Stage 9 - Cadel Implodes On The Madeleine

"As they hugged, Evans dropped his head into Santambrogio's chest and cried."

One man soap opera Cadel Evans imploded on the final climb of the Col de la Madeleine on Stage 9 overnight, a 204kmn tough grind from Morzine (Avoriaz) to Saint Jean de Maurienne. (And to think some muppets were thinking of betting on this guy for the overall pre-stage! You know who you are! Ha!) After losing 8 minutes to the stage winner on the day, and forfeiting his yellow jersey, Evans collapsed into the arms of his teammates in tears after crossing the finish line, and revealed he had been riding the entire stage with a broken elbow. Honestly, the story lines surrounding Evans are so fantastical that not even a propaganda master like Joseph Goebels could come up with better plot lines.

Outside of the melodrama that was Cadel, Sandy Casar recorded the second stage victory of his career outsprinting his more fancied breakaway companions Luis Leon Sanchez and Damiano Cunego for the win. The breakaway was caught in the final kilometre by Andy Schleck, and Alberto Contador, who put time into all their GC rivals, with Schleck inheriting the Yellow Jersey from Evans.

But the stage will always be remembered from the monumental collapse from Evans to lose the Yellow Jersey, which was sickeningly exquisite in its beauty. Early on the climb of the Madeleine Evans was unhitched from the elite group. That was all the heads of state needed to attack. The pressure went on up the front and Evans had no response. He continually lost time and by the end of the day had lost 8 minutes to Schleck and Contador, and all hope of finishing on the podium at this years Tour. Up front, the repeated attacks from Schleck near the top of the Madeline put everyone into difficulty except Contador, who followed the Luxembourgers wheel everywhere. After a number of powerful attempts to drop the Spaniard, the two men decided on a temporary truce, and chose to work together to put time into every other rider on the general classification. This they achieved beautifully, and the remained ahead of their GC companions on the descent into the finish, finally catching the days break in the final kilometre. The effort told though and they were no match for Casar, Sanchez (LL), or Cunego in the final sprint. However, they put a minute into their closer rival in Samuel Sanchez and at least two minutes into everyone else to rise to one and two on GC following Evans collapse. Schleck inherits the Yellow Jersey for the first time in his career, and leads Contador by 41 seconds. They will finish 1-2 in Paris barring disaster, and it is just a matter of in which order. The battle for the third podium position is well and truly on now with Sammy Sanchez currently in third following a fine ride over night. However, he will be concerned that the silent assassin Denis Menchov is in 4th, only 13 seconds in arrears.

The Polka Dot Jersey also changed hands overnight, and passed to another Frenchman Anthony Charteau, who grabbed the lead in the King of The Mountains classification by leading the field over the Madeleine. Despite being part of the days breakaway and leading the field over three of the four mountains Jerome Pineau lost the jersey despite being tied on points with Charteau (the count back is based on number of HC mountains won - Charteau 1 - Pinaeau 0). The two lead another Frenchman, veteran Christophe Moreau who is third some 23 points back. But with a stack of mountains to come in the Pyrenees this stage is very much still up for grabs.

Thor Hushovd extended his lead in the Green Jersey competition by 6 points by getting into the early break and taking the first intermediate sprint point on the day. He now leads Alessandro Pettachi by 10 points with this competition likely to hot up again in some of the transitional stages this week. As well as receiving the Yellow Jersey, Andy Schleck padded his lead in the White Jersey competition for best young rider to over 4 minutes from Roman Kreuziger.

Yellow Jersey - Andy Schleck
Green Jersey - Thor Hushovd
Polka Dot Jersey - Anthony Charteau
White Jersey - Andy Schleck

Tonight's Stage - Bastille Day! Stage 10 is an intriguing medium/high mountains stage over 179km from Chambery to Gap, culminating in the descent of the Rochette which provided one of the most immortal images in Tour history in 2003 when Joseba Beloki hit the tarmac causing Lance Armstrong to ride across a field, unclip, jump a ditch, and carry on (Lance Armstrong you are a star!). After a brutal climb last night I think Contador and Schleck may take it a little easier today and a may be a chance for another breakaway victory. The French would love to win on their national day so I might tip little Tommy Voeckler for the win and hope he can get over the cat-2 climb at the end of the stage.