Roche finishes fourth in Tour de France stage

Irish rider Nicolas Roche finished an impressive fourth in the Tour de France's 16th stage today.

Alberto Contador consolidated his position in the yellow jersey after a controlled ride on the stage, which was won by fellow Spaniard Mikel Astarloza.

Contador finished alongside the rest of his maillot-jaune rivals 59 seconds behind Astarloza, who timed his finish to perfection to race clear of a four-man leading group and prevail after a trek of 159 kilometres from Martigny to Bourg St Maurice, the second Alpine stage.

Sandy Casar and Pierrick Fedrigo finished second and third respectively, six seconds off Astarloza, who sped away from his breakaway group with two kilometres left on the descent from Col du Petit St Bernard.

Contador comfortably withstood a couple of attacks by the aggressive Andy Schleck, who stays fifth overall, and the 2007 champion looks in prime shape to win his second Tour.

His Astana team-mate Lance Armstrong was dropped for a while halfway up the Col du Petit St Bernard, but the American recovered well to finish in the yellow-jersey group and stay second in the general classification, 97 seconds off Contador.

Britain's Bradley Wiggins had another strong day in the saddle - he never lost sight of Contador - and remains in third position, nine seconds behind Armstrong.

"It was a tough stage," Contador said.

"Attacks were expected but I was able to resist. I am happy to have got through this difficult stage."

Astarloza, who was in a number of lead groups throughout the day, was able to celebrate his maiden Tour stage win.

"I have tried many times to win a stage so I am very happy," he said.

"I had the chance to go clear alone and I took it. I like climbing, I am a good rider but I am not good in a sprint. To win, I had to attack from far out."

Franco Pellizotti, the holder of the polka-dot jersey, and Vladimir Karpets were the first to pull clear, topping the hors-category Col du Grand St Bernard in front after a tough 40km climb from the start in Martigny.

They were reeled in by a group of 16 riders 57km out but before long Jurgen van den Broeck and Pellizotti went again.

This time Astarloza followed, along with Amael Moinard, and the Spaniard proved the wiliest on the descent to launch a successful raid for home 2km out.

Contador and his title rivals were together until the final 36km, when Schleck split the group. Armstrong was dropped for a while but Contador, Wiggins and Andreas Kloden - who is fourth in the GC - kept pace.

Within 4km, Armstrong had clawed back a deficit that had stretched as far as 30 seconds, showing his spectacular climbing talent that has helped him to seven Tour titles.

That chasing group could not be separated on the final descent.

Cadel Evans, the runner-up in 2007 and 2008, was a big loser today, dropping almost three minutes on the Contador group.