VERBIER, Switzerland: Spain’s Alberto Contador took a giant step toward winning the 2009 Tour de France by taking Sunday’s 15th stage and grabbing the race leader’s yellow jersey.

Contador easily raced away from all of his rivals, including seven-time Tour champion Lance Armstrong, with 5.5km to go on the climb to the finish line in the Swiss resort of Verbier.

The 37-year-old Armstrong, who finished ninth, 1 minute 35 seconds behind his 11-year-younger Astana teammate, said he had no hope now of winning his eighth Tour title.

“(Contador) showed he’s the best rider in the race,” Armstrong told France 2 television after the stage, and said he would now work to help his teammate win the Tour.

Armstrong now lies second in the overall standings, 1 minute 37 seconds behind Contador, with the surprising Briton Bradley Wiggins in third, 1 minute 46 seconds adrift.

“I’m happy to be second,” Armstrong said. “I definitely suffered. I was already a little at my limit at the bottom (of the climb). I was hurting.”

Contador’s time for the 207.5km course from the French city of Pontarlier was 5 hours 3 minutes 58 seconds, an impressive average speed of 40.96 kph for a course that featured six climbs.

Luxembourg’s Andy Schleck finished second, 43 seconds behind the winner, while Italian Vincenzo Nibali came in third, 1 minute 3 seconds behind.

“I’m very happy,” Contador said. “It was a hard climb. My legs hurt, they hurt a lot.”

Much had been written about the rivalry between Armstrong and Contador for leadership of the Astana team. Asked if he now accepted being the boss of his team and of the Tour, Contador replied, “the situation is good for me. The team is mine now.”

Former race leader Rinaldo Nocentini of Italy finished a well-beaten 19th, 2 minutes 36 seconds behind Contador, and now lies in sixth place.

The stage started with a minute’s silence in memory of the 61-year-old woman who was struck by a police motorcycle and killed as she was trying to cross the road during Saturday’s 14th stage. Two other people were injured in the accident. Belgian champion Tom Boonen, who went before a French sports arbitration court to be allowed to race in the Tour, dropped out of the race during the stage because of illness.

Organizers had banned the 28-year-old former world road race champion from the Tour because he had tested positive for cocaine in an out-of-competition test.

The Tour de France ends July 26 in Paris.