Discovery Channel’s stage 14 winner Alberto Contador was standing on thepodium atop Plateau de Beille before the gruppetto had crossed the finishline. Cadel Evans had already broken down into tears as he explained whyhe had exploded in the final kilometers of the climb, and race leader MichaelRasmussen was denying that adeal had been made between he and Contador to trade the stage win foradded time on stronger time-trialist GC contenders such as Evans and AndreasKlöden.Sunday’s stage 14, from French hero Laurent Jalabert’s home villageof Mazamet to the hors-catégorie summit finish at Plateau de Beille,lived up to all its pre-race hype and delivered the best drama this Tourhas seen thus far. The race’s climbers came to the fore, the GC was reshuffledand more than one favorite was forced to accept that this would not betheir year to reach the podium in Paris.Contador, Rasmussen, Levi Leipheimer and stage 9 winner Juan MauricioSoler (Barloworld) all threw down attacks on the 15.9km climb that averages7.8 percent, while pre-race favorites Alejandro Valverde, Christophe Moreauand Alex Vinokourov each saw any hope of landing on the final podium inParis vanish up the road.Yesterday’sprediction — that Evans, a rider from Astana and a rider from DiscoveryChannel would likely make up the podium in Paris — now seems to be two-thirdsaccurate at best.After riding away from all his rivals save Contador, Rasmussen’s leadof 3:04 over Evans, 4:29 on Leipheimer and 4:38 on Klöden would seemto almost assure the Rabobank rider a spot on the Tour’s final podium givenWednesday’s summit finish at the top of the hors-catégorieCol d’Aubisque.Evans’s implosion in the final kilometers to Plateau de Beille, whichsaw him cede 1:52 to Contador and Rasmussen and struggle to finish withKlöden, meant the Australian dropped from second to third overalland he is far from guaranteed a place in the final top three. And withKlöden now 4:38 behind Contador and Rasmussen, the German will againhave to fight for a podium spot.Even before the bottom of the Plateau de Beille it was clear that Discoverywas rallying around Contador to take the stage win. American national championGeorge Hincapie, who had been dropped but caught back on during the descentof the Port de Pailhères, took to the front and relieved Rabobank’sThomas Dekker, Michael Boogers and Denis Menchov of their chasing responsibilities,hammering the pace to both bring back the remnants of the day’s shatteredbreakaway and also shed the front group of dead weight.Next to take the duty was Popovych, who rode heroically at the frontafter finishing sixth in Saturday’s time trial on a ride that includeda crash. Popovych hammered the best climbers in the race for the first5km of the climb, shedding the front group down to the race’s top climbersand GC hopefuls.“The team was incredible today and I want to thank them for all thesupport,” Contador said. “George and the Popovych were just amazing.”Looking for the stage win, Soler was aggressive, with numerous accelerationsthat may have prevented him from finally staying with Rasmussen and Contador.The Colombian’s efforts earned him the day’s most combative prize and broughthim within two points of Rasmussen in the KOM competition.And though he couldn’t match the pace of Contador and Rasmussen, Leipheimerrode a sound race. The American attacked only once, with a move that setContador up perfectly for the counterattack that launched he and Rasmussenfor good. Throughout the continuous attacks Leipheimer stayed within himself,and once separated from Contador, Leipheimer rode with Carlos Sastre (CSC)and Soler but wouldn’t aid in the chase. After Soler jumped in the finalkilometers to take third on the stage Leipheimer stayed with Sastre untilthe CSC rider withered. Leipheimer finished fourth, 40 seconds down.“The first 5km at the bottom were very fast,” Leipheimer said. “Therewere still teammates at the bottom pulling for their captains, so everyonewas really suffering. Later, when the accelerations went, I couldn’t follow.I have trouble with those fast accelerations that Contador and Rasmussencan do. I tried to stay steady and within at my own pace. I didn’t wantto go too deep. I am pretty happy with my performance today. It took sometime out of Klöden and Evans. This third week is really hard, somepeople are going to start to crack. I’m not going to be one of them.”With Rasmussen and Contador sitting atop the GC and two stages in thePyrenees remaining, it’s no stretch to call this a climber’s Tour. Rasmussenhas won a stage and holds the KOM lead, while Contador now has a stagewin, a nine-minute lead in the best young rider’s jersey competition anda spot on the final podium in Paris nearly locked up.“To win a stage of the Tour in front of all the world, on a weekend,in front of my fans and my family, which have been pushing me, it's everythingfor me,” Contador said. “For me it is as if already the Tour had finished,independently of how it ends. It is the same for me if tomorrow I havea bad day.”Proving that Discovery Channel team director Johan Bruyneel has gottenthe best out of the team he’s brought, Discovery also took the lead inthe team classification from Astana.“We prepared a strategy in the morning and it worked to perfection,”Bruyneel said. “It was a good stage for Contador to win and we wanted totake time on Evans and Klöden. The team was like the old days, notin the sense of the domination, but how we achieved our goals as we statedthem. We wanted the stage, to conserve the white jersey and push Levi andAlberto closer to the podium, so it was a successful day. I believe inboth Alberto and Levi.”Evans was in tears after the stage, saying his legs were fatigued fromSaturday’s time trial.“Rasmussen and Contador were the best today. I couldn’t go with them,”Evans said. “But Klöden and I aren’t through. We can make somethingup in the time trial.”Even before finishing second in the prologue Klöden was considereda heavy race favorite, but after crashing on stage 5 and again in the stage13 time trial, the German is now looking doubtful for podium. Klödencould but still manage his losses over the next two days with the hopethat any of the four riders above him on GC has a bad day. Adding insultto injury, Klöden’s team captain Vinokourovcollided with a teammate when an overzealous fan's flag became entangled in Astana teammate Serguei Ivanov's wheel on the upper reaches of the Plateau de Beille climb, causing the Kazakh to suffer his second crashof the Tour.The stage may have belonged to Contador, but for now the Tour stillbelongs to an embattled Danish climber in the yellow jersey.“Certainly the Discovery Channel team has two cards to play,” Rasmussensaid. “Leipheimer is close on GC but Contador is the biggest rival. Westill have two days in the Pyrenees. Nothing is over until the final dayin Paris.”