BAGNERES-DE-LUCHON, France – Andy Schleck was reminded that you can’t rely on cycling’s rules of etiquette as back-up after losing the Tour de France yellow jersey due to an untimely mechanical problem on Monday.

“There’s no gifts in this race,” said Johan Bruyneel, the Belgian who helped orchestrate all seven of Lance Armstrong’s Tour triumphs.

Schleck, the runner-up to Alberto Contador in 2009, has become the Spaniard’s only challenger for overall race victory in Paris next Sunday.

Part of that is down to the fact that several teams, including Contador’s Astana, waited for him after he crashed in the rain on stage two.

The Luxemburger went into the second of four days in the Pyrenees on Monday with a 31sec lead on the two-time champion.

But moments after attacking Contador in the final kilometres of the 19.3km to the Port de Bales, Schleck came to a halt when his chain came off the gear mechanism.

Contador, who had already begun to counter, quickly closed the gap, passed the irate Luxemburger and went on to complete the 21.5km descent with Russian Denis Menchov and Spaniard Samuel Sanchez to take the race lead with an eight-second advantage on Schleck.

Although Schleck slammed Contador for not waiting, and some of the crowd booed Contador at the finish line, others were quick to put things into perspective.

“It’s just bad luck,” said Australian Bradley McGee, Schleck’s sporting director at Saxo Bank. “It was at the end of a really long and difficult climb and a lot of things were going on.

“We can’t criticise anyone. Andy’s a little bit upset, but now we have to come back stronger. Maybe we can turn his anger into positive energy tomorrow.”

Saxo Bank team owner Bjarne Riis knows all about taking full advantage of rivals, having won the Tour de France in 1996 thanks partly to his use of the banned blood-booster EPO (erythropoietin), growth hormone and cortisone — a fact he admitted in 2007.

And even Riis seemed to side with Contador.

“We’re at a crucial part of the race, and that’s just the way it is,” said the Dane.

“It’s not great to lose the yellow jersey in this fashion, it’s sad. But there is plenty of racing to do yet.”

Bruyneel said the real issue was whether Contador knew Schleck had encountered a problem and deliberately tried to benefit, a suggestion the Spaniard refuted.

When Jan Ullrich crashed in 2001 Armstrong waited for his German rival, who returned the favor in 2003 when Armstrong crashed, along with Spaniard Iban Mayo, on the climb to Luz Ardiden in the Pyrenees.

But Bruyneel was quick to remind Schleck that when the race is really on, you don’t wait around for stricken rivals.

“The question is whether Contador was counter-attacking or just took advantage of a mechanical (problem),” said Bruyneel.

“In the heat of the race and in the final… you can’t say to Contador, ‘Hey, wait for Andy’. Andy didn’t wait for Contador on the cobblestones (stage three) either, I guess.

“That’s the proof that in cycling it can change from one moment to the other. Saxo Bank put in a lot of effort setting the pace because Andy wanted to attack.

“He put in a couple of attacks, and then in one moment it all changes and your main opponent takes advantage of your mechanical.”

Armstrong admitted he had not yet seen the pictures, but said: “It’s better to wait, but this is different.

“This was the last climb of the race and the race was really on.”

Article: Justin Davis (AFP)
Photo: CorVos