Contador wins third Tour de France

SPAIN'S Alberto Contador secured a third Tour de France yellow jersey on Sunday after the 20th and final stage to the Champs Elysees won by Briton Mark Cavendish.

Cavendish powered to the finish line alone for the second consecutive year to claim his fifth stage success of this year's race and 15th of his career.

Italian Alessandro Petacchi, the winner of two stages, finished second on the stage to secure the green jersey for the race's points competition.

Contador, the winner in 2007 and 2009, pulled on his third yellow jersey after leaving Luxemburger Andy Schleck in second at 39sec meaning he finishes runner-up for the second year in a row.

It means Saxo Bank climbing specialist Schleck wins the race's white jersey for the best placed rider aged 25 or under for the third successive year.

Schleck ultimately failed to overcome losing the lead to Contador on stage 15 when the Spaniard counter-attacked the Saxo Bank rider moments before he suffered a mechanical problem with his gears on the stage's final climb.

Contador finished in Bagneres-de-Luchon with an eight-second lead on Schleck, and after defending the yellow jersey in a dramatic final stage of climbing to the foggy summit of the Col du Tourmalet the Spaniard's win was decided by the final time trial.

Schleck briefly took the virtual lead early in the 52km race against the clock from Bordeaux to Pauillac on Saturday, only for Contador to finish 31secs faster.

It left the 27-year-old Contador with a 39sec winning margin, exactly what Schleck had lost on stage 15, going into Sunday's final stage where the yellow jersey is traditionally not contested.

He now joins Belgian Philippe Thys (1913, 1914, 1920), France's Louison Bobet (1953 to 1955) and American Greg LeMond (1986, 1989, 1990) as a three-time winner of the epic race.