They have been too busy avoiding serious injury in nine days of manic racing, which came to a temporary halt with Monday's rest day.
Although Contador has already crashed twice, the Spaniard was somewhat lucky to escape with just a bruised right knee, given that several other riders had to retire with more serious injuries. They include Kazakh star Alexandre Vinokourov (broken thighbone) and British hope Bradley Wiggins (broken collarbone).
"It may be the hardest Tour de France start I have experienced," said Schleck, who rides for Leopard-Trek. "A lot of nervy stages."
Contador is concerned he may lack his trademark uphill acceleration when the big climbs come later this week. He trained with teammates on Monday morning, but knows he can only really asses his condition when the race resumes Tuesday.
"I'm a bit worried because with a knee injury you can't ride with the same rhythm and the same frequency of pedaling as usual," said Contador, who has swelling on the inside of his right knee. "I want to remain optimistic it will get better before the first Pyrenean stage, but I have no idea how the knee will respond."
Schleck, the Tour runner-up to Contador in the past two years, is grateful to have enjoyed more luck than his rivals.
Contador crashed early in Sunday's ninth stage - which later accounted for Vinokourov - and banged the same knee he hurt falling on stage 5.
"It's sad to see to what degree luck has influenced the course of the race," Schleck said Monday. "You can avoid crashes to a certain extent, by staying at the front of the bunch and being very aware of possible dangers."
But no race strategy could account for the fact a Tour car knocked Spanish rider Juan Antonio Flecha into Dutchman Johnny Hoogerland in a shockingly careless incident on Sunday.
"It's really out of your hands," Schleck said. "We feel very fortunate that none of our team members was involved in a big crash."
Flecha recalled the incident.
"I was bleeding everywhere, I saw Johnny laying there, and I said 'Wow,"' Flecha said.
With Contador's sore knee still bothering him, Schleck will gauge the three-time champion's true fitness in the Pyrenees climbs starting on Thursday. Schleck is in the driving seat as Contador needs to make up time, a role reversal from last year when Contador beat Schleck by 39 seconds to win his third Tour.
"I'm not as fresh as the previous years," Contador said. "But I don't want to use this as an excuse."
Contador lost valuable time on the first day this year, when he was stuck behind a crash that split the peloton while Schleck stayed ahead of it.
Like the toss of a coin, Schleck got the good call that day. He is 1 minute, 30 seconds ahead of Contador in the overall standings, and 11 seconds behind two-time Tour runner-up Cadel Evans of Australia, the other main contender.
"So far so good, the team has been great, keeping me out of trouble, and if it could continue like this I would be very, very happy," Evans said.
After Monday's rest day, there are two flat stages for sprinters before riders enter the Pyrenees on stage 12, with its colossal climb up Col du Tourmalet - one of the Tour's most famed and feared ascents.
That stage is so demanding it could decimate the field.
Frenchman Thomas Voeckler leads the race after taking the yellow jersey from Thor Hushovd, while Spaniard Luis Leon Sanchez, who won stage 9, is second overall. But neither is a Tour contender and both should soon wilt.
Thursday's stage from Cugnaux to Luz-Ardiden lasts a horribly long 211km and ends with a mammoth climb up Luz-Ardiden.
Like the Tourmalet, Luz-Ardiden is so tough it is known as an HC - or 'Hors Categorie' - climb, meaning it is even harder than a category 1 climb and is therefore beyond classification.
The pain does not stop there.
Friday's 13th stage from Pau to Lourdes features an HC trek up Col d'Aubisque, followed by a hair-raising 40km descent to the line.
Saturday's 14th stage starts from Saint-Gaudens and is harder than the previous two - an intense day featuring two nasty category 1 ascents up Col de la Core and Col d'Agnes, and finishing with a long HC climb up to Plateau de Beille.
"There will be a big shake-up at Plateau de Beille," Schleck said. "If there's a chance for us, we'll take it."
Meanwhile, Alexandr Kolobnev of Russia has become the first cyclist at this year's Tour to fail a doping test.
Kolobnev was in 69th place heading into Tuesday's 10th stage, but his Katusha team issued a statement saying he is out of the Tour after deciding to "suspend himself according to UCI rules."
Katusha sports director Dimitry Konyshev had earlier told The Associated Press that "it's impossible for him to continue the race with this problem."
The UCI said a urine sample collected from Kolobnev last Wednesday tested positive for a substance called Hydrochlorothiazide, a diuretic that can also be used as a masking agent hiding the presence of other drugs. The samples were analyzed at the Chatenay-Malabry laboratory, which is accredited by the World Anti-Doping.
It came on the Tour's fifth stage - a flat sprint from Carhaix to Cap Frehel.
Tour organizers and French Anti-Doping Agency President Bruno Genevois were not immediately available for comment.
