by Justin Davis

BESANCON, France, July 18, 2009 (AFP) – After a week of calm, the battle for the yellow jersey is set to resume on the Tour de France on Sunday – or at least that is what most observers are hoping.

Although a thrilling first week of racing put Alberto Contador and Lance Armstrong’s Astana team in the driving seat as their rivals floundered the second week, so far, has failed to spark a battle between the contenders.

That could all change, however, when Sunday’s 15th stage, the first of three days in the Alps, leads the peloton up to the race’s second summit finish at Verbier in Switzerland.

Although not a mammoth climbing stage, when compared to the 16th and 17th stage on Tuesday and Wednesday, the 207.5km ride to Verbier presents one of the few occasions for Astana’s rivals to claw back time in the mountains.

The attacks conspicuously absent from contenders Andy Schleck, Cadel Evans and Carlos Sastre in the mountain stages not finishing on a summit are now to be expected on the 8.8km climb to the Verbier summit.

“There have been not a lot of climbs and difficult parts, but in the next few days we will face more attacks for sure,” said Contador, who started Saturday’s 14th stage from Colmar in second overall at 06secs behind unlikely champion Rinaldo Nocentini.

“Now we have to wait for Sunday’s stage, the climb into Verbier is 8.8km long and it is a little bit more difficult than (stage seven in) Andorra.”

From the riders still in contention for the race’s big prize, Australia’s two-time runner-up Evans has the most deficit to make up.

At 3:07 behind race leader Nocentini, and 3:01 and 2:59 behind Contador and Armstrong respectively, the Silence team leader has no option but to attack.

But he is not counting on help from rivals with common interests in distancing Astana.

“The problem is that most of my friends are also my greatest competitors and they usually want to beat me,” said Evans.

“When you’re second and third at the Tour, a lot of people can get initimated by you and don’t give you much leeway.”

Apart from Evans, Schleck – who last year won the race’s white jersey for the best placed rider aged 25 and under – is the only challenger so far to have shown glimpses of his yellow jersey ambitions.

Schleck said last week he believes seven-time champion Armstrong has the tools to win an eighth Tour.

But warned that after a disappointing trilogy of stages in the Pyrenees mountains, the Alps would be a different story.

“Contador is not unbeatable,” said Schleck, who is only 1:43 behind Spain’s
2007 champion in the general classification.

“It will not be the same story in the Alps, which will be different from the Pyrenees.

“The stages there are tougher and I don’t think Contador can make big differences in the Alps.”

Sastre is at 2:52 and, following a quiet start to the defense of his title, could finally come out of his shell.