Sastre wins on Alpe d'Huez to lead Tour

(CNN) -- Spaniard Carlos Sastre produced a stunning performance on the classic stage to Alpe d'Huez to cross the line over two minutes clear and take the Tour de France yellow jersey by one minute, 24 seconds from CSC team-mate and previous leader Frank Schleck.

Race favorite Cadel Evans is one minute, 34 seconds back in fourth place, but the Australian remains favorite to win the Tour due to his superior time-trialling ability, ahead of Saturday's defining 53km ride against the clock.

Sastre attacked his rivals for overall victory at the foot of the Alpe, the climax of the toughest stage of this year's race -- a 210.5km slog from Embrun which saw the riders tackle two massive Alpine climbs prior to the iconic 13km ascent to d'Huez.

And the 33-year-old never looked in danger of being overtaken, powering up the famous 21 bends of the climb to finish the stage two minutes and three seconds ahead of compatriot Samuel Sanchez and team-mate Andy Schleck -- the younger brother of Frank.

Frank Schleck and Alejandro Valverde came home 10 seconds adrift of those two, with Evans, fifth-placed Denis Menchov -- who fought back after being dropped on the climb -- and third-placed Bernhard Kohl amongst those to finish a further two seconds adrift.

After crossing the first major climb, the Col du Galibier, together the peloton containing all the favorites was shaken up by the CSC team's bid to eliminate a few of their challengers on the mammoth 30km long ascent of the Croix de Fer.

A four-man break had escaped early on in the day and they held a lead of seven minutes 20 seconds at the foot of the Croix de Fer.

But the hard work of the CSC team meant the breakaway's lead was halved with 7.5km of the climb remaining -- and by the time the race reached the summit, only Slovakian Peter Velits was ahead of the peloton by one minute and 10 seconds.

Seconds after crossing the summit, Frenchman Jerome Pineau surged out of the group in a bid to close the gap and eventually caught Milram rider Velits with around 30 km to race.

However, the pair only managed to lead the CSC-driven chasers by just over a minute to the foot of Alpe d'Huez -- and they were quickly swallowed up as Sastre took advantage of his team-mates' hard work to csecure a famous win.

Sastre is the seventh rider to wear yellow this year, just one short of the all-time Tour record of eight different leaders in a single race.

He is expected to retain his advantage over the next two stages, although Thursday's 197km leg from Bourg d'Oisans to Saint Etienne involves three stiff climbs which might see Evans and Menchov in particular try to claw back some time before Saturday's time-trial.

"I'm not thinking about the time trial," said CSC team manager Bjarne Riis. "The race is not won yet of course, but Carlos has a solid lead.

"My team were super-motivated and once again they were really strong. They all worked hard, and our plan came together. We knew we had to attack to drop everyone. When Sastre attacked first at the bottom, he was really strong."

Sastre himself added: "I want to take things day by day. Tomorrow I think we'll spend our time regaining as much energy as possible.

"In the time-trial, against riders like Evans and Menchov, I don't think I have much of a chance. Right now, I don't want to think about 1:34. All I want to do is recuperate ahead of Saturday."

Meanwhile, Evans remains confident he can still win the Tour. "It's not so bad for me, but I'd rather be five minutes in front," said the Silence-Lotto rider.

"Tactically it was the best thing CSC could have done, put Sastre away on the front -- it would have been worse if he was away with Andy Schleck. But given they had the strength in numbers, it's always going to be three against one."