Contador wears Yellow, Lance Armstrong’s hopes look Blue

Alberto Contador took advantage of the last 9-kilometers of Stage 15 in Verbier, Switzerland to claim his first overall lead in the Tour de France this year and the color yellow, which looks like he may keep until Paris.  The 15th Stage was a pre-cursor of what will come to the Tour in the next week, the Alps.  The end of the stage was a 1,000 foot climb straight to the top.  Contador, Astana’s team leader, wasted no time, attacking the Peloton at the bottom of the climb to win the stage.

What looked like the Tour’s of old (4-6 years ago), Lance Armstrong was peddling strong at the front of the pack, just waiting for his moment to strike.  However, this year is different.  He is no longer the leader on his team, which makes his priority to watch out for and back up his team leader Alberto Contador.  At the beginning of the tour, the questions all slanted towards Armstrong and if he had what it takes to win his 8th Tour.  But he made the point right away that Contador was Astana’s team leader and he would see what would happen on the course.  Stage 15 started out with the same questions, as Armstrong was only 2 seconds behind Contador in the overall standings and 8 seconds behind the yellow jersey.  However, when Contador attacked with 10K left, the game plan for Astana was finally displayed.  Astana’s purpose is to see that Contador wins the Tour.  Armstrong is there to do all he can to make sure Contador wears yellow in Paris.

Watching Sunday’s stage really seemed like watching the Armstrong’s of old.  Looking as comfortable as he wanted, Armstrong would dance on his pedals, looking around at each rider who would be in pure agony while trying to climb a mountain after already biking 130K.  Then out of the blue, Armstrong would sprint away, ripping everyone off of his slipstream and grabbing a stage win to increase his overall lead.

But in Stage 15, he didn’t look like what he used to be.  Although, keeping tempo while climbing up Verbier, he doesn’t seem to have the stamina to be able to sprint away from other strong climbers, especially the best climber of them all, Contador.

That being said, I still think he could win another Tour, but it won’t be this year while riding under Contador.  Maybe some team will recognize how much strength this 38-year-old rider still has in him and then assign him as their team leader for next years Tour.  One can only hope.

However, with Lance coming back to the Tour this year, fans are again watching and cheering for him no matter if wins or doesn’t.  And he obviously has been through more in his life than just to be recognized by his Tour victories, so it’s always a honor to watch him ride.  He’s a great ambassador for the world of cycling and I hope to see him race in a few more Tours in the years to come.