Tour de France Results 2010: Stage 19 – Contador in control
Today, July 24, saw Stage 19 of the Tour de France 2010 and it was an individual time trial. The route from Bordeaux to Pauillac, a distance of 54 km was the penultimate stage of Le Tour before the final stage tomorrow when we’ll see the impressive sight of the riders streaming down the Champs Elysees in Paris.
In yesterday’s Stage 18 we saw Mark Cavendish take his fourth stage win at Le Tour this year, but it was Alberto Contador, the defending champion who held the lead in the overall standings, still 8 seconds ahead of Andy Schleck in second place. So did Contador hold onto his lead and who took the victory today?
Today’s fastest rider leading the time trial was Fabian Cancellara, who finished 17 seconds ahead of Tony Martin, according to BBC Sport. However it was Contador who everybody was really interested in and not only did he keep hold of the yellow jersey, but he actually increased his lead over Andy Schleck to 39 seconds before tomorrow’s final stage.
It wasn’t all plain sailing though as 18.2 km in, Contador’s lead over Schleck had been slashed to 2 seconds but by the second time check Contador was regaining more of his lead, to 39 seconds ahead by the time he crossed the line. Contador’s accomplishments will no doubt see him being cheered into Paris as the champion of the Tour de France for the third time tomorrow.
The top 3 results in the time trial Stage 19 were as follows in order – Fabian Cancellara (Saxobank) 1 hour 0 min and 56 secs, Tony Martin (HTC Columbia) + 17 secs, and Bert Grabsch (HTC Columbia) + 1 min 48 secs. The top 5 in the overall standings after Stage 19 are – Alberto Contador (Astana) 89hrs 16mins 27secs, Andy Schleck (Saxo Bank) +39″, Denis Menchov (Rabobank) +2′01″, Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel) +3′40″ and Jurgen Van den Broeck (Omega Pharma-Lotto) +6′54″.
For complete results and overall current standings go to letour.fr. For more on Stage 19 go to BBC Sport. Tomorrow’s final Stage 20 stretches 102.5 km from Longjumeau to Paris Champs Elysees and looks set to see Spain’s Alberto Contador crowned once again. What do you think of Contador’s achievements in the Tour de France and what does it mean for cycling in general? We’d be interested to hear what you think so why not send us a comment.
via Tour de France 2010: Stage 19 results/standings – Contador in control.
