 The team set about taking time back in the high mountain stage 18 , ending with an hors catégorie arrival at the Col du Galibier . Monfort and Posthuma both made the morning breakaway , providing support for Andy Schleck after he attacked out of the group of overall favorites on the ascent of the Col d 'Izoard . Schleck bridged first to Posthuma and then to Monfort , the latter guiding him down the 17 km ( 11 mi ) long descent of the Izoard , as Schleck is a superlative climber but a poor descender . After catching and surpassing all other remaining members from the morning breakaway , Monfort then rode an extremely lengthy and strenuous pull ahead of Schleck until 17 km ( 11 mi ) remained in the stage , when he finally bonked and dropped back . This left Andy free to climb the Galibier solo , taking the stage win alone two minutes ahead of the next rider , which happened to be brother Fränk . He rode clear of the group of the race 's top riders in the final kilometer , gaining eight seconds against Evans . While the team 's tactics on the day appeared to cinch the yellow jersey for Andy , prior race leader Voeckler retained the yellow jersey by a margin of 15 seconds . The status quo among the Schlecks and Evans held on stage 19 , though with Voeckler finally falling from the top of the overall classification that gave Andy Schleck the yellow jersey ahead of the stage 20 individual time trial . Stage 19 , ending at Alpe d 'Huez , had favored Schleck ahead of Evans , and he was characterized as missing an important opportunity to pad his lead ahead of the time trial , where Evans ' skills are superior . 
