Alberto Contador's 2009 - A Tour de France victory and Armstrong rivalry that has left a mark for generations to come

In 2009, Alberto Contador was already one of the best cyclists in the world and the main contender for every Grand Tour he entered. He had just won his first Tour de France in 2007 and enjoyed a very successful 2008 with a victories at the Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España - completing the triple crown at age 25, incredibly rare at that time in the sport.

His team in 2008, Astana, wasn't invited to the Tour de France... How did the rider from Pinto respond? By winning the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España in the same year.

2009 wasn't his most active season, but every time he competed, he won or finished among the top riders. He started the season at the Volta ao Algarve, finishing second on the Alto do Malhão behind a surprising Antonio Colom, and winning the time trial, which secured him the overall victory.

At Paris-Nice, he began by winning the opening time trial. He also triumphed at La Montagne de Lure, but a bad day in Fayence cost him the lead. Despite finishing second in the final stage, he could only manage fourth overall. He was overtaken by Luis León Sánchez, Frank Schleck, and Sylvain Chavanel, before closing out March at the Vuelta a Castilla y León.

There, he finished second in the time trial, which determined his overall classification. He managed to finish in the top 11 in the last three stages, but it wasn't enough to overcome his teammate at the time, Levi Leipheimer. Things went much better for him in the Vuelta al País Vasco, where he won two stages and the overall classification.

He triumphed in Arrate at Itzulia Basque Country and in the final time trial in Zalla, won the overall classification, finished second in the points classification behind Samuel Sánchez, and eighth in the battle for the King of the Mountains jersey. In the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré, he finished 2nd and 5th in the time trials, 8th on Mont Ventoux, and 6th in Saint-François Longchamp.

These results earned him 2nd place in the points classification behind Cadel Evans and 3rd place overall, joining winner Alejandro Valverde and Evans on the podium. To complete his preparation for the Tour de France, he won his first and only Spanish National Time Trial Championship, beating true specialists from the country such as Luisle and Rubén Plaza, among others.

In the Tour de France, he started with a second-place finish in the Monaco time trial and never dropped out of the top four in the provisional general classification. He won the team time trial in Montpellier with Astana and had a relatively quiet second week, which he concluded with a victory in Verbier - in which his power output was above any other performance in the year surrounding it. In the third week, he finished second in Le Grand Bornand, behind Frank Schleck and ahead of Andy, and won the Annecy time trial.

As if that weren't enough, he finished fourth on Mont Ventoux, behind only Juanma Gárate, Tony Martin, and Andy Schleck on the final high-mountain stage. This was enough for him to win his second Tour de France, against his big and memorable rival Andy Schleck; and against Lance Armstrong who despite being teammates with, had very clear individual ambitions in the Grand Boucle.