Contador times it just right
ALBERTO Contador took a giant step towards his second Tour de France victory when he humbled the time-trial specialists over 40.5kms to win the 18th stage around the lake at Annecy.
Spaniard Contador, who outshone Olympic champion Fabian Cancellara by three seconds, stretched his overall lead to 4mins 11secs over Andy Schleck. It was his second stage victory and he now has a comfortable gap three days before the finish in Paris.
Lance Armstrong made it back on the overall podium but is more than five minutes behind Astana team-mate Schleck despite ousting the Luxembourg rider’s brother Frank from third place. Yet seven-times champion Armstrong was relatively disappointing in what used to be his favourite discipline, finishing in 16th place, 1min 30secs behind Contador.
Armstrong, who will head a new team next season sponsored by electronics wholesalers RadioShack, said: “I probably started too hard. Maybe I was just empty from yesterday and those cramps I suffered at the end of the stage.” Britain’s Bradley Wiggins also boosted his chances of a podium finish after moving from sixth to fourth, just 11 seconds behind Armstrong but only two ahead of German Andreas Kloden.
Wiggins was expected to do well yesterday but the third-category Bluffy climb and a headwind slowed him after a fast start and he had to be content with sixth, 43 seconds behind Contador.