Contador's changed his tune a bit from yesterday 🙂

Well done that man!
Even Riis wasn't that annoyed. bad riding skills brought on by pressure etc, look at the film, Andy was in top. Can't see Sanchez or Menchov stopping and then they would have been in yellow. well 1 of them.
In all the years I have always thought Ulrich a **** for waiting. How come none of you lot are moaning because no one waited for Armstrong when he puntured on the pave'? Same thing. Anyway Saxo have already pulled a dirty with Cancellara stalling everyone early on. Must admit to being an Andy fan but you can't go around blaming one rider coz another cocked up.

I think he should have waited (Contador doesn't need Schleck having a mechanical for him to win the TdF so pointless taking advantage of it). However it's a fair point that Andy's previous time advantage came after Contador was held up on the stage 3 crash. If Contador had have said that as his reason for attacking it would have at least been honest, for him to come out and say he didn't realise Schleck had a problem at first is just BS. As is saying he had to stay with Sanchez/Menchov – they only went for it after Contador had attacked.

A chain device wouldn't have helped given how the chain came off either, it is a bit unusual though (I was wondering to if he uses elliptical chain rings and if they had a part to play but I don't think he does). He also did a half decent job of sorting it quickly, the problem was as he went to start off again he back pedalled slightly which threw the chain again as it wasn't fully on.

Tough one this but I think peoples views are swayed by whos camp they're in i.e the STW concensus is it's gloves off in a sprint attack, but Pimms 'o' clock in the mountains.

Am I right in thinking that Schleck is only where he is because of the Stage 3 fiasco. Then there's the mechanical, if it was a mechanical some are saying he rode over something. Then there's the twins in orange, they couldn't be ignored.
We'll see today I guess. Schleck might be regreting playing silly buggers the other day.
Pesonally I'd like to see Contador drop Schleck like a sack of spuds and have a good minute on him by Sunday.

Post hoc ergo propter hoc

I reckoned the apology was reasonable. He put it down to a red-mist type event, which is understandable I suppose.

You mean the cack handed way he stopped, leaned down while still astride the bike and attempted to fix it, got back on, realised he'd not fixed it and finally jumped off waving his hands around.
If he'd have known what to do there he'd have lost about 15 seconds max, as it was he lost nearly 40.

I'm assuming you could've done better?

Right when I attacked Andy had a mechanical on the last climb

No, Andy had a mechanical, then he attacked.

Don't you think the more you watch the video the more it looks like Contador was closing the gap anyway?

. How come none of you lot are moaning because no one waited for Armstrong when he puntured on the pave'?

Because Armstrong wasn't in yellow, and it wasn't a decisive moment in the race?

My opinion of Contador dropped a bit today, seems pretty clear that Schleck was pretty much at a standstill when Contador shot past him so I don't buy that he didn't realise what was going on. Looks like Menchov reacted to that and then Contador was in an awkward spot. I'd have liked to see him wait though, if nothing else because it's disappointing we didn't get to see them going at it.

oldgit – yeah, I don't think AS was going to get away – AC had the measure I reckon but again, it seems to be pretty clear that AS was almost stopped dead when AC went past and since it's unlikely to be anything other than a mechanical, they (Menchov and Sanchez) should have held off – just as per when LA got caught up in that bag in 2003 and Ullrich et al all waited once they realised what had happened.

As someone mentioned earlier it would be nice for AC to give the time back to AS in some manor, if after that AC wins he will be remembered as a gracious winner and a good sportman, if AS was to win after that AC would still be remebered for the moment of fine sportsmanship which might pale AS's win a bit. If however nothing is done and AC wins he might just be in for a bit more booing at Paris and will be remembered badly if AS wins he will be touted as a god and AC the villan forever more… Personally I would like to see AS pick up the time lost on AC and go on to win the tour or AC to give back the time gained and then win.

Iain

Just to confirm – Contador wasn't the Astana guy closest to Schleck when he lost his chain was he?

He's the guy behind the guy?

To be clear AS lost half the time on the due to the mechanical and the other half due to the AC, Menchov and Sanchez working as a team to put as much time in to AS in the descent. AS did a awesome job and minimizing the loss considering he was alomost working on his own. AC may not have seen his chain come off, but you can be sure his team knew and would have pass ono the info to AC straight away. I think AC's youtube apology shows his guilty conscience?

thebunk- right, so he probably wouldn't have actually ssen Schleck drop his chain, but I don't think he could have missed the fact that there was a mechanical as he went past.

The more I watched it the more it became clear that as Contador sprinted up the road, Vino who was leading the chase slowed with Shleck and was on his radio, presumeably telling the team what had happend to Shleck so Contador cannot really say he didnt know, unless the team didnt tell him. It was very clear that Vino slowed and Contador didnt. And thats hard for me to say as I **** hate Vino, but he seemed to have done the "right" thing. Would be fascinating to hear if Contador knew what was going on or if the team with held the info.

Of course the other thing is that we're all saying "if he screwed up a gear change it's rider error and okay to take advantage of, but if it's a mechanical then he should have waited", closely followed by "having rewound the tape several times, I'm now certain Schleck didn't change gear" – without the benefit of a rewind button, how is Contador supposed to know what caused Schleck's problem. At the end of the day, he's going to have a few seconds to make a snap decision about whether it's appropriate to stick the boot in or not, at a critical point in the world's biggest road race.

Much as though I'm not convinced by his Puerta related explanations (any more than Schleck's £5,000 training plan), I'd find it hard to justify villifying the guy on the basis of his decision to go on without Schleck.