Sastre takes stage, lead as Tour leaves the Alps

Sastre took the yellow jersey by speeding ahead of the main title contenders in the final ascent of the 210.5-kilometre ride from Embrun to L’Alpe d’Huez.

Sastre, a five-time top-10 finisher at the Tour who also won a mountain stage in 2003, beat most of the other title threats by more than two minutes.

The stage was the last of three in the Alps. Riders will face a time trial Saturday that’s likely to determine the winner. Two mostly flat stages in the meantime aren’t likely to influence the leading bunch.

Overall, Sastre leads Schleck of Luxembourg by 1 minute, 24 seconds, and Bernhard Kohl of Germany by 1:33. Evans is fourth, 1:34 behind. Another strong time-trial rider, Denis Menchov of Russia, is fifth, 2:39 back.

Team CSC was dominant up the first two climbs, leading the group around the race leader that split ahead of the main pack. By the base of L’Alpe d’Huez, Schleck had five team mates escorting him.

It was then that Sastre burst ahead, and he continued to extend his lead up the famed final climb.

“I am very proud and very happy, we all did a remarkable job,” CSC owner Bjarne Riis said. “We did the best possible ... I don’t know if we’ll win, but we have won (today).”

Now it is likely to come down to whether Sastre has enough of a lead on Evans to hold him off in the time trial.

Saunier Duval lose sponsors

Spanish cycling team Saunier Duval have lost their main sponsor after their rider Riccardo Ricco tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs at the Tour de France.

Vaillant, a German manufacturer of heating systems, said Wednesday that its Spanish subsidiary was pulling out of sponsoring the Saunier Duval team as a result of “current events.”