Posted on 07/25/2010 12:37:32 PM PDT by golux
Contador Confirms His Third Victory
He made his winner's speech after the finish of the time trial yesterday and all Alberto Contador really had to do to ensure he was the winner of the 2010 Tour was finish the final stage. He rolled across the line with his arms aloft in 81st place. He is the champion of the Tour de France for the third time.
It was significantly closer than many expected. A confident Andy Schleck put early pressure on rival Alberto Contador in what surprisingly became a dramatic race against the clock between the two riders.
At the first intermediate split, 11.3-miles into Saturday's 32-mile individual-time-trial from Bordeaux to Pauillac, Schleck shockingly led Contador by six seconds. The Saxo Bank rider clocked 23:10 to the Astana's 23:16.
Seeking his third career Tour de France title entering stage 19 with an eight-second lead over Schleck, Contador was forced to work harder than expected.
And the Spaniard delivered in the clutch. Despite a valiant effort by the determined Luxembourg rider, Contador clawed back more and more time as the race progressed. In the final 10-kilometers, it was evident that Schleck was running out of steam as Contador pushed hard to maintain his pace.
At one juncture, Schleck, 25, even momentarily lost control of his bike almost going down. He crossed the finish line in Pauillac with a time of one-hour, seven- minutes and ten seconds.
Shortly thereafter, the 27-year-old Spaniard would eclipse that time by 31-seconds. Contador's time was 1:06:39. Not a supreme effort by the Spanish rider as he was just the 35th fastest of the day, but good enough to virtually secure his third career Tour de France title.
Contador increased his lead to 39 seconds over Schleck in the general classification with only tomorrow's ceremonial procession into Paris remaining.
As Spanish flags flew in the town of Pauillac, Contador was highly emotional, breaking down in tears as he received the yellow jersey. For Contador, it is not only his third career Tour de France title, but also his fifth consecutive victory in the Grand Tours that he has competed in.
Despite coming up slightly behind and finishing second for a second consecutive July, Schleck will walk away with the white jersey, awarded to the Tour's ‘Best Young Rider.' It is the third year-in-a-row that the talented Saxo Bank rider claims this honor, equaling Jan Ullrich who accomplished the feat in the 1990's.
Andy apparently made a mistake in shifting, which caused his chain to derail. Nothing to do with Contador, and his decision to take advantage of this mistake was proper. He won the Tour fair and square, but this may be his last win.
Maybe. I would have rather seen him wait. Not just because I’m a huge Schleck fan, but because I would like to have seen a true duel on Tourmalet.
And I do think Contador is a dick although this episode has at least temporarily shown an effect. He directed the peloton to wait on Sanchez and yelled at Sastre for trying to go.
NASCAR, ce n’est pas le Tour. Rene Vietto and Raymond Poulidor are names worth studying should you wish to learn about the peculiar written and unwritten codes of sportsmanship which embody the Tour.
Here is another zoom-out for newbies:
Holy ....gotta go .... I am re-heat treating some old Campagnolo things and have to take them out of the oven so I can cook lunch.
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