Russian rider Denis Menchov has been strong but silent in this Tour de France, quietly pedalling his way to fourth overall and looking more solid than in previous years.
Speaking on the rest day, he said that he wasn’t ruling out the chance of wearing the final yellow jersey in Paris. “The lead [of Contador] is not huge, and it is not impossible to close,” he said, according to Feltet.dk. “I think it will be very difficult to catch Contador, but we will see if it is possible to get some time back tomorrow [on today’s stage to the top of the Tourmalet.”
He started today’s stage two minutes and 13 seconds behind race leader Alberto Contador, two minutes 5 up on Andy Schleck and thirteen seconds behind Samuel Sanchez, who crashed earlier this stage.
Menchov concedes it will be difficult to gain time on the mountain, but he needs to do that if he is to stand a chance. “It won’t be easy,” he said. “I can imagine that Astana sets pace in first half of the climb, and then there will only be 15 riders left. There are different interests of all of those in top 10. Some will try to gain time and others will just defend their position. So we will see what happens,” he said.
What he will need to do is to gain some time on the Tourmalet, and then do the time trial of his life on Saturday. As he himself states, the final win will be difficult, but its worth fighting for. Second overall is possible, though, if he prevents any time gains by Schleck today and then beats him decisively in the time trial.
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