Tour de France: Lemont Native Christian Vande Velde Finishes Second in Stage 15

Lemont native Christian Vande Velde came close to securing the first Tour de France stage win of his career Monday, finishing second to Pierrick Fedrigo of France in Stage 15.

The mostly flat 99-mile route from Samatan to Pau came down to Vande Velde and Fedrigo in the final breakaway, with the French rider outsprinting Vande Velde in the in the last 200 yards, according to an Associated Press report.

The win marked the fourth career stage victory for Fedrigo, who rides for the FDJ-BigMat team. He left a group of six riders with four miles to go, the AP reports. Vande Velde was the only one able to stay close.

A win Monday would have given Vande Velde's team, Garmin-Sharp, its second stage victory in less than a week.

"Thanks for all love today," Vande Velde wrote on his Twitter account. "Gave it everything today but found myself with a much faster rider than myself. Great to be amongst it again."

This year's Tour de France is the 10th for Vande Velde, who was in 45th place out of 156 riders going into Stage 16. The Tour will conclude Sunday in Paris Champs-Élysées.

Last week, Vande Velde confirmed he will race again in 2013, making it his last year in professional cycling. The 36-year-old veteran told CyclingNews that he's currently considering his options for next year, but confirmed he will "definitely ride again."

His contract with Garmin-Sharp—the team he signed for in 2008—expires at the end of the season.

"We'll see what happens. The team and I are still talking. We'll see. I would love to stay with Garmin, there's no doubt about it. It just depends about the racing and what I can and can't do in my last year of racing," he told CyclingNews.

Vande Velde was part of Lance Armstrong's winning U.S. Postal Service team in 1999, and finished fourth in 2008 and eighth in 2009. Last year, he and Team Garmin-Cervelo for finishing with the best overall time.

For more on Vande Velde, follow his Twitter account at www.twitter.com/christianvdv.

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