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96th Tour de France

Stage 15 - Pontarlier to Verbier - 207.5 km (129.0 mi)

19 July 2009

For two weeks, everyone has been pointing at this stage through Switzerland as the place where we would finally get some answers. The GC contenders have been content for a fortnight to sit back and watch as others -- the sprinters, the climbers, a grip of breakaway artists -- hogged the spotlight. Stage after stage went past in a blur, the yellow jersey remaining in a state of limbo on the shoulders of unheralded Italian Rinaldo Nocentini. All the favorites for the overall marked one another, neither gaining nor losing time on the route. The Pyrenees, by design this year, failed to afford the ability to assert any dominance; the Vosges were mere speed bumps in the road, launching pads only for breakaway success. But today would prove different.

All it took was the climb from Martigny to Verbier to make up for the past two weeks of indecision on the part of the leaders. While we saw the Astana pair of Armstrong and Contador trade half-cocked punches against one another -- Lance gaining seconds in the blow-up of Stage 3, Alberto countering four days later at the end of the Andorran climb up Arcalis -- neither of them nor any of the other contenders made more than halfhearted efforts to affix their stamp to this race. But the level gradient up to Verbier cleared the air, the well-paved pass to the ski resort providing the perfect launching pad in much the same way that Courcheval set the stage in 2005.

But while history played out in much the same way, the principal benefactor did not stay the same. No longer should we have to ask ourselves who might be the leader, the chosen one on the star-glutted Astana powerhouse. For in a few stout accelerations, 2007 champion Alberto Contador was pulling away on the climb to Verbier. With the move, the Spaniard sealed his position as the top dog on his team, quelling for once the rumors that it might be not he but Lance Armstrong who is more deserving of the leadership role. Contador proved once again why he is considered by many to be the best climber currently in the peloton, riding all the way to the summit finish and into the maillot jaune for the first time in nearly two years. I'd be shocked to see it change hands again before Paris -- the mountains don't lie, and they've revealed the pedal-pounder from Pinto to be the class of the 2009 Tour de France.

And that's honestly how it should be. While a lot of the buzz surrounding this year's race centered around the return of prodigal son Lance Armstrong to the event after nearly four years away from the sport, many forgot that this was effectively Contador's first chance to defend his 2007 crown. After Astana were denied their due and kept out of the 2008 Tour, the man who would be trying to repeat his success was shut out from even getting the opportunity to try. The rest, of course, was straight out of the history books. Contador, fueled by the snub of ASO, went out and dominated the 2008 Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a Espana for good measure, becoming the youngest of only five riders in history to win all three of cycling's grand tours.

He's been winning, essentially, every other grand tour on the calendar for two years now. He won the 2007 Tour, skipped the Vuelta that year, won the 2008 Giro when he learned he would be denied entry to the Tour, went out and won his home race, and then skipped the 2009 Giro to prepare for this Tour. It's hard to believe that this rider, who first came onto the scene four years ago during Paris-Nice when only some slick bike handling kept him from braining himself on a sheer rock cliff face during the final stage, is only 26 years old. He has evolved from that point, when it was his friend Alejandro Valverde who won the stage into Nice and who looked to have the greatest grand-tour promise amongst the new crop of Spanish young guns, to become without question the catalyst for an Iberian resurgence in the sport.

While Oscar Pereiro and Carlos Sastre both played their part in the recent Spanish dominance of the Tour, and Oscar Freire did his part with a green jersey victory as well, all are on the other side of thirty and will not be able to challenge much longer for the spoils. Contador, though, is the type of rider who has at least -- if we take the measure of what his decorated teammate was able to accomplish -- seven or eight good years left in his prime. This 2009 Tour, which now seems to be a lock for Contador, will certainly not be his last moment of contention. Not only is Lance's record of seven Tour victories at risk... Eddy Merckx might just have another record in danger, as a Contador victory in Paris one week from today would mark his fourth grand tour. Merckx set the benchmark, winning eleven grand tours (5 Tours de France, 5 Giros d'Italia, and 1 Vuelta a Espana) in his career.

When it comes right down to it, Lance Armstrong might've been a feel-good story with which to begin this year's race, but it is honestly more a distraction from the future of the sport than a legitimate boost for the present. We should be celebrating guys like Cavendish and Contador, the true future of the Tour de France and of cycling in general. It is their efforts which will help promote the continued growth of the sport. It is important to remember the past, and to respect those achievements. But there is no reason to linger nostalgically on a former great when we have the future right before us...

RESULTS - STAGE 15

1. Alberto Contador (Astana) 5:03:58
2. Andy Schleck (Saxo Bank) +0:43
3. Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas) +1:03
   
4. Frank Schleck (Saxo Bank) +1:06
   
5. Bradley Wiggins (Garmin-Slipstream)
   
6. Carlos Sastre (Cervelo TestTeam)
7. Cadel Evans (Silence-Lotto) +1:26
   
8. Andreas Kloden (Astana) +1:29
9. Lance Armstrong (Astana) +1:35
   
10. Kim Kirchen (Columbia) +1:55
    

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION

1. Alberto Contador (Astana) 63:17:56
2. Lance Armstrong (Astana +1:37
3. Bradley Wiggins (Garmin-Slipstream) +1:46
4. Andreas Kloden (Astana) +2:17
5. Andy Schleck (Saxo Bank) +2:26
6. Rinaldo Nocentini (AG2R-La Mondiale) +2:30
7. Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas) +2:51
   
8. Tony Martin (Columbia) +3:07
9. Christophe Le Mevel (Francaise des Jeux) +3:09
   
10. Frank Schleck (Saxo Bank) +3:25

POINTS CLASSIFICATION

1. Thor Hushovd (Cervelo TestTeam) 218
2. Mark Cavendish (Columbia) 200
3. Jose Joaquin Rojas (Caisse d'Epargne) 126
4. Gerald Ciolek (Milram) 122
5. Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Slipstream) 110
6. Oscar Freire (Rabobank) 97
7. Nicolas Roche (AG2R-La Mondiale) 81
   
8. Franco Pellizotti (Liquigas) 81
   
9. Lloyd Mondory (AG2R-La Mondiale) 74
10. Serguei Ivanov (Katusha) 66
    

KING OF THE MOUNTAINS

1. Franco Pellizotti (Liquigas) 109
2. Egoi Martinez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) 101
3. Pierrick Fedrigo (BBox-Bouygues Telecom) 65
4. Brice Feillu (Agritubel) 64
5. Christophe Kern (Cofidis) 63
6. Mikel Astarloza (Euskaltel-Euskadi) 56
7. Sylvain Chavanel (Quick Step) 56
   
8. Alberto Contador (Astana) 52
   
9. Christophe Riblon (AG2R-La Mondiale) 46
10. Heinrich Haussler (Cervelo TestTeam) 45

BEST YOUNG RIDER

1. Andy Schleck (Saxo Bank) 63:20:22
2. Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas) +0:25
3. Tony Martin (Columbia)  +0:41  
4. Roman Kreuziger (Liquigas) +2:14
5. Brice Feillu (Agritubel) +4:38
   
6. Peter Velits (Milram) +5:32
7. Chris Anker Sorensen (Saxo Bank) +9:40
8. Pierre Rolland (BBox-Bouygues Telecom) +10:51
9. Nicolas Roche (AG2R-La Mondiale) +15:15
10. Yury Trofimov (BBox-Bouygues Telecom) +20:06

TEAM CLASSIFICATION

1. Astana -- 188:22:49 
2. AG2R-La Mondiale -- +1:17
3. Saxo Bank -- +2:14
4. Milram -- +2:41
5. Columbia -- +2:49
6. Garmin-Slipstream -- +5:39
7. Cervelo TestTeam -- +8:28
8. Euskaltel-Euskadi -- +11:15
9. Cofidis -- +11:46
10. Francaise des Jeux -- +16:07