Cancellara True, Contador Celebrates – 97th Tour de France, Stage 19
With television coverage focused solely on the battle for final podium places, audiences would miss two more outstanding performances by the riders that animated the 97th Tour de France Prologue.
Tony Martin (HTC-Columbia), the young German who sat in the hot seat for hours before Cancellara bested his time in the Prologue, had the benefit of the later start time on the 52km Stage 19 Individual Time Trial. Martin would set the fastest time at the first intermediate checkpoint, but he was unable to match the World Champion for the remainder of the race. But, he was not alone.
Fabian Cancellara (Team Saxo Bank) sat comfortably on the leader's perch all day after seeing Martin's finish as no one would even pose a serious threat to his time of 1:00:56. Ultimately, Martin would finish in second, while teammate Bert Grabsch, another early starter, finished in third.
Stage 19 Results
1. Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Team Saxo Bank
2. Tony Martin (Ger) Team HTC - Columbia
3. Bert Grabsch (Ger) Team HTC - Columbia
The battle for podium places went relatively as expected. Andy Schleck (Team Saxo Bank) fought valiantly, but was unable to make up the 8 second gap to Alberto Contador (Team Astana) to reclaim the maillot jaune. The Luxembourger would lose thirty-one seconds to Contador, which coincidentally was the gap between the two when a mechanical felled Schleck in the mountains.
Denis Menchov (Rabobank) proved to be the better time trialist between he and Samuel Sanchez (Euskatel-Euskadi). The quiet Russian easily made up the 21 second gap to Sanchez, who had an off-day, to take the final podium spot in Paris.
General Classification After Stage 19
1. Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana
2. Andy Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank - 0:00:39
3. Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank - 0:02:01
4. Samuel Sánchez Gonzalez (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi - 0:03:40
5. Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto - 0:06:54
6. Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank - 0:09:31
7. Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin - Transitions - 0:10:15
8. Joaquin Rodriguez (Spa) Team Katusha - 0:11:37
9. Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Liquigas-Doimo - 0:11:54
10. Christopher Horner (USA) Team Radioshack - 0:12:02
Jersey Leaders After Stage 19
maillot jaune - Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana
maillot vert - Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Lampre-Farnese Vini
maillot à pois rouges - Anthony Charteau (Fra) Bbox Bouygues Telecom
maillot blanc - Andy Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank
Next: Stage 20 -Longjumeau to Paris (102.5km)
The final stage and promenade in Paris...
Photo: Lionel Bonaventure/AFP/Getty Images
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31 seconds huh... and you say this was the same gap in the mountains...man that stinks.