Contador seals third Tour de France title

Contador won by 39 seconds over Andy Schleck - the fifth closest race in history (BBC)

Alberto Contador on Sunday reached the Champs-Elysses in Paris as winner of the Yellow Jersey for the third time of his career, confirmed by a time-trial ride where he extended his lead over main rival Andy Schleck to 39 seconds.

The gap is a huge irony to the Luxembourger Schleck, as he lost precisely the same amount in a Pyrenean stage three days earlier to Contador in a manner that upset purists by infringing the sport's unwritten code of ethics - capitalising on a mechanical failure.

The Spanaird's victory, now three-time winner of the most prestigious event in road cycling, was arguably his least convincing. It is unknown whether he could have got back on Schleck's wheel in Stage 15's ascent to the Port De Bales had the White Jersey winner Schleck had not suffered a mechanical. Contador was caught unaware by Schleck's sudden burst of pace, and some experts say he is tactically naive.

Contador had been riding defensively throughout the Tour. Maybe he is not on form - he told local reporters he was struggling with illness. Nobody can doubt his amazing skill in ascending up mountains, but many would like to think Schleck may pose an even grerater threat than the one the Spanaird encountered this year.

Caught in a 'chain' reaction - Schleck wins Tourmalet stage, but unable to shake off Contador

Schleck won Stage 17 to the Col Du Tourmalet, but was unable to take the Yellow Jersey off Alberto Contador (AP Images)

Andy Schleck won Stage 17's ascent up to Col Du Tourmalet, but the victory proved to be a hollow one as he was unable to distance himself from his rival for the Yellow Jersey, Alberto Contador.

Contador arrived at the Tourmalet's summit with Schleck, so the Spanaird still retains his eight-second advantage heading into Saturday's time-trial, which he is widely-regarded as much more of a proficient rider in this discipline.

Schleck attacked from the main bunch 10km from the end, and dispelling the threat of a seven-man breakaway. Not that the SaxoBank rider was all too concerned: his main protagonist was Astana's Contador, who took the lead capitalising on a mechanical fault from Schleck's bike, widely viewed as against race etiquette to profit in such way.

Schleck's tactics may have proved flawed. The 18km ascent up to the largest mountain of this year's Tour at 2015 metres above sea level, saw the Luxembourgeois ahead of Contador throughout the treacherous climb. This meant every time Schleck attacked, Contador could react to it much sooner than if Schleck attacked from behind the Spanaird. However, at the same time, Schleck does not possess the same explosiveness in attacking to break clear of his rivals at steeper mountains.

The 40km time trial is a weakness in Schleck bike riding capabilities. He simply doesn't average as fast a speed compared to Contador. By the end of Saturday, we could see Schleck losing many seconds if not, minutes.

Both are the two best climbers by far of this year's combatants. Samuel Sanchez and Denis Menchov, third and fourth in the General Classification respectively, are over three and a half minutes behind GC leader Contador, having lost around a minute to the fierce rivals.

Friday's stage to Bordeaux is a flat stage favouring a bunch sprint finish, so Saturday's time-trial will be the last opportunity for significant changes to the GC standings, before Sunday's precessional stage to the Champs-Elysses in Paris.

Out of the Alps; into the Pyrenees as Contador seeks to apply pressure on Schleck

Schleck holding the Yellow Jersey with main rival Alberto Contador (Getty Images)

In a week where dark horse General Classification contenders floundered and an omission of one of the best lead-out men in cycling left many surprised, the Tour De France's thus far punishing journey, has still got one more week to provide 190-odd cyclists leg-breaking pain, and fans on the roads palpable tension.

The physical exertions of hilltop finishes, and the Alps has really put paid to many contenders' dreams of GC glory, more so Lance Armstrong, Cadel Evans and Bradley Wiggins. While the latter has never looked a serious threat in the mountains of the Alps, Armstrong and particularly Evans looked more of an ominous threat to defending Yellow Jersey winner Alberto Contador. Evans even took the Maillot Jaune on Stage 7, only to suffer the ignominy of seeing his rivals Contador and Andy Schleck cycle pass him on the way to the summit of the terrifying Cote de la Madelaine Alps mountain during the next stage, a hors-category (most severe) beast.

Schleck has since held the Maillot Jaune - his first ever - fending off countless number of Contador's powerful attacks on the mountains, when perhaps Luxembourger Schleck should have been the one asserting the pressure on the Spanaird to build himself a buffer for the penultimate stage of the Tour - the time-trial - Schleck's achilles heel. He succumbed to the pressure on Stage 12's hilltop finish at Mende, losing 10 critical seconds off his 41 second advantage. Now with only a 31 second cushion, Schleck needs to build some momentum in the Pyrenees to increase the time gap between him and his arch-rival for arguably the most prestigious jersey in the sport.

In the sprints points competition, Thor Hushovd has been dicing with Alessandro Petacchi, and Mark Cavendish, for the Green Jersey. Cavendish is some 29 points behind, though, and is currently licking his wounds over his split-second decision not to compete for a major haul of points at Stage 3's finish in Arenbourg (the cobbles stage), after finding out he had nothing in him to compete for stage victory. That has cost him dear, and Petacchi has since moved ever closer to Norwegian Hushovd in the points classification, competing for precious placings in intermediate sprints at the front of the peloton in flatland during the middle of the stage, something Cavendish is unable to compete in. Although the sprint finish awards the highest amount of points, Cavendish's strategy of accumulating points has so far proved flawed as he makes a last-dich attempt to dislodge rival Hushovd for glory.

People with great interests in the sport will be eagerly waiting for events to unfold in the Pyrenees, particularly Thursday's climb up to the Col du Tourmalet.

A case of surviving the treacherous cobbled roads - so far in the Tour De France

It is difficult to imagine how a sport as visually and monotonously boring as cycling can capture excitement on the shores of the UK. Well it certainly has got my eyes peeling and certainly a good few others, as British success in the track format and outdoor racing has led for further coverage by press and broadcast media.

ITV4 stretched its daily coverage of the Tour De France to live programming as well as its traditional highlights slot, good for people on freeview. Thus far, the Tour, the most prestigious competition in cycling, has seen a number of crashes, main contenders faltering, even in flat stages, and a British champion in serious contention in the main (general) classification. Whilst renown veterans like Cadel Evans or Lance Armstrong are struggling to assert themselves in the peleton, younger and fresher talent will look to get in front of the pack.

The trend from the last couple of Tours - your Alberto Contadors, Bradley Wiggins's, Andy Schlecks, Mark Cavendish and this year's emergence onto the big scene Sky's Hagen Boasson and Geraint Thomas, have given the event a tremendous spectacle. These are explosive, powerful riders, and to see these soon-to-be household names of the sport jossling for the Yellow Jersey - the highest prize given - is liberating. Contador has won the Tour the last two times he has graced the surfaces of French terrain.

Partner these combatants with usual suspects Thor Hushovd, Armstrong, Evans, Petacchi, Cancellara, Alexandre Vinokourov, Andreas Kloden, then this year's Tour should be an excitingly close affair.

So what has the stages been like so far? Being an armchair viewer, even if the television cameras are giving audiences the coverage around the peleton, in front of it or behind, it is qute difficult for the less informed to know what's happening. Easily understandable. When Cavendish is sprinting for a stage victory, why does he need three of his teammates in front of him? Can't they go for glory themselves? Why isn't Contador or Armstrong not at the front usually? But bike racing has always been about strategy and attacking at different points of the race to destroy your opponents. That is more likely to be seen on the mountainous stages. Stages usually get very intriguing with around 20km left. I usually watch it at that point, maybe slightly earlier.

At the early stages, GC contenders have been trying to limit their losses over their rivals. The race has been concertinaed to some extent: yesterday's cobbled stage, the most intriguing stage some people will probably ever watch, saw Armstrong, Contador and Andy Schleck's brother Frank, have serious problems. Amstrong and Frank fell off, with the latter declaring retirement from the race. Armstrong had to recover his time losses from his main rival Contador, who also suffered with a tyre deflation just metres from the Stage 3 finish. Other serious contenders like Evans and Wiggins, and particularly Andy Schleck, capitalised on their misfortunes by being at the front end of the race.

The race stands with Cancellara leading from Great Britain national champion Thomas. Don't expect Swiss' Cancellara to hold Yellow for too long, as when the riders reach the Alps, things do change dramatically. The contenders for the Green Jersey, particularly Hushovd, Petacchi and Isle of Man's Caverdish, won't need to worry about finishing the moutain stages in double quick time. They are concentrating on the flat stages, where they can maximise their speed in much less arduous conditions. It is all about picking up points in various sections in stages, something Hushovd is renown for doing so well as he tends to hoover up sprint points that Caverdish seems too lax to contend. This is until the finish line where Caverdish always performs, and where he can collect the most number of points, but sometimes that just isn't enough: Caverdish won six stages last year, but still lost out to the Norwegian, who only had won one stage.

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Murray brushes aside Tsonga to reach Wimbledon semis

Never has watching Andy Murray throughtout a Grand Slam tournament felt so comfortable and reassuring. Yesterday, the Scotsman sealed his passage to the semi-finals at Wimbledon to face World no. 2 Rafael Nadal after defeating Jo-Wilfred Tsonga in four sets.

Murray, who dropped his first set so far to the French world no. 10, came back in his typical gutsy ways. The first two sets were too close to call: Murray seemed unable to find opportunities to break Tsonga's serve, with the Frenchman using hard and flat groundstokes to manouever the Scot around the court.

The second set proved pivotal. After Tsonga had won the first via a tie-break, Murray stepped up his game using great imagination around the court and showing a deft touch on the odd drop shot. Although Tsonga retained his positive style of play, Murray obviously sensed the predictability of Tsonga's power. Murray began returning well on Tsonga's serve, and with that earned a set point in the second set tie break when Tsonga mistakenly left a looping Murray return to drop on the line. He never looked back. He won the next two sets 6-2.