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While winning the Tour of Spain on Sunday, Alberto Contador of Spain, the leader of the Kazakhstan-basd Astana Team, joined an small group of elite cyclists.

Alberto Contador

Contador, who defeated Anerican temmate Levi Leipheimer by 46 seconds, joined Jacques Anquetic, Felice Gimondi, Eddy Merckx and Bernald Hinault as as the only winnnes of cycling’s “triple crown,” the Tour of Italy, Tour de France and Tour of Spain.

Anquetil was the first to complete cycling’s grand tour sweep, with five Tours, two Giros and one Vuelta between 1957-1964. Gimondi became the second, winning one Tour, three Giros and one Vuelta from 1965-1976.

Merckx, who holds the record with the most grand tour victories at 11, won five Tours, five Giros and one Vuelta from 1969-1974. Hinault held the record for claiming all three within the shortest time frame, winning the first of five Tours in 1978, his first of two Vueltas in 1978 and one of three Giros in 1980, within a period of 26 months.

Contador becomes the first to complete the cycle since the Vuelta was moved from April to September in 1995.

It was one day and out of the Golden Jersey for American cyclist Levi Leipheimer.

Leipheimer, the two-time defending titlist of the Tour of California and third-place finisher in the 2006 Tour de France, didn’t contest mid-stage sprints and fell to second place Thursday in the Tour of Spain.

Paolo Bettini of Italy/Courtesy of Wikipedia

While reigning and two-time titlist Paolo Bettini of Italy won the sixth stage, Sylvain Chavenel of France took the overall lead based on 12 intermediate bonus seconds. He now leads Leipheimer by 10 seconds.

Leipheimer, whose overall lead was a first in a grand tour for Santa Rosa, Calif.-based cyclist, wasn’t concerned.

With teammate Alberto Contador of Spain, the pre-race favorite, Leipheimer’s squad, Astana, features the race’s two overall race favorites.

If Contador were to win, he’s be only the fifth cyclist in history to win the Tour of Italy, Tour de France and the Tour of Spain.

Contador won the Tour of Italy earlier this year as well as the 2007 Tour de France. The Tour of Spain continues through Sept. 21.

Carlos Sastre of Spain, the reigning Tour de France titlist, has decided seven years with same team is enough. He’s announced he’ll ride beginning in 2009 with the new Cervelo Test Team.

Financial details of cycling contracts are rarely discussed, but as a Tour de France winner Sastre was in high demand from at least three teams — his current CSC Saxo Bank team, the new Russian squad, Katyusha, and the squad he decided to ride with.

Selecting Cervelo as his new squad made sense. CSC has used Cervelo bikes since 2003.

As a new team, the composition of Cervelo is unknown. But other big-name riders are expected to be signed soon.

Sastre is currently riding in the Tour of Spain and is considered the favorite with compatriot Alberto Contador for the overall title.

Levi Leipheimer’s team, the Kazakhstan-based Astana, was excluded from the Tour de France in July.

But in the Tour of Italy and now the Tour of Spain, cycling’s second and third-largest grand tours, Astana is proving it’s likely the best team in the world.

Levi Leipheimer

Leipheimer of Santa Rosa, Calif., who won the weeklong Tour of California in February, claimed his fourth victory of the season and took the overall lead Wednesday at the Tour of Spain when he rode to an individual time trial stage win.

Leipheimer, who finished third in the 2006 Tour de France, won the flat out-and-back stage by 12 seconds.

Leipheimer rode to an individual time trial bronze medal in the recent Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. He’s the only American competing in the Tour of Spain, which continues through Sept. 21

Alberto Contador of Spain, Leipheimer’s teammate, won the Tour of Italy. Astana was not selected by Tour de France organizers because of the positive drug tests of some of the team’s previous riders.

The victory also gave Leipheimer a career-first — the lead of a grand tour. Astana is also now leading the team competition in the Tour of Spain.

Alberto Contador

Alberto Contador of Spain, winner of the 2008 Tour of Italy, will not defend his title in 2009, opting instead to focus on winning a second Tour de France title. Contador, who rides for Astana, won the Tour de France in 2007, but his squad wasn’t invited to cycling’s prestige event this year because of past doping offenses. The team hasn’t officially been invited to the 2009 event, either, But it’s expected to receive a position in the race.

Contador’s announcement seems like a savvy move by Astana. Since Lance Armstrong, the newest Astana team member, will competed in the Tour of Italy as his first grand tour since coming out of retirement, he will avoid racing against his own teammate.

Likewise, Armstrong, the seven-time winner of the Tour de France, recently said he’s unsure he would vie for his eighth title. Of course, that would again allow Armstrong and Contador to avoid direct competition.

Contador also won this year’s Tour of Spain, the final grand tour of the season, in September.

It’s official: Lance Armstrong’s return to competitive road cycling will now also include the centennial of the Tour of Italy next May.

Lance Armstrong

Armstrong, 37, who last month announced his return to competitive road racing, said Monday in a video on the web site of the Italian daily sports newspaper, La Gazzetta dello Sport, he will race in the 100th anniversary of the event called the “la corsa rosa” beginning May 9.

If Armstrong keeps to his previously announced pending schedule, he would also have another career first – a Grand Tour double – by competing in the Tour of Italy and Tour de France, which begins July 4 in Monaco.

Armstrong previously rode in the Tour of Spain, the final of three yearly Grand Tours (three-week races), in 1998. He finished fourth.

Details of the 2009 Tour of Italy route will be revealed in December.

Armstrong, the seven-time Tour de France winner, retired after winning his seventh consecutive title in July 2005. He will make his return to road cycling Jan. 20, 2009 at the Tour Down Under beginning in Adelaide, Australia. He’s also commited to race in the Tour of California, beginning Feb. 14 in Sacramento.

The Tour of Spain, the last of cycling’s three grand tours (three-week races), begins Saturday in Granada, Spain, and it will carry unusual weight this year in the pro cycling world.

Several years ago, the Tour of Spain switched from a May date to its current time frame. And as a late-season event, many teams sent second-tier squads or skipped it.

The Tour of Spain logo

But in the last few years, the event status has improved and it will be particularly important this year because Team Astana is competing.

The Kazakhstan-based team was not allowed to compete in the Tour de France this year for former team riders’ offenses. And it was also excluded from the Tour of Italy, cycling’s second-most prestigious race.

Shortly before the Tour of Italy began, race organizers changed their minds and allowed Astana to compete.

Alberto Contador of Spain, winner of the 2007 Tour de France, won the race, with strong support from Levi Leipheimer, had finished third in the Tour de France.

The Astana team used the Tour of Italy as a revenge affair. And it will use the same tactic in the Tour of Spain. Contador and Leipheimer (the only American in the field) will again attempt to make Tour de France officials look foolish for the team’s exclusion is this year’s race.

The Tour of Spain will conclude Sept. 21 in Madrid.