ANNECY, France (AP) — Alberto Contador all but assured his second Tour de France victory Thursday,
winning the race’s final time trial while Lance Armstrong moved up one spot to third place.
Contador, Armstrong’s Astana teammate and the 2007 Tour champion, increased his overall lead in the 18th
stage in which cyclists rode against the clock on the 25-mile course in and around Annecy. The
three-week race ends Sunday on the Champs-Elysees in Paris.
Contador finished in 48 minutes, 31 seconds, beating Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland by three seconds.
Russia’s Mikhail Ignatiev was third, 15 seconds back.
"I went all out," said Contador, adding his earpiece radio linking him to team managers stopped
working during the stage and he was worried about Cancellara’s skill at time trials.
"Of course, what I especially wanted was to think about general class. A stage victory was less
important," he said. "I’m very happy. I didn’t expect it."
Armstrong was 15th, 1:30 behind. But the seven-time champion easily overcame a 30-second deficit to Frank
Schleck, who began the day in third place but slipped to sixth after finishing 2:34 behind Contador.
Schleck and younger brother Andy had bumped Armstrong from second place to fourth a day earlier in the
last punishing Alpine stage.
Overall, Contador leads Andy Schleck by 4:11. Armstrong is 5:25 back and Britain’s Bradley Wiggins is
fourth, 5:36 behind. Germany’s Andreas Kloeden, another Astana rider, is fifth, 5:38 back. Frank Schleck
is sixth, 5:59 behind.
While the stage was mostly flat, riders had to contend with the Bluffy pass climb, which snaked upward
for more than two miles with magnificent vistas over the hill-ringed lake. Several riders, including
British time-trial specialist David Millar, said the layout favored climbers because of that ascent.
"I felt like I had stopped dead in my tracks," Millar said.
The race started under cloudy skies as riders went one by one down the start ramp. The sun eventually
broke through, but rain doused the course by late afternoon and left patches of water on the roads.
After four straight tough stages, riders get a relatively easier ride Friday with a 111-mile course from
Bourgoin-Jallieu to Aubenas. The biggest challenge left is an uphill finish at Mont Ventoux on Saturday,
a day before the finish.