Well, we’ve been waiting for this for awhile, haven’t we?

All questions answered, all riddles solved.

It’s Contador.

The spindly Spaniard crushed the field at the end of today’s stage, riding away from everyone — including teammate and everybody’s All-American Lance Armstrong — to take a comfortable lead in the Tour de France and put on the yellow for the first time in two years.

The suspense over which Astana strongman would end up with the lead of the race and of his team appears to have ended, as Contador now stands 1:37 ahead of Armstrong, the 2nd-place finisher, going into the final rest day.

“That’s not going to happen,” Armstrong said when asked if he would attack Contador’s lead. “There’s been a lot of drama between Alberto and me … but at the end of the day we sit as a team.”

This moment had been building for weeks leading up to the Tour, and Versus, the American network carrying coverage even used it as a sales pitch in promotional advertisements.

It’s fair to say, however, that it’s been resolved now, and it appears highly unlikely that we will see anyone but Contador wearing the maillot jaune from here on.