting to turn their screw, Menchov is the best TT too out of the top 4.

unless you stick a corner infront of him(menchov) ….. i swear his trinity had a welded steerer last year – he just couldnt go round corners – best one being when he steered the whole team into a barrier on a corner in the team tt !

Menchov is the best TT too out of the top 4

That's not true, Contador has beat FC and was the spanish TT champion, in fact he's probably one of the best in the world.

Yes Andy needs to attack and put some time into contador as 30 seconds is not enough time based on past time trials.

I think that Andy and Berto are actually quite well matched this year and both are finding it hard to get away from the other. Having said that Bert probably has the advantage on the steeper climbs. Andy will not win GC by sitting on Contadors wheel.

I think he is scared that if he was to try and gap Contador that Contador would then hold his wheel and counter attacked to drop him.

Something has to give!

As for Arsestrong, he is making a mockery of the tour by sitting in for a ride. People are saying that he is deliberately loosing time so that he can attack on a breakaway and win a stage… but I think the old man just does not have it anymore and is simply enjoying the Tour as a rider who does not have to hurt so bad! As for riding for the team tho… he has not been acting as a super domestique for Levi??

Firstly Lance's performance doesn't have much to do with the crashes, yes he lost a bit of time due to them but basically he doesn't have the form – stop making excuses for him :p

As for Schleck/Contador, I think they're pretty evenly matched at the moment. Schleck's best chance is probably the second time up the Tourmalet as he needs a long steady climb. However I think Contador is riding into form during the Tour (whereas Schleck is already there and may even go off a bit) so could well attack himself on the Tourmalet (not that he really needs to). On paper Contador is a better TTer than anyone else in the top 10 so doesn't really need to attack but his last couple of TTs have been average and if he feels good in the Pyrenees then I'm sure he will attack just to get himself a comfort/mechanical/crash margin for the TT.

I'm pretty sure Schleck is playing the psychological game of trying to make Contador believe he's weaker than he is.

Was surprised he didn't make more of an effort to get away from Alberto but perhaps that's part of the game or he could just be conserving energy for an attack later.

IGM and CarrieGold I totally agree about Schleck saying he is on his limits. I don't believe any TDF rider would say that publicly, I think he is playing games to get Contador to go for it and blow up so he can win too 😀

If he is playing games its a daft one, he needs more time and his chances are reducing.

although I totally agree that Contador has got the beating of Schleck over the TT I can't see him being happy going into that TT 30 seconds down. Anything can happen in a TT, puncture, misjudge a corner, slippy piece of road etc, so I can see the final two Pyrenean stages being all about the big two attacking each over over the final climb of each stage.

I think you ought to email the Saxo Bank team. They may not have thought about this.

The stage yesterday apparently wasn't the kind of climb that suits him (like Mende) so he's chosen to wait till the stages that do – eg the ones coming up. I guess we'll see then if he has the beating of Contador or not.

I think if I was him I might prefer to hold something back for one of the two trips over the Tourmalet I was due to make later in the week 😉