Stage 15 - A Contraversial Chain of Events

There could be trouble on the Saxo Bank team bus tonight. Andy Schelck was looking strong on the climb today and launched an attack. Then his chain came off. While he was messing about trying to put it back on, Conatador took the opportunity to kick a man when he's down.



The problem would appear to be due to either operator error, or some dodgy mechanic work. If the mechanic was to blame, it wouldn't be the first time that the Saxo Bank mechanics' abilities have been called into question. Matti Breschel was well-pissed-off at the Tour of Flanders. If only Andy had been rocking a chain catcher on his bike, like this one Cancellara had last year, none this would have happened.

Schelck and Contador both ride pretty much the same bike (a Specialized with SRAM gears). But Alberto has his very own mechanic, Faustino Munoz "the World's greatest mechanic" . He certainly seems to know how to put a bike together and he's pretty good with a roll of bar-tape.



I think Andy obviously needs his own personal mechanic. Now that I've been working at a bike shop for a couple of months, I think I'm currently "the World's second best mechanic". And all that's stopping me from being the best, is the fact that I'm not getting paid big money to work on the Pro-Tour tweaking bikes and providing clean urine. If you don't believe me, check out the sweet job I did on this red Spalding.

The "should Contador have waited?" debate is certainly set to run for years, and has already eclipsed the "should Renshaw have been sent home?" debate. So should he have waited? I'm saying no. The way I see it, it's a race. Schleck attacked, then fudged up a gear shift and dropped his chain. Contador was already responding to the attack and went past Schleck without really knowing what was going on. Menchov and Sanchez weren't hanging around Contador had to follow. It was on the descent and run in to the finish where Schleck lost most of his time, as he was only about 15 seconds behind over the summit.

With all the fuss over the chain thing, it's easy to forget that Thomas Voeckler did a great ride to win the stage. He's always having a go is Tommy, so it's good to see him get in a break and not get caught for once.

If it turns out that come Paris, Andy Schleck has lost the race by less than the 39 seconds he lost today, then he's probably got some right to feel pissed off. But with plenty more mountains and a long time trial still to come, chances are the time gaps between the podium spots will be big enough that today's fun and games will make no difference in the long run. One thing is for sure, and that's Schleck didn't seem very happy with what happened - he has "anger in his belly" so lets see if he can stick it to Contador tomorrow on stage 16.

Stage16 then, will feature the legendary Tourmalet, which I believe is a hill of some kind. The race will also be Tourmalet bound on stage 17 with a finish at the top. Tomorrow it comes at less than half-way through the stage and the peloton will still have the Col d'Aubisque and the descent to Pau to contend with before the finish.