Contador concedes the Tour

Jul 22nd, 11. After looking back to his peak form in yesterday's stage, defending Tour de France Champion Alberto Contador fell off the pace in today's tough battle in the Alps and admitted defeat.

The Saxo Bank leader started the day 3m18s behind Tour leader Thomas Voeckler of Europcar. 200.5km later, after three Hors Category climbs, Contador ended the day further behind, at 4m44s.

He admitted his hopes of victory "are practically impossible".

"I had a bad day. I had no power on the last 10km. I felt incredibly worn out and don't know why," said Contador who has won every Grand Tour he has entered in recent years.

The Spaniard congratulated Andy Schleck on his good tactics after the Leopard Trek rider jumped ahead with 60km left to race and maintained a solid lead right until the finish line.

Contador believed the peloton would catch him before the last climb, but he did not count on the support Schleck had up the road.

When BMC leader Cadel Evans launched his final push to bring back the time gap, Contador could not keep up with the pace. He eventually fell behind in the final kilometres up the dreaded Col du Galibier.

"I don't know what it was but the last few kilometres were really tough. It was easy enough to stay on wheel on the first part of Galibier but I wasn't able to attack and ride like I wanted to," he said.

For now, Contador is concentrating on his recovery knowing tomorrow is another tough day.

"The important thing now is to recover and fill the tanks of energy because I have run out. You have to think about tomorrow and rest well," Contador said.

Tour de France

• Results and jersey leaderboard
• Stage profiles, maps, climbs and previews
• Tour de France start list with race numbers
• Win ten sets of custom Tineli cycle clothing - entries closed
• All Tour de France news