Tour de France 2010: Alberto Contador Wins, But Andy Schleck Makes A Statement

The ceremonial 20th stage of the Tour de France, the Champs-Élysées, has concluded, and Alberto Contador is officially our winner. This is his third Tour de France win in four years.

Contador is the consensus best cyclist in the world, but Andy Schleck mounted an unexpected challenge throughout the Tour and delivered the message that while Contador may be the best, he is beatable. Schleck finished a mere 39 seconds behind Contador overall.

On Sunday, Alberto Contador held on to win the time trial in Stage 19, and now appears all but certain to win the 2010 Tour de France, his third in four years.

Andy Schleck made a charge that gave Contador reason to worry, but Contador was able to ride consistently enough to seal the win.

Our cycling blog, Podium Cafe, reflects on the Schleck/Contador battles of this year’s Tour:

Here are what the standings look like at the end of Stage 19:

On a cold, rainy and generally nasty day in the Pyrenees, the final day of mountains in the 2010 Tour de France, Andy Schleck rode to victory in Stage 17, crossing the finish line at the top of the famous Col du Tourmalet just before rival Alberto Contador, who conceded the stage win to the man from Saxo Bank -- but not his eight-second overall lead in the Tour.

On the Tour’s Queen day, a 108-mile ride featuring two category-one climbs and a finish atop the hors catégorie Col du Tourmalet, the mountains belonged to Schleck and Contador for the final 10km, with the two riders going head-to-head, and the man from Luxembourg desperately hoping to shake the Spaniard. But he was never able to ride away, meaning it is likely Contador’s yellow jersey to lose.

Lance Armstrong, riding in his final Tour de France, was part of a nine-man breakaway in Tuesday’s Stage 16, a 118-mile ride through the Pyrenees that featured four brutal climbs, including two first-categories and another two that were “beyond categorization” (highlighted perhaps by the Tour’s first visit to the Col du Tourmalet).

The tough day culminated in a sprint finish in Pau, with Armstrong digging for the win in the final few hundred meters, but he just did not have enough left in the tank as French cyclist Pierrick Fedrigo (team Bbox Bouygues) took the stage victory.

The French success at the 2010 Tour de France continued on Monday’s Stage 15, the second day in the Pyrenees, with countryman Thomas Voeckler climbing his way to a victory. Voeckler broke away from a 12-man lead group during the tough ascent up the hors catègorie Port de Balès and crossed the line a full 1:20 before Alessandro Ballan, who finished second.

But the day’s main storyline is the passing between Alberto Contador and morning’s race leader, Andy Schleck: specifically, Contador passed Schleck on the Port de Balès, resulting in Schleck passing over the yellow jersey. But it was not without controversy, as Contador only sped past Schleck when the man with the mallot jaune had mechanical difficulties.

Stage 14 and its intimidating hills were claimed on Sunday by AG2R’s Christophe Riblon, who currently sits at 27th in the overall standings. The standings at the top remain unchanged, with Andy Schleck in first, Alberto Contador in second, and Samuel Sanchez in third.

Our cycling blog, Podium Cafe, breaks down the stage results:

Here are Stage 14’s top ten finishers:

1. Christophe Riblon, AG2R

2. Denis Menchov, Rabobank, at 0.54

3. Samuel Sanchez, Euskaltel, s.t.

4. Andy Schleck, Saxo Bank, at 1.08

5. Joaquim Rodriguez, Katusha, s.t.

6. Robert Gesink, Rabobank, s.t.

7. Alberto Contador, Astana, s.t.

8. Jurgen Van den Broeck, Omega Pharma, s.t.

9. Damiano Cunego, Lampre, at 1.49

10. Carlos Sastre, Cervelo, s.t.

Stage 13 of the 2010 Tour de France, a largely flat path that wandered from Rodez to Revel, was won by Team Astana’s Alexandre Vinokourov. Vinokourov, who hails from what is now Kazakhstan, managed to hold off Alessandro Ballan in the final climb to take the jersey.

Our cycling blog, Podium Cafe, sums up Stage 13:

Mark Cavendish won Thursday’s Stage 11, but it was not without controversy. Mark Renshaw, his HTC-Columbia teammate, was seen head-butting Garmin-Transition’s Julian Dean three times during the final 400m of the sprint, and then also was seemingly trying to block the advance of Garmin’s Tyler Farrar. For his actions, Renshaw was immediately disqualified from the stage, and after further review, he was also completely kicked out of the Tour, making him the first rider disqualified in eight years (doping aside).

Via our cycling blog, Podium Cafe, here’s video of how it all went down (feel free to jump ahead to the 4:15 mark):

The Tour de France officially left the Alps on Thursday’s Stage 11, with a mostly downhill, 119-mile course, meaning it was time relax and exhale after a tough few days in the mountains. It also meant that it was time for the sprinters to re-emerge. The finish set-up perfectly for a mass sprint, and for the third time in 2010, it was HTC-Columbia perfectly positioning Mark Cavendish for another win.

It was Cavendish’s 13th career stage win in the Tour de France, tied for 13th most wins all-time, but it was not without controversy.

Sergio Paulinho became the first Portuguese rider to win a stage in the Tour de France in 21 years when he narrowly edged Vasil Kiryienka in Wednesday’s Stage 10, a 111-mile stretch from Chambéry to Gap that saw the Tour work its way out of the Alps on Bastille Day.

Paulinho earned the first win for Team Radioshack in 2010, and finished roughly 14 minutes ahead of the peloton, a time gap the GC riders were happy to surrender since no one in the break-outs were in contention for the podium, especially after a tough two days in the mountains.

After Monday’s rest day, the riders of the Tour de France were back in their saddles again on Tuesday, taking on Stage 9, an Alpine course that featured one of this year’s most difficult climbs, the Col de la Madeleine, a climb that is hors catégorie, or “beyond categorization.”

And it was on the Col de la Madeleine where the Tour may have become a two-man race to Paris, with Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck setting a blistering pace during the 25km climb that left behind a group of contenders, including Levi Leipheimer, and completely broke Cadel Evans, who not only lost significant time, but also the yellow jersey after Tuesday.

Monday, the tenth day of the 2010 Tour de France, is the first rest day of this Tour, a much-needed break from the saddle after Sunday’s brutal Stage 9, a ride through the Alps that featured two Category 1 climbs, the Col de la Ramaz which and the finish at Morzine-Avoriaz. So, the riders are now surely lounging around the hotel, taking advantage of hot tub and professional massages, right? Not quite. In fact, typically none of the riders actually “rest” on the rest day.

From our cycling blog, Podium Cafe:

While Stage 6 saw a win from the “Manx Missile” (Mark Cavendish), the real explosions didn’t begin until after the finish line (how ‘bout that lede?).

Carlos Barredo (team Quick Step) went after Rui Costa (Caisse d’Epargne) shortly after the finish on Friday, and since he is a cyclist, Barredo used his front wheel as a weapon to attack Costa, naturally.

This should end concerns and answer any questions critics may of had about Mark Cavendish. The Manx Missile won Friday’s Stage 6, the longest of the Tour, a 141-mile ride from Montargis to Gueugnon -- his second consecutive stage win -- out-sprinting American Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Transitions) to the line.

For the second day in a row, it appeared that team Garmin-Transitions had the best position to launch Farrar, but for the second day in a row, it was HTC-Columbia that proved to be better organized with their positioning. And for the second day in row, it was HTC-Coulmbia’s Mark Krenshaw, the best lead-out man in the world, once again perfectly delivering Cavendish to a stage win in the Tour de France, something he has now done 12 times over the past three years.

Stage 4 of the Tour de France, a flat and relatively short ride from Cambrai to Reims, France, was billed as a sprinter’s race, and it did not disappoint. The long and straight roads were surely a welcomed a relief to the riders after they spent the past two days dealing with wet conditions and cobblestones, resulting in carnage rarely seen in the Tour. Indeed, Stage 4, the fifth day of riding, was set up perfectly for the sprinter’s in the field, and they were quick to take advantage of the perfect conditions.

Team HTC-Columbia, led by Mark Renshaw, did its best to get their man, Mark Cavendish, into position for the final, furious dash to the finish line, but in the end it was Italy’s Alessandro Petacchi (team Lampre-Farnese) coming from the outside with speed that was too quick to catch to win the stage, his second victory of the 2010 Tour.

The riders of the 2010 Tour de France are now in Brussels after a Stage 1 that was filled with crashes. Fabian Cancellara retains the yellow jersey (signifying the overall Tour lead) that he captured in Saturday’s prologue, while Alessandro Petacchi won the stage.

Here are the top ten finishers from Stage 1: