by Justin Davis

LE GRAND-BORNAND, France, July 22, 2009 (AFP) – Brothers Andy and Frank Schleck were forced to bow to the climbing superiority of Alberto Contador after a thrilling finish to the Tour de France 17th stage on Wednesday.

However after a thrilling finish to the toughest stage in this year’s race the Luxemburg pair boosted their chances of finishing on the race podium in Paris this Sunday.

“We had nothing to lose this morning,” said Frank Schleck, who won the stage ahead of Contador to move up from eighth to third overall 3:25 behind the Spaniard.

“We staked everything on launching those attacks. It was a bit risky but at the end of the day you have to take risks to benefit.”

With Andy finishing third on the stage, it was a huge result for all three riders.

Contador managed to distance both Lance Armstrong, his teammate at Astana, and Britain’s Bradley Wiggins, an individual time trial specialist who dropped from third overall to sixth and is now 4:53 behind Contador.

Most of the race drama unfolded on the penultimate climb, the Col de Romme, whose summit is 29km from the finish.

It was there that Contador was forced into ‘dancing’ position by a series of attacks from the Schlecks, but they were aware of the Spaniard’s class after his victory at Verbier on Sunday.

“We knew after Verbier it was going to be difficult to beat Contador,” said Frank.

After being accompanied by teammate Andreas Kloden for the descent towards the foot of the Colombiere climb, the fifth and last of the day, Contador was left alone with the Schlecks for most of the rest of the race.

From then on it was a three-man show, with Contador and the Schlecks racing over the summit towards the finish line 15km further on.

Although rivals with Contador, the Schlecks became Contador’s allies for a while as they distanced respective rivals in their wake.

“It was a great situation for us, and for him,” admitted Andy.

Contador’s biggest threat for Thursday’s 40.5km time trial was specialist Bradley Wiggins, who was only 1:37 behind him at the start of the stage.

The Garmin rider is a triple Olympic pursuit champion but even those skills may not help him claw back his current deficit of 4:53 to Contador.

“In theory he was my biggest rival for the time trial ,” said Contador.

“But now I think I have a sufficient advantage over him for me to relax a little.”

With Frank grabbing his second stage win of the race three years after winning in spectacular fashion on the summit of Alpe d’Huez, he is now devoted to helping Andy finish on the podium in Paris.

“I’m very proud of my brother. Andy played a big part today to help me win and I’ll certainly pay him back for that. I want to help him get on the podium,” said Frank.

He was quick to pay tribute to injured teammates Jens Voigt and Kurt-Asle Arvesen, both of whom crashed out of the race.

“I want to let Jens and Kurt that although they’re not there they are in our hearts.”

Despite not being a time trial specialist, Andy believes his dream of a podium place is well within reach.

“I had a lot of respect for this stage, I knew that if I wanted a podium place it was today I had to make the difference,” he said.

“We’re not specialists in the time trial, but I have no fear. It’s quite a flat stage, and we’ll have the same motivation as we had today.

“After that there’s the Mont Ventoux (on Saturday). It’s there that the strongest will win.”

Photo by: CorVos Pro