2011 Tour De France: And then there were four

CEBU, Philippines - Four riders made the race today. First, Andy Schleck rode a la Merckx. He made a lot of people eat humble pie, me included. What his team cooked up was simple- send two teammates up front early then let Andy attack in the middle of the race. The two riders would then wait for Andy and set the pace until they burn out. Brother Frank's job behind was to keep an eye on their rivals. If Andy falters and gets caught, he would make a counter-attack. Most of the time, this plan won't work but in this stage, it worked perfectly. Attacking from 60km out and riding the last 17km virtually alone was panache. He also showed that he could descend but didn't look comfortable, but what mattered was at the end, he is 15sec off the yellow jersey.

Second was Cadel Evans. He was right when he didn't follow Andy when he attacked. For sure, Frank would have come up to them of he did. Since he was ahead by about two minutes ahead of Andy at that point, it wasn't his obligation to chase, it was Alberto Contador's. Unfortunately, he didn't know that Contador was in deep trouble. Realizing that he wouldn't get any help from his companions,and he would lose the Tour if he didn't narrow the gap to Andy, he did an epic chase with the rest sucking on his wheels. He would lose only 1.12min overall, not a bad deficit considering that he is a better time triallist against the Schlecks.

Third was Thomas Voeckler. The Frenchman who couldn't climb just wouldn't die. In the context of the sport, what he did, hanging on to the yellow jersey, was truly epic. You could feel the joy of his face as he pumped his fist knowing that he lived for another day.

Fourth was Frank Schleck. At this point, he is the freshest of the quartet he didn't do anything except in the last 50m. He holds the key to the yellow jersey. It'll be interesting to know what he'll do tomorrow- defend Andy's position or do what Andy did today. I have a feeling it's the latter.

Defending champion Alberto Contador cracked spectacularly, losing almost two minutes in the last 2km. But he hid his chinks pretty well early and in an ironic kind of way, helped Andy Schleck. If the chase had known that he was not riding well, I had a feeling that the race would have turned out differently because everybody wouldn't be afraid to attacked him anymore.

Tomorrow's stage is short and steep and the overall position can still be shaken up. But I like Evan's chances. Today, he rode like he owned the yellow jersey. Unlike in the previous years, he seems to have purpose in his pedal strokes. My money's on the Aussie.