In the definitive, winner-takes-all, no-holds-barred, no-retreat-no-surrender, I’m-running-out-of-compound-modifiers Stage 7 climb into Barcelona today, an epic showdown between Lance Armstrong and Alberto Contador finally played out. And at the end, it was clear who was better, as they were standing atop the podium.
The Italian — whose most recent claim to fame had been a Stage 7 win (the parallels are insane, no?) in this year’s Tour of California — outclimbed Contador, Armstrong, Leipheimer and all other comers on the feared/famed hors catégorie Andorre Arcalis to take the yellow jersey in just his first Tour.
He went away with Brice Feillu, who ended up winning the stage, but Nocentini’s overall time put him in the maillot jaune.
Perhaps the underlying “real” story here was Alberto Contador, who kicked it into another gear and pushed away from the main group at the death of the stage. The spindly Spaniard closed to within six seconds of Nocentini and best teammate (using that word about as loosely as possible) Armstrong by two seconds.
So anyone who thought Armstrong’s little move on Monday would decide once and for all who’s leading Astana, well, you thought pretty wrong.
I swear, if I don’t see at least one public Team Astana meltdown/shouting match before this Tour is over, I might cry. It’s gonna be a blast…
