Tour de France Update

At the end of a grueling race from Pontarlier into Verbier in the Swiss Alps on Sunday, Alberto Contador scored a double victory, winning the 15th stage of the Tour and taking the yellow jersey and the overall lead away from Rinaldo Nocentini. He was followed by Andy Schleck of Team Saxo Bank and in second place and Vincenzo Nibali of Liquigas in third.

Contador’s Astana teammate Lance Armstrong, crossed Sunday’s finish line in 9th place, putting him second in the overall standings, one minute and 37 seconds behind Contador, with Britain’s Bradley Wiggins, riding for the Garmin-Slipstream team, in third place overall, trailing Contador by 1:46.

The Italian Nocentini, riding for the AG2R La Mondiale, held on to first place all week, but finished only 19th in Sunday’s race, slipping down to sixth place overall.

Australian-born German rider Heinrich Haussler, of Cervelo Test Team, ran away with the rain-plagued 13th stage on Friday, 4 minutes and 11 seconds ahead of Spain’s Arnets Txurruka of the Basque team Euskaltel-Euskadi. On Friday morning, Astana’s Levi Leipheimer withdrew from the race, after breaking his right wrist in a fall on Thursday.

Rain also slicked the roads from Besançon to Colmar during the 14th stage on Saturday, won by Russian Sergei Ivanov of the Katusha team, with AG2R La Mondiale’s Nicolas Roche and Cervelo Test Team’s Hayden Roulston coming in second and third. Also in the breakaway group with the winners was American George Hincapie, riding for Columbia-HTC, who seemed to be heading for the yellow jersey himself, but finished just five seconds too late to move into the lead.

Monday is a day of rest for the riders, before the race continues on its swing through Switzerland, from Martigny to Bourg-Saint-Maurice, on Tuesday.