Contador could still have a long week ahead of him it he keeps getting isolated like yesterday. It's not that he isn't the strongest rider but Astana is just nuts as a team. 6 vs 1 on the going to the last climb. Landa looks scary strong in the mountains and while the gaps are big it's not like he can afford to let him go early on a stage. So he could end up like in the Dauphine last year when he lost the race following Froome, just worse. Forced to chase both Landa andAru he could very well end up alone with Aru on his wheel while Landa and couple of other Astana boys are team TTing away from him. And it's not like he can count on getting any help from other teams to control the race this either, the other big names are more likely to be looking to get in a break or are already on their way home. Don't think Movistar is going to defend their 3rd by trying to control the peloton.

Sky following their usual routine for Giro was sort of amusing. Fragile captain imploding and going home early but only after costing some time to their plan B. Hope König gets top 5 anyway, and in all fairness don't think he lost that much time because of Porte. Just funny how the same thing keeps happening over and over again. Wouldn't really be surprised if Porte went on to miss the Tour as well.

Has isolating Contador ever done anything? At the end of the day Aru and Landa have to beat him up a mountain by multiple minutes, and having teammates isn't going to help them do that. Obviously if he had a crash or a mechanical on the descent yesterday that could have been a disaster, but barring that I doubt it will matter. Its not like Astana is the old CSC with the Schlecks and Sastre that could attack over and over again with 3 world class climbing threats.

I apologize if this isn't the right place for this, so feel free to move it somewhere better.

Watching the Tour de France used to be the highlight of my year until I cut my cable and for the last couple of years I haven't found any good options to watch it. Does anyone have any suggestions for getting my cycling fix this summer?

Are you in the US?

I know that NBC had the Tour of California available live on-line for free for Americans, so hopefully they'll do that for Le Tour.

Last year, NBC charged $20 to get live HD streaming of Le Tour. Their Tour Tracker page from last year is still up, so maybe they'll be doing something similar this year.

I don't think that's a big worry here. At the Dauphene, he was so scared of Froome, that he let someone else (Talansky?) get ahead.

Here, he knows he has to worry about Aru and Landa. He won't let either one of them go.

In the Dauphine he let everyone but Froome go and Talansky was the one that ended up with big enough gap to get ahead of him. The end of that stage was just a nice show of how hard it is if you don't have any team support. He ended up riding the last two climbs alone. Almost caught everyone too, but still lost the race. Obviously it hasn't been common in GTs in recent years thanks to the usual approach the favorites have, which has meant that there are ridiculously strong teams controlling the stages up to the last climb. But I do remember Menchov losing one Vuelta to Heras that way and Rodriguez lost the 2012 Vuelta mostly because his team was too weak.

Anyway, don't think it's likely but pretty much the only way he can lose the race, and Astana actually looks strong enough to at least have a go. Just following Aru and Landa isn't easy when in the right situation they don't even need to get that big of a gap. In the last climb it's is usually too late to do much anyway, but on a stage like tomorrow there's enough climbs early to rip the race apart from the start to get him isolated and then maybe get him to chase on the downhills and flats.

I'm just trying to keep the hope alive that something interesting can still happen. Bit sad that thinking back like 10+ years can only remember a few stages where something like that actually happened. But maybe tomorrow.

I was getting a "domestique stronger than leader" feeling from Landa/Aru on Sunday's stage. Are Astana willing to make a credible threat with Landa at the cost of ruining Aru's chances? I don't really think they are, and if they are not then they can't really threaten Contador because he knows Landa won't ever go far.

You are kidding yourself if you are going to mention Porte as still one to watch.

rooting for contador to bring this back and ride past everyone

don't really agree with pushing on when the leader has a mechanical, but it has made a bit of a race of it.

Contador just fantastic here.

^anton buried himself for him aswell. i struggle to see how that really differs much from the porte/clarke incident. i'm perfectly happy to see both. i guess the only real difference is one is a lot easier to police.

Contador still has friends in the peloton. I think the equipment donation takes it to a different level though. Anyway, the riders have to have the freedom to ride as idiotically as they wish, races would be boring otherwise.

Just how far behind did Contador drop after the flat? Just saw he was like 30s behind and didn't even look like Astana was riding that hard when Katusha started pushing. Team Tinkof looking as weak as ever. Looked like the group was just riding the usual tempo and they failed to chase back and once Katsuha started pushing Astana decided to chase a bit later. Weird race. Great ride from Contador anyway, might be burying Arus hopes as a team leader for a while at least.

V odd that Katusha picked that exact moment to start drilling it. I guess they had close to a min on Contador at the max.

Has to be so demoralising for Aru, starting the climb thinking he might be in pink at the end, and now maybe not even in second.

Guess the Russians just don't get along or something. Contador clearly buying Kreuswijk to help him for the last 20 km. Move to Team Tinkof next year. Or a stage win.

For Aru the whole Giro is a mess. Super aggressive with a strong team in the first weeks and now fading and clearly weaker than Landa once the big mountains begin. At least he has the white jersey. Somehow wouldn't mind seeing Landa and Amador drop him 4th in the GC.

What a stage. That's one for the history books.

Landa is just incredible. He would probably have gained 2 minutes on Contador today if he didn't have to wait for Aru on Mortirolo.

Definitely not in second. Landa is 4:02 behind Contador. Aru is 4:52.

He was a pre-race favorite, so I thought I should mention him. It was also before Porte dropped out.

Didn't get a chance to watch the stage until now. Contador was epic!

Alberto Contador = big Spanish cojones

Am I missing all the talk about how it is obvious how doped up Contador is or does he only get the "well he was a bit naughty in the past" comments?

Doping makes your cojones shrink, so he's not doped.

It is assumed he is doping. We are all just ignorant spectators to it. Most are happy to do so too. That whole Spanish thing...

Not sure Contador this year is anything special. Not much new to talk about. The guy is doing what he has been doing all his career, on and off the road. At the same time the whole sport keeps 'changing' the way it has been 'changing' since 1998. So better just watch and enjoy the races.

It just interests me that the chatter around Contador is so different to that around Wiggins and Froome when they were winning.Maybe it was down to Sky pushing their cleanness so much or that it is so much more interesting to claim new scalps than old ones

Perhaps and I am just speculating here is that I don't really sense the appetite in the public to really launch themselves at riders that have been caught before. The attitude well he has been punished before so doesn't need to be accused again or just aim the veracity of those allegations at another rider...