Greig Leach

With the summit of the Category 1 climb up the Col du Chaussy coming just 15 kilometers into the day's stage, Alberto Contador's (Tinkoff Saxo) early attack caught Team Sky and the Maillot Jaune off guard. It is generally assume that no high placed GC contender will go out early on a stage. It can be a risky move to put a lot of effort in early on. A rider runs the risk of using too much energy early on and having nothing left for the final climb of the day. A climb where all of the others will be planning to launch their bids to gain time on Chris Froome (Team Sky) and the others near them on the General Classification. So Team Sky, let Contador take off on his own, after all, he is over six minutes behind the race lead of their team leader, Froome.