HOWZAT

Armstrong said that when the split happened he did not know where Contador was, which was no doubt true, but by the time he told his team-mates to co-operate, he knew. It was a calculated attempt to make the most of Contador’s naivety. For sure, it was Contador’s mistake. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time but L’Equipe, the French sports paper, summed it up: Armstrong traps Contador.

“Columbia were getting frustrated we weren’t helping. I’ve won the Tour seven times, why wouldn’t we work?” Armstrong said, by way of explanation. Presumably, that wasn’t part of the team plan either?

In Montpellier on Tuesday, Astana asserted their dominance, winning the team time trial. But it was a bittersweet afternoon for Armstrong, as Cancellara clung on to his yellow jersey by just 0.22 of a second, thanks to a spirited ride by his Saxo Bank squad.

Nevertheless, Armstrong entered the Pyrenees expecting to assume the race lead. Again, though, he was thwarted, as the Italian Rinaldo Nocentini, one of the day’s breakaway riders, took it.

The revelation of the race so far has been Britain’s Bradley Wiggins, a multiple Olympic champion on the track, who has switched his focus to the road this season, to tremendous effect. The 29-year-old has lost six kilograms from an already skeletal frame, and his improvement in the mountains has been impressive. He has climbed alongside the favourites in the two Pyrenean stages and lies fifth overall. The question is whether he can maintain it over three weeks.

While there is no doubt that Cavendish is the fastest sprinter in the race, a fact he proved with two devastatingly powerful victories in Brignoles and La Grande Motte, he has not had everything his way. On Tuesday, the bunch miscalculated their effort and the last survivor of the day’s break, the Frenchman Thomas Voeckler, netted the win in Perpignan. In Barcelona, Cavendish struggled with the uphill sprint finish but battled to finish 16th to retain the green jersey as leader of the points competition. The sprint was won by the Norwegian Thor Hushovd, as the bunch caught Britain’s David Millar with only one kilometre to go. Hushovd’s win narrowed Cavendish’s previously handsome advantage in the points competition to a single point.

On Saturday, Hushovd pulled a fast one, getting in a break over the first big climb, the Port d’Envalira, and securing 12 points by winning two of the intermediate sprints. That meant Hushovd relieved Cavendish of the green jersey.

Sunday’s stage nine is a 160-kilometre leg from Saint-Gaudens to Tarbes, crossing the Col d’Aspin and the Col du Tourmalet. There is little opportunity for the favourites to do much damage because the 2,115-metre summit of the Tourmalet is 70 kilometres from the finish.

Lionel Birnie writes for Cycling Weekly.