This was an epic stage. Team Leopard Trek's great strategy helped Andy Schleck win the stage and increase his chances of winning the Tour this year. He took the risk of attacking very early. But it was an attack well prepared, with two "satellite" riders in front - Joost Posthuma and Maxime Monfort. While Joost helped Andy in the final section of the Col d'Izoard, Maxime waited for Andy in the downhill and led him through the gently inclined headwind section up to 16.5 km from the finish.
An impressive performance, as he was as fast as the peloton which chased Andy. Team Leopard's plus was that no other rider was able to or wanted to go 100%. Finally it was Cadel Evans (Team BMC) who took the initiative. The last 10 km were a Evans - Andy Schleck duel, but Cadel was not able to close the gap, only to limit the damage.
Andy's performance was super, his team was perfect, and it was the first time that the Schlecks took real advantage of being two. Frank getting second was the icing on the cake.
Now with Andy nearly one minute ahead of Cadel, tomorrow's stage will be even more interesting. Andy and Frank have to try to increase the time difference, to have a better chance in the final time trial.

Today was the start of the third week and "L'Ouverture" of the Alps. A short stage, most of the time uphill, including the Col de Mense and with a difficult downhill at the end.

The riders took off at the highest speed from the beginning, but it took more than 100 kilometers until a group of riders were able to escape.
Guess who was in the group? Jérémy Roy (Francais Des Jeux), together with nine other riders., were able to gain enough time. On the final climb it was the World Champion, Thor Hushovd (Team Garmin Cervélo) with his teammate Ryder Hesjedal and Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Sky), who broke away. The two Norwegians sprinted for the stage win, with Thor winning his second stage.

On the last rest day we were able to present André Greipel's SRM data of the sprint, which earned him second place.
Today we are even more amazed as André sent us his stage 10 data . André Greipel's first stage win at the Tour de France, an amazing sprint, the most important win in his career so far.
Compared to the other sprints when André got second (stage 11) or third (stage 7) this time Team HTC Highroad was not able to set up a perfect lead out for Mark Cavendish.
On the last climb of the day, the 3.9 km up the Cote de Mirandol-Bourgnounac André's teammate, Philippe Gilbert attacked and put a lot of pressure on the other teams. It destroyed the organization of Team HTC Highroad, when they had to chase hard.
André also had to give it all, averaging 496 watts (6.2 w/kg) for 7:47 minutes for the 4.4 km climb. His heart rate went from 133 bpm to 174 bpm (average 166 bpm). There were two massive accelerations - one in the beginning of the climb when André had to push 1,174 watts, one at the end to gain speed again with 1,280 watts.