Alberto Contador took the Tour de France yellow jersey from Andy Schleck after he suffered a mechanical problem in a late attack on the final climb of yesterday’s 15th stage.

Contador was caught by surprise after Schleck’s acceleration in the final kilometre of the 19.3km ascent of the Port de Bales, but the Spaniard did not wait for the Saxo Bank leader after his gear mechanism broke seconds later.

Contador went on to come over the summit around 20sec ahead of Schleck, and completed the 21.5km downhill with Russian Denis Menchov and Spaniard Samuel Sanchez to finish 39sec ahead of the Luxemburger.

Schleck, the runner-up to champion Contador last year, is now eight seconds behind in second place.

French champion Thomas Voeckler, meanwhile, handed the hosts their fifth success of the race after soloing to victory, finishing nearly three minutes ahead of the race favourites.

Although mechanical problems are considered part and parcel of bike racing, Schleck hit out immediately at Contador for not showing “fair play”.

“In the same situation I would not have taken advantage,” said Schleck, who had held the yellow jersey since taking it from Australia’s Cadel Evans on stage nine.