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Luxembourg's Andy Schleck took a giant stride towards a maiden Tour de France triumph Thursday as Spanish rival Alberto Contador suffered a dramatic collapse on an epic 18th stage.

Schleck, the runner-up the past two years to the Spaniard, took all his rivals by surprise with an attack on the second of two major climbs, the Izoard over 60 km from the finish of the 200 km stage.

Building a lead of four minutes on race leader Thomas Voeckler, Contador and Australian Cadel Evans, the Leopard-Trek rider then went on to finish solo on the legendary summit of the Galibier.

Older brother Frank Schleck finished second at 2min 07sec, with Evans at 2:15 and Voeckler a handful of seconds behind.

Winning only his second stage of the race, Schleck slashed his deficit to Voeckler who now leads the Luxemburger by just 15secs.

Explaining why he had attacked so far from the finish, Schleck said: "I don't want to finish fourth in Paris, and I said to myself 'I'm going to risk everything, it'll work or it'll fail'.

"That's the way I am, I'm not afraid of losing. And if my legs were hurting out in front I knew the others would be hurting to catch me up."

Contador looked to be uncomfortable most of the day and even lost contact with the group being driven by Evans to eventually come over the finish line at 3:50 behind Andy Schleck.

Voeckler, who did little to defend his jersey save stick on Evans' wheel as the Australian almost singlehandedly limited the damage, leads Andy Schleck by 15 secs. Frank Schleck is third at 1min 08sec with Evans, a former two-time runner-up, in fourth overall at 1:12.

Contador, bidding for a fourth successive title, is now seventh at a massive 4:44 behind Voeckler and 4:29 behind Andy Schleck.

The Spaniard's slump surprised most of his rivals, and his Saxo Bank team manager Bjarne Riis conceded: "It will be very hard now for him to win the Tour - he tried but he didn;t have good legs."

While the Schlecks now look in control ahead of the final day in the Alps, a 109.5 km stage to Alpe d'Huez Friday, Evans remains very much in contention and will be even more so if he manages to limit the damage on Friday.

The penultimate stage on Saturday is a 42.5 km time trial in Grenoble and Evans is the strongest in the overall top ten in the discipline.

His team manager Jim Ochowiz told AFP: "Cadel did a great job. This race is not over. Tomorrow's another day."

He added: "It was a hard day, an epic stage and one that everyone expected. It wasn't a big surprise that Andy attacked. What was a surprise was the gap he made during the day."

If it gets him the victory he so desires, Andy Schleck's attack will go down as one of the all-time stories of the race.

Voeckler admitted he didn't even try to match the Luxemburger when he accelerated away unchallenged halfway up the Izoard.

"When he went I didn't even try to follow him," said the Frenchman, who rides for Europcar.

"I just tried to stick with Evans to try and limit the damage."

Surprisingly, the Frenchman has survived another epic day of racing in the mountains and, if he achieves the same on Friday, could realistically take aim at a place on the podium.

Voeckler, however, continues to play down his chances.

"For the past three days different riders have been taking time off me. You have to look at the big picture.

"Today, I raced well above my capabilities. Andy Schleck simply raced out of his skin. If only you know how much pain I have in my legs... It's bad."

AFP