Paris-Nice's two last stages (how things can change in 2 days time):

So,if I did this post yesterday,the title would have been: "Contador destroys his adversaries" and the post itself would have been pretty pessimistic.But now,things have changed:today's stage was the demonstration of how opinions (especially mine) can change rapidly.So what happened in the last 48 hours? Well,let's go in chronological order:yesterday the riders of P-N had to face Montagne de la Lure's climb.This mountain is also known as "Mont Ventoux's little sister",is 13 kms long and has a medium difficulty of 6%.Everybody knew that Contador would have attacked,and he did attack.But let's start with what happened in the first part of the stage:at the beginning of it there was a breakaway formed by Mickaël Delage (Silence-Lotto),Javier Aramendia (Euskaltel-Euskadi),Romain Feillu (Agritubel),Niki Terpstra (Team Milram,see photo posted here) and Cyril Lemoine (Skil-Shimano). Then they were joined by Alan Perez (Euskaltel-Euskadi),Christophe Riblon (AG2R La Mondiale) and Sébastien Turgot (BBox Bouygues Telecom). Later Jérémy Roy (Française des Jeux),yesterday's stage winner,joined in to form the nine-man break of the day.
Anyway the break was caught before of the last climb.There Astana started to pull and,with 11 kms to go,Jens Voigt (accompanied by a joyful scream of mine) left the company.After a few meters some riders tried to catch the German rider,and Contador decided to follow them.And behind Contador there was FRANK SCHLECK!!! At that moment I was really entusiasthic (I even missed T-A's sprint because I didn't want to change channel-anyway my sister was in another room and kept on screaming what was happening there and so I could stay informed).Unfortunately,my moment of great joy didn't last very long,because then Contador attacked and Frank was left behind together with Colom,who had joined him in the meanwhile.Then Colom lost contact too and his place behind Frank was taken by LL Sanchez.Unfortunately for the two "poursuivants",Contador managed to cross the finish line alone,and they arrived 50 seconds after him.Chavanel,in the meanwhile,was behind.Initially it looked as if he could be able to keep the yellow jersey,but then he broke down and lost it.
I was very pessimistic yesterday afternoon:"If Contador rides this way in March,how will he ride in July?" was just one of my questions.Contador then said he suffered a lot during this P-N and so I was a bit like:"Well,if you ride like that and you're suffering,what are the other riders doing then?".I was very pessimistic.But then,today's facts changed everything.

Btw,talking about yesterday'sstage LL Sanchez said: "To win the final classification is no longer within my reach but there are still two important and very beautiful stages left and we will try to win one of them.There is nothing to do because as soon as the road starts climbing, Contador is really at a higher level than everybody else. I will keep on working to be better and better in the mountain hoping to come each time closer." Facts will get him wrong,as we'll see soon.Regarding Frank,he said he was satisfied for his performance on the climb but not for his GC's classification. "Contador was way stronger than any of us. He accelerated three or four times and it was just impossible to follow him.As Colom was unable to take a turn, felt better and went again with Luis León Sánchez in the pursuit of Contador.I felt good but not good enough to compete against Contador.I have no regrets, though. We followed our tactics with Jens Voigt breaking clear before the climbers.It was a good strategy, it just didn't work out."
And then:"I've already made the top five in Paris-Nice in the past (in 2006).This time I want to make the top three. I think I'll be on the podium in Nice. Sylvain Chavanel is only 14 seconds ahead of me." After today,I'm pretty sure he'll be able to arrive on the podium.
Other Saxo Bank riders went pretty well yesterday:Jens Voigt arrived 6th (!),while C.A. Sorensen arrived 10th and is (was) 2nd in the young rider classification (yup!).Jakob Fuglsang arrived 68th,together with N.Sorensen and Kolobnev.

Here is the stage 5's classification:
1 Alberto Contador (Spa) Astana 4.47.46 (38.05 km/h)
2 Frank Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank 0.58
3 Luis Leon Sanchez (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne
4 Cadel Evans (Aus) Silence-Lotto 1.27
6 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team Saxo Bank 1.29
7 Samuel Sanchez (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 1.31
8 Jonathan Hivert (Fra) Skil-Shimano 1.34
9 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Agritubel 1.44
10 Chris Anker Sørensen (Den) Team Saxo Bank 1.46
13 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Quick Step
21 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Silence-Lotto 3.31 (he made a nice smile to the camera when he was dropped from the main group)
68 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Team Saxo Bank 13.34
69 Nicki Sørensen (Den) Team Saxo Bank
70 Alexandr Kolobnev (Rus) Team Saxo Bank
72 Marco Pinotti (Ita) Team Columbia - Highroad
80 Gustav Larsson (Swe) Team Saxo Bank 16.27
100 Karsten Kroon (Ned) Team Saxo Bank
DNF Simon Spilak (Slo) Lampre - N.G.C.
DNF Thomas Voeckler (Fra) BBox Bouygues Telecom (he broke a collarbone)
DNF Sébastien Chavanel (Fra) Française Des Jeux
DNF Jelle Vanendert (Bel) Silence-Lotto
DNF Jose Luis Arrieta (Spa) AG2R La Mondiale
Now let's finally talk about today's stage (that I couldn't see because of my guitar lesson).Today's breakaway was formed by Christophe Riblon (AG2R La Mondiale), Juan Antonio Flecha (Rabobank),Sébastien Joly (Française des Jeux),Karsten Kroon (Team Saxo Bank),Stéphane Augé (Cofidis,le crédit en ligne),Alexandre Pichot (BBox Bouygues Telecom),Joan Horrach (Team Katusha),Maxime Bouet (Agritubel) and Martin Velits (Team Milram).
On one of the climb,a group containing all the main leaders (Frank included) was formed.Then Frank was dropped because of an attack by Colom,but managed to enter again in the most important group thanks to the amazing Jens Voigt.Then,l'"impensabile" (I don't know the translation of the word in English,sorry!) happened:Contador suffered a hunger knock and lost 2 minutes from LL Sanchez,that arrived alone at the finish line,won the stage and took the yellow jersey.Colom,Chavanel and FRANK arrived 50 seconds after him (the Luxembourgian was third).6th came Jens Voigt,one of the most incredible guys of the peloton.Also Jakob Fuglsgang and C.A.Sorensen made a good stage and arrived 16th and 21st,even if unfortunately none of them was able to take the young riders' jersey.So,the big news for today is:Contador is a human and can be beaten.And this is a good news for the other riders (and also for their fans).

Btw,here's the stage classification:
1 Luis Leon Sanchez (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 4.43.34 (40.414 km/h)
2 Antonio Colom (Spa) Team Katusha 0.50
3 Frank Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank
4 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Quick Step
5 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team Saxo Bank 0.56
6 David Moncoutie (Fra) Cofidis 1.31
7 Hubert Dupont (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
8 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Silence-Lotto
9 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Agritubel
10 Amaël Moinard (Fra) Cofidis
16 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Team Saxo Bank
21 Chris Anker Sørensen (Den) Team Saxo Bank
30 Karsten Kroon (Ned) Team Saxo Bank 2.36
33 Alberto Contador (Spa) Astana 2.53
35 Cadel Evans (Aus) Silence-Lotto 3.15
39 Alexandr Kolobnev (Rus) Team Saxo Bank
79 Gustav Larsson (Swe) Team Saxo Bank 11.35
80 Nicki Sørensen (Den) Team Saxo Bank


Let's hope tomorrow's final stage will allow Frank to improve his rank in the GC (he's third now).Allez Frank!
(Photos from TDW's website-http://www.tdwsport.com/ and from Cor Vos Pro-http://www.corvospro.com/arimages.aspx).