MONT VENTOUX, France, (Reuters) – Alberto Contador was within reach of his second Tour de France victory yesterday after the much-anticipated Mont Ventoux stage failed to significantly modify the final standings.
“It has been a different, special, tough Tour,” said the Spaniard, who finished fourth in the 167km penultimate stage, won by his compatriot Juan Manuel Garate.
Contador, who won his first Tour in 2007 and was banned from taking part last year, easily checked countless attempts on the Ventoux climb by Luxembourg’s Andy Schleck, who is poised to finish second, four minutes and 11 seconds behind.
The last laurels at stake on the 21.1km of the hardest climb in cycling were the last spot on the podium.
Seven times champion Lance Armstrong showed he remained a formidable rider at 37, finishing 5th in the stage to retain his third place, 5:24 behind Contador.
The Spaniard was even seen helping the American bridge the gap on one of Andy Schleck’s moves, proving there were no hard feelings between the two leaders of the Astana team they will probably both leave next season.
“The only thing I had to do was to control Andy Schleck and I was able to do it. He tried to attack many times and he was very strong, but I was too,” Contador said.
“I’m also glad we managed to keep Lance in third place,” he said.
WIGGINS DROPPED
Briton Bradley Wiggins, who again performed like a sheer mountaineer, finally lost touch in the last km but limited the damage to retain 4th place in the general classification.
The pursuit Olympic champion is three seconds ahead of Frank Schleck, who is set to improve on his 6th place last year.
Andy Shleck, who was also full of praise for Contador, said: “The aim was to defend my second place and put Frank on the podium. It didn’t work out because Armstrong was very strong”.
“He was undoubtedly the strongest rider in the Tour. He was there everyday, never had a bad day. He won three stages and is a gentleman,” he said.
“Next year, against such a rider, it will be tough again but I’m young and can improve again,” added the younger Schleck, 24.
Sixteen riders went on the gun in Montelimar to try and tackle the Ventoux ahead of the rest of the pack.
The escapees held a maximum lead of 10:40 of which only 4:30 was left when the bunch tackled the last climb.
On the mountain, swept by a headwind, the fugitives were caught one after another with the exception of Garate and Germany’s Tony Martin, who resisted bravely and went on to battle it out for the stage honours.
Garate, a better climber, outpaced Martin on the line and has now won a stage in each of the three big Tours.
“I had already won a stage on the Giro and one on the Vuelta but this is the biggest,” said the Rabobank climber, who had started the Tour to help Russian Denis Menchov.
Andy Schleck finished third, 38 seconds adrift, with Contador in his wheel.
The Tour finishes on Sunday after a 164.5km ride from Montereau-Fault Yonne to the Champs-Elysees, usually an ideal terrain for sprinters.
Briton Mark Cavendish will look for his 6th stage victory of this year’s Tour on the famous Parisian avenue.