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Today was a sad day in the history of the Tour de France. Bad luck and age caught up with Lance Armstrong today to leave him 13′26″ off the lead. Compounding his trouble on the cobbles in stage 3, Lance fell 3 times today and at age 38, he just didn’t have the gas to rejoin the leaders. Regardless of the falls, Lance really didn’t have what it took to keep pace on the climb as teams Sky and Astana held a fast tempo up the high mountains. The other contenders, Contador, Evans, Schleck and Menchov were able to stay together. Notably, Lance’s teammate Levi Leipheimer was able to stay with the leaders, and leave team Radio Shack with a shot at the podium.

One of the biggest stories of the 2009 Tour de France is that there were NO scandals or drug accusations. Alberto Contador’s 2007 victory was marred by the number of riders excluded for positive drug tests or missed testing during training.

Alberto Contador ended all questions today about who is the best rider in the tour, and who is the leader of Astana. 7 time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong climbed to third place today while losing 1 minute and 30 seconds and finishing 16th on the stage to time trial and apparent Tour de France winner Alberto Contador.

With 17 stages complete, the 2009 Tour de France podium is still up for grabs. There are 2 major stages left to determine the Yellow Jersey, and 2 contenders (Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck).

In a tour that has been defined by the hundredth of a second, Alberto Contador took the overall lead by 1:37 over his teammate Lance Armstrong in Stage 15 of the 2009 Tour de France. In the first stage to finish on a mountaintop since Stage 7, Contador showed why he is called the best climber on the professional tour.

On a team with more than one strong rider, the team must work together to fend off the other teams, but if the strong riders start competing, the whole team loses. In the case of Astana, it is pretty clear that the team director had told the team to work together to get the yellow jersey from Cancellara, and have it naturally fall to the highest place Astana rider, Lance Armstrong. However, the best laid plans go awry when a team member goes out for himself.

Expect to see team Astana set a blistering pace to destroy the other teams and climbers. The Schleck brothers will try to repeat their feats from 2008, but team Astana will prove too much. If Lance at age 37 can keep up with Contador, the yellow jersey will be his, but that will be no easy task.

Stage 2 played out exactly as one would expect. The peleton chased down a non threatening breakaway, ending in a typical sprinters dual, with Cavendish beating all and Tyler Farrar best of the rest. Hushovd coming in a respectful 4th.
Stage 3 showed the value of experience. Only Cavendish and Hushovd made the break when team [...]