Alberto Contador’s Astana team used perfect strategy, driving the peloton at a painful pace, weeding out competitors one by one, setting up an attack by the team leader.

After the head of the peloton was reduced to a handful of riders, Alberto Contador (who had claimed before the race that he wouldn’t make a move here) attacked repeatedly, but Andy Schleck never gave him an inch advantage.

Contador worked hard, but couldn’t shake Schleck. Never before has Contador been unable to crack a pursuer with his repeated, vicious assaults, but Andy Schleck didn’t even look to be straining; he had enough left to win the sprint at the end.

Finally Contador seemed content to just ride it home with Schleck at his side; he had to admit he was not the better climber on this day.

Rabobank’s Denis Menchov and Euskatel’s Sammy Sanchez capitalized on the battle between the GC leaders, attacking in the final two kilometers. Menchov, looking to pass Sanchez in the GC, opened a gap, but the Euskatel rider caught him in the final several hundred meters and rode his wheel home, preserving his place in the standings.

Andy Schleck seemed completely calm and confident after the stage. He again did not attack Contador, but according to what Schleck told Versus-TV, “Today, that was the plan.

“Today was a similar climb to Mende: short and steep. I can’t afford to pass him, then he attacks me and I lose again seconds on him. I knew when I am on his wheel he cannot drop me.

I want to win this Tour, so I’ve got to be smart. Tomorrow is a stage which fits me better. I’m looking forward to tomorrow. I feel really good. If he wants to drop me tomorrow, he’s got to be pretty good.”

Rather than breaking open the time gaps, this stage tightened up the gaps at the head of the GC, but the important gap—Schleck to Contador—remained the same.

However … Contador used his team harshly, asking Navarro and Vinokourov to drive themselves deep into their reserves. This would have been the perfect strategy, had Contador dropped Schleck; Contador could have taken yellow, opened a big gap, and had plenty of cushion going into the rest of the mountain stages.

Instead, Schleck hung on, and Astana might have burned themselves out a bit.

Schleck said after the race that he favors the longer climbs in Stage Fifteen; and if Astana is tired tomorrow, that could be the stage where Andy Schleck attacks.