Alberto Contador was within reach of his second Tour de France victory on Saturday after the much-anticipated Mont Ventoux stage failed to significantly modify the final standings. “It has been a different, special, tough Tour,” said the Spaniard, who finished fourth in the 167km penultimate stage, won by his compatriot Juan Manuel Garate. Contador, who won his first Tour in 2007 and was banned from taking part last year, easily checked countless attempts on the Ventoux climb by Luxembourg's Andy Schleck, who is poised to finish second, four minutes and 11 seconds behind. The last laurels at stake on the 21.1km of the hardest climb in cycling were the last spot on the podium. Seven-time champion Lance Armstrong showed he remained a formidable rider at 37, finishing 5th in the stage to retain his third place, 5:24 behind Contador. The Spaniard was even seen helping the American bridge the gap on one of Andy Schleck's moves, proving there were no hard feelings between the two leaders of the Astana team they will probably both leave next season. “The only thing I had to do was to control Andy Schleck and I was able to do it. He tried to attack many times and he was very strong, but I was too,” Contador said. “I'm also glad we managed to keep Lance in third place,” he said. Briton Bradley Wiggins, who again performed like a sheer mountaineer, finally lost touch in the last km but limited the damage to retain 4th place in the general classification. The pursuit Olympic champion is three seconds ahead of Frank Schleck, who is set to improve on his 6th place last year. Andy Shleck, who was also full of praise for Contador, said: “The aim was to defend my second place and put Frank on the podium. It didn't work out because Armstrong was very strong”. Sixteen riders went on the gun in Montelimar to try and tackle the Ventoux ahead of the rest of the pack. The escapees held a maximum lead of 10:40 of which only 4:30 was left when the bunch tackled the last climb. On the mountain, swept by a headwind, the fugitives were caught one after another with the exception of Garate and Germany's Tony Martin. Garate outpaced Martin on the line and has now won a stage in each of the three big Tours. Andy Schleck finished third, 38 seconds adrift, with Contador in his wheel. The Tour finishes on Sunday after a 164.5km ride from Montereau-Fault Yonne to the Champs
