Alberto Contador Climbing Stage 15 (AFP Getty)

Attacking with the yellow jersey in the last 4 kilometers of the daunting Bales Pass, the Luxembourg rider, Andy Schleck, made a surprise effort to gain additional time on his key rival, two-time winner Alberto Contador.

But then suddenly he stalled. Moments later, Contador propelled around Schleck in a stunning counterattack. Soon, however, Schleck came to a complete halt, dismounted his bike to fix the chain that had been thrown from his chain ring while shifting.

Ahead Contador powered along with other rivals, Samuel Sanchez and Denis Menchov. But as he opened the gap on his key rival, Contador opened a huge debate. Instead of accelerating, should Contador have waited? Was he ignoring the time-honored tradition in the Tour that no one attacks the yellow jersey when he is down?

At the finish, Contador cruised in 39 seconds ahead of Schleck, enough to dispose the Luxembourg rider of the prized yellow shirt by a mere 8 seconds.

But as Contador pulled the yellow jersey over his shoulders on the victory podium, the debate simmered.

Contador’s Response:

“We’d been marking each other and I was starting to think about attacking. I was told after I did attack that there had been an incident, but when I launched the attack I didn’t have any idea about what the incident was,” Contador said. “When I did find out what had happened we already had a big advantage and it was too late to do anything about it as we were all riding hard.”

“Some people understand what happened and others didn’t understand. Those are the circumstances of racing and I knew there would be some debate about this incident. I attacked before he had a problem with his chain and was a long way ahead when I heard what had happened,” Contador said.

“I realise that this is a delicate situation and that there is going to be a lot of debate about it. But as I said before, at the moment I attacked I didn’t know what had happened to him, and when I found out I was already a long way ahead. On the Spa stage I told my teammates to stop without knowing at that time whether the riders who were in the lead would do the same. Then we had the stage on the pavé and there was another situation with a crash and the race did not stop there. And anyway I don’t believe that 30 seconds at this point in the race is going to decide whether or not you win the Tour de France,” he said.

“I can understand him being disappointed with the way that the stage turned out for him. But when it happened I was on the attack and the most important thing for me is that I gained time today. For me it doesn’t change anything. The goal is still Paris. I will keep focused on the race and trying to extend my advantage on several riders who are close to me in the standings.”

When one reporter said that he must have seen that Schleck had a mechanical problem because he was behind the Luxembourger when it happened, Contador responded: “I wasn’t aware exactly what had happened. I had my focus fixed very much on what I was doing. The other riders with me didn’t know what was going on either. We were all focused on pushing as hard as we could, all taking turns to work.”

Andy Schleck’s Response:

After the finish, Schleck was visibly unhappy. “I told Alberto, ‘how can you do that?’” he said. “Okay that’s racing. But I would not want to win like that. The thing is that he waited for me when I crashed in Spa and I really appreciated that. But then why attack me here?”

“He better be nervous for the next days,” Schleck said. “Now I am not in first any more. I am the one that will be attacking.”

Yvon Sanquer’s (Astana) Response:

Yvon Sanquier, manager to Contador’s Astana team, was visibly shaken as he spoke by the team bus at the finish. “That certainly is not the way we hoped to take over the yellow jersey, but, what can you say?” Sanquier said. “I mean, Sanchez and Menchov were definitely going. What was Alberto supposed to do, stop and wait? You know it is not like we have referees at every corner to call a play.”

Should Alberto Contador Have Waited?

If you believe the response by Contador, he didn’t know…so it would make sense that he would not wait for Andy Schleck to get the chain up and running again before attacking the climb. However, knowing Alberto Contador’s previous track history of even attacking his own team when they are down, one has to wonder if he would have actually cared given all of the facts ahead of time.

The unwritten law in the Tour de France is to not attack the wearer of the yellow jersey when they are down. Previous winners of the Tour de France, including Lance Armstrong, have waited for their rivals as they dealt with mechanicals and crashes, but the law of the Tour is just that…an unwritten law.

At what point in the race do you wait and when is it just racing? For many of the riders, this decision is made on a personal level gauging public perception. For Alberto Contador, I think his goal is very defined as it was last year. He wants yellow in Paris and he will ride in a way that lets him achieve that goal.

With Schleck out of yellow and looking incredibly strong in the Pyrenees, Alberto Contador might find this was a bad move in the mental battle as we have seen some chinks in AB’s climbing armor in this year’s Tour. Of course, Schleck is also in the drivers seat as he need to gain some serious time to overcome Contador’s time trialing ability.

So…should Contador have waited…or is that just part of racing?