Daring double act proves Schleck's class

It was the second-to-last chance for the pure climbers to make their bid for overall victory. And being as such, everybody knew the prodigious Schleck brothers of Saxo Bank would attack on Wednesday's five-climb, 169.5-kilometre stage to Le Grand-Bornand.

"Bjarne Riis came up with a plan this morning. Fränk had no personal goals and he was there to help me," said Andy Schleck.

"We knew what we wanted with this stage, which was planned before the Tour even began," said Riis. "The plan was quite clear and simple: we were willing to put everything on the line and to explode the peloton."

Almost all who knew this also predicted they would force a move on the penultimate climb of the 8.8-kilometre-long Col de Romme. Together with the closely-linked 7.5-km Col de la Colombière, its summit just 15 fast kilometres from the finish, they created a virtual hors-catégorie climb of its own.

But apart from the maillot jaune of Alberto Contador, who was simply unflappable all day, there was not a thing their rivals could do.

And while its profile closely resembled the seventeenth stage of the 2004 Tour de France that also finished in Le Grand-Bornand, the outcome was completely different.

In 2004, Lance Armstrong - then riding for the US Postal team - won a stage he didn't need to en route to overall victory. Afterwards, he said after 'giving' away chances in the past with those favours rarely coming back to help him, the Texan decided it was now a case of "no more gifts". At the time, five-time Tour champion Bernard Hinault commended Armstrong, telling him it was the "perfect" thing to do.

But Wednesday in the same French alpine village nestled at the foot of the Aravis mountain range, Contador didn't even try to break free of the Schlecks. Despite possessing a sprint-finish not worth writing a word about, that's exactly what the maillot jaune waited for, his faux-lunge twenty metres from the line making it fairly obvious a gentleman's agreement had taken place for the elder Schleck to claim the stage - which Fränk took with open arms.

"It was very special and I want to give special thanks to Andy. I will help him get on the podium in Paris," Fränk Schleck said, who finished on the same time as second-placed Contador and his brother Andy, the stage run at a 34.604 km/h average.

Contador's 'gift' the best thing for him

What's also obvious is that Contador and Armstrong, teammates they may be, are completely different persons. And it just may be - even though he's not saying so - that Contador is supremely confident about taking his second Tour de France, now just four days from Paris. So confident that so long as he wins the major prize, he doesn't need to win - or care about winning - stages, and being non-confrontational, the Spaniard doesn't wish to engage in any potential conflict with Saxo Bank.

"Both the Schleck brothers were very strong, Andy as much as Fränk," said Contador. "I'd spoken about attacking them on the Colombière with Johan Bruyneel - the goal was to gain minutes. I'd also spoken with Andréas Klöden on the climb, and he told me to go for it.

"I thought I could go alone but the brothers managed to come back, so from there on, I decided to stay on their wheels. The Schlecks asked me to collaborate; I said no, because I had teammates behind. I knew the Schleck brothers would attack all the way to the finish, so I focused on staying with them and staying fresh for the time trial."

Astana DS Johan Bruyneel had a different recollection of events: "The attack from Contador, three k' from the top [of the Colombière], that was not really... I had advised not to go. He did not need to go, he did not need to attack."

Regardless, by consequence of the Schleck spectacular in the mountains, previous second and third on the classement générale - Armstrong (Astana) and Bradley Wiggins (Garmin-Slipstream) - were bumped to fourth and sixth and replaced by Andy and Fränk Schleck, 2:26 and 3:25 behind Contador, respectively. And at a minimum, Saxo Bank intends to keep Andy in second.

"It is a bike race: we saw in Paris-Nice that even a big champion like Contador can have a bad day and lose time. It is going to be hard to beat him, he is very strong. But he is human being and we are just waiting for him to make a mistake; if he has a mistake, we will be there," Fränk Schleck said.

Don't rule out Nibali, Armstrong, Klöden & Wiggo

It's not like Armstrong and Wiggins rode poorly, the Anglophone pair part of a chase group of four that formed on the Col de Romme along with Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas) and Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Slipstream). In the end, only Nibali and the American managed to finish together, 2:18 behind the lead trio to take fourth and fifth, with a third Astana-ite, Andréas Klöden, nine seconds in arrears. Garmin's GC pairing of Wiggins and Vande Velde would finish 3:07 and 4:09 behind Contador in seventh and ninth, respectively.

Asked if he was happy with his day, Armstrong responded: "Yes and no. I tried to be conservative on the Col de Romme. I did not go with those initial attacks, and then I got kind of stuck behind. Once you are 30 seconds back there is nothing you can do; you got to just sit on.

"I was a little concerned with Bradley Wiggins and the TT, so in the last kilometre over Colombière I decided to jump away," he said, the American all-star 30 seconds behind Fränk Schleck in fourth place on the overall standings. His teammate Klöden is fifth, a further 49 seconds behind the seven-time Tour champion.

Thursday's 40.5-kilometre time trial around Lake Annecy may switch things around a little at the top. However, it's a course that favours riders strong at the end of a three-week race rather than specialists against the clock, and the gaps shouldn't be too significant at the top of the leader board. Far more noteworthy will be Saturday's penultimate leg to Mont Ventoux, the Giant of Provence.

"On Ventoux, people will be more tired. The advantage is that we recover well and if the climb is steeper, it is better for us. We saw that today and Ventoux we will be up there," Andy Schleck said.

"I think Lance and Andréas can catch up with the Schleck brothers [on the overall standings]," said Contador.

"It would be nice to get on the podium," said Armstrong. "I will go as hard as I can [in the Annecy time trial] and go up Ventoux as fast as I can."

Remember Stage 17 of the 2004 and '06 Tours? This ain't so different.

Arguably the hardest stage of the race simply because of the number of high-rating climbs within the relatively short space of 169.5 kilometres, the seventeenth stage began just before half-past midday from the previous day's finish in Bourg-Saint-Maurice. Situated in the foothills of the legendary Cols de l'Iseran, du Peit-Saint-Bernard and du Cormet de Roseland, the mountainous surroundings gave good indication of what lay ahead, the parcours not dissimilar to Stage 17 of the 2004 and 2006 Tours de France, where in the latter, a rampaging Floyd Landis turned Le Tour inside out and upside down - quite literally.

Straight away on the Cormet de Roselend, it was a jumpy peloton, a group of 10 gaining clearance two-thirds of the way on the 18.1-km climb and containing a few expected - and unexpected - suspects; perhaps the strangest being Denis Menchov (Rabobank), who appears to be persona non grata at Le Tour.

Between the lead 10 and the peloton were a trio of chasers, although they didn't quite manage to bridge before the climb topped out at 1,968 metres, polka-dotted Pellizotti once again first over the top. Down to Beaufort (km. 38) a few more came across to the front group, numbering a sizeable 22 before one of those escapees, points leader Thor Hushovd (Cérvelo TestTeam), went on a solo expedition in a search for the two intermediate sprints on offer; the first still some way off at Paz-sur-Arly (km 75.5). The other 21 names were: Menchov, Sandy Casar (Française des Jeux), Franco Pellizotti (Liquigas), Dave Zabriskie (Garmin-Slipstream), Jurgen Van den Broeck (Silence-Lotto), Ruben Perez, Egoi Martinez, Amets Txurruka, Gorka Verdugo (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Rigoberto Uran (Caisse d'Epargne), Sylvain Chavanel (Quick Step), Remi Pauriol and Christophe Kern (Cofidis), Geoffroy Lequatre (Agritubel), Maxime Monfort (Columbia-HTC), Marzio Bruseghin (Lampre NGC), Pierre Rolland, Thomas Voeckler (BBox Bouygues Telecom), Jose Luis Arrieta (AG2R La Mondiale), George Hincapie (Columbia-HTC), and Linus Gerdemann (Milram).

All roads lead to Romme

At the base of the 8.8-km Col de Romme, that together with the closely-linked 7.5-km Col de la Colombière creates a hors-catégorie climb of its own, Carlos Sastre (Cérvelo TestTeam) was first to go with Sylvain Calzati (Agritubel).

That break was short-lived, however, becoming the precursor to a far more dangerous move when Andy Schleck fired off for the second day running, his second big dig five kilometres from the Romme's 1,297-metre summit shedding all bar Contador and Klöden, his brother Fränk later rejoining the lead group. Behind was an equally select quartet containing Armstrong, Wiggins, Vande Velde and Nibali who trailed by 1:11 at the crest, 29 kilometres from Le Grand-Bornand.

The two quartets hit the base of the Colombière 1:20 apart, Fränk Schleck pacing the Contador group and Vande Velde the Armstrong bunch, with a chase group of 13 3:28 in arrears. Apart from Vande Velde being dropped, nothing much happened till 16.7 kilometres from the finish when Contador took a flyer and dropped his companions. Though a short while later, he sat up and allowed the brothers Schleck to join him but not Klöden, who went over the 1,618-metre climb 25 seconds down on the new lead trio, with Fränk in first place.

"When Alberto attacks it is better to take your time at first," said Andy Schleck. "We came back step-by-step to him, but he showed that he had great legs today. We showed strength in front, it was not an easy stage, but we just had to focus on myself, because without being arrogant I think I am the best climber out there."

It was then Armstrong who turned the screws and left behind Wiggins and Nibali, cresting the Colombière 2:06 behind the Schlecks and Contador. The American seemed intent on catching Klöden on the high-speed descent but was in fact caught by demonic descender Nibali, who together, managed to nip at the German's heels just few kilometres from home.

A pat on Fränk Schleck's bum by Contador may be construed as a job well done. But it was not just that: it was a sign he was conceding the stage victory, a half-hearted effort by the maillot jaune granting Fränk his second Tour stage after his 2006 triumph atop L'Alpe d'Huez. Nibali led Armstrong over the line 2:18 later, with Klöden a further nine seconds back. Wiggins, Christophe Moreau (Agritubel), Vande Velde and Rémi Pauriol (Cofidis) would complete Wednesday's first 10 places.

For images of stage 17 click here

Thor continues his hammer-fest

With overnight leader Contador experiencing mechanical problems and others like Cyril Dessel (AG2R) calling it a day, Hushovd at first appeared to be the only man revelling in the lousy conditions, summiting the 15.1-km Col de Saises 1:20 ahead of the group he briefly occupied and 5:09 clear of the peloton. The versatile Norwegian was clearly on a mission - no doubt fuelled by Mark Cavendish's words the previous day, where he told Hushovd, "You've won the green jersey but that's always going to have a stain on it" - and after he took the sprint in Paz-sur-Arly, he gestured to the camera, smirked, and tugged his maillot vert, appearing to say, 'It's mine'.

For the time being, the group behind - now minus Amets Txurruka (Euskaltel-Euskadi), making it a 20-man chase - seemed content to let the God of Thunder continue to banish his mighty hammer. Back in the peloton, Saxo Bank drove at the fore, Stuart O'Grady doing much of the pace-making, with the entire Astana formation right behind, patiently waiting.

Through the Sallanches valley - the only decent piece of flat road the entire stage - and onto the 6.3-km Côte d'Araches, Hushovd did not appear to be weakening. Over the Araches and 58-km from the finish, Astana had now combined with Saxo Bank, 3:09 behind Hushovd, the extra pace causing problems for Cadel Evans (Silence-Lotto) and Kim Kirchen (Columbia-HTC), the first of the big names to be dropped. And with the retirement of Kenny Van Hummel (Skil-Shimano), Yauheni Hutarovich (Française des Jeux) became the new lanterne rouge.

Thor's extraordinary feat was complete when he made it to the second sprint in Cluses (km. 126); barring disaster, now certain to take his second maillot vert in Paris.

"Today everything just felt perfect. I attacked over the first climb, did a good descent and then had an amazing day in the front," Hushovd said. "I think this is the best day I've ever had on the bike. Maybe I was making a statement, but at least I've got more points in case something happens in the coming days. If I win the jersey by 10 points, I can say that I had built a sufficient buffer on this stage to Le Grand-Bornand."

His job done - and voted the day's most aggressive rider - he was soon overtaken by the chase group, who in turn was swallowed by the peloton. Then the race began for real.