was diplomatic.
"I don't care what the time difference is," he said. "What counts is what place you have at the end, and Alberto was just better than me this year, but I'll be back."
"After over 3500 kilometres, 39 seconds is not a lot."
"I've won another white jersey, two stages and I believe it's been pretty successful Tour."
Denis Menchov (Rabobank) finished 11th today to overtake Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) in the race for the third and final podium place.
Seven-time champion Lance Armstrong (Team RadioShack) was 67th but held on to 23rd place overall by four seconds ahead of Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky), who was ninth.
Armstrong finished third behind Contador and Schleck in 2009, with Wiggins fourth, but both have endured difficult Tours.
Armstrong will bow out of his distinguished career by completing his 13th and final Tour in Paris.
With the yellow jersey seemingly secured, tomorrow the focus will turn to the points classification's green jersey.
Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre-Farnese) is currently in possession of the maillot vert on 213 points, with Thor Hushovd (Cervelo Test Team) 10 points behind and Mark Cavendish (HTC-Columbia) six points further adrift.
Cavendish - a winner of four stages so far in 2010 - has an outside chance of taking the green jersey for a first time, if he can win on the Champs Elysees for a second successive year.