Tour de France stage 17 results in win for Frank Schleck

A titanic battle between Team Astana and the Schleck brothers of Team Saxo Bank in stage 17 of the Tour de France has resulted in a stage win for little brother Frank set up by big brother Andy, but Alberto Contador of Astana was the big winner by extending his lead in the general classification helped by sacrificial team work by Lance Armstrong.

The 169.5km stage 17 from Bourg Saint Maurice to Le Grand Bornand, characterised by a complete lack of flat road with six climbs, started as it has most days with an early attack, David Arroyo of Caisse d’Epargne and Linus Gerdemann of Team Milram getting the first break. They were caught within a matter of minutes.

A ten man group then jumped away 10km into the stage, and over the majority of the race they held their lead, with various lesser riders bridging the gap to boost the breakaway’s numbers to over twenty and a lead of over five minutes.

Thor Hushovd, the Norwegian cyclist from Cervelo Test Team who has gradually built a lead in the sprinter’s competition over multiple stage winner Mark Cavendish, then kicked clear of the breakaway to take the sprint points on offer, probably cementing his win in the green jersey race.

The break was finally caught with 35km to go, and then it was the turn of the Schleck brothers, Andy and Frank, to start a classic Tour de France battle with Alberto Contador and the rest of the Astana team which has dominated the race so far.

The leading group eventually boiled down to Contador, the two Schlecks and Andreas Kloden, also of Astana. Lance Armstrong stayed in touch in a second group with Vincenzo Nibali of Team Liquigas, Bradley Wiggins and Christian Vande Velde of Garmin Slipstream. Wiggins, a Brit, was in third in the general classification behind Armstrong before the day started, and the eight riders in the two lead groups were all in the top ten in GC.

Contador tried an attack nearing the top of the last climb over the Col du Colombiere, which only succeeded in dropping Kloden off the main group. He and the Schleck brothers then raced to the line, where Andy Schleck lead out his brother Frank to allow him to take the stage win. Andy had the consolation of knowing he took third place in GC off Wiggins.

Top 20 results in stage 17

1 Fränk Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank 4:53:54
2 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana
3 Andy Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank
4 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas 2:18 behind
5 Lance Armstrong (USA) Astana
6 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana 2:27
7 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Garmin – Slipstream 3:07
8 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Agritubel 4:09
9 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Garmin – Slipstream
10 Rémi Pauriol (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit en Ligne 6:10
11 Christophe Le Mevel (Fra) Française des Jeux
12 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Team Columbia – HTC 6:12
13 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Liquigas
14 Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale
15 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Team Katusha
16 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Silence – Lotto
17 Sandy Casar (Fra) Française des Jeux
18 Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau (Spa) Euskaltel – Euskadi
19 Stéphane Goubert (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 6:15
20 José Luis Arrieta Lujambio (Spa) AG2R La Mondiale 6:19

General classification

1 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana 72:27:09
2 Andy Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank 2:26
3 Fränk Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank 3:25
4 Lance Armstrong (USA) Astana 3:55
5 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana 4:44
6 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Garmin – Slipstream 4:53
7 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas 5:09
8 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Garmin – Slipstream 8:08
9 Christophe Le Mevel (Fra) Française des Jeux 9:19