He will be crowned the victor in the Tour de France for the third time on Sunday.
Third time check: 17 seconds advantage for Contador, 25 seconds overall lead. Contador really pushing himself, and it is paying off, but the race is so much closer than expected.
Second Time Check: Contador gains twelve seconds, to lead the Tour by 14 seconds.
Denis Menchov has moved into third, Jurgen van den Broek might pass him too.
At the firsrt time-check, Alberto Contador had lost six seconds to Andy Schleck. An upset could be on the way!
In the second closest finish in history, Saxo Bank’s Andy Schleck trails Astana’s Alberto Contador by a mere eight seconds going into the final competitive stage of the 201 Tour de France: the Stage 19 Individual Time Trial.
Stage 19 is a simple 52-km time trial. The long, flat course suits pure time trialists. With no hills at all, this race suits the fastest—Fabian Cancellara, Tony Martin, David Millar—Alberto Contador.
Alberto Contador is one of the best time trialists in the world, with a dozen major wins in his career. He has given a lot in the mountains, but he was not pushed to the limit in the last mountain stage, and he has had a day to rest, during Stage 18. Expect Alberto Contador to come out racing for yellow in Paris, and expect him to win it.
Andy Schleck has never won a major time trial event against the best international riders. He wants to turn in his best TT ever, and he will need to: he will need to not only match, but beat, Alberto Contador. Schleck will needs to ride vastly better than he ever has to have a chance for an overall win.
Rabobank’s Denis Menchov and Euskatel’s Sammy Sanchez are only two minutes behind Andy Schleck. Either or both could beat Schleck in the time trial and end up second or third. Sanchez took a hard fall in Stage 17, and Menchov is probably better in the TT, though Sanchez beat Menchov in the TT of the Vuelta d'Espagne in 2007. Menchov looks like a safe bet for the third step of the podium.
Fabain Cancellarra set the early best time at 1:00:56, with Tony Martin 17 seconds behind. David Millar, Cadel Evans, Levi Leipheimer, and a score of other top competitors are yet to run.
But in the end it comes down to the final four riders, to decide among themselves who will take the three steps of the podium
After all his efforts, I hope Andy Schleck can hold onto second. It would be heart-rending for the young Luxembourger to miss the podium in the last competitive stage.
Friends Read Free