ANNECY, France — Alberto Contador all but assured his second Tour de France victory Thursday, winning the race’s final time trial, while Lance Armstrong struggled with fatigue but 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 that 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 16th, 1:30 behind. But he 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.
Armstrong said he had “mixed emotions” about his ride.
“Sixteenth in a time trial is not a good result,” he said. “But my ambition is to get on the podium, so I have to be happy with that.”
Schleck and younger brother Andy had bumped Armstrong from second place to fourth a day earlier during the last punishing Alpine stage.
“I suffered,” Armstrong said. “I probably started too hard, and maybe I was just empty from (Wednesday) and those cramps I suffered at the end of the (17th) stage.”
Overall, Contador leads Andy Schleck by 4:11. Armstrong is 5:25 back and Britain’s Bradley Wiggins of Boulder-based Garmin-Slipstream 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 2 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.
Armstrong was relatively strong at the start, only 29 seconds slower than Contador through the second intermediate time check at the 25-kilometer mark. His main time deficit came on Bluffy, where he was 1:12 behind Contador.
“I felt good at the beginning. I felt smooth,” he said. “But there was a tail wind, so maybe everyone felt good. I just wasn’t that strong on the climb.”
After four straight tough stages, riders get a relatively easier trip today, a 111-mile course from Bourgoin-Jallieu to Aubenas.
At a glance
A brief look at Thursday’s 18th stage of the Tour de France:
Stage: A 25-mile individual time trial around Annecy Lake in the French Alps.
Winner: Alberto Contador of Spain, three seconds ahead of time-trial specialist Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland. Mikhail Ignatiev of Russia finished third, 15 seconds off the pace, while seven-time champion Lance Armstrong was 90 seconds behind in 16th.
Yellow jersey: Contador, the 2007 winner, leads Andy Schleck by 4:11. Armstrong climbed to third, 5:25 behind his Astana teammate.
How Garmin-Slipstream fared: David Millar and Bradley Wiggins finished the stage fifth and sixth, respectively, allowing Wiggins to climb to fourth overall, but timewise, he fell further back and is now 5:36 from the lead.
Next stage: Today’s 19th stage is a 111-mile ride from Bourgoin-Jallieu to Aubenas. The course features three small climbs and is likely to favor breakaway riders.
The Associated Press
