Hollow victory: Schleck celebrates winning the stage but still trails yellow jersey holder ContadorThe private battle for the yellow jersey between Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck was perfectly framed in a shroud of mountain fog yesterday.
For nearly half an hour they raced, isolated from the peloton, changing rhythm, exchanging glances and words as they climbed higher and higher in a frenzy of wheels and madcap spectators.
When they finally crossed the line almost 7,000 feet above sea level on the summit of the Col du Tourmalet - one of the fiercest challenges that the Pyrenees can offer - it was within a wheel's turn of each.
Their sweat-stained embrace was of two boxers falling into each other's arms after punching themselves to a standstill.
Schleck took the stage victory, Contador will almost certainly win the Tour. He is the better time trialler of the pair and with two sprint stages sandwiching Saturday's race against the clock, only an accident can surely now prevent him winning a third Tour de France.
'I haven't won the Tour yet,' Contador said. 'There are still three days left and in this year's Tour, every day has had its own story so nothing is certain. But I did what I wanted to today.'
The weather by the Spanish border could hardly have presented a greater contrast with the stul t i fying heat that accompanied the peloton in the plains and also the Alps.
Friendly rivalry: Schleck (left) and Contador give each other a pat on the backIt was fortunate that the worst of the rain, great torrents of it, had passed by the time the field set out from Pau.
There was still the fog, though, and complicating matters still further, a dozen mountain sheep who suddenly climbed up from their grassy perch on the Col du Soulor to wander in front of the peloton, all but dislodging Contador from his saddle. On the Tourmalet, it was the extremes of human life which had the leaders bobbing this way and that as they made their way through the throng.
Running bananas and bottles, the devil, Father Christmas, even four Borat impersonators dressed only in fluorescent green mankinis and polka dot caps, the final mountain climb had them all.
VIP guest: President Nicolas Sarkozy (right) talks to former champion cyclist Laurent JalabertSchleck barely noticed them, so focused was he on forging away from Contador and turning his eight-second overall deficit into a lead to take into the time trial.
Time and again, he accelerated. His changes of pace varied from the subtle to the blatant, but he made sure that his riding companion felt every one.
Contador did, then with just under three miles to go, put in his own burst, a gauntlet of honour which Schleck accepted as he chased the Spaniard down.
Competition: Goats joing the race in the misty mountains between Pau and TourmaletSchleck said: 'I gave everything I had today which hasn't been the case on every climbing stage. I'm so happy because I have shown that I am his equal in the mountains now.'
With the race now leaving the mountains for the vineyards of the Bordeaux region, it is Mark Cavendish time once more. The green jersey of Thor Hushovd may be all but out of reach, but the British sprinter will seek his fourth stage win of the Tour.
Mountain to climb: The pack climbs Soulor pass on the 17th stagesource: dailymail
