Tour de France 2010: Stage nine - as it happened

Afternoon all and welcome to pedal-by-pedal of stage nine of Le Tour. Yesterday was a rest day, so the riders should be slightly refreshed for the 204.5km journey from Morzine to Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne. And they'll need to be - today's stage is a monster. Two category one climbs, a category two and the mighty Col de la Madeleine. Here's our man William Fotheringham's preview : After 15 miles descending from Morzine, the field will face a trio of major climbs in rapid succession: the first-category Cols de la Colombière and des Saisies, and the second-category Col de l'Aravis. Those should sap the legs nicely before the only super-category Alpine climb of this Tour, the Col de la Madeleine, 15 miles of climbing with a height gain of more than 1600 metres. The Madeleine does not have the fearsome reputation of L'Alpe d'Huez or the Galibier but that is largely because it is not as awe-inspiring as the latter or as unrelenting as the former. Nonetheless, it has broken hearts and minds aplenty. You can check out the profile of the stage yourself with our funky interactive guide . 12.25pm: Today's story so far: We join the riders with 140km to go. Colombiere is a thing of the past, though the pain of its slopes will still be in the legs of the peloton. There is a breakaway group of 12, who have a lead of more than for minutes over yellow-jersey-wearing Cadel Evans and the rest of the pack. I would tell you who those 12 are, but the fire alarm is going off and I've got to leave the building. As long as Guardian Towers isn't a flaming pile of rubble in the next few minutes, I'll be back shortly. 1.07pm: Right, we're back and you'll no doubt be pleased to hear that I'm not now typing on a melty illegible keyboard in the smouldering remains of King's Place. After furiously throwing women and children aside to grab the last escape pod, it turned out to be a false alarm. Feel a little sheepipsh now. 1.15pm: So those 12 riders, now with a lead close to five minutes: Jerome Pineau, Jens Voight, Sandy Casar, Rinaldo Nocentini, Johannes Frohlinger, Anthony Charteau, Cyril Gaultier, Luis-Leon Sanchez, Jose Gutierrez (who was part of the gutsy break on stage five), Christophe Moreau, Damiano Cunego and Rin Taaramae. Sanchez, of the Caisse d'Epargne team, is the highest placed in the General Classification, trailing Cadel Evans by just over five minutes in 20th place. He's close, then, to being the yellow jersey leader on the road. 1.17pm: Our interactive has a fly-through of today's stage. Simply click here , then select stage nine and click on the eye icon for a bird's eye view of the stage. 1.20pm: "Has Lance fallen yet?" wonders Andy Tabberer. "He has been doing a passable impression of Arjen Robben of late." He's probably too busy adjusting to life as a domestique, supporting Levi Leipheimer. 1.23pm: The breakaway group are ekeing their way up Col de Saisies, the final climb before the long sweep down to the foot of La Madeleine. "Assuming you haven't been incinerated, is there any chance of a hello for my brother, Captain Paperclips?" writes Joe Silvester. "He is a sulky thing, having to spend his summer in a less than exciting temp job with only the live tour feed to keep him cheered up. I know he would be delighted. "Also, could you perhaps shed some light for us on the diligence of your blow by blow reportage. In conversation the other day, we were split between whether you as an ever attentive professional are glued to the coverage all afternoon, both Eurosport and ITV to provide us with the best nuggets of information. Or, you are busy multi tasking, knocking out a piece on the economy as well as researching something else, as well as occasionally updating the tour feed with a piece of news or wry observation." The first one. Fire alarms permitting, that is. 1.28pm: "Any idea what the story is with Hushovd? " writes Sue Holden. "He was ahead of the pelaton picking up points but is now behind it? The funny little picture on the letour2010 website suggests he is all alone, but I find this hard to believe. Weirdly, their feed has now gone into German. Please don't you do that." No idea about Hushovd - the TV boys haven't mentioned it. And as for slipping into German, no chance ... 1.33pm: Es ist ein Tag für offene Hemden in den Alpen - sehr, sehr warm. Müde wirkende Kühe müde flicking fliegt mit ihren Schwänzen, kritzelte Parolen auf der Straße, Melty Asphalt klebt an Reifen und Hügeln. Big, Big Hügel. Was die Tour dreht sich alles um. 1.34pm: That is: It's a day for open shirts in the Alps - very, very warm. Weary-looking cows wearily flicking flies away with their tails, slogans scrawled on the road, melty tarmac sticking to tyres and hills. Big, big hills. What the Tour is all about. 1.37pm: "Do you think it's going to kick off on the Madeleine today?" ponders James Evans. "I would hope so, but with such a long descent and 13km of flat at the bottom, it's not ideal for a single rider going over the top by themselves. On the other hand, I think Contador needs to look to take time out of Evans if he can, while Schleck needs to be looking to take time out of both Evans and Contador - I guess he'll be hoping that the break does well enough for Voigt to be waiting at the top. Should be fascinating though, the mountains are what makes this a great event." It certainly has the potential to be pivotal, but as you say that flat on the other side might make riders wary about putting everything into the climb. As I missed the stages over the weekend I'm just looking forward to watching Contador go uphill. The guy just dances on the pedals. 1.42pm: The peloton are sweeping down the Col des Saisies. It seems Hushovd crashed around midday after winning the first sprint of the day, and has had some on-the-go treatment from the Cervelo team doctor. No word on how serious the injury is, though. He seems to be battling on ... 1.46pm: Just over 85km left today - the next few will fly along pretty quickly but then things will slow down considerably as they head uphill. 1.54pm: "I hate stupid stages like today's that go over massive climbs and then have 30km descents to the finish," writes PJ Atkinson. "It's brutal and yet will have absolutely no impact on the GC. I know the organisers claim that too many mountain top finishes will make it clear who will win too early, and it doesn't make financial sense for them to have too many stages end in tiny little mountain villages where they can't do all their corporate guff but it's obvious how this stage will play out: BMC will ride tempo up the Madeleine, about 30 odd people will stay in the peloton, Cunego and maybe Nocentini will attack from the breakaway, the rest will be caught and it'll be a leisurely cruise down the mountain to the finish. Disclaimer - I'm usually wrong." Yes, you've certainly placed your spuds into the slavering jaws of fate and launched into the Macarena with that one. 1.57pm: Andy Schleck earlier today: "Today is something different. If there's an attack, someone could produce a surprise. If I have the opportunity I'm going to take the yellow jersey." He's certainly feeling good, but he's not the only one amongst the leaders. More snaking, swirling downhills for the main group on the road. 2pm: "Here's a thought that I can't get out of my head," writes Tony B. "Lev is only about three minutes back, and now that he has the king of all domestiques, and Johan Bruyneel calling the shots, what do you and everyone else think his chances are realistically? Do you know what the odds of him wearing yellow in Paris are?" Contador 4-6, Schleck 2-1, Evans 9-1, Basso 30-1 ... you have to go all the way out to 66-1 to find Levi Leipheimer. Is Armstrong really going to be the ultimate domestique? It's (a bit) like Tiger Woods carrying clubs for Mickelson. 2.05pm: And a couple of emails: "I'm not sure we're going to see any big moves in the GC today, unless Sanchez can hold this gap until the end," writes Guy Hornsby. "With a few more mountains tomorrow, then a couple of days before the pain of the Pyrenees on Stage 14, I think the big names will just want to ensure that they incur no great losses. Let's not discount the current group's ability to stay away and put Sanchez in, or close to, yellow though. I'm sure Wiggins will be happy finishing close to Schleck, Contador and Evans today." "Contador looked decidedly dodgy on Saturday," writes Seamus Harte. "It was a shock to see Schleck breeze pass him with Contador unable to cling to his wheel. I can see him hanging in trying to keep the time gap to Schleck as low as possible, and then blowing him away in the time trail. The question is how soon does Schleck want to start wearing the Yellow Jersey? It would be sensible to let Evans and his team do all the work defending it for the next week. But most top cyclists are too egotistical for that." 2.07pm: We've just had a first view in an age of the dangerous dozen up in the breakaway, and their certainly seems to be a bit of grit about them. They've extended their lead back up to over six minutes. 2.10pm: Just noticed that Sanchez - once again the yellow jersey on the road - has a team-mate in the breakaway in the shape of José Ivan Gutierrez, who made a memorably gutsy fist of stage five . 2.14pm: All these falls in the Tour this year have brought back memories of my own innocent incidents of childhood: the collarbone break after the stabilisers came off, the ill-advised follow-you-mate's-back-tyre-with-your-front-tyre-in-the-rain (with predictable consequences) and the humiliating occasion I took my Raleigh racer to Derby's solitary gravel BMX track. Ah, memories. Mind you, I probably stayed upright for longer than Armstrong and co. The leaders are around 10km from the foot of La Madeleine. 2.18pm: Two conflicting opinions on Armstrong: "Whilst it is hard to picture Lance ferrying bidons up from the team car, looking like some sort of half melted Michelin man, I guess he is a great believer in team discipline and if he wants this new team to prosper beyond this year then it is in his interests to get Leipheimer as far up the GC as he can," writes Matthew West. "That said - I don't see Levi having the legs on the big climbs and I'm not sure that Lance has it in him to ferry him up the Tourmalet twice." "If I was Levi Leipheimer I'd be a bit worried having Armstrong as a domestique," writes Robin Hazlehurst. "Wasn't he supposed to be working for Contador in the Astana team last year but basically refused to do it and declared himself team leader? Contador actually had to race against half his own team due to Armstrong's ego. Will he actually accept his demotion this year or suddenly start attacking Leipheimer when he feels like it?" 2.20pm: Evans's BMC team are all over the front of the peloton, dragging the pack behind them. "Re: 1.33pm. Are you sure about what the cows are doing with their Schwänzen?" writes John Jordan. "I'm no German scholar but I understood that word to mean something else entirely - and it would make them bulls, not cows ..." Damn useless translator. And as another correspondent pointed out earlier, I don't think the German for 'big' is 'big'. 2.24pm: Cadel Evans on the looming Madeleine: "It's not the toughest climb of all. If anyone takes any time there they've got to defend it to the finish." He's got a very odd, almost squeaky, voice has Evans. Think Rick Moranis but born in New South Wales. In fact, who was the squeaky one from Police Academy? Him. But born in New South Wales. 2.28pm: Right, here we go. With 58km to go the breakaway group, leading by 6min 30sec hit the foot of La Madeleine. The first couple of kilometres are incredibly steep ... 2.32pm: From TV pictures it's not easy to see just how steep it is, but – if you, as some do, are following this pedal-by-pedal report while also watching on TV – I find the good way to see just how vertical the slopes are is to look at the spectators at the side of the road. Pick out two people standing next to each other and look at the different level of their feet – I've just seen a couple next to each other, but the feet of the spectator further up the slope were shin-high to their friend. 2.34pm: "Schwänzen means 'tails' (Schwanz is the singular)," writes Andreas Heuser. Well, that's a relief. "Also a euphemism for a Johnson." Bah! 2.36pm: The peloton has begun its ascent. Meanwhile up front, Jerome Pineau, the King of the Mountains leader, is not living up to his title – he's being dropped off by the breakaway. 2.39pm: Evans is about fourth in the peloton and looking pretty strong. He's got his team-mate Hincapie's support there I think. Rin Taaramae is also being dropped off by the breakaway leaders – Sanchez is setting a furious pace at the front. 2.41pm: Saxo Bank, Andy Schleck's team, have taken the lead of the peloton. Evans is still right up there though, with Contador a few places off, while the group is getting more and more fractured further back. 2.42pm: Michael Barry, of Team Sky, has also fallen off the back of the peloton, so he'll be no further help to Bradley Wiggins on this stage. 2.45pm: This is great - we're in the first couple of miles of a 15 mile climb and already it's carnage. Sky's Geraint Thomas is next to George Hincapie, but they've both dropped off the lead chasing group, which is down to less than 40 riders now, I'd say. 2.48pm: The distance between the breakaway and Cadel and co is still up over six minutes, but Chris Sorensen is putting in a real shift on the front of the chasers. And Vinokourov has gone! He's off on his own the loon. He's on Contador's team, but the defending champion hasn't gone with him. He just fancies his chances of dragging in those leaders. 2.49pm: "A potential Saxobank tactic right now would be Voigt waiting for Schleck at the start of the descent," reckons Seamus Harte. "Schleck is a terrible descender, but if he had someone like Voigt to lend him a wheel on the way down, it might be worth him attacking." Voight, though, looks like he's struggling up there. 2.52pm: Astana probably have more leaders in the lead chasing group than anyone else, even without Vinokourov. Bodes well for Contador. 17km to the top for the leaders. 2.55pm: Sanchez actually has two team-mates in that breakaway group and one of them, Christophe Moreau, has just taken the strain at the front. Vinokourov has just fizzed past the fading Taaramae. 2.59pm: "I'm more thinking Cadel Evans sounds like Billy Birmingham's impression of Bill Lawrie doing cricket commentary on the 12th man when he's really excited," writes Hugh Maguire. Some seriously gritted teeth out on the road now. 3.01pm: "I think Vino is going to be a springboard for Contador," writes James Cavell. "If Contador can escape his rivals later on in the climb, Vino can kill them on the descent, with Contador hanging on for dear life. Vino (with help from ex best friend Kasheshkin) took the 2006 Vuelta in an attack on a long descent. Not seeing any evidence of Johan Bruyneel's tactical genius thus far." 3.05pm: Here's a helpful link from Andreas Heuser . I'd tell you what was happening on La Madeleine, but Padraig Harrington is flogging me laser eye surgery, Lewis Hamilton wants me to buy a mobile phone and Omid Djalili wants to give me cheaper car insurance. 3.07pm: The breakaway group is down to five now, the chasing peloton down to 30-odd. 9km to the summit. 3.10pm: "Evans looks like Tubbs from League Of Gentlemen," writes James Thomas. Yes. Yes he does. Meanwhile, Ryder Hesjedal, 6th in the GC at the start of the day, has dropped off that 30-man chasing pack. The gap between leaders is down to 4min 38sec. 3.11pm: EVANS IS IN TROUBLE! He's hanging on to the wheel of the last man in the peloton. 3.13pm: HE'S GONE! EVANS IS GONE! Astana have got the hammer down and are putting some serious space between their man – Contador – and the current leader. Leipheimer (and Armstrong) are both sticking with the Kazakh team. 3.14pm: Oh, hang on, Armstrong's dropped off the back too and so has Leipheimer. That chasing group is down to three. And now two ... Schleck and Contador! 3.15pm: Schleck has a little attack, but Contador won't let him go. And they've both slowed to allow Euskatel's Sam Sanchez catch up and take a little of the strain. 3.17pm: Evans is already over a minute behind Schleck and Contador. The Luxembourg rider attacks once more, but Contador digs deep. And again! But Schleck can't shake his rival. 3.20pm: Schleck goes once more and this time it's a longer attack. Again Contador sticks to his back wheel. The two best riders in the world playing cat-and-mouse on the slopes of the Col de la Madeleine. Dramatic stuff. 3.24pm: The lead group of Sanchez, Casar, Cunego and Charteau now have six minutes over the yellow jersey of Cadel Evans and it's growing by the second. "He's pedalling squares'" says the commentator. It might be worse than that – he looks like he's pedalling triangles. Actually, what would be worse? Squares of triangles? Anyway ... it's 3min 36 from Sanchez and co back to Contador and Schleck. 3.26pm: The bad news for British fans among all this excitement is that there's no sign of Bradley Wiggins at the head of the field. 3.30pm: Just 5km of climbing to go and 35km in total. Luis-Leon Sanchez has got his battle fever on ( ©Scott Murray ) at the head of the field, eyes on the horizon. Going the other way is Evans, now losing seven minutes to the leaders today. It's now 2min 51 from Contador/Schleck to the head of the pack, so Sanchez, despite donning the sturdiest of game faces, probably isn't going to be in yellow this evening. 3.34pm: The big gainers today seem set to be Schleck and Contador, obviously, but also Sanchez (20th at the start of the day), Vinokourov (14th), Samuel Sanchez (9th) and Ivan Basso (13th), Menchov (5th) and Gesink (11th) who are all putting seconds (and possibly even minutes) on their rivals. Menchov and Gesink have just popped up behind Sammy Sanchez, a suprisingly few seconds behind Schleck and Contador. 3.35pm: The fab four at the front have less than a kilometre to the summit, the road narrowing as spectators cram in on either side. 3.36pm: Voight is with Schleck and Contador (who has just been off his seat and bobbing up and down in trademark style – he actually looks a bit like a surfacing fish, come to think of it). 3.39pm: Charteau takes the points in the King of the Mountains race as the leaders crest the hill. Voight tries desperately to stick with Andy and Alberto, but the effort almost sees him reduced to a standstill. Schleck, then, won't have his assistance on the descent. 3.42pm: Contador and Schleck go over the top, followed 39 seconds later by Sammy Sanchez. Then less than a minute later by Leipheimer, Menchov and Gesink. 3.44pm: Four minutes after the leaders, Armstrong's group reach the top of the mountain. 3.45pm: Serious speed as they descend La Madeleine, weaving their way down. Sammy Sanchez is dropping like a stone. 3.47pm: Cadel Evans and his little caravan reach the top at last, nearly 10 minutes behind the leaders and, more importantly, nearly seven minutes behind Schleck and Contador. Jurgen Van den Broeck, fourth at the start of the day, has suffereed a puncture on the way down, a mighty blow to him after he stuck with the leaders on the climb. 3.48pm: I don't know the answer to this question, but maybe someone out there can help: "What speed are they doing as they descend?" wonders Jonathan Swift. "What's the difference in speed between a good descender and a bad one? Anyone?" 3.52pm: Watching Sammy Sanchez descend is almost mesmeric. He flows through the corners like water over smooth stones. Schleck doesn't look comfortable at all, by comparison. Like an emu balancing on a skateboard. 3.54pm: "Letour.fr lists the speed as 64.8kph for the lead group on the descent," writes Aidan Rowe. That's about 40mph. But: "Pro riders have been known to exceed 70mph descending," writes Paul Ilechko. 15km to go now. 3.57pm: The leaders have two minutes on Contador, Schleck and Moreau, who are set to be joined by Sanchez, the Olympic champion. 3.59pm: The leaders trundle beneath the inflatable 10km arch - it seems pretty certain now that one of these four will win this stage. To keep up with the speeds of Mark Cavendish's HTC team, you can use their live tracker . It's a little temperamental (Michael Rogers' blob was just in a field) but informative nevertheless. 4.04pm: Sanchez hasn't quite managed to get to Schleck and Contador, frustration for him. Evans is trying to eke out every second on the descent, but his Tour might well be as good as over. 4.06pm: Just 5km left for Contador and co. 4.08pm: The gap is down to 45 seconds. You'd imagine one of those lead four will get their fingers out for the final 3km - it'd be a shame for them to hand it to one of the big two. 4.10pm: Inside the final 2km, Schleck and Contador are side by side, Moreau tucked in behind. The gap is down to 16 seconds. 4.13pm: Into the final kilometre and the gap is down to yards ... in fact they've been caught! 4.14pm: Sanchez gets round the outside ... Casar leads out from the front ... and Sandy Casar holds on for the win! 4.15pm: 55 seconds down the line, Sammy Sanchez crosses the line. The rest will be finishing in dribs and drabs over the next 15 minutes or so. In the next group – Menchov, Leipheimer and co – are 2min 10sec back. WELL WHAT A STONKING STAGE THAT WAS! Contador and Schleck going mano-a-mano on the slopes of the Col de la Madeleine, while Evans hit the wall (as I type he is breaking down in tears at the finish line). It has more-or-less reduced the 2010 Tour to a two-horse race. The provisional standings have Schleck in yellow, Contador 41 seconds behind, Samuel Sanchez at 2min 45sec and Denis Menchov at 2min 58sec. Thanks, as ever, for all your emails. Be sure to join us again tomorrow.