The Spanish Contador retained a comfortable lead of 4 minutes, 11 seconds over Andy Schleck of Luxembourg after the grueling 104-mile stage that began in Montelimar and ended at the barren summit of Mont Ventoux, race officials said.
Juan Manuel Garate of Spain won the stage with a time of 4 hours 39 minutes 21
seconds, barely edging Tony Martin of Germany. But the main competition during the stage was the jockeying among the runners-up to Contador in the overall standings, as Schleck locked up with Contador's Astana teammate, American Lance Armstrong, in a battle for second place.
Schleck ended the day 1 minute, 13 seconds ahead of Armstrong. Britain's Bradley Wiggins retained fourth-place overall with a 10-place finish in the 20th stage.
Armstrong's showing was impressive because entered the stage barely hanging on to third place with Wiggins close behind, only 15 seconds back.
Copyright 2009 by United Press International.
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Armstrong's children were wearing yellow because that's the color of Livestrong, his cancer foundation. His comeback has given a huge boost to that important effort and his new partnership with Radio Shack will do even more. So Bravo Lance! And thank you.
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