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Astana team rider Alberto Contador of Spain signs an autograph before a training session on a rest day of the Tour de France cycling race in Morzine on Monday. (Reuters)
Alberto Contador will conserve his energy and let other teams control the next stage of Tour de France after putting himself firmly on track to win the race for a third time.
The 27-year-old Spaniard is third overall, one minute one second behind leader Cadel Evans of Australia and 41 seconds adrift of Luxembourg's Andy Schleck, who looks like the only man able to compete with him in the mountains.
"In the previous years, I had to attack to win. Now, I'm in a good position and I can save my strength," Contador told reporters on Monday, a rest day before Tuesday's ninth stage to St Jean de Maurienne.
"On Tuesday, I will let the responsibility of controlling the race to other teams."
Despite being the overall favourite, he will not have to make his team work hard to control the race as the yellow jersey is on Evans's shoulders.
Schleck's 41-second advantage is also not enough for the Saxo Bank rider to just wait and see since he is likely to lose a lot of time to Contador in the final time trial, a 52-km effort from Bordeaux to Pauillac.
On Sunday, it was Astana who set the tempo in the final climb and it was too much to handle for several contenders.
Among them were seven-times champion Lance Armstrong, who lost 11:45, and Briton Bradley Wiggins, who finished 1:45 adrift of Schleck.
Armstrong, who rarely crashed when he was dominating the field from 1999-2005, hit the tarmac in Sunday's first Alps stage of the Tour, sustaining a knock on his left hip in the process.
The Texan, however, is expected to start Tuesday's ninth stage to St Jean de Maurienne, with the intimidating 25-km climb to the Col de la Madeleine on the menu.
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