So the Tour ends tomorrow, but we at PBT are just going to assume that Andy Schleck won’t attack Alberto Contador in Paris, and the GC is finally decided. So let’s get a head start on this rather cliched exercise, and go ahead with winners and losers, GC edition.

Winners

Alberto Contador

This was Contador’s opportunity to show the cycling world that he was his own champion, free of Johan Bruyneel and the Lance Machine. It was also his chance to prove he could win with an entire field out to nail the bull’s eye on his back.

He accomplished both quite emphatically. Contador was clearly the best all-around rider in the Tour, given his prowess over Schleck in the time trial. Chain-gate not withstanding, Contador was the field’s strongest rider, and he goes into Paris a deserved champion.

Andy Schleck

Certainly no Poulidor, Schleck proved in this Tour that he can win without his brother, and that he is able and willing to match cranks with anyone in the world. At just 25, it’s also quite clear where his weakness is, (the time trial) and he has plenty of time to improve. Contador and Schleck are forming a worthy successor to the Armstrong-Ullrich rivalry of not so long ago.

Denis Menchov

Menchov’s was a Tour de France to forget in 2009, when a crash ruined his GC hopes early on the tour. 2010 puts that to rest.

A strong time trial lifted Menchov above Samuel Sanchez and into the top three, giving the Russian a well-deserved second career podium finish. His was also an impressive tour in that he was one of precious few men that looked able to follow the accelerations of Contador and Schleck, at least some of the time.

Losers

Alberto Contador

Yes, the Spaniard is also the clear winner. But this tour will always be remembered, too, for those 39 seconds Contador won from Schleck when the Luxemburger’s chain rolled off his front rings. Right or wrong, fair or not, that’s an indelible part of this year’s race, a moment that will last forever.

Contador proved what he wanted, but that decision casts doubt over the win, for some. It doesn’t help that the final difference in the GC was also 39 seconds, an irony if ever there was one, I imagine.

Lance Armstrong

Maybe it was his age, maybe it was a stronger field, maybe it was bad luck and maybe it was the dark cloud of suspicion — alternately named Floyd Landis — following Armstrong around this July, but the on-road performance from the seven-time champion was, frankly, awful. The bad luck early took him out of GC contention for sure, but over the last week-plus, Armstrong looked, frankly, like he was more often than not mailing it in.

His aggressiveness last Tuesday is to be applauded. It’s sad he couldn’t finish his final tour with a stage win as a grand finale. But the clock doesn’t lie — Armstrong was slow. He was slow on several climbs, he was broken across the Tourmalet and his final Tour time trial, an event he once excelled in, finished with him just a whisker north of 70th.

Perhaps it’s unfair to say Armstrong quit trying his hardest. The work of a domestique is often doomed to go unnoticed. But that’s how his career ended, in the groupetto, minutes off the back. Did he quit, or was he simply not fast enough? Does it really make much difference?

A whole host of GC pretenders

Bradley Wiggins took his fat Sky contract and flopped, badly. Levi Leipheimer looked strong early but ended the Tour, not unlike his good friend Armstrong, looking a bit aged. Andres Kloden was nowhere near his last year’s form. Cadel Evans, crash or no, was an absolute joke. It’s only shocking he didn’t fade sooner.

No, it wasn’t a good year for the would-be dark horses and long shots. This was a two-man Tour, almost from start to finish. Schleck had his horses, and his chances, and Contador his as well. One was going to win, one was going to finish second. Not broken chain, nor cobbled roads could stop what by tomorrow will have become inevitable.

Tomorrow

The Sprinters! (Exclamation point for emphasis. You may also make Mark Cavendish-inspired hand gestures as you finish this piece, or begin the next one, though I would do it in private and, you know, not mention it to anyone that you do that sort of thing. It’s weird.)