Tour de France 2010: stage 14 - as it happened

Barney will be here from 12.30pm-ish. In the meantime, direct your browser towards these links: William Fotheringham on Mark Cavendish's quest for the green jersey. How Team Sky are aiming to take over the cycling world. Our stage-by-stage interactive guide to this year's Tour. 12.46pm: Hello and welcome to live coverage of the 14th stage of the Tour of France. It could be a defining moment in the mountains as Schleck and Contador slug it out ahead of the final week. I will be here for the entire stage. Why not email me your thoughts via [email protected] on how you think today is going to unfold. Also: are you a woman? A bit of a debate here about the male-ness of cycling. some say it's excessively, even nerdishly blokey. I'm pretty sure the Tour has plenty of female followers. 12.50pm: The early word is we're expecting Schleck to make an early attack and try to make the pace. Not sure how wise that is. Really. I'm not. But there is certainly great excitement on the ground for the start of the stage. Although, that might just be the prospect of getting a free hat and key-ring from an attractive traveling team flunky. 12.56pm: So: as it stands we we have a leading group of nine men who have already opened up a ten minute gap on the rest. In that group are Geraint Thomas, David Zabriskie, Benoit Vaugrenard, Pavell Brutt, Christophe Riblon, Jurgen Van de Walle, Pierre Rolland, Stephane Auge and Amael Moinard. The peleton is currently 10.04 mins back. Riblon looks quite frisky and he will fancy this climb perhaps more than most. 12.58pm: 12.57pm: Right now the riders are on the flat and about to enter a slight dip before they start the real climb up to the 2001m summit at Port de Paliheres. It's an evil looking thing, getting steeper all the way; followed by a steep descent to 770m and then a smaller climb. My thighs are quivering just looking at it. 1.01pm: And just to emphasise, this breakaway is interesting for those involved, but it won't effect the way the larger Tour is heading. Contador and Schleck will both be biding their time. The gap is still 10 minutes. A lovely hot sunny day in the Pyrenees by the way. 1.08pm: A very strung out looking peleton on these narrow roads, almost all in single file. You get the feeling everyone's girding their Lycra-encased loins for the trials of that steep climb. Schelck has just been on the TV talking about how he knows he going to be a marked man and how he's just going to follow Contador. Today "will not be everything" he says, but then he would, just in case. 1.13pm: The leading group is now just over nine minutes ahead. And Andy Tabberer notes: "I believe Bradley is actually saying this one is for Churchill and that he intends to evoke the spirit of Dunkirk today on the mountain climbs. And there's a woman at my work who loves le Tour, so there's one for you." Always helps to align yourself with a disastrous military defeat, not to mention a mass skulk back to England with your tail between your legs. 1.15pm: Martin James thinks today and the rest of the hills is where it's all going to happen: "I think too much is being made of the time trial. Schlek and Contador have to go over mountains that make me want to hide behind the sofa and sob. Something is going to give that will leave a 52k time trial redundant. If it's close history is littered with examples of people who have over performed out of sheer will power and necessity in the final time trial. Sastre a couple of years ago and Rasmusson a few years before that spring to mind." 1.16pm: On cycling's blokeishness Lee Calvert has some insight: "I got my first proper road bike a few months back, and I am staggered at just how geek-blokey cycling is. I made the mistake of asking a question about my saddle on a cycling forum some weeks after my purchase and the breadth of depth of nerdy responses I received was incredible, to the point at which two of them were having ARGUMENTS IN CAPITAL LETTERS about my seat-post height. Why would any woman in their right mind want to go anywhere near that?" [cue mass exodus as 25,000 aroused internet cycling fans exit Guardian.co.uk in order to Google "saddle" "seat post" and "Lee Calvert controversy"] 1.23pm: That main group are being very slightly rolled back. 8 mins 31 seconds is now the lead. Christopher Stanwell just wants to do something special for all the lay-dees of the world : "One of my oldest friends is not a nerdy woman and she is very keen on the Tour. Keeps on dropping books round on Indurain, Paul Kimmage and Tom Simpson etc. She is not alone amongst her friends and so yes your are right. My wife who despite being an Aussie is not that interested in sport also likes the tour. We all had a great day at the time trial in London, where there were also plenty of female spectators. Another female Aussie I know who follows the Tour has asked my why there are no black riders. Any thoughts?" Well, a few. You might find this interesting . 1.24pm: On tactics today Robin Ashton writes: "I'm assuming 'early attack' means an attack on the HC climb today? That would be insane I think, I can't believe he'd be that daft to be honest, and I doubt that Bjarne Riis would let him be that daft. On the other hand, if early attack means flying away at the bottom of the second mountain." On the other hand Eurosport's Sean Kelly is expecting one of the other of Contador or Schleck to have a bit of a go on the climb. It's all part of the glorious lady-friendly uncertainty of cycling. 1.31pm: The leading pack are just starting to enter the main climb. It starts slow, carries on quite slow and then goes ballistic over the last stretch. They also have a feed coming up. Mmmm. Small French village. Lunch. Sunny day. Massive agonising mountain to climb. 1.36pm: A bit more urgency from the Astana team driving the Peleton along and shutting down the gap a bit. It's seven and a half minutes now. They want this race to be as tight as possible. 1.44pm: The gap to the leading group is now 6 mins and 40. Astana are reeling them in like a mean turquoise stalking machine. The suggestion is Contador feels good and he wants to have a go at some point on the climb. 69.3 kms to go. 1.49pm: The peleton is winding up through a crevasse in an enormous looming rock face. It looks absolutely spectacular and the Astana-led coup is still closing in on the leaders. The gap is down to about six minutes now. Steve Hann is also standing up for the cycling ladies. And he's not a woman: "I'm not a woman (what happened to women's tour?) but judging by the amount of women by the road side then the race does many female fans I see quite a lot of women on bikes (I mean proper bikes). I have been overtaken by some of them." Proper bikes? 1.54pm: What can Saxo Bank do about these blue meanies, currently reeling in the climb and all set to boss it from the front? Probably not that much at this gradient, which is currently quietly worrying rather than gut-wrenchingly terrifying. That comes later. Calum McKeown notes: "On the basis of your article on the kenyan cyclists. I have had a £50 bet with my dad that an African will win the tour in the next 20 years. Am I destined to lose my money? Also what do you reckon the odds are of Geraint Thomas winning the tour. He looks like a decent prospect." Ah. The Kenyan project has stalled for now. They had the talent. They didn't have the backing or the money or the support culture. Someone needs to take a proper punt on them and their phenomenal lungs and dedication. 2.02pm: The leaders are now just 5 mins 10 seconds ahead of the rest, led by Astana, and you do wonder what this is all about. You could let those leaders go. There's no need to chase them down. Some suggestion around that Contador is simply messing with Schleck's head out there. Which isn't nice. They all look a little nervous to be honest. And Conor McGonigle is beefing with the cycle shop industry: "On the subject of cycling nerds, in my now many years of road-biking I find the situation worse than mere Nerdism. Why in almost every bike shop does one have to deal with unfriendly, condecending jerks (who work there). Has anyone else noticed this? There's one guy in a shop here in Switzerland who's dead sound. Otherwise the profession seems to be populated by assholes. Europe-wide!" 2.07pm: They're quite nice in my local shop. True, they do make that long-suffering face whenever you ask a question. and they like to talk in bike-speak and then pretend to be surprised when you don't understand. And they always recommend the most expensive item in the shop and then look at you with pity when you choose instead the pedals that don't cost £200. And true they... Actually maybe he's right. 2.09pm: The climb is picking up. Still no major moves from the main players. On which Peter Kiernan points out: "Concerning the early break by Schleck today, Vinokorov when asked, on French TV, if Contador was going to make a late attack more or less said that the attack would come a lot sooner than later. Which Laurent Fignon reckons is on the HC climb. So there you go, early attacks from everyone." Attack, I say. Attack now. 2.14pm: 50 kms to go now and the next 25 or so will be the big ones. Meanwhile Josh Robinson wants to provide a reasoned and persuasive defence against charges of cycling bloke-nerdism. Actually, no he doesn't: "Seat-height? What sort of wimps was Lee Calvert debating with? In my uni club we managed to, err, enjoy a month-long debate during which everyone's inbox was as good as permanently full with well-argued, emotionally charged debate as to how best to calculate the optimal spoke-lengths on the drive and non-drive sides of the rear wheel. Come to think of it, I can't think how anyone aware of having missed out on such joys could live with the regret." 2.18pm: "Bike shop nerds are the reason that the owner of Wiggle drives a Ferrari," Philip Resheph points out. Astana riders continue to drive the peleton on towards the leading group. They are absolutely caning it up that hill. Thickly wooded on either side of the riders now. This is an incredibly beautiful stage route. Makes you want to spend the next two months just pootling around the Pyrenees. 2.22pm: That leading posse of nine riders is starting to fracture a bit. Only slightly, mind. Riblon and Roland might just be leading a slight breakaway on the breakaway as the others drop back, but it's still early doors on that. Right now they're just hitting the first really nasty bit of the climb 2.30pm: Vaugrenard looks to be falling behind the leading pack. He's a bit shaky. Geraint Thomas is struggling too. The pack are just three mins and forty seconds back. And wait! "I am a woman," writes Lamorna. "All these men that have a friend that's a woman that likes the Tour ... that says something in itself I think. I do find cycling pretty geek-blokey but I make an exception for the Tour. Love the cooperative aspects, the tactical gameplay, and of course it's in France houlala." Houlala indeed. Personally I was encouraged by the friend-whose-a-woman brigade, but they're probably just lying anyway. This is the internet. 2.35pm: gosh that leading pack is suffering now. they set off so quickly and now the gradient is absolutely sorting them out. Six riders are still out there: Zabriskie, Brutt, Riblon, Van de Walle, Rolland and Moinard. On bike nerds Andrew Cooke wants to draw attention to an omission: "I am astonished that no-one has raised cassette ratios - the ne plus ultra of cycling nerd-dom. 11-23 vs 12-25 - a discussion which commonly requires a Y chromosome to ever care about and which can provoke disproportionately strong opinions amongst the lycra-clad." You said it. 2.39pm: It's really breaking up now, they're strung out on that hill. And Carlos Sastre has made a big move here out of the main group. Up front there are now three leaders: Riblon, Van de Walle and Moinard. And on bikes and women Rebecca Smith takes a different view: "I always thought following the Tour was pretty equal genderwise. Add my friend Bec and her mum Eleanor to the list of obsessives - to the point where Bec used to have to be in the house to record each day's highlights if her mum was away. Have very happy memories of lounging in her house in Todmorden watching the Milk race and playing cards sometime in the earlyish 1990s. We even went to buy some Pop Tarts, as it was sponsored by them and they sounded so weird and vile we decided to try them. Cue seared tongues - do they still make that godforsaken faux breakfast food?" I believe they do. Basically hot sweets on toast. 2.41pm: Sastre is leading a four man chase group who look like they mean business. And Stephen Hann muses: "Agree about condescending bike shop persons. Copy hi-fi and camera shops persons. Can't define a proper bike but it's the one you buy when you think it's time to buy a proper bike. When you go from someone who just rides a bike to someone who cycles." Funny that. One thing I like most about cycling around town is overtaking people in all the gear riding some sleek race machine while I'm on my useless old Trek. And I am not a fast man. There do seem to be a lot of all the gear no idea types out there. Maybe explains the bike shop snobs. 2.44pm: Contador and Schleck are still locked together in a hateful, wary embrace in the middle of that main peleton. And Gary Naylor, no less, writes: "Women and Le Tour? Well Clare Davies, well known in this parish, is a huge fan and writes beautifully of her love for the Manx Missile. And I suppose we should mention the fact that Richard Virenque used to attract a strong female fanbase. Cycling can be a bit blokeish though, as was driven home to me when I'm afraid I must confess to joining a group of lycra lads salivating over a display case full of Campagnolo components." 2.50pm: Some of those early nine-man break riders are being eaten up by the main group now. Valls Ferri has made a nice solo break for the front from that main bunch. Wonder if he can keep it up. He's in ninth right now. The three at the front are clearly the three strongest climbers in that breakaway. Riblon in particular looks strong. They are about half way up that really nasty climb and have 36m to go over all and there really are some knackered looking men waggling up this hill now. 3.03pm: It's 4kms to the summit and that leading three are still creeping heroically up this peak. Brutt is in fourth. Valls Ferri is next and Sastre is closing on him. But really it's all quite congested still and this stage could go right to the end of the second climb. And Graham Fulcher writes: "Not being talked about much but it would be worth Schleck trying to drop Sanchez today and put him definitively out of contention. Otherwise the descent at the end of the next stage could see Sanchez (possibly best descender in the peleton) setting a pace that Schleck won't want to follow (especially after promising his Mum earlier in the race that he won't be reckless after all his older brother's various crashes)." Well exactly. What he said. 3.06pm: The hare Rolland has just been swept up by the peleton. And Josh Robinson is adopting a tough love approach: "When it comes to the phenomena of bike-shop-snobs useless cyclists on top-quality bikes, I'm not sure the causal relationship's not the other way round. I've always had a certain whiff of admiration for the people working there who manage to sell £3000-bikes to 18-stone lardarses who are just taking up cycling. I mean: losing a pound or so would mean that they could compensate for the 'extra weight' of a bike costing less than a quarter of the price, but somehow the very words 'extra weight' seem to work as a sort of magical sales technique." 3.12pm: Cadel Evans is dropping off the back of that pack and wheeling from side to side like a dinghy of drunks. Wiggins is also struggling. And Victoria Witty muses: "I'm female and love the Tour - a recent convert too - only last year did I get into it. The huge high def TV that a friend had really helped, mind. There are many different bits of the Tour I like, the team work, strategies, tactics, the grit and determination, the men in skin tight lycra... But I must confess little interest in the literal nuts and bolts of the bikes (is it infra dig to say bikes? Should I say cycles?) I think it may be a different matter if you actually cycle (I own a bike, to my shame, it is in the garage with flat tyres - I will inflate them, I will) and need the best (or indeed good) kit. Although a friend (him with the TV) has a posh proper bike and it is a thing of great beauty." This sounds to me a bit like a cycling-related rom com script starring Hugh Grant as the bike nut with the TV who just can't seem to settle down with the right girl and Kirsten Dunst as the increasingly suitable and alluring Victoria Witty. 3.15pm: Riblon is pulling away a bit here on his own and he's almost at the peak. This has been an immense climb from him. He's over the top now. Moinard is next. Sastre and Valls Ferri are coming up fast. Wiggins is falling back very quickly at the rear of the main peleton. On amateurs v pros Stephen Hann hits back: "Huh! a Trek is a proper bike Trek don't do an under 100 quid bike with full suspension etc. And don't you try just a bit harder to overtake a fully kitted out bikie? A bit like some drivers make a point of overtaking people driving fast cars. I was once overtaken by some kid on a bargain bike from Halfords smoking a spliff and listening to his MP3 player." I think that might have been me. 3.17pm: Riblon is now steaming down the slope. Moinard Van de Walle and Valls Ferri are next. And while not the longest, this is an incredibly fast descent. Careful chaps. On fat blokes Gary Naylor rages: "As a fat bloke who rides a very decent bike, I'd like to take this opportunity to defend them... but I don't know what to write." 3.21pm: Riblon is 15 seconds out in front and we've got 20kms left, ten of them down and the last ten up. What a killer of a stage this is. And Peter Kiernan writes: "So much for Laurent Fignon's prediction of attacks on the climb. Not the first time repeating what comes out of a French man's face hole has made me look a little like a tool." Eh? 3.26pm: They are haring down that mountain en masse now like brightly coloured cattle on skis - like skiing cattle sliding down a black mountain. Riblon is 17 seconds clear or Moinard, followed by a four-man group of Sastre, Van de Walle, Kyrienka and Cunego. And Sebastien writes: "I was wondering what kind of speeds do riders maintain while climbing some of the steeper climbs?" They got down to 14 kms per hour at points. Currently they're going about 60 downhill and it looks a lot more fun. 3.31pm: Riblon has a decent lead here but the main pack will feel they can still catch him on the second climb. He has put a lot in already. The big question is when will Contador make his move out of that main group. We have 12kms left and Riblon is just 6 seconds ahead of Moinard now and about to start going up again. Moinard has flown down that hill. 3.35pm: Ah me, up they go, winding around some really tight corners. This is going to be quite a finish. Sastre is pushing on from that chasing mini-group and the feeling seems to be that it will be surprising if Riblon can hold on for the win here. It's a really long way to go on your own. Behind him the peleton is well and truly scattered, although still headed by Astana turquoise. 3.38pm: 8kms to go and Sastre's chasing mini-group are where the action is behind Riblon. Valls Ferri has dropped off it now. And the Astana dudes are making a charge from the main group. Contador and Schleck are still eyeing each other in that pack. Still Riblon pounds on in the lead. 3.41pm: Sastre is really pushing it now. He's in third, but closing, accompanied by Cunego. The pace is really high in the two chasing groups. 3.43pm: Ivan Basso has cracked! He's going backwards. And Vinokourov is leading the chasers in the main pack now. 3.44pm: Contador and Schleck are still locked together in the main chasing group. Could we yet see an attack from either? Contador certainly seems to be fairly sprightly. 3.47pm: Riblon to his credit is still pounding away in front and keeping his lead for now. 4.5kms to go. And look - Contador has made a big attack! And Schleck is following! They've caught Sastre and gone past him. The race is on. 3.51pm: Sastre is hitting back. He's gone again, but he's not realistically going to catch Riblon, who is now 2 minutes ahead and holding. He looks a shoo-in for a stage win here barring some kind of collapse. Behind him Contador and Schelck have been hauled in again by five other riders in the chasing group. Still even there. 3.52pm: By the way the big rumour doing the rounds is that Contador and Schelck could be in the same team next year. Should be fun. And here they go again mounting a dual attack, followed by Menchov and Sanchez. Sastre seems to have crumpled finally and he's going backwards. 3kms to go. 3.54pm: Contador and Schleck still sitting there watching each other, now in a four-way with Sanchez and Menchov. But wait, the two of them are lagging miles behind now as Menchov has careered off up the road ahead of them. Menchov is leaving them for dead as they sit back cagily eyeing each other up. A mistake perhaps? Menchov is also in the general shakeup. By the way there are hordes of idiots all over the road getting in the way. Let's hope we don't have a problem. 3.58pm: Riblon is nearing his stage victory now. He has been immense. 3.58pm: There he goes on to the last bit of downhill on the final Km. Menchov and Sanchez are following him home with Schleck and Conatador behind. 4.00pm: Riblon wins! Brilliant victory, the biggest of his career and he yells "aaaaauuoooghh!!" as he crosses the line. 4.01pm: Menchov and Sanchez are in a race for the line together and they cross together 52 seconds back. 4.02pm: Schleck and Contador cross the line 8 seconds back and they made up a lot of time at the end there. 4.07pm: This then is how they finished the stage: Riblon 0.36 Sanchez Menchov 1.14 Rodriguez Van Den Broeck Gesink 1.15 Schleck Contador 4.08pm: And that's all from me for now. We will be back for more coverage of what seem likely to be a thrilling end to the Tour tomorrow. Thanks for all your emails. Barney.