LES ROUSSES, France — It was hot in the Alps on Saturday, 95 degrees or so, hot enough to make the pavement melt in places. Lance Armstrong said he wished for rain during Stage 7 of the Tour de France, and it did rain and thunder and lightning and hail an hour after the cyclists made it onto their buses.

And for one more day, the Tour's general classification contenders — the guys who want to wear the yellow jersey July 25 in Paris — pedaled hard, watched each other closely and held back attacks.

It was left to Frenchman Sylvain Chavanel to win his second stage of the Tour and take over the leader's spot. As expected, all the overall contenders — including Armstrong, Andy Schleck, Alberto Contador and Cadel Evans — neither gained nor lost time against each other.

Chavanel finished the 101-mile trip from Tournus to Station des Rousses — a ski stop in the seasons when it's not hot enough to melt the road — in 4 hours, 22 minutes, 52 seconds.

If there was a disappointed member of the contenders group, it might have been Evans, the Australian who finished second in 2007.

Evans moved to second overall, 1:25 behind Chavanel, but Schleck said, "I expected Cadel to get the (yellow) jersey."

Schleck is in fourth place, 1:55 behind Chavanel; defending champion Contador is sixth, 2:26 behind; and seven-time champion Armstrong is 14th, 3:16 back. Contador remains the favorite.

Several riders predict that Contador and the Astana team will mount an attack in Sunday's much more difficult stage. There are five rated climbs, and the day will offer a chance for overall hopefuls to test themselves and the others.

Armstrong said the key place for attacking Sunday might come in the second-to-last climb to the finish in Moriaz-Avoriaz, at the Col de la Ramaz.

"It's very difficult," Armstrong said. "There are patches that are 8, 9, 10 percent (steepness). If temperatures are like this, we'll see people stuck in the road."

dpucin@tribune.com