2010 Team Saxo Bank season

[3] Cancellara got the team's first victory of the season, winning the inaugural Tour of Oman after a second-place finish in the event's closing individual time trial.

[4] Team Saxo Bank came to the Giro without its top stars, the Schleck brothers and Cancellara, preferring to hold them back for the Tour de France.

The squad included time trial specialist Larsson, sprinters Cooke and Sebastian Haedo, and Grand Tour rookies Didier and Porte.

While the peloton absorbed 15 members of the escape group during the climb, Sørensen and Colnago–CSF Inox's Simone Stortoni stayed away as the summit neared.

Team Saxo Bank helped to drive the break, since Porte as the highest placed rider stood to take the pink jersey should they stay away.

[14] Team Saxo Bank's leader for the Tour de France was Andy Schleck, who was often mentioned as an overall favorite having finished second overall the year before.

[18] Though Andy entered the race as the Luxembourgian national time trial champion, he was noted to be weak in the discipline relative to other overall favorites.

This agreement effectively cost Cancellara his yellow jersey, as breakaway rider Sylvain Chavanel was still out front at the time, and finished almost four minutes ahead.

Both Schleck brothers were among the multitude of riders to crash on this day, and Andy rode his chase back to the peloton on Breschel's bicycle after his was too damaged to continue riding.

This stage, while flat, was expected to be difficult and feature many crashes, as it incorporated numerous cobbled sectors at the Belgium-France border.

Cancellara, who in addition to being a superlative time trialist is also one of the best classics riders in the sport, effectively guided Andy Schleck in the front group for the entire stage.

Cancellara also reclaimed the yellow jersey, as Chavanel lost back almost the exact amount of time he had won the day before.

Schleck attacked from the group of overall contenders on the Col de la Madeleine, and drew Contador and Sánchez with him.

As the peloton approached the finish, Astana's Alexander Vinokourov was out front and appeared poised for the stage win when his teammate Contador attacked out of the main field, something which is usually not done.

[26] Schleck and Contador ceded 14 seconds to Menchov and Sánchez in stage 14, when they engaged in a bizarre seeming track stand during the stage-concluding climb to Ax-3-Domaines.

He rode an aggressive descent of the Port de Balès, but still lost 39 seconds on the day, which was enough for Contador to assume the race leadership.

This was at the rear of the race, meaning the veteran German stood the risk of being eliminated from the Tour because of time loss to the stage winner.

The day's results gave them an even larger gap over third-place man Sánchez, who now stood three and a half minutes back.

Due to a drastic increase in the speed of a headwind as the day went on, early starters posted considerably better times than those who came later.

While again recognized as a weaker time trialist than his Spanish rival, Schleck had only eight seconds to overcome on this stage and spoke of how he thought he had good chances.

[32] Two months after the race concluded, it was revealed that Contador had tested positive for clenbuterol on July 21, the rest day before the stage ending at the Col du Tourmalet.

A man in his early twenties wearing a white cycling jersey and cap holding a bouquet of flowers looks to his right at a woman, whose face is not visible.
This was the first Grand Tour for Richie Porte ; he had a stint in the pink jersey and two in the white, winning the latter upon the Giro's conclusion.
A cyclist in a black and white jersey with blue trim sits atop his bicycle, waving with his left hand and smiling.
Andy Schleck was the squad's leader for the Tour de France. He won the young rider classification for the third consecutive year.
A cyclist in a yellow jersey enters a car with a bicycle on top of it. Other people are visible behind him.
Fabian Cancellara won both time trials in the Tour de France, and wore the yellow jersey in a fourth career Tour. He also negotiated a stage neutralization early in the race.