Norway takes possession of the cycling world as the Schlecks defend themselves:

Finally, a good day for the Schleck brothers. I had said that Italy brings good luck to them!

Today's stage had a very fast start, given that many riders wanted to go on a breakaway. In fact this afternoon the riders had to face climbs like Sestriere, Monginevro and Pramartino, but between the last two climbs there were 40 kms of descent. Therefore, many people decided to look for glory on this afternoon's parcours. One of the riders who, unfortunately, couldn't take part in this quest was Paolo Tiralongo who, after suffering from gastritis for a whole week, abandoned the Tour after 70 kms of race.

The final breakaway was formed after  60 kms and it included 14 riders: Amador (the last rider in the GC), Casar, Mollema, Boasson Hagen, Hivert, El Fares, Chavanel, Fofonov, Murayev, Perez Moreno, Paterski, Bozic, Leukemans and Tjallingi. Moreno attacked on the Sestriere and got a minute of advantage on his former companions. On that very same climb, Roche, De Weert and Hoogerland escaped from the peloton and tried to bridge up to the breakaway.

At the beginning of the last climb du jour, Moreno was caught by Hivert, Mollema, Casar and Boasson Hagen. Then Edvald attacked and his former companions could see him again just after the finish-line. This afternoon in fact Edvald manage to win his second stage of this Tour, thus making the Norwegian chronists dance in their studios. He crossed the finish-line 40" before a climber like Mollema and 50" earlier than Casar.

On the final descent, supporters risked 3 heart attacks because of Hivert. The French rider (9th on the stage) firstly risked to end up in a woods, then he did end up in a woods because of a crash and he eventually ended up in the private parking lot of a house. Luckily he didn't hurt himself and, also because of this fact, people could immediately start joking about his riding skills.

'Hivert would like to go looking for mushrooms in the woods rather than ending this Tour de France!', an Italian journalist said at first. Then, when Hivert crashed, the joke was simple: 'He's seen a mushroom!' In the end, when the Saur-Sojasun rider ended up in the parking lot, the journalist thanked the owners of the house for leaving the gate to their parking lot open.

As Hivert was rolling to the finish-line, the GC riders faced the last climb. Contador attacked twice but, luckily, this time the Schleck brothers (and Andy in particular) could follow him in an apparent easy way. When the descent began, I was very worried about the downhill skills of los Schlecks, especially because Voeckler immediately attacked. Unfortunately, the Frenchman had some problems while riding downhill and he ended up in the same parking lot as Hivert. A child dressed up like a savage could have closed the gate of that parking lot and could have started to scream: 'I've imprisoned one!' right after Voeckler found himself in his house, but luckily this didn't happen and Thomas could launch himself in the tricky descent again.

Voeckler's attack however had a big consequence: in fact, Contador and Samu Sanchez (who were following him) found themselves in front of everyone else and, given that they have a similar goal and that they're good friends, the Spaniards immediately started riding 'à bloc' towards the finish-line. Behind them, los Schlecks were doing their best and, with 150 meters to go, they finally annihilated the gap that separated them from the two Spanish riders. Finally, a stage ends well for the brothers. Poor Voeckler and Basso, instead, both lost 27" from their GC adversaries. Thomas wasn't really happy with his result especially because, if he hadn't attacked, he wouldn't have lost time from guys like Evans and Contador. Moreover, this afternoon we had the first hot day of Tour de France. Voeckler, who doesn't like the heat, suffered from that, as we could see by looking at his face during the podium ceremony. It was sunburnt!

After the stage, Contador was really happy and he told Italian tv that he attacked 'because of the Italian supporters. They deserve to see the Contador of the Giro on these roads, so I did my best'. Once again, Alberto, thank you for brightening up this race.

The Schleck brothers were really good at chasing Alberto and Samuel and, once in a while, LT website is right in celebrating the deeds of the two brothers. However, I'd like to point out two little things about los Schlecks:

1. After Contador's attack, Andy turned his head 5 times in 200 meters.

2. The brothers this afternoon were perfect, no doubts about that. But still, I've seen an interview with Frank that was made by Italian tv yesterday evening. And it left me a bit shocked. In it, in fact, Frankie said: 'We did our best on the Pyrenées. If someone doesn't agree, they can tell what else we could have done'. Cyclists often use this kind of sentences, but I've always found them hateful. In a certain way, it corresponds to saying: 'Ok guys, you're incompetent and you don't really know what you're talking about, so shut the hell up'. Unfortunately, since I do know what I'm talking about, I can just say that, imo, the brothers should have attacked on the stage towards Plateau de Beille, even if one of them didn't feel fine. As I already said, if you always want to be together during races, buy yourself a tandem. One can't say that the attacks of the brothers in that stage were serious, because it was clearly evident that they weren't. In fact, on that day Andy would attack and then he would turn his head after less than 3 seconds. Contador, when he attacks, doesn't turn his head for about 5" - and this happens when he's not feeling fine. So, dear boys, today you've been perfect: but please, abandon the 'We are right, the rest of the world is wrong and incompetent' attitude. It's hateful and it won't bring you any good.

On to tomorrow, Colle dell'Agnello, Izoard, Lautaret and Holy Galibier may save the Tour of Contador and, hopefully, of the Schleck brothers. Voeckler is likely to lose the jersey, a thing that will really sadden me. In fact I've learned to like T Blanc in the last days and it will be hard to see him losing the maillot jaune. Although, actually, Thomas may find an ally in the snow. In fact it has been said that, if tomorrow on the Galibier there will be too much snow and too cold, the stage may end on Lautaret. And, of course, that would be perfect for the Europcar rider.