Alberto Contador has conquered the 94th Tour de France with a race-saving time trial ride from...
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Levi Leipheimer (Discovery Channel) (Image credit: Cyclingnews.com)
Cadel Evans gave it a great effort (Image credit: Sirotti)
Alberto Contador really struggled (Image credit: Sirotti)
Carlos Sastre (CSC) (Image credit: Cyclingnews.com)
Contador had to really pour on the gas (Image credit: Cyclingnews.com)
Stefan Schumacher catches his two minute man (Image credit: Sirotti)
Vladimir Karpets (Image credit: Sirotti)
Levi Leipheimer pulled out a fantastic performance (Image credit: Sirotti)
Cadel Evans (Predictor-Lotto) came close, but stays in second (Image credit: AFP Photo)
Alberto Contador (Discovery Channel) has all but secured his Topur win. (Image credit: AFP Photo)
Going forward, looking back: Armstrong watches Contador heading toward possible Tour glory. (Image credit: AFP Photo)
Lance Armstrong returned to the Tour de France on Saturday to watch his young rider Alberto Contador defend the yellow jersey on the penultimate stage. (Image credit: AFP Photo)
Pat McQuaid wasn't invited to the Tour by organiser ASO but accepted a French television invite to come to the world's largest cycling event. (Image credit: AFP Photo)
Alejandro Valverde took 17th not a great Tour for the pre-race favourite (Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)
Leipheimer gasps for air on the very painful final metres (Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)
Levi Leipheimer pulled out a fantastic performance (Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)
Levi Leipheimer lunges to his stage win (Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)
Cadel Evans digs deep and grits out a second place in the TT and overall (Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)
Cadel Evans gave it a great effort in the final 5km, holding on to second overall (Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)
Alberto Contador gets constant encouragement from his team car (Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)
Alberto Contador struggles to the line just barely keeping his yellow jersey (Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)
Leipheimer does the robot walk with a more emphatic style than his Spanish team-mate Contador (Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)
Leipheimer failed to overtake Evans but got his stage win (Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)
The Americans get their stage win courtesy of Levi Leipheimer (Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)
Levi Leipheimer (Discovery) blasted to a first Tour stage win in the TT (Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)
Alberto Contador had to work hard for this yellow jersey (Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)
A kiss for Mr. Lion from yellow jersey Contador (Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)
Contador and the lion on the yellow jersey podium (Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)
Alberto Contador does his best robot impression (Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)
Fabian Cancellara wags his tongue (Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)
Fabian Cancellara (CSC) powers to the line but the world champ only managed 12th (Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)
Stefan Schumacher catches his two minute man Aleksandr Kuchynski at the finish (Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)
Thomas Dekker showing his tongue is bigger than Moreau's. (Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)
George Hincapie (Discovery Channel) hammers up the final 50m (Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)
George Hincapie gives it his all on the tough final 25m (Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)
George Hincapie powered to a 7th place (Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)
Spanish TT champ Gutierrez grits his teeth to a solid 6th place (Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)
Vladimir Karpets held the fastest time for much of the day (Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)
Iban Mayo comes in 66th place - not a great day for the Spaniard (Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)
Michael Boogerd moved up to 12th on GC (Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)
Oscar Pereiro put in a good effort to take 8th on the day (Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)
Mikel Astarloza (Euskaltel-Euskadi) held onto his top ten spot on GC (Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)
Yaroslav Popovych (Discovery) set blistering splits for his GC men (Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)
Mauricio Soler in the climber's jersey (Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)
Kim Kirchen (T-Mobile) keeps 7th overall (Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)
Haimar Zubeldia kept his top ten overall (Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)
Carlos Sastre was caught and passed by his three minute man Leipheimer (Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)
The inflatable podium moves from town to town with the Tour (Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)
Robert Hunter (Barloworld) was awoken early in the morning for blood testing (Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)
Fabian Cancellara the world TT champ had a less than satisfactory ride (Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)
Patrick Lefevre "I've got a banana and am not afraid to use it" (Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)
The photo crew await the arrival of the yellow jersey (Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)
Linus Gerdemann chugs some juice after the TT (Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)
George Hincapie sports some whacky Oakleys (Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)
The sweat pours from George Hincapie after a superb effort in the TT (Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)
Thomas Voeckler concentrates (Image credit: Cyclingnews.com)
David Millar had terrible problems with disintegrating wheels, scuttling his chances for a TT win (Image credit: Cyclingnews.com)
Benoit Vaugrenard crashed in the time trial (Image credit: Cyclingnews.com)
Contador had to really pour on the gas to keep his overall lead (Image credit: Cyclingnews.com)
Contador sucks wind to try and hold the yellow (Image credit: Cyclingnews.com)
Evans shows that he wants yellow (Image credit: Cyclingnews.com)
Carlos Sastre (CSC) faded and was caught by Leipheimer. (Image credit: Cyclingnews.com)
Popovych put in a strong TT (Image credit: Cyclingnews.com)
Oscar Pereiro (Caisse d'Epargne) (Image credit: Cyclingnews.com)
Michael Boogerd (Rabobank) rockets past the vines (Image credit: Cyclingnews.com)
Vladimir Karpets (Caisse d'Epargne) looms large (Image credit: Cyclingnews.com)
José Ivan Gutierrez (Caisse d'Epargne) the Spanish TT champ (Image credit: Cyclingnews.com)
Hincapie powers past vineyards (Image credit: Cyclingnews.com)
Thomas Dekker (Rabobank) went nearly the same time as the World TT champ, Cancellara (Image credit: Cyclingnews.com)
Leipheimer wins first Tour stage and nearly nabs overall - Evans holds second
Alberto Contador has conquered the 94th Tour de France with a race-saving time trial ride from Cognac to Angoulême. The 24 year-old Spaniard finished 2'18" behind stage winner, Levi Leipheimer, and fought hard to hold off a superb effort by Aussie Cadel Evans to maintain his maillot jaune. The American of Discovery Channel nearly stole the show by covering the 55.5-kilometre parcours in Western France with a time of one hour, two minutes and 44 seconds. Predictor-Lotto's Evans finished 51 seconds behind Leipheimer and will remain in second overall 23 seconds behind 'Kid Contador.'
A tight finish concluded the Tour's second time trial through the French department of Charente and most likely the 2007 Tour de France as Contador now leads the overall classification by 23 seconds on Evans. The 30 year-old Australian acknowledged that taking bonus seconds in the final stage to Paris is unlikely but wasn't discounting the possibility. His Predictor-Lotto team may try to pull off an upset since it is within reach of grabbing the world's biggest Grand Tour.
