The way Alberto Contador tore away on a mountaintop finish and outsprinted his chief rival to win the 14th stage of the Tour de France was a flashback to Lance Armstrong's era.
Ironically, the Discovery Channel team may have found a successor to seven-time Tour winner Armstrong in the year the team's sponsorship deal runs out.
"I'm certain Contador will win the Tour in the future," Discovery's sporting director Johan Bruyneel said.
PHOTO: EPA
Contador was toe-to-toe with race leader Michael Rasmussen when the pair neared the summit of the 197km ride from Mazamet to Plateau de Beille on Sunday, the first of three tortuous Pyrenees stages.
The two had taken turns to pull up Plateau de Beille in order to separate from rivals Cadel Evans, Levi Leipheimer and Andreas Kloeden. Legs churning in perfect unison, they ruthlessly dropped all three.
Then, with 200m left, Contador sized up Rasmussen, made his move down the right, boxed the Dane in next to the barriers and left him in his wake.
PHOTO: EPA
It seemed like a replay of Armstrong's win up to Le Grand Bornand in 2004 in the Alps.
Armstrong dropped his teammate Floyd Landis after he'd slogged for him up the hills and then the US rider overtook Kloeden at the top of the final ascent just as the two turned into a corner. Armstrong stormed past him and fist-pumped gleefully at the line.
Contador pumped his fist twice on his heart and then made a gesture with his fingers as if he was firing a pistol to gun down his rivals after winning in 5 hours, 25 seconds, 48 seconds and closing to within 2:23 of Rasmussen.
"This is the Tour de France. You don't give any presents," Rasmussen said. "The Plateau de Beille is not something you give away. It was a very well deserved win."
Even Bruyneel feels Contador has exceeded expectations.
Bruyneel once sent Armstrong an e-mail shortly before the 1999 Tour predicting that Armstrong would be on the Tour podium. He clearly sees a winner in Contador and maybe even a similar independence of spirit.
"When I attacked, it was not programmed by Bruyneel," Contador said. "I chose the moment."
At no stage in the final ascent did Contador look behind to check on the whereabouts of Leipheimer, his team leader.
"Alberto's phenomenal. I certainly have no problem with him being ahead of me," Leipheimer said. "If he doesn't win the Tour this year, he will some day."
Like cancer survivor Armstrong, Contador had serious health setbacks, notably when he suffered a massive blood clot in his brain that required surgery in 2004. The 24-year-old Spaniard took seven months to recover and then won a stage at Australia's Tour Down Under in January 2005.
Going into the Tour de France, Contador impressed by winning the Paris-Nice stage race. He's confident enough to taken on Rasmussen, the two-time holder of the King of the Mountains jersey.
"Rasmussen is very tough and he's in the lead," Contador said. "I will try to attack him."
He was to get another chance on yesterday's 15th stage, a 196km trek from Foix to Loudenvielle-Le Louron that features the Col de Mente, Port de Bales and Col de Peyresourde.
Sunday's big loser was Evans, who had begun the stage 1 minute back of Rasmussen in second place, but fell behind in the last 5km to drop to third, 3:04 back.
"They knew it was the right time to take some time off him [Evans]," Evans' Predictor-Lotto team sporting director Marc Sergeant said.
Leipheimer finished 40 seconds back and sits fourth overall, 4:29 off the pace. Kloeden, who was runner-up to Armstrong in 2004, is fifth, 4:38 back.
"This final climb is just brutal. I don't know what it is about it," Leipheimer said. "But it's always a killer. When there where all those accelerations it just hurt me."
The 2025 International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness (IFBB) Mr Universe Chinese Taipei competition began yesterday at Xinzhuang Gymnasium in New Taipei City, with more than 150 athletes showcasing their physiques. It is the first time in 16 years that the IFBB has held a competition in Taiwan, the last being the 2009 World Games in Kaohsiung. The professional bodybuilding contest is bringing together athletes from Taiwan and 16 other countries, including Malaysia, Japan, the US, France and Mexico. IFBB Chinese Taipei president Hsu An-chin said in an interview yesterday that the event came to Taiwan thanks to his lobbying efforts at last
Top seeds Alexander Zverev of Germany and American Coco Gauff on Tuesday advanced to the third round of the Canadian Open after both players were pushed hard by their opponents. World No. 3 Zverev, playing in his first match since his first-round loss at Wimbledon, was far from his best, but emerged with a 7-6 (8/6), 6-4 win over Adam Walton under the lights in Toronto. Momentum shifted firmly in Zverev’s favor when he won a 52-shot rally in the first set tiebreak and he sealed the win on a double fault by the Australian in the second set. “It was a very
Cycling great Marianne Vos won the opening stage of the women’s Tour de France with a brilliant late attack on Saturday. The 38-year-old Dutchwoman overtook her Visma–Lease a Bike teammate Pauline Ferrand-Prevot approaching the line, and then held off Mauritian rider Kim Le Court in the closing meters of a grueling uphill finish. Ferrand-Prevot looked set to win the stage, but the Frenchwoman attacked too early from 600m and could not withstand the late surge from Vos, who punched the air with her left fist as she crossed the line. Moments later, Vos hugged an exhausted-looking Ferrand-Prevot, the Paris-Roubaix winner. “I didn’t know if
TAIWANESE EXITS: Fellow Australian Christopher O’Connell joined Tristan Schoolkate as a winner following his 6-1, 6-2 defeat of Tseng Hsin-chun Australian qualifier Tristan Schoolkate on Monday dispatched rising Brazilian talent Joao Fonseca 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 at the ATP Toronto Masters, ensuring a breakthrough into the world top 100. The 24-year-old from Perth moved to 98th in the ongoing live rankings as he claimed his biggest career victory by knocking out the ATP NextGen champion from November last year. Schoolkate, son of a tennis coach, won his first match over a top-50 opponent on his sixth attempt as he ousted the world No. 49 teenager from Brazil. The qualifier played a quarter-final this month in Los Cabos and won through qualifying for his
RSS