The winners and losers of this year's Tour de France (Feature)

By Siegfried Mortkowitz Jul 25, 2010, 17:03 GMT

Paris - Sometimes it is easy to tell the winners from the losers of an athletic event, and sometimes the final standings do not tell the entire story, such as in this year's Tour de France.

Spain's Alberto Contador won the race, the third Tour title of his career, and stamped himself as the authentic heir to Lance Armstrong in the most prestigious road race in the world.

But the victory, by 39 seconds, over the young Luxembourg rider Andy Schleck was everything but easy, and it was tainted by an incident that damaged the 27-year-old Spaniard's reputation.

When the chain on Schleck's bicycle popped out of the derailleur on the final climb of Monday's 15th stage, Contador broke with what many observers say is Tour protocol by not waiting for his rival until he could mount a replacement bike.

Contador gained precisely 39 seconds - the final winning margin - on Schleck, and was fiercely criticized, by the public and the media, for the move.

According to the daily L'Equipe, if the two riders had finished together in that stage, Schleck would have won the Tour - by 64/100 of a second.

If the race winner is also a loser, the race loser is also a winner. With his gutsy performance over three weeks, Schleck proved to everyone that, at age 25, he will be a force to reckon with for many years.

While Contador came out of the Tour with his reputation somewhat tarnished, Schleck emerged from the race as a fan and media favourite, because of his attitude, his sportsmanship and his boyish good looks.

'I'll be back next year to win,' he said defiantly.

'I think we will be rivals for a few more years,' Contador said. 'Our duel is far from over.'

Despite placing only one rider in the final top 20, the host French were undeniable winners on this Tour. They won six stages, and Anthony Charteau grabbed the King of the Mountain title, the best performance for France on the Tour in more than a decade.

The showing was universally acclaimed in light of the debacle of the French national football team in the World Cup. President Nicolas Sarkozy, who is badly in need of good news, invited the five stage winners and Charteau to see him at the Elysee Palace after Sunday's stage.

And, finally, the 'British rocket,' Mark Cavendish ended the Tour as a clear winner, by taking five stages, including Sunday's last stage, with disconcerting ease.

Seven-time champion Lance Armstrong looks like the most apparent loser of the Tour. He came into the race thinking he had a chance to win the title, and ended his final Tour de France in 23rd place, nearly 40 minutes behind Contador, after suffering an improbable series of mishaps, including a crash before the start of a stage.

But Armstrong's Radio Shack team won the Tour team title, and he gained many new fans because of what the daily L'Equipe described as 'learning to smile by familiarizing himself with defeat.'

But this year's Tour de France did produce several clear losers.

World road race champion Cadel Evans of Australia began the Tour by saying he had a real chance to win, but crashed and suffered a stress fracture of his left elbow while leading the race and was never a factor again, finishing more than 50 minutes behind Contador.

But Evans was a victim of bad luck. Britain's Bradley Wiggins simply raced poorly.

After placing fourth in last year's Tour, Wiggins also came to the Tour with high expectations, but he was never in the contention, finishing in 24th place.

'I just haven't got it,' he admitted, and noted that 'last year's performance was a fluke.'

His newly formed Team Sky, which is partly financed by media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, also came up empty in the Tour, not winning a single stage despite investing millions in state-of-the-art training facilities.

The first British professional road race team in 13 years was created to produce the first-ever British Tour de France champion within five years. But the team quickly learned that the Tour can be a humbling experience.

Finally, Italy's Ivan Basso came into the Tour de France as a title contender after winning the Giro d'Italia in May.

But he apparently did not recover from his exertions in that race and finished the Tour in 32nd place, nearly a full hour behind Contador.