Spain's Mikel Astarloza won the 16th stage of the Tour de France, a 159-km trek from Martigny, Switzerland, to Bourg St. Maurice on Tuesday. Frenchmen Sandy Casar and Pierrick Fedrigo were second and third respectively. Spain's Alberto Contador retained the overall leader's yellow jersey with a 1:37 lead over Lance Armstrong and a 1:46 edge over Briton Bradley Wiggins. Astarloza surged in the finale to finish on his own ahead of seven riders who had broken away with him on the two big climbs of the day, the Grand St. Bernard and the Petit St. Bernard. It was the first Tour stage victory for the Basque rider, 29, who finished 9th overall in 2007. Italy's Franco Pellizotti, gunning for the best climber's polka dot jersey, broke away from a group of early fugitives with Russian Vladimir Karpets. They reached the top of the Col du Grand St. Bernard with an advantage of 1:15 over a group of 17 riders, with the peloton 50 seconds further back. The riders went through the Italian town of Arvier, where Frenchman Maurice Garin, the first man to win the Tour in 1903, was born. The duo was caught by the leading group at foot of the Col du Petit St Bernard, with Pellizotti making another move some six kilometers from the summit to strengthen his King of the Mountains polka dot jersey. In the descent, eight escapees, including Pellizotti and Astarloza, regrouped and the Basque rider surged with two kilometers left to win on his won. On the last climb, Armstrong was dropped from the favorites' group six kilometers from the summit following a violent attack from Andy Schleck. The Luxemburg rider was only followed by his elder brother Frank, Contador, Bradley Wiggins, Andreas Kloeden and Vincenzo Nibali. Armstrong, however, came back three kilometers later thanks to a surge which recalled the unbeatable rider of old. Thanks to his effort, most of the Tour contenders - with the exception of Cadel Evans and title-holder Carlos Sastre - rejoined. In the descent to Bourg St. Maurice Schleck's German teammate Jens Voigt crashed heavily after a mechanical incident and was forced out of his 12th Tour. Armstrong to race in 2010 Lance Armstrong said on Tuesday he would ride in next year's race. “Making a very cool announcement on Thursday re: a new American partner for our team in 2010 (and beyond),” Armstrong wrote on his Twitter feed.
