Advantage Schleck on first major mountain stage

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There were two defining images of the eighth stage of the Tour de France. One saw a battered, bruised and decidedly ragged Lance Armstrong, shepherded by his RadioShack teammate Jani Brajkovic, struggling across the line at Morzine-Avoriaz, almost 12 minutes down.

The other saw Andy Schleck (Saxo Bank) come of age with a stunning stage win. And it was this second image that should prove more significant in the coming days, since it suggested a shift in the balance of power, from the defending champion and favourite, Alberto Contador (Astana), towards last year's runner-up.

While the story of last year's Tour was of Schleck being unable to respond to Contador's repeated accelerations in the mountains, here it was the other way around.

An elite, 13-man group had just passed under the one-kilometre-to-go kite when the Luxembourg rider made his one, decisive move. Contador, whose Astana teammate Daniel Navarro had led almost the entire way up the 13.6km mountain, reacted quickly to his rival's attack, sprinting after his rear wheel, but he couldn't close the gap.

Indeed, the race was on, prompting Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) to pounce after Schleck. Approaching the line, with the Olympic champion having joined Schleck in front, it was Sanchez who led it out and looked as though he had it, but Schleck came around him, glancing across at his rival as he drew level, and then inching ahead to claim his first ever stage win in his third Tour.

"It was my first real victory of the season," said Schleck to TV interviewers after the race. "I took a lot of confidence out of my performance today. It puts me in a very good position right now, but I have to thank my team for being always around me, protecting me."

"I've got to get my head around the position that I'm in now," said Schleck, with a rest day ahead of him tomorrow. "There are still a lot of very hard days, but I am pretty relaxed for the moment. I've done my thing, and I hope I can do a great race and I hope I don't have a bad day."

Ten seconds behind, the group was led in by another of the day's aggressors, Robert Gesink (Rabobank), with Roman Kreuziger (Liquigas) fourth and Contador fifth. Sixth, though, was the day's other big winner, Cadel Evans (BMC), who survived an early fall to claim the yellow jersey.

Evans now leads the general classification ahead of Schleck by 20 seconds, with Contador up to third, 1:01 behind the Australian.

Many will expect the overall winner to come from this trio, meaning, inevitably, that one of the day's big stories was the end of Armstrong's challenge - indeed, the definitive end of the Armstrong era.

In the first real mountain stage of this year's race the seven-time winner, riding his final Tour, suffered three crashes, the second of them coming at a crucial stage, just before the climb of the Col de la Ramaz.

"I had a bad day," Armstrong told French TV within seconds of crossing the line. "I came around one roundabout and my pedal touched [the curb], then my front tyre rolled off.

"It's hard to recover from something like that," he said. "They started the Ramaz pretty hard and I was already suffering. Then it went from bad to worse. It was a bad day. Now I'm going to hang in there and enjoy my last Tour."

Schleck offered his sympathy to Armstrong. "Lance had a pretty bad crash - he crashed in front of me, and he could do nothing.

"I almost went down with him," Schleck said. "He came back but he was pretty beaten up. On the [Ramaz], he lost contact with our group. I expected him to be up there in the front.

"To be really honest, I'm a little sorry for him because he really wanted to be good in this last Tour. I think his morale is a little down now."

The new yellow jersey, Evans, also had a scare, crashing after 6km and receiving attention from the race doctor. But he admitted that he wasn't surprised to inherit the yellow jersey from Sylvain Chavanel (Quick Step).

"Chavanel has had a fantastic Tour, but he isn't a climbing specialist," said Evans. "I've got [the yellow jersey] because of the good work we did in preparation for the stage [three] to Arenberg. I think this is the reward for our work."

Going into the first rest day, the Australian said he wasn't sure what his BMC team's approach would be to defending the jersey. "The Pyrenees are very difficult, Astana is very strong and Andy's very strong, so I don't know yet how we'll look to defend, or what we'll do with the yellow jersey."

It was an active start to the stage, with numerous riders trying to go clear, but after around 35km seven men finally got the gap. The seven were Mario Aerts (Omega Pharma-Lotto), Koos Moernhout (Rabobank), Benoit Vagrenard (FdJ), Christophe Riblon (AG2R), Imanol Erviti (Caisse d'Epargne), Sebastien Minard (Cofidis) and Amael Moinard (Cofidis).

As this group built a solid lead the overall favourites kept their powder dry until the Ramaz. And as they hit the lower slopes - with Armstrong having just regained contact after his crash - Team Sky hit the front, Juan Antonio Flecha leading, Thomas Lofkvist following, with the British team's leader, Bradley Wiggins, sitting third.

Riders began to fall off the back, including King of the Mountains Jérôme Pineau (Quick Step), Tony Martin (HTC-Columbia) and George Hincapie (BMC). Then, five kilometres from the summit, Chavanel began to lose contact, as Sky was joined at the front by Saxo Bank.

Then came the surprise: Armstrong sliding off the back, with his teammate Chris Horner for company. The news was transmitted at lightening speed to the front, and two Astana riders took it up, injecting more momentum into a main group that numbered around 35 riders.

The gap quickly opened, and with a kilometre to the summit the Astana-led group was 2:12 behind the break, with Armstrong, Horner and Brajkovic 40 seconds in arrears, and Chavanel a further two minutes back.

If Armstrong hoped to rejoin the group on the descent, then he hadn't bargained on a third spill - but that's what happened as he collided with Egoi Martinez (Euskaltel) as they went through Les Gets, after a small climb that acted as a stepping stone to the final ascent, to the Avoriaz ski station.

Astana, meanwhile, kept up the pressure at the front. Alexandre Vinokourov put in a big shift on the lower slopes, then dropped back as Navarro took over.

Still in front were three survivors of the early break, but Moerenhout, Moinard and Aerts had about as much chance of fighting out the stage as Armstrong did of rejoining the Contador group.

All eyes were on Contador, of course. The Spaniard sat comfortably behind his teammates - so much for Astana not being strong enough in the mountains - and resembled a coiled spring. The question seemed to be when, rather than if, he would attack.

But Contador was surprisingly quiet, and we didn't see his familiar, dancing style until after the final survivor of the break, Moinard, had been reeled in 5.5km from the summit, and after Wiggins had been dropped, two kilometres later.

Even then, the Spaniard's accelerations were reactive rather than aggressive. Roman Kreuziger (Liquigas) was the first of the favourites to have a go, with Contador's response instant. A soft attack from Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Omega Pharma-Lotto) followed, but it acted only to tee up Gesink.

The tall Dutchman opened a decent gap, but Contador, shadowed all the time by Schleck, brought him back. And as they got their breath, with Gesink still leading, Schleck played Contador at his own game, sprinting clear, and maintaining the effort as the Spaniard tried desperately to get back on terms.

Given the gap that he opened in less than a kilometre, Schleck was asked whether he regretted not attacking earlier. "No, not at all," he said.

"We had a plan, and I had to follow it. I didn't want to change it during the stage. Maybe it was possible to take the yellow jersey today but I want to have it in Paris, so I want to take it step by step.

"I believed this morning this stage was a decisive one," Schleck continued. "I was really nervous this morning. I was 100 percent mentally and physically, and I was surrounded by my team. I'm really motivated now."

Results

Scott Sunderland's stage analysis

As we expected, the big boys came out to play on the stage and really put their cards on the table. And it was fascinating to watch.

As a fellow Australian, it was great to see Cadel Evans pull on the yellow jersey again. He rode another clever stage. Sometimes a crash can knock it out of you and you suffer in the finale, but he was good. Now we'll see how long he can keep it, and if he has the team to keep it. The BMC team at the Tour is a lot stronger than the one at the Giro but they now face a lot of work.

I think Andy Schleck was fantastic in the finale, and I was really happy to see him win. He was strong and to be honest he could have perhaps attacked earlier and earned even more time on the other guys. Saxo Bank has done a lot of work so far in the race and lost Frank Schleck but they will be on a high during the rest day and confident for later in the race.

Bradley Wiggins' confidence has probably taken a bit of hit but his Tour isn't over at all. Some people were surprised Team Sky took up the race on the Col de la Ramaz but you've got to go with your gut feeling and it is often better to take control of the race and set the pace. Wiggins knows his body better than most riders and rightly eased off on the climb to the finish so he didn't blow completely. There's still a long way to go for Wiggo in this Tour.

It was a pity to see Lance Armstrong lose so much time and be out of the race. His over chances are over, and after the first week of racing. He managed to avoid a lot of bad luck (in his Tour career) but it's all caught up with him this week and especially on this stage. He landed on his back on the second crash and that can cause huge problems to your breathing. I hope he can make it to Paris in his last ever Tour.

I'm sure Lance and all the riders will be happy to have reached the first rest day. They've been through a lot to get this far and many of them are battered and bruised. With the heat also a big factor, the second week and especially the stages in the Pyrenees will be about who recovers well.

The classification has been shuffled again and now we'll see what happens in week two. It seems like we've been through a lot already but there's still a long way to go.