Montereau-Fault-Yonne to Paris Champs-Elysées 164 km,

Alberto Contador wins the Tour de France 2009 !!

Mark Cavendish fulfills his dream by winning in Paris !!

A beautiful day for the last stage on the road to Paris. “Les jeux sont faits” and the riders are taking it easy,chatting along and smiling at the cameras.

The Astana team enjoyed a glass of champagne lined accross the road,celebrating a perfect Tour de France with Alberto Contador 1st overall , Lance Armstrong 3rd , Andreas Kloden 6th and 1st place in the Team competititon.

Traditionally the Astana riders enter the Champs Elysées in front of the peloton, immediatly after attacks came as everybody who wants to shine has to get rid of the rocket Mark Cavendish .There is 8 laps of 6.5 km to the finish line. The japanese rider Fumiyuki Beppu leads a group of 7 which takes up to 35” on the main group.Team Columbia-HTC jumps in front of the peloton and controls the gap with the 7 in front. With 2 laps left the gap is down to 12” as Beppu,Wegmann and Veikkanen break the leading group.They pursue their effort but the Columbia express reels them in 5 km from the finish.

The Garmin team has taken the front,it is the first time that team columbia has lost control but at the 1 km to go banner Hincapie surges ahead and takes the lead again.

It is now academic,Mark Renshaw leads out and Mark Cavendish takes his 6th stage victory in the Tour de France,the one he has been dreaming of all his life,on the Champs Elisées in Paris.

Thor Hushovd who stayed on Cavendish’s wheel all the time finished 6th and keeps the Green Jersey.

Alberto Contador arrived well protected in the middle of the peloton,claiming his second victory on the Tour de France.He has won the last 4 big stage-races he started, Tour 2007,Giro d’Italia 2008,Vuelta a España 2008 and Tour 2009.

Andy Schleck is 2nd,Lance Armstrong 3rd ,Bradley Wiggins 4th and Frank Schleck 5th.

Fumiyuki Beppu from team Skil-Shimano was voted most aggressive rider of the day.It is the firs time that japanese riders finish the Tour,Beppu 112th place, gets the honor with Yukiya Arashiro from team BBOX in 129th.

Franco Pellizotti ,Liquigas,is king of the mountains( Polka.dot Jersey) and Andy Schleck best rider under 25 (White Jersey).

Great work by the Astana team,Alberto Contador wins the Tour, Lance Armstrong is 3rd and team Astana 1st .

Armstrong announced he will be back next year with an american sponsor,Radioshack. He also said that he will be better than this year,watch out for the “old guy” in 2010.

Check out all sports at BetPhoenix.com Sportsbook. Best odds, best betting lines !