St. 12, Sanchez Wins His First Stage; Voeckler Stays In Yellow

In a day that weeded out the pretenders from the contenders, Frenchman Thomas Voeckler retained the yellow jersey in a valiant effort up the steep slopes of the Luz Ardiden. Spaniard Sammy Sanchez, a podium finisher last year, won his first ever stage, climbing into 8th place overall.
     Team Leopard-Trek, with its leaders Frank and Andy Schleck, pulled a minor surprise by calling its team to the front on the lower slopes of the Col du Tourmalet, the monster climb that preceded the finish up to Luz Ardiden. All nine Leipard-Trek riders came to the front, led by world time trial champion Fabian Cancellara and veteran Jens Voigt. By the final 8 kilometers (5 miles), less than 15 riders remained in the main bunch with Sanchez and Belgian Jelle Vanendert of Team Pharma Omega Lotto up the road vying for the stage win.
     Frank Schleck made a key move within the final kilometers and gained time on key contenders, which included BMC Racing's Cadel Evans of Australia,  Lampre's Damiano Cunego of Italy, Liquigas-Cannondale's Ivan Basso of Italy, and Spain's Alberto Contador of Saxo Bank-Sungard. Andy Schleck followed the wheels of Evans and Basso to the finish, 20 seconds in back of his brother Frank, as they all gained 13 more seconds on Contador, who didn't look his usual self.
     American Tom Danielson of team Garmin vaulted from 17th to 9th overall continued to provide Garmin's revelation for general contention. Ireland's Nicholas Roche, the son of 1987 Tour de France winner Stephen Roche, climbed up to 10th overall. Philippe Gilbert showed he's more than a one-day rider, climbing with some of the top guys. American Levi Leipheimer leaped back into the top 20 and into 17th placer and looks to be recovering from first week crashes.
     The biggest losers on the day were Germany's Andreas Kloden of Team Radioshack, who crashed on the first major descent, American Christian Vandevelde of Garmin-Cervelo and Tony Martin of HTC-Highroad, both of whom got unhinged on the main contender's group up Col du Tourmalet.
     The biggest winners of the day were Evans, Schlecks and especially Basso, Cunego, Sanchez and Danielson.

Stage 13 predictions: Contador must now go on the attack the next two days but needs teammates Richie Porte (who had a bad day Thursday) and Chris Anker Sorensen to step up their game. Contador is going to pull no favors from other team's contenders. Evans needs to monitor which Schleck to follow, which is quite the task. That leaves Basso, Cunego, Sanchez and Danielson to read the race and hang on. Evans is clearly on super form, as are the Schlecks. The big question is whether Contador comes into his rarified climbing form. Any riders down in the G.C., between places 15 to 25 may be the danger men the next two days.