Andy Schleck maintains lead after 14th stage of Tour de France

— Tour de France leader Andy Schleck said his main rival Alberto Contador should be worried after failing to shake him off in Sunday’s 14th stage in the Pyrenees.

“I don’t know how Alberto is handling it, but the situation he is in now is not super,” the Luxembourg rider told reporters. “It’s not bad, either, but today he couldn’t drop me so that gives me a lot of confidence.”

Defending champion Contador tried a couple of times to drop Schleck in the final climb to Ax-3 Domaines, but they both finished the stage 1 minute 8 seconds behind the day’s winner Christophe Riblon.

“I don’t know how [Contador] feels right now. This is just a guess, but I guess he’s not happy,” Schleck added. “He didn’t lose any time, but he didn’t gain any either.”

Schleck retained the overall leader’s yellow jersey with a 31-second advantage over the Spaniard but, with neither competitor willing to lead the way to the finish line, each lost 14 seconds to podium contenders Samuel Sanchez and Denis Menchov.

Saxo Bank rider Schleck needs to increase the gap on Contador and keep Rabobank’s Menchov at bay as they are likely to beat him easily in Saturday’s final, 32.3-mile time trial.

“If [Contador] had been really bad I would have tried [to attack], but today he was actually pretty good, although I was good too,” said Schleck in explanation of his tactics.

“Tomorrow will be a totally different scenario, but today I could not pass him because he would have attacked me and gained seconds on me.”

Despite Schleck’s confidence, the 27-year-old Contador said he was happy with Sunday’s events.

“I’m in a good position. [The 31 seconds] is a difference that I can erase in the final time trial. It is a face-off,” the two-time Tour winner said.