Tour de France

Today’s 15th stage offers some more punishing climbs in the Pyrenees over a 121.8-mile run from Foix to Loudenvielle-Le Louron. A rest day follows Tuesday. * Stage: The first of three grueling mountain stages in the Pyrenees took riders 122.4 miles from Mazamet to Plateau-de-Beille that included two very difficult climbs.

* Winner: Spanish rider Alberto Contador beat Tour leader Michael Rasmussen in a sprint to the line after the two riders had broken away near the final summit. Both finished in 5 hours 25 minutes 48 seconds.

* Yellow jersey: Rasmussen kept his overall lead. The Dane holds a 2:23 lead over Contador; 3:04 over Cadel Evans and 4:29 over Levi Leipheimer.

* Quote of the day: “We had a common interest in taking as much time out of our nearest competitors as possible.” -- Rasmussen, explaining how he and Contador worked together during the final climb.

*--* STAGE 14 RESULTS 1. Alberto Contador, Spain 5:25.48 2. Michael Rasmussen, Denmark Same time 3. Juan Mauricio Soler, Colombia :37 behind 4. Levi Leipheimer, United States :40 behind 5. Carlos Sastre, Spain :53 behind

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*--* OVERALL LEADERS 1. Michael Rasmussen, Denmark 64:12:15 2. Alberto Contador, Spain 2:23 behind 3. Cadel Evans, Australia 3:04 behind 4. Levi Leipheimer, U.S. 4:29 behind 5. Andreas Kloeden, Germany 4:38 behind

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