PLATEAU DE BEILLE, France — Alberto Contador looked a lot like Lance Armstrong, tearing away in a mountaintop finish and outsprinting his chief rival to win the 14th stage of the Tour de France.

In Contador, the Discovery Channel team may have found a successor to the seven-time Tour winner in the year the team's sponsorship deal runs out.

"I'm certain Contador will win the Tour in the future," Discovery's sporting director Johan Bruyneel said.

Contador was toe-to-toe with race leader Michael Rasmussen when the pair neared the summit of the 122-mile ride from Mazamet to Plateau de Beille on Sunday, having distanced themselves from rivals Cadel Evans, Levi Leipheimer and Andreas Kloedenthe.

Then, with 200 meters left, Contador sized up Rasmussen, made his move down the right, boxed the Dane in next to the barriers, and left him behind.

It seemed like a replay of Armstrong's winning ride up to Le Grand Bornand in 2004 in the Alps.