Contador Takes Tour de France

Spanish cyclist eclipses Armstrong in second Tour triumph
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jul 26, 2009 11:50 AM CDT
Contador Takes Tour de France
Alberto Contador of Spain, wearing the overall leader's yellow jersey, foreground, rides with the pack on Place de la Concorde (Concorde square) in Paris July 26, 2009.    (CHRISTOPHE ENA)

Alberto Contador won the Tour de France for a second time today, and Lance Armstrong capped his return to the race with an impressive third-place finish. Mark Cavendish of Britain became the first rider to win six Tour stages in a sprint, collecting his sixth stage win after the 101.9-mile course ride from Montereau-Fault-Yonne to the Champs-Elysees.

Over nearly 3,500 kilometers and 21 stages of races in 3 weeks, Contador repelled many challenges in the mountains, excelled in the two time-trials—winning a pivotal race against the clock in the 18th stage—and won the first Alpine stage. Contador, the 2007 champion, also had to battle a rearguard action within his Astana team, where the comeback of Armstrong to the Tour after 3 1/2 years of retirement raised questions about who would be the team leader. (More Tour de France stories.)

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