Alberto Contador is set to win his third Tour de France title in four years after retaining the yellow jersey in the next-to-last stage on Saturday.
Fabian Cancellara won the time trial, but the 27-year-old Contador held on to his razor-thin lead over Andy Schleck of Luxembourg, who had started the 19th stage in second place, eight seconds back.
“I am very moved ... It was a difficult Tour and I’m very happy,” said Contador, who wiped away tears, took a deep breath and his hand trembled as he finger-pistoled the crowd — his trademark gesture — after donning the yellow jersey. “I think it’s the first Tour that has given me so much emotion, you can’t imagine.”
PHOTO: REUTERS
Schleck, who is poised to finish second to Contador for the second straight year, said he had no regrets.
“Beating Contador is not easy, but I tried everything,” Schleck said. “I am happy and I’ll come back next year to win.”
Contador will have won the race without winning a stage. The 39-second margin is exactly the gap that Schleck lost to Contador in the controversial 15th stage last Monday, when the Luxembourg rider’s bike chain was tangled up in a final Pyrenean climb — and Contador sped on.
PHOTO: AFP
Some commentators called it a breach of cycling’s often unclear etiquette, which calls for riders to respect the yellow jersey — Schleck was wearing it at that stage — in times of uncontrollable mishaps, such as a crash.
Riders set off one by one down a starter’s ramp for the 52km race against the clock that set the final positions on the podium.
Cancellara, one of the world’s top time-trial riders, won by outpacing Tony Martin of Germany, who was second, 17 seconds back.
Bert Grabsch of Germany was third, 1 minute, 48 seconds behind the winner.
Contador was 35th, 5 minutes, 43 seconds back, while Schleck finished 44th, 6 minutes, 14 seconds behind Cancellara.
It was a day of duels.
Denis Menchov of Russia, who won last year’s Giro d’Italia, mounted an impressive time trial and overcame Samuel Sanchez of Spain to wrest third place overall.
Menchov had begun the day in fourth, 21 seconds back of Sanchez, but nearly four minutes behind Contador and Schleck. The Russian finished 11th — 3 minutes, 51 seconds behind Cancellara — and Sanchez was 40th, 5 minutes, 51 seconds behind.
Overall, Menchov trails Contador by 2 minutes, 1 second, and Sanchez fell to fourth, trailing his compatriot by 3 minutes, 40 seconds.
Seven-time Tour champion Lance Armstrong, who is riding in his last Tour, is set to go out with a whimper. The 38-year-old American, who once dominated time trials, finished Saturday’s stage in 67th place, 7 minutes, 5 seconds behind Cancellara.
Overall, he is 23rd — 39 minutes, 20 seconds behind Contador, his former teammate and rival.
Barring catastrophe, Contador is all but certain to win the race in the 20th and final stage — a 102.5km trek from Longjumeau to the Champs-Elysees in Paris.
By tradition, the last stage has become a largely ceremonial ride — and any attempt at an attack would likely be quashed by Contador and his Astana teammates.
In the other race categories — assuming the riders and teams finish the final stage — France’s Anthony Charteau has locked up the polka-dot jersey for the race’s best climber, 25-year-old Schleck will take home the white jersey for being the best young Tour rider for a third straight year and Team RadioShack is set to win the team competition.
The last remaining question lingers over the fate of the green jersey, given to the best race sprinter based on a points system, because the final stage is likely to end in a sprint. Alessandro Petacchi — a 36-year-old Italian — currently looks likely to win that shirt.
Cancellara, a Swiss rider and a Saxo Bank teammate of Schleck, nearly bookended his Tour with stage victories — he also won the short prologue in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and held the yellow jersey for a total of six days.
This race has shown that Schleck is a rider to be reckoned with.
Long written off as not being among the best in time trials, he won the time trial in his national championship last month. Coming into Saturday’s stage, Schleck and many cycling commentators believed that he would need the time trial of his life — or for Contador to have a really bad day, a crash, or some other mishap.
At the first time check on Saturday, at the 18km mark, Schleck stunned many by erasing two seconds off the deficit to Contador, though both men were still about 90 seconds behind Cancellara.
By the second and third time checks, however, Contador gained speed and momentum on his rival from Luxembourg. By the second, at 36km, he was seven seconds faster. By the third, near the finish, he led by 17 seconds.
After more than 3,500km of racing, Contador held a miniscule lead and yet another narrow victory. Only a handful of Tours have been decided by less than a minute.
In 2007, when Contador won for the first time, he outpaced Cadel Evans of Australia by only 23 seconds. In that tightest ever Tour, Levi Leipheimer of the US placed third, 31 seconds behind.
This year’s margin is set to be one of the narrowest. The record is the eight-second gap that Greg Lemond of the US held over Laurent Fignon of France in 1989.
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