Stage 9

The road

At the start

Evans in yellow, the Madeleine ahead

Cadel Evans took the maillot jaune at Avoriaz and holds twenty seconds on Andy Schleck and 1:01 on Alberto Contador, with Van den Broeck, Menchov and Hesjedal all inside 1:11. Four riders did not come out of the rest day. Today is the hardest Alpine stage of the race — the Colombière, the Aravis, the Saisies, then twenty kilometres of the Madeleine and a descent to the line. The real contenders get sorted here.

How it was won

1. 1104 km to go

   The break builds it over the Saisies

   Over the second of the day's big passes a large escape has minutes in hand and a stage win in it for whoever survives the Madeleine.

2. 246 km to go

   Vinokourov goes hunting

   With 46 kilometres left Vinokourov attacks out of the favourites' group and sets off after a break that is 4:39 up the road, collecting and dropping Rein Taaramäe on the way.

3. 329 km to go

   Schleck attacks the Madeleine, and attacks again

   On the Col de la Madeleine, Schleck goes, and goes again, and goes again, and every time Contador is simply there on his wheel. Sastre and Hesjedal have long since let them go; the maillot jaune is more than six minutes adrift and losing his race on this climb.

4. 418 km to go

   Sánchez on the descent

   Samuel Sánchez, dropped by the two leaders, throws himself down the Madeleine and pulls the gap in to half a minute. It is the ride that will put him on the podium in Paris.

5. 5At the line

   Casar takes it for France

   Schleck and Contador catch what is left of the break with a kilometre to go and, to everyone's relief, decline to sprint; through the last twisting five hundred metres Sandy Casar picks the lines best and wins in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne. Behind them Cadel Evans loses the yellow jersey and most of his Tour, and Andy Schleck leads Alberto Contador by 41 seconds.

The result