Tour de France stage 7 results

Contador seizes control of Astana; Feillu wins stage

Today’s race departed from Barcelona among throngs of fans cheering for their countryman Alberto Contador, who heeded their call by winning the race within the race to be Team Astana’s leader. Cadel Evans stated, “Cantador in Spain is going to be something special today.”

Lance Armstrong remarked prior to the start that the current lack of an obvious team leader was “not ideal” but difficult to determine who should lead since four Astana riders had podium finishes in previous Tours.

A nine-man break launched a new overall leader, Rinaldo Nocentini (Ag2r), with rookie Tour rider Brice Feillu of Agritubel taking the stage win. Feillu began the day 8 minutes back and commentators Phil Ligget and Paul Sherwin suggested that Feillu and older brother Romain, who also rides for Agritubel, are predominantly sprinters and might struggle with the Arcalis. Yet the younger Feillu proved them wrong as he attacked the remnants of the nine-man break to win the stage.

Astana proved again to be the dominant team, leading the main field most of the race and dictating the pace. Garmin and Saxo-Bank also appeared strong.

Cancellara suffered two flat tires, forcing him to maneuver at speeds up to 60 mph around support vehicles to rejoin the main group. In a moment that could have been tragic irony, he nearly hit the race doctor’s vehicle. The 2009 Tour of Switzerland victor could not conquer today’s mountain and he surrendered to gravity on the Arcalis. Cancellara dropped to 39th place in the GC standings. The Saxo-Bank squad boasts its own dynamic brother duo in the the Schleck brothers, with Andy’s solid performance today leaving him 1:49 behind in the GC contest making him Saxo-Bank’s leader.

Mere seconds separate the top three GC riders, so perhaps it’s too soon to call the inter-Astana rivalry between Contador and Lance Armstrong over. Armstrong stated he’s at the Tour to win and who is willing to challenge the man who has seven Tour victories?

Today’s stage, the Tour’s longest, ended with a viscious hors cat

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