Contador retains Tour de France title

Alberto Contador claimed overall victory following the final stage of the Tour de France today.

Mark Cavendish today won the final stage in Paris for the second straight year.

In the overall rankings, Contador (Astana) secured a third Tour title in four years by 39 seconds from Andy Schleck (Team Saxo Bank), who finished as runner-up for a second straight year.

Ireland’s Nicolas Roche finished in 15th place overall, 16 minutes and 59 seconds behind Contador.

Cavendish (HTC-Columbia) won the 102.5-kilometre 20th stage from Longjumeau to Paris for his fifth win of the 2010 Tour and the 15th of his career - but it was not enough to secure the points classification leader's green jersey.

Maillot vert incumbent Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre-Farnese) finished second to hold on to the prized sprinters' jersey, with Julian Dean (Team Garmin-Transitions) third.