The 2010 Tour de France featured two SRAM and Zipp-equipped athletes battling for the overall until the final kilometers of the penultimate time trial in Bordeaux, a mere 24 hours from the Tour’s finale in Paris. Alberto Contador (Astana) ultimately delivered a 39-second victory over Andy Schleck (Saxo Bank) in one of the closest finishes in Tour history.

An emotional Contador fired his traditional pistolero salute to the crowd from atop the podium, admitting that it was his hardest fought Tour ever. The three-time Tour champion stated nearly three years ago, when he first made the leap to SRAM’s DoubleTap shift levers, that the weight and comfort of RED immediately improved his climbing, as was evidenced by his brilliant ascending in 2010.

Andy Schleck proved himself a serious challenger, matched Contador in the mountains, and spent six days in yellow and won two mountain stages.

Athletes riding SRAM componentry held the yellow jersey a decisive 17 of Tour’s 20 stages (18 days). In addition to Contador’s yellow jersey, SRAM also captured the white jersey of best young rider (Schleck) and best team overall (RadioShack). Seven SRAM-equipped teams took that start and delivered eight wins, including the prologue.

SRAM’s eight wins:

Prologue (Rotterdam) – Fabian Cancellara (Saxo Bank) – SRAM RED, Zipp wheels

Stage 3 (Arenberg) – Thor Hushovd (Cervelo Test Team) – SRAM RED, Zipp wheels

Stage 8 (Morzine) – Andy Schleck (Saxo Bank) – SRAM RED, Zipp wheels

Stage 10 (Gap) – Sergio Paulinho (RadioShack) – SRAM RED

Stage 13 (Revel) - Alexander Vinokourov (Astana) – SRAM RED, Zipp wheels

Stage 14 (Ax 3 Domaines) – Christophe Riblon (AG2R) – SRAM RED

Stage 17 (Col du Tourmalet) - Andy Schleck (Saxo Bank) – SRAM LTE, Zipp wheels

Stage 19 (Pauillac) – Fabian Cancellara (Saxo Bank) – SRAM RED, Zipp wheels

Limited Tour Edition - The world’s lightest, fastest, and most efficient groupset, SRAM RED, received a special treatment with black anodization and yellow graphics, a tribute to the Tour's signatire color, and was introduced in Rotterdam as the Limited Tour Edition (LTE) gruppo. LTE was ridden in the Tour by Lance Armstrong (RadioShack), Andy Schleck (Saxo Bank), Fabian Cancellara (Saxo Bank), Carlos Sastre (Cervelo Test Team), and Alberto Contador (Astana). It will be available beginning September 2010.