Cycling, Alberto Contador | featured news

Defending champion Alberto Contador and last year’s runner-up Andy Schleck renewed their rivalry as riders started the Tour de France on Saturday. The mostly flat first stage takes riders over 119 miles from La Barre-de-Monts to Mont des Alouettes in the Vendee region of western France. Three-time champion Contador beat Schleck by just 39 seconds last year. The 2,131-mile Tour ends on July 24 at the Champs-Elysees.

Alberto Contador claimed his third Tour de France title after finishing safely in the bunch in the final stage won by Briton Mark Cavendish Sunday.

The riders of the Tour de France have been disrupted by sheep running across their path on a hard climb up the Pyrenees mountains.

Alberto Contador and Lance Armstrong are sniping again after a fragile truce during the Tour de France. Contador, who secured his second Tour win on Sunday in Paris, said he had no admiration for the American as a person and tensions between the two had a negative effect on the Astana team.

Alberto Contador of Spain has won the Tour de France for a second time, and Lance Armstrong will join him on the podium after finishing third in his comeback to cycling’s main event.