Alberto Contador was within reach of his second Tour de France victory yesterday after the much-anticipated Mont Ventoux stage failed to significantly modify the final standings.

"It has been a different, special, tough Tour," said the Spaniard, who finished fourth in the 167km penultimate stage, won by his compatriot Juan Manuel Garate.

Contador, who won his first Tour in 2007 and was banned from taking part last year, easily checked countless attempts on the Ventoux climb by Luxembourg's Andy Schleck, who is poised to finish second, four minutes and 11 seconds behind.

The last laurels at stake on the 21.1km of the hardest climb in cycling were the last spot on the podium.

Seven times champion Lance Armstrong showed he remained a formidable rider at 37, finishing fifth in the stage to retain his third place, 5:24 behind Contador.

The Spaniard was even seen helping the American bridge the gap on one of Andy Schleck's moves, proving there were no hard feelings between the two leaders of the Astana team they will probably both leave next season.

"The only thing I had to do was to control Andy Schleck and I was able to do it.

"He tried to attack many times and he was very strong, but I was too," Contador said.

"I'm also glad we managed to keep Lance in third place," he said. Briton Bradley Wiggins, who again performed like a sheer mountaineer, finally lost touch in the last kilometre but limited the damage to retain fourth place in the general classification. The Tour finishes today after a 164.5km ride from Montereau-Fault Yonne to the Champs-Elysees, usually an ideal terrain for sprinters.