Contador wins Tour’s 15th stage, takes yellow jersey in Alps, Armstrong lags

Contador wins 15th stage of Tour in Alps

VERBIER, Switzerland — As a seven-time Tour champion Lance Armstrong recognizes greatness — teammate and rival Alberto Contador.

The Spaniard dominated the first stage in the Alps to take the overall lead on Sunday — his first chance to wear the yellow jersey since winning the 2007 Tour de France. Armstrong, who started the 15th stage in fourth, moved up to second overall but is 1 minute, 37 seconds behind his teammate and rival.

“I think when Alberto went, he showed he’s the best rider in the race, certainly the best climber. … Hats off to him,” Armstrong said.

The American vowed that he would not go against team orders and attack Contador later in the race.

“That’s not going to happen,” he said. “There’s been a lot of drama between Alberto and me … but at the end of the day we sit as a team.”

The 26-year-old Spaniard broke away from other pre-race favorites with 3.5 miles left in the 128.9-mile ride from Pontarlier, France, to the Swiss ski resort of Verbier — and he kept extending his lead to the end to finish in 5 hours, 3 minutes, 58 seconds.

Contador said his performance on the demanding climb left no doubt about who should be considered the Astana team leader.

“The differences now are pretty big, and the team’s bet should now be me, no?” he said. “I’m sure my teammates are going to put in great work to back me up just like they did today.”

Contador came into Sunday’s stage in third place overall, 6 seconds behind Rinaldo Nocentini.

“I’m very happy with this result. The climb wasn’t that long, but I wanted to make a difference,” said Contador, who looked fresh and tapped his chest as he finished. “I gave the maximum.”

Armstrong, who had entered the day fourth overall and 8 seconds behind Nocentini, finished ninth, 1:35 behind Contador.

Bradley Wiggins of Britain climbed from sixth place to third, 1:46 back of the Spaniard.

Andy Schleck of Luxembourg was second in the stage, 43 seconds back, and Vincenzo Nibali of Italy was third, 1:03 back. Nocentini was 2:36 off the pace.

Armstrong’s rivalry with Contador, on ice during last week’s mostly flat stages, had been set to re-ignite in the stage, but the Spaniard outclassed all the other favorites on the climb to Verbier.

Sunday’s ride was the first of three stages in the Alps, and the only one of those with an uphill finish. The 5.47-mile ascent from the valley up to Verbier was the first time that the Tour has visited the ski station.

Ten breakaway riders set the pace from early on in the stage, and chiseled out a maximum gap of 4:40 by the 78-mile mark — before the peloton gradually started closing in.

Armstrong hugged Contador’s rear wheel as the climb began, but didn’t try to keep up when the Spaniard burst ahead of the small group they were in 3.5 miles from the finish.

The Texan at times rose out of his bike saddle with his jersey open and his necklace swinging left and right during the final climb. Contador, alone with 1.5 miles to go, had to angrily swat back some fans who were running beside him on the climb.

“St15 done. Ouch! Verbier was as hard as I thought. Alberto — super and had great punch/power. A heartfelt congrats to him. Rest day 2morrow!” Armstrong wrote on his Twitter feed after the stage.

Riders get a rest day on Monday before the two other Alpine stages, an individual time trial in Annecy on Thursday, and a ride up the dreaded Mont Ventoux on Saturday.

The Tour ends Sunday in Paris.