Monday, April 21, 2025

Le Tour de France 2010, Stage 17: Pau – Col du Tourmalet; Top Two Ahead, Big Gaps Behind

-

HomeDiariesLe Tour de France 2010, Stage 17: Pau - Col du Tourmalet;...

‘Andy talks tough !’ say the headlines, he did try his best yesterday, his men used whatever was left to drive up the lower part of the Col du Tourmalet – then he went for it. However, not for one moment did it look like Alberto Contador was under pressure.

Col du Tourmalet
Andy talks tough.

I long ago stopped putting posters of my heroes on the wall (except Ezequiel Mosquera, of course) but I have huge respect for Alberto Contador – he’s undoubtly the best Grand Tour rider of this generation and as one of a very select group of riders – including Merckx and Hinault – who have won the Giro, Tour and Vuelta is arguably one of the all time best.

The ‘problem’ is that he’s small, reserved, doesn’t really play the ‘sound bite’ game and rides for that ‘dodgy Astana mob.’

Give me a Kazakh team any time, you know where you stand.

There are teams in the race with far more dubious managements than Astana, but they’re smoother at ‘spin’ and playing the media game – not to mention reptilian.

Col du Tourmalet

But back to Bert – I don’t feel he gets the respect he deserves from the media and this year in particular he’s been the ‘bad guy’ to ‘good guy’ Andy.

The wee Madrileno is a master of making just the right move at the right moment with minimal wasted energy – just like Anquetil and Indurain did before him.

Unless you are Merckx, it’s about winning with as little effort as possible, not scattering your physical and nervous energy like confetti.

Col du Tourmalet
Hi love. Yes, he won the stage. No, Bert was right there.

I was reading this morning that Schleck asked Bert to come through, on the Col du Tourmalet, yesterday – why the hell would he want to do that?

Schleck was attacking the man, then he wants a ‘spell?’ – a pro at his level shouldn’t embarrass himself with a statement like that.

The media goes along with the ‘poor Andy’ stuff because he’s ‘such a nice guy’ and any sign of Contador ‘weakness’ is seen as the ‘beginning of the end’ for the Spaniard, but if Bert does the business in the time trial, tomorrow then he’ll be ‘majestic’ or some such superlative.

Schleck is capable of winning the Tour, but not if Alberto Contador continues to perform at his present level.

Col du Tourmalet
We’re about to set off on foot up the hill.

The Tourmalet was hard work for us, we had a four K walk up, then a four K walk down – I’m not sure what was tougher, lugging my blubber up there or the pain in my toes as gravity tried to push them through the front of my shoes on the descent.

A great experience, though.

The trouble with being on the Tour is that the experiences come at you so thick and fast it’s hard to savour them – there’s always the next place to get to, more words, more pictures, more angles.

But sometimes, weeks later, a thought will come in to your head; ‘that was really special.’

No doubt it’ll be like that about the Col du Tourmalet – it’s such a small area that there physically can’t be that many folk at the top – but we were there and watched the riders appear from the mist.

Col du Tourmalet
Oscar wends his own way up the climb.

Some were fighting hard to better their stage or GC position, some were wasted from their efforts in the break and some were simply surviving.

And those sprinters, who perhaps suffered the most yesterday, they have to get body and mind together to strut their stuff into Bordeaux, today – respect!

* * *

Col du Tourmalet – Gallery

Ed Hood
Ed Hood
Ed was involved in cycling for over 50 years. In that time he was a successful time triallist, a team manager and a sponsor of several teams and clubs. He was also a respected and successful coach and during the winter months often worked in the cabins at the Six Days for some of the world's top riders. Ed was a highly respected journalist, his tales of chasing the Giro, Tour, Vuelta, Classics and World Championships - and his much-loved winter Six Days - are legendary, never the same twice, they gave our site an edge other cycling media could never duplicate or challenge. Sadly Ed passed away in January 2025, two years after suffering a devastating stroke.

Related Articles

Rotterdam Six Day 2022 – the First Three Nights

Those Venga Boys, they ‘Like to Party,’ the ‘speaker’ is getting excited; ‘ho, ho, ho !’ the bone-hard Contis rumble on the boards, the 1/8” pitch chains rattle – it’s good to be back, there’s nothing like a Six Day. A couple of weeks ago I was spectating at the Gent Six Day, right now I'm on the other side of the boards working in the track centre at the Rotterdam Six Day.

Ride London 2016 Goes to Tom Boonen

The worst thing about going to the Tour? Coming back. ‘Cold turkey’ is tough – Dave and I used to go to a kermis on the Monday after the Tour finished to ease our ‘crash.’ And last year Callum and I went to the post Tour crit in Aalst. Not this year however because we flew home from Geneva. But our man Callum found another solution; he got himself down to the ‘Ride London’ race; whilst we had to watch it on TV – with no coverage of the crucial last few K. But Callum let us have some pictures - we hope you like them.

Le Tour de France 2012 – First Rest Day

Bonjour! VeloVeritas joins le Tour. The hotel is the Formule 1, Viry, with a wonderful view of a pile of tyres – it’s a glamorous life. But we’re not complaining. Easyjet, Edinburgh to Geneva wasn’t too bad, finding the car hire was a bit of a magical mystery tour but we were soon headed for Mâcon, our credentials and the Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank hotel.

Le Tour ’11, Stage 14 – last day in the Pyrénées

Andorra, Pyrénées. Everything about it seems wrong. For a start, it's an independent tax haven/principality sitting at the top of a Pyrenean mountain, an hour's drive over sweeping twisty hairpinned roads from the nearest town. Some pals said to me that when they went to Andorra for skiing, they thought it was OK. Perhaps the snow covered all the cracks, but I'm not sure how the inhabitants' attitudes could be masked; almost - no, everyone - we met was unpleasant, in attitude and manner.

At Random

Le Tour de France 2006 – Day 4: Stage 1, Strasbourg – Strasbourg

Sunday in Strasbourg, stage one-a day for the sprinters. It was quite late when I got to sleep, I had a coffee in the hotel after I came in from my pizza place, it was too strong for a wimp like me late at night and my efforts to nod-off were also seriously hampered by demented French men driving around Strasbourg blowing their car horns all night.

Dan Patten Blog – Aiming For the Highest Level in the USA

Dan Patten has been a regular blogger on our site over the years. Dan came late to cycling, a talented runner but a niggling injury saw him turn to the bike. His first race was in July 2006, it took him 10 races to get his first win. We’ve always respected his single mindedness in pursuing his ‘Flatlands Dream’ – but for 2013 it’s ‘all change’ for the man from Essex.

Spokes Team Launch 2017

Saturday night saw Dave and I make our way to the Spokes Limits team presentation for 2017. It was deja vu with the weather and the venue. The presentation of riders however showed a significant change from last year. There were fewer riders and a number of new faces. Most noticeably Grant Martin having moved on to join his brother at Raleigh GAC.

Gent Six Days 2011 – Now, to Zürich

It's a long way from Gent Six Days 2011 to Zurich, around 800 kilometres - so best get on the road early. We picked up Jesper at the Expo Holiday Inn - where Vik and I have stalked the mechanics at many's a Het Volk - and then we were offski.