Schleck, Contador clear front-runners at Tour de France

SAINT JEAN DE MAURIENNE, France - Not yet halfway through, the Tour de France is already looking like a two-man contest.

Andy Schleck of Luxembourg vs. Alberto Contador of Spain.

Schleck took the yellow jersey from a banged-up and bawling Cadel Evans in Tuesday's last ride on the high Alps in Stage 9.

The race has another 11 stages and it's possible that one of several prerace title hopefuls could rebound. Seven-time Tour winner Lance Armstrong says he's out of contention.

Armstrong spent his day pondering the law of averages and still thinking about a mind-boggling string of three crashes on Sunday that ended his hopes of an eighth Tour victory. He's in 31st place, 15:54 behind Schleck

"Two decades of my career, and the years I won seven in a row, I had no bad luck," he said. "Seven years with hardly a flat, hardly a crash. That's almost unheard of."

"It's logical that luck catches up with you. I can't change it," added Armstrong, 38, who says this is his last Tour. "The most important thing is that I leave with a good attitude."

This Tour favors strong climbers, with four punishing stages in the Pyrenees ahead in Week 3. A final time trial in the July 25 finish in Paris could play a role.

Schleck, 25, has shown he's the unquestioned mountain master so far. He won Sunday's entree into the Alps in Stage 8, and lost only two seconds to the winner Tuesday.

Only Contador has shown he can keep up. "I think he and I are a little above the others," Schleck said of their duel Tuesday when he repeatedly tried to shake the Spaniard, to no avail.

Overall, Schleck leads Contador by 41 seconds, and Spain's Samuel Sanchez - who finished eighth, 52 seconds back - jumped to third and trails the leader by 2:45.