our de France 2010: Schleck captures lead as Casar makes France cheer

• Luis Leon Sanchez second, Damiano Cunego third
• Alpine stage enables Contador and Schleck to advance

Tour de France 2010: France's Sandy Casar celebrates winning stage nine. Photograph: Lionel Bonaventure/AFP/Getty Images

Sandy Casar has won the mountainous ninth stage of the Tour de France as Andy Schleck of Luxembourg captured the overall race lead.

The French rider won the second and final Alpine ride by leading a seven-man breakaway in the 204.5km (127-mile) trek along three tough climbs including the fabled Madeleine pass. He took the stage, from Morzine-Avoriaz to Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne, in a sprint finish.

Schleck took the yellow jersey from Cadel Evans, who wore it for only one day, finishing behind the stage winner and alongside the two-times Tour winner Alberto Contador.

Spain's Luis Leon Sanchez was second in today's stage and Italy's Damiano Cunego came home third.

The race for the yellow jersey is narrowing, with Contador and Schleck, the winner of Sunday's first Alpine stage, distancing themselves from their rivals. Schleck (Team Saxo Bank) beat Contador (Astana) to the maillot jaune conceded after Cadel Evans (BMC Racing) imploded on the 97th Tour's first hors categorie (beyond category) climb, the Col de la Madeleine.

The duo tracked each other on the second half of the 25.5km ascent of the Madeleine and hit the summit 2min 10sec behind the four race leaders. The rapid ascent saw Schleck and Contador gain time on five riders.

Contador and Schleck, the 2009 Tour winner and runner-up respectively, finished two seconds behind to hand the Team Saxo Bank leader a 21-second overall lead over the Spaniard. Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) finished 52 seconds behind Casar to move into third place overall, 2min 45sec behind Schleck.