• Tour de France

Schleck targets minute lead

ESPN staff
July 22, 2010
Andy Schleck needs to regain the yellow jersey on Thursday © Getty Images
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Andy Schleck believes he needs to gain a minute on overall leader Alberto Contador on Stage 17 if he is to have a hope of winning this year's Tour de France.

Contador holds the yellow jersey with an eight-second lead over Schleck, but with the climb to the summit of Tourmalet on Thursday, Schleck will have the chance to regain the leader's jersey.

Defending champion Contador is a stronger sprinter, and with Saturday's 53km time trial still to come, Schleck, the better climber, knows he needs to make the most of the brutal climb in the Pyrenees.

"It is all or nothing," said Schleck. "So I am going to give it my all. I will have to be in yellow. There's only one chance to take it and that's here. With a minute, I would be happy. But if it's more, that's better.

"I've always said the guy who has the yellow jersey after this stage will have the yellow in Paris, and I still believe that."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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