Strange to take yellow, says Tour leader Contador

CASTELSARRASIN, France, July 26 (Reuters) Spaniard Alberto Contador said it felt strange to have the Tour de France yellow jersey after officially taking the lead from Michael Rasmussen today following the Dane's sacking by his Rabobank team.

With Rasmussen out of the race, no rider wore the yellow jersey during the 188.5-km ride from Pau to Castelsarrasin but Contador, who had been second in the overall standings, was not threatened on the stage to safely secure it.

''It is strange to take it in such circumstances,'' Contador told reporters. ''But it can happen, sometimes it is because the leader has crashed.'' Asked if he thought Rasmussen's exclusion was fair, the 24-year-old said: ''I am not here to judge him. It is the decision made by his team and I am not aware enough of the situation to judge what happened.'' Rasmussen was sacked by Rabobank yesterday, after winning the 16th stage, for lying to them about his training whereabouts in June, an allegation the Dane denies.

Discovery Channel rider Contador thought he had what it took to bring the yellow jersey back to Paris.

He has a lead of one minute 53 seconds over Australian Cadel Evans heading into Saturday's decisive time trial from Cognac to Angouleme.

''Of course, it depends on the day,'' he said. ''It's over 55 km, it's a long way to go and the jersey will be hard to keep.

''But if you look at the results of the last time trial, I have my chance and I will do anything I can to keep it.'' Contador finished last Saturday's time trial in Albi 1:04 behind Predictor Lotto rider Evans.

The time trial was won by Kazakh Alexander Vinokourov who subsequently tested positive for blood doping causing his Astana team to leave the Tour.

Cristian Moreni of Italy became the second rider to test positive during the troubled race when it was announced yesterday that he had failed a dope test for testosterone. His Cofidis team also pulled out of the Tour.

REUTERS SY BD2318