A Confirmation For Contador & Cavendish

Tour de France

 The final stage is all about enjoying the arrival in Paris and then contesting the bout for stage honors but by the time the peloton reaches the French capital the fight for the yellow jersey had already concluded.

Alberto Contador would end the 21st stage in 97th place but first overall. He is the second Spanish rider to claim more than one titles in the Tour de France, successfully backing up after his previous appearance and victory in 2007. The final stage, however, provided Mark Cavendish with another chance to show that he is indeed the fastest man in the world when it comes to sprinter.

If you ever doubted it, watch the finale of stage 21 and again and count the time it takes for the rest of the riders to cross the line… his nearest rival was the Australian lead-out master Mark Renshaw who celebrated an emphatic victory, the sixth for the Columbia team – all of them claimed by Cavendish.

Stage 21 Top Ten finishers:

No Rider Teams Time Gap
1 Mark Cavendish TEAM COLUMBIA - HTC 4h 02′ 18″ -
2 Mark Renshaw TEAM COLUMBIA - HTC 4h 02′ 18″ + 00′ 00″
3 Tyler Farrar GARMIN - SLIPSTREAM 4h 02′ 18″ + 00′ 00″
4 Gerald Ciolek TEAM MILRAM 4h 02′ 18″ + 00′ 00″
5 Yauheni Hutarovich FRANCAISE DES JEUX 4h 02′ 18″ + 00′ 00″
6 Thor Hushovd CERVELO TEST TEAM 4h 02′ 18″ + 00′ 00″
7 Jose Joaquin Rojas CAISSE D’EPARGNE 4h 02′ 18″ + 00′ 00″
8 Marco Bandiera LAMPRE - N.G.C 4h 02′ 18″ + 00′ 00″
9 Daniele Bennati LIQUIGAS 4h 02′ 18″ + 00′ 00″
10 William Bonnet BBOX BOUYGUES TELECOM 4h 02′ 18″ + 00′ 00″

Final Overall Classification:

Yellow Jersey:

No Rider Teams Time Gap
1 Alberto Contador ASTANA 85h 48′ 35″ -
2 Andy Schleck TEAM SAXO BANK 85h 52′ 46″ + 04′ 11″
3 Lance Armstrong ASTANA 85h 53′ 59″ + 05′ 24″

Green Jersey (Sprint):

No Rider Teams Points
1 Thor Hushovd CERVELO TEST TEAM 280
2 Mark Cavendish TEAM COLUMBIA - HTC 270
3 Gerald Ciolek TEAM MILRAM 172

Polka Dot Jersey (King of Mountain):

No Rider Teams Points
1 Franco Pellizotti LIQUIGAS 210
2 Egoi Martinez EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI 135
3 Alberto Contador ASTANA 126