La Corniche du Cirque de Litor, between Col du Soulor and Col d'Aubisque, is on the other side of the Stage 16 finish. Check out our two High Pyrenees episodes:
Col d'Aubisque/Col du Soulor and
Col du Tourmalet/Luz-Ardiden
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2009 Tour de France Live Dashboard| 4-hour version: |
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July 31 update: Today's Tour de France Headline News (
9 minutes): Iban Mayo tests positive; Alberto Contador gets hero's reception; Respected German doping expert calls Contador's win "the greatest swindle in sporting history" and claims the UCI had prior knowledge; ASO calls for the UCI president's resignation; Vino is fini and oh, how about some race highlights. — Steve
Pat McQuaid responds: an informal interview from last Saturday — bikeradar.com
Oct 23 update: 
Spain's Mayo cleared of doping after second test — AFP
July 29 update: Quickstep mistakenly provided the lead-out for Lampre's Daniele Bennati giving the Italian sprinter his second win in four days. Alberto Contador safely crossed the line with the field to officially win both the Yellow and White Jerseys. As Velonews noted, Contador is the first rider since Jan Ullrich in 1997 to win both the maillot jaune and the white best young rider's jersey, and he's the first Spaniard to triumph in the three-week grand tour since Miguel Indurain's five-race run ended in 1995. Teammate Levi Leipheimer, whose Saturday stage-19 time trial win almost gave him the overall win, accomplished his goal of a podium finish (3rd place) in Paris. Levi is a true professional on and off the road:
"I'm very proud... Alberto was better than I was in the mountains. I did my best. I think it was clear that I wasn't going to win, so for a teammate to win is great." It is also the first time Discovery Channel, or the team formerly known as U.S. Postal Service, has captured the team title... by a healthy 19 minutes. Cadel Evans has progressed each of the three years he has finished the Tour (8th, 5th and now 2nd) to become the first Aussie to reach the podium and as he says, he is now hitting his prime at age 30. He may be a bit of wheel-sucker, but that's because he's (currently) on a sprinter's (Robbie McEwen's) team with no super-domestique for the mountains. He's smart and a good interview (), but don't ask him a stupid question! And finally, congratulations to Barloworld's Geraint Thomas (Great Britain), for starting the race as the youngest rider, age 21, and finishing his first Tour just one slot above the Lantern Rouge. — Steve
Stage 20 Results 1 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Lampre-Fondital 3.51.03 (37.91 km/h) 2 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Crédit Agricole 3 Erik Zabel (Ger) Milram 4 Robert Hunter (RSA) Barloworld 5 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quickstep-Innergetic 6 Sébastien Chavanel (Fra) Française Des Jeux 7 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Team CSC 8 David Millar (GBr) Saunier Duval-Prodir 9 Robert Förster (Ger) Gerolsteiner 10 Manuel Quinziato (Ita) Liquigas Full Results and Live Text Coverage — Cyclingnews Final General Classification 1 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 91.00.26 2 Cadel Evans (Aus) Predictor - Lotto 0.23 3 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 0.31 4 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Team CSC 7.08 5 Haimar Zubeldia Agirre (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 8.17 6 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 11.37 7 Kim Kirchen (Lux) T-Mobile Team 12.18 8 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 12.25 9 Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 14.14 10 Oscar Pereiro Sio (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 14.25 11 Mauricio Soler (Col) Barloworld 16.51 12 Michael Boogerd (Ned) Rabobank 21.15 13 David Arroyo Duran (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 21.49 14 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Caisse d'Epargne 24.15 15 Chris Horner (USA) Predictor - Lotto 25.19
Full Report — VeloNewsPost Race Rider Reactions — Cyclingnews
Agence France-Presse and AP Photos BBC Sports Stage 20 Photos Graham Watson's Stage 20 Photos The final 1 km: Watch how Lampre's Bennati gets the wheel of the Quickstep leadout — Versus Stage 20 Highlights — ASO/VeloNews 2007 Tour de France Recap — Versus Lance Armstrong Interview in the booth with Phil and Paul — Versus Phil Liggett's Audio Report — worldcycling.tv ITV/Chris Boardman Podcast: the ITV team take a lighthearted look back at an extraordinary three weeks — ITV
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| Champs-Élysées in Paris photo: Eric Rouger/www.FromParis.com |
Live coverage options:
Internet streaming video or Worldwide English TV Schedule
race start time: 13:40 CEST; estimated finish: 17:14 CEST (subtract 6 hours for ET, 9 hours for PT) world clock
* Versus TV coverage starts at 7:30 AM ET / 4:30 AM PT
High-res Levi Leipheimer finish Levi Leipheimer finish: "Fourth fastest time ever" — Versus
July 28 update: It was supposed to be a battle between Alberto Contador and Cadel Evans for one of the closest Tour de France finishes ever, but Levi Leipheimer almost stole the show. Leipheimer tore up the course in the 4th fastest Tour de France time trial ever at over 53 kph. The 20 kph tailwind certainly helped. For several moments after he crossed the line, it looked like his superb effort might give him the overall win. But, Cadel Evans, whose 2nd place advantage had been whittled down to just 8 seconds with 5.5k to go, dug deep and actually picked up one second at the line. Meanwhile, the last man on the course was battling to keep the Yellow Jersey. Alberto Contador finished 5th on the day and although his overall lead over Evans was reduced from 1.50 to just 23 seconds, he'll win this year's Tour de France. In total, Discovery Channel placed four guys in the Top 7 in today's time trial stage and although Levi is now just nine seconds behind Cadel Evans for second in GC, he won't "pull a Vinokourov" on the last day. More to come... — Steve
Stage 19 Results 1 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Discovery Channel 1.02.45 (53.068 km/h) 2 Cadel Evans (Aus) Predictor-Lotto 0.50 3 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Caisse d'Epargne 1.56 4 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Discovery Channel 2.01 5 Alberto Contador (Spa) Discovery Channel 2.18 6 Iván Gutiérrez (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 2.26 7 George Hincapie (USA) Discovery Channel 2.32 8 Oscar Pereiro (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 2.35 9 Leif Hoste (Bel) Predictor - Lotto 2.48 10 Mikel Astarloza (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 2.49 Full Results and Live Text Coverage — Cyclingnews General Classification after Stage 19 1 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 87.09.18 2 Cadel Evans (Aus) Predictor - Lotto 0.23 3 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 0.31 4 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Team CSC 7.08 5 Haimar Zubeldia Agirre (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 8.17 6 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 11.37 7 Kim Kirchen (Lux) T-Mobile Team 12.18 8 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 12.30 9 Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 14.14 10 Oscar Pereiro Sio (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 14.25 11 Mauricio Soler (Col) Barloworld 16.41 12 Michael Boogerd (Ned) Rabobank 21.05 13 David Arroyo Duran (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 21.49 14 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Caisse d'Epargne 24.05 15 Chris Horner (USA) Predictor - Lotto 25.09
Full Report — VeloNews Agence France-Presse and AP Photos Graham Watson's Stage 19 Photos Levi Leipheimer finish: "Fourth fastest time ever" — Versus Cadel Evans finish — Versus Alberto Contador finish — Versus Levi Leipheimer Post Race — Versus and Levi's immediate reaction and press conference — VeloNews Levi Leiphiemer's Press Conference: (audio only) — bikeradar.com Alberto Contador Press Conference: (audio translation only) — bikeradar.com Stage 19 Highlights — ASO/Cyclingnews Phil Liggett's Audio Report — worldcycling.tv Lance Armstrong Cameo Post Race — VeloNews Johan Bruyneel Post Race — VeloNews ITV/Chris Boardman Podcast with Matt Rendell, Ned Boulting and Chris Boardman. A thrilling and decisive day on the Tour as the individual time trial decided the destination of the yellow jersey. The podcast includes interviews with David Millar and Levi Leipheimer. — ITV Pro Cycling Magazine's Stage Recap Podcast — bikeradar.com
High-res Cadel Evans finish Cadel Evans finish — Versus
High-res Alberto Contador finish Alberto Contador finish — Versus
July 28 update: Can Cadel Evans beat Alberto Contador by 1 minute and 50 seconds on a flat 55k time-trial course? That's what three weeks of exciting racing on the road and one week of drama off the road comes down to. David Millar says Cadel will need a headwind to make up the ground. Today's TT weather forecast is calling for cloudy to partly sunny conditions with a 20 kph tailwind. Contador may be young, but as Johan Bruyneel says "there will be a lot of experience behind him." Aussies and other Cadel Evans fans will be hoping for a repeat of the 1989 Lemond vs Fignon outcome () when Greg Lemond won the Yellow Jersey on the last day by erasing Laurent Fignon's 50 second advantage over a 24.5k course. If Contador forgets his aerobars and helmet back at the hotel then Evans has a good shot. Regardless of how much time Evans makes up, this will be the closest Tour finish in many years. — Steve
Rider poll: "What is your final podium prediction"... you'll like Mayo's answer — VeloNews
Levi Leipheimer interview heading into the time-trial — VeloNews
Cadel Evans and Johan Bruyneel discuss Saturday's time trial — VeloNews
Is Soler next to go?
Stage 18 results: Sandy Casar attacks around a traffic island and finally wins a Tour de France stage
Cahors → Angoulême, 210k (flat)
July 27 update: It was great to see big crowds at the finish in Angoulême today and they were no doubt please to see a Frenchman, Sandy Casar, finally win his first Tour de France stage. (The Française des Jeux captain had been runner up numerous times in previous years.) Casar was part of a long four-man break that included other well known riders: Axel Merckx (T-Mobile Team), Laurent Lefevre (Bouygues Telecom) and Michael Boogerd (Rabobank). Earlier, the day almost ended abruptly for the eventual winner when he collided with a dog that had wandered out into the road. The dog was lucky it escaped with a broken leg because it could have been decapitated (video and stills below). The other riders waited while their scuffed up breakmate rejoined them and the four eventually built up a lead of over 17 minutes meaning Boogerd had moved as high as 6th in GC on the road. The lead was trimmed back to about 10 minutes, near the end, before Casar launched a great attack from the rear of the unsuspecting break. He took the inside route around a traffic island and by the time the other riders could react, they had to wait for the traffic island to end inorder to cut across the road. Boogerd eventually dragged Merckx and Lefevre to within several meters, but none of the chasers took the initiative to close the gap entirely. Casar then accelerated again and won the race going away. — Steve
Stage 18 Results 1 Sandy Casar (Fra) Française des Jeux 5.13.31 (40.38 km/h) 2 Axel Merckx (Bel) T-Mobile Team 0.01 3 Laurent Lefevre (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 4 Michael Boogerd (Ned) Rabobank 5 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quickstep - Innergetic 8.34 6 Robert Hunter (RSA) Barloworld 7 Erik Zabel (Ger) Team Milram 8 Sébastien Chavanel (Fra) Française des Jeux 9 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) T-Mobile Team 10 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Crédit Agricole Full Results and Live Text Coverage — Cyclingnews General Classification after Stage 18 1 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 2 Cadel Evans (Aus) Predictor - Lotto 1.50 3 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 2.49 4 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Team CSC 6.02 5 Haimar Zubeldia Agirre (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 6.29 6 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 10.18 7 Kim Kirchen (Lux) T-Mobile Team 11.36 8 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 12.50 9 Mauricio Soler (Col) Barloworld 13.31 10 Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 13.42
Stage 18 Preview
July 27 update: The break succeeded yesterday possibly because Quickstep had a man in it. Today, Tom Boonen will likely plan for a sprint finish and if he has recovered from Stage 16, he'll probably win it. The finish is slightly uphill which will suit him well. The GC guys are thinking ahead to tomorrow's decisive time-trial in Angoulême, the same city that also hosts today's finish. — Steve
La cathédrale in Angoulême, the site of today's finish and Saturday's time-trial finish
photo : ville dAngoulême
Stage 17 Results: Sprinter Daniele Bennati easily wins the dash for the line among the four man break
Pau → Castelsarrasin, 189k (flat)
July 26 update: The eight and then four man break couldn't shed the sprinter amongst them so when they arrived intact, with one km to go, it was clear Daniele Bennati was going to win. He looked for very fresh in the break and had no problem covering the attacks. Markus Fothen gave a good go at the 200m marker, but Bennati was easily able to gallop around him. Chris Charmichael has some advice for winning out of a break for both sprinters and non-sprinters. Rabobank's Denis Menchov didn't want to start the race and eventually adbandoned after 80k. You might feel badly for this guy. As Velonews wrote, the Russian had come to France as his team's designated leader, but after faltering in the Alps - a fact Rasmussen callously pointed out, chiding his teammate for not "getting his ass over the Galibier" - Menchov faithfully slipped into what turned out to be an utterly wasted supporting role. This wasn't Menchov's first brush with doping disappointment. In 2005, he was awarded the Vuelta a España title only after Liberty Seguros rider Roberto Heras tested positive for EPO. — Steve
Stage 17 Results 1 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Lampre-Fondital 2 Markus Fothen (Ger) Gerolsteiner 3 Martin Elmiger (Swi) Ag2r Prévoyance 4 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team CSC 5 David Millar (GBr) Saunier Duval-Prodir 2.42 6 Matteo Tosatto (Ita) Quickstep-Innergetic 7 Manuel Quinziato (Ita) Liquigas 3.20 8 Daniele Righi (Ita) Lampre-Fondital Full Results and Live Text Coverage — Cyclingnews General Classification after Stage 17 1 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 2 Cadel Evans (Aus) Predictor - Lotto 1.53 3 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 2.49 4 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Team CSC 6.02 5 Haimar Zubeldia Agirre (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 6.29 6 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 10.18 7 Kim Kirchen (Lux) T-Mobile Team 11.36 8 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 12.50 9 Mauricio Soler (Col) Barloworld 13.31 10 Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 13.42
Pre-Race Michael Rasmussen withdrawal aftermath:
Stage 17 Preview
July 26 update: I feel badly for the clean riders, the dedicated fans and Rasmussen's hardworking teammates. If it's always darkest before the dawn then I'd say it's about 3 AM in the morning (bike time). It's OK, the sun will shine again.
Tomorrow's destination, Castelsarrasin.
Don't despair, the sun will shine again.
photo: Graham WatsonToday we return to the flats and a sprinter like Tom Boonen or Erik Zabel could be rewarded for lugging his sprinter's body over the mountains this past week. But, their teammates are tired and may not be able to reel in all the breaks. The GC teams will not chase anybody who is not a threat in the last few days. For these two reasons, breaks are more successful in the latter part of the Tour de France or any other long stage race. — Steve
1. Michael Rasmussen (Den) Rabobank
Apparantly, Michael Rasmussen was in Italy during the period of his missed June out-of-competition doping tests. He previously had said he was in Mexico during the same period. Former pro cyclist and now a RAI Sports cycling commentator, Davide Cassani was the person who provided the tip, on Denmark Radio Wednesday night (CEST), indicating he had seen Michael Rasmussen training in the Dolomites (Northern Italy) in mid-June. There is also apparantly an unnamed doctor involved. Last week's revelations about the missed tests frustrated Tour director Christian Prudhomme, who said he would have fought to keep Rasmussen from even starting the Tour had he known about the issue. "What I regret more than ever is that we didn't have this information on June 29, or on the following days before the Tour started." He is obviously placing rightful blame on the UCI... just one more screw up by cycling's governing body. More to come... — SteveAlso see:
Tour Leader Is Kicked Out of the Race — New York Times
Revised General Classification after Stage 16 1 Alberto Contador (Spa) Discovery Channel 2 Cadel Evans (Aus) Predictor-Lotto 1.53 3 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Discovery Channel 2.49 4 Carlos Sastre (Spa) Team CSC 6.02 5 Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 6.29
Stage 16 results: Michael Rasmussen virtually seals the deal conquering Discovery Channel on Col d'Aubisque
Orthez → Gourette (Col d'Aubisque), 218k (mountainous)
July 25 update: It was Discovery Channel versus Rabobank today in the expected battle for the overall race win. Michael Rasmussen's Rabobank teammates drove the peloton for the entire day until a third of the way up the final climb, Col d'Aubisque. Charging up the base of the famous climb, the remaining peloton passed the remnents of the early break consisting of GC hopeful, Carlos Sastre (Team CSC), stage win hopeful Iban Mayo (Saunier Duval-Prodir) and king of the mountains hopeful Mauricio Soler (Barloworld). Rasmussen owes Thomas Dekker, Michael Boogard and Denis Menchov credit for setting tempo for most of the day. After Menchov peeled off he was barely able to turn over the pedals. From there on, it was Discovery seting the pace or launching attacks trying to unhitch the Yellow Jersey. First Yaroslav Popovych went to the front and then it was Levi Leipheimer. Alberto Contador launched two failed attacks, but that's all he could muster. Near the end, it was Levi at the front setting tempo trying put distance on Cadel Evans, who had dropped back, while Rasmussen sat comfortably in 2nd and Contador hung onto the back. With 1k to go, Rasmussen danced away from Discovery Channel's best climbers to win atop of Col d'Aubisque. There was the noticable sound of "booooooo" mixed with the usual cheering din as he crossed the line. Levi cut 40 seconds from Cadel Evan's 3rd place GC advantage, but it likely wasn't enough since Levi will have to beat Evans by almost a minute in Saturday's 54k time-trial if he wants to step onto the podium in Paris. Erasing one-minute is no small task against Evans, who is a great time-trialer and, now, is the revised winner of the Stage 13 54k, Albi time-trial. Michael Ramussen now has a 3.10 advantage over Alberto Contador, a comfortable lead for the rest of the race. He may be an unpopular winner, but time will tell whether he's the deserving winner he appeared on the road. — SteveAs Velonews reported,
Wednesday's stage start was delayed by a protest (
Stage 16 Results 1 Michael Rasmussen (Den) Rabobank 6.23.21 (34.20 km/h) 2 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Discovery Channel 0.25 3 Alberto Contador (Spa) Discovery Channel 0.35 4 Cadel Evans (Aus) Predictor-Lotto 0.43 5 Mauricio Soler (Col) Barloworld 1.25 6 Carlos Sastre (Spa) Team CSC 1.52 7 Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 1.54 8 Juan José Cobo (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 9 Carlos Sastre (Spa) Team CSC 2.12 Full Results and Live Text Coverage — Cyclingnews General Classification after Stage 16 1 Michael Rasmussen (Den) Rabobank 2 Alberto Contador (Spa) Discovery Channel 3.10 3 Cadel Evans (Aus) Predictor-Lotto 5.03 4 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Discovery Channel 5.59 5 Carlos Sastre (Spa) Team CSC 9.12 6 Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 9.39
spare cycle's stage 16 link round up
earlier in the day...
Stage 16 Preview
July 25 update: Unless you haven't been following the bad news, you know that cycling is still in its dark days. Aside from throwing out an entire pro cycling generation (the UCI management included), the good with the bad, we are bound to have more days like this: Vinokourov tests positive; Astana withdraws from Tour. We've been cheated again by another big name cyclist in a most inexplicable, brazen fashion; but keep a stiff upper-lip and a
Check out our dope-free tour of the spectacular Col d'Aubisque positive... oops, I mean upbeat outlook on racing because this can't go on forever. As CSC's Christian Vande Velde put it, "Tomorrow is now coming fast and I need to get my head straight. It will be a beautiful stage nonetheless and the fans will still come out in droves to cheer on the riders as we try to scale the mountains in Spain and France... all of that despite today's shock."
update:
Indeed, the finish at Col d'Aubisque is one of the great passes all cyclists worship. But, before we get there, the riders will go out of their way to cross the Pyrenees into Spain over the hors categorie Port de Larrau (length: 14.7k; avg: 8.1%) and return to France via the cat 1, Col de la Pierre-Saint-Martin (length: 14.2k; avg: 5.2%). After heading east over another cat 1 climb, Col de Marie-Blanque (length: 9.3k; avg: 7.4%), the riders will climb the hors categorie, west side of the Col d'Aubisque (length: 16.7k, avg: 7%). Alberto Contador says he needs to cut at least one minute from Michael Rasmussen's 2:23 lead to possibly catch him in the final time-trial. This is the last and longest mountain stage of this year's Tour and the results could be all over the map since it follows a (tumultuous) rest day, which can wreck a rider's rhythm. — Steve
Today's Climbs:
Km 79: Port de Larrau: 14.7 km climb @ 8.1 % grade / hors catégorie (Spain)
Km 93: Alto Laza - 3.5km climb @ 6.8 % grade / 3rd Cat. (Spain)
Km 131: Col de la Pierre-Saint-Martin: 14.2 km climb @ 5.2 % grade / 1st Cat.
Km 180.5: Col de Marie-Blanque: 9.3 km climb @ 7.4 % grade / 1st Cat.
Km 218.5: Col d'Aubisque: 16.7 km climb @ 7 % grade / hors catégorie
Tuesday rest day prior to Stage 16
July 24 update: I think everyone needs a breather especially after racing through the Pyrenees these past two days. Today, Michael Rasmussen will be holding a press conference and I'll post links to video and audio when they become available. Tomorrow's Stage 16 preview will be posted by noon PST. If you sent me an email over the past few days, but had it returned with the message "mailbox full" then please resend it. Also, I haven't archived any stages yet so if you find the display performance of this page is getting unsatisfactory then please let me know. — Steve
Michael Rasmussen hasn't failed a doping test, but he did fail to give notice to cycling authorities of his whereabouts for out-of-competition testing on four occassions. He fortunately planned his news conference, to clear the air, on the same day the Vinokourov's positive test results were announced.
Stage 15 Results: Vino's literal down and up Tour continues with his win in Loudenvielle
Foix → Loudenvielle, 196k (mountainous)
July 23 update: It was a day of great bike racing to match the spectacular scenery of the French Pyrenees. As expected, there was a successful break today, but nobody expected Alexander Vinokourov to rise from the dead after yesterday's Pyrenees stage brought him to his knees, again, both literally and figuratively. Vinokourov passed an early break, soloed through hugh crowds to Col de Peyresourde and then descended down into Loudenvielle to add another gritty win to his palomares. But, the real race story was unfolding behind him. Alberto Contador repeatedly (6 times) attacked Michael Rasmussen on the Peyresourde, but the Yellow Jersey was able to claw back each time. Discovery Channel already had George Hincapie waiting up the road, near the top, and if Contador had got clear, Hincapie would have paced Contador to the finish, cutting into Rasmussen's GC advantage. It was a great plan that didn't quite work. In the end, Contador and Rasmussen crossed together, as they did the previous stage, adding another minute to their advantage over 3rd place Cadel Evans. — Steve
Stage 15 Results 1 Alexander Vinokourov (Kaz) Astana 5.34.28 (35.160 km/h) 2 Kim Kirchen (Lux) T-Mobile 0.49 3 Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 4 Juan José Cobo (Spa) Saunier Duval-Prodir 0.51 5 Juan Manuel Gárate (Spa) Quickstep-Innergetic 2.16 6 David Arroyo (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 3.24 7 Bernhard Kohl (Aut) Gerolsteiner 4.25 8 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Team CSC 9 Ludovic Turpin (Fra) Ag2r Prévoyance 5.16 10 Alberto Contador (Spa) Discovery Channel 5.25 11 Michael Rasmussen (Den) Rabobank 12 Cadel Evans (Aus) Predictor-Lotto 6.27 Full Results and Live Text Coverage — Cyclingnews General Classification after Stage 15 1 Michael Rasmussen (Den) Rabobank 69.52.14 2 Alberto Contador (Spa) Discovery Channel 2.23 3 Cadel Evans (Aus) Predictor-Lotto 4.00 4 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Discovery Channel 5.25 5 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana 5.34
Stage 15 Preview
July 23 update: The beautiful scenery and suffering continues today. Read about the pain the Pyrenees inflicted yesterday from the riders. Today's race starts in Foix, one of my favourite towns in France; it's a great base camp for recreational cyclists. The banner image above was taken near tomorrow's route. To learn more about road biking Utopia, check our three Ariège Pyrénées episodes from 2005: part 1, part 2 and especially part 3. (We have more France reports in the backlog so check back this fall for more recreational coverage). Rumour has it, the big names will take the day off tomorrow (to enjoy the scenery) so look for a successful break. Christophe Moreau, took it easy yesterday crossing 34 minutes back with sprinters like Tom Boonen. With his GC hopes out the door starting with the Stage 12 debacle, maybe he'll put his great climbing and descending skills to work on this course . — Steve
Today's Climbs:
Km 27.5: Col de Port: 11.4 km climb @ 5.3 % grade / 2nd Cat.
Km 98.5: Col de Portet d'Aspet: 5.7 km climb @ 6.9 % grade / 2nd Cat.
Km 114: Col de Menté: 7.0 km climb @ 8.1 % grade / 1st Cat.
Km 159.5: Port de Balès: 19.2 km climb @ 6.2 % grade / Beyond Category
Km 184.5: Col de Peyresourde: 9.7 km climb @ 7.8 % grade / 1st Cat.
The last 5k into Loudenvielle
Stage 14 Results: Alberto Contador wins ahead of the Yellow Jersey and moves into second overall as Cadel Evans shows a slight crack
Mazamet → Plateau-de-Beille, 197k (mountainous)
July 22 update: The first day in the Pyrenees saw lots of carnage as expected thanks in large part to Discovery's Yaroslav Popovych who set the pace for much of the first half of Plateau de Beille. He shelled some big names like Astarloza, Pereiro, Valvarde, Mayo and even Kloden, leaving only seven or so riders left when he peeled off. From there, we saw lots of cat and mouse before Michael Rasmussen and Alberto Contador went clear with 7k still to go after counterattacking a move by Mauricio Soler, 3rd on the day. The two riders then worked well together and caught the last two riders of the four man break while distancing themselves from the dangerous time-trialer, Cadel Evans, who showed a slight crack today losing over two minutes (including time bonuses). Contador and Rasmussen did a lot of talking and gesturing before Contador won the sprint to the line, capturing his first Tour de France stage win and giving Discovery Channel its first Tour stage win this year. It was a significant feat for a young rider winning atop of Plateau de Beille in the second half of the Tour. All three past stage winners of Plateau de Beille have gone on to win the overall title as well. Levi Leipheimer couldn't match any of the accelerations, but was steady to the end, finishing in 4th, just 38 seconds back of his winning teammate. A very good day for Discovery Channel. After Levi, the next top American in GC is Chris Horner, who has been solid in every stage and now sits smartly in 17th position amongst some good company. One position ahead of him is Iban Mayo, who was 3rd in GC after Stage 13 and behind Horner is Denis Menchov, the Rabobank leader going into the race. The Yo-Yo, Alexandre Vinokourov, literally waved good-bye early on the Port de Pailhères and finished over 28 minutes back after apparently falling on Plateau de Beille. He can only hope for more stage wins or to provide fireworks for his teammates from here on in. Even more surprising was Christophe Moreau, who crossed 34 minutes down with sprinters like Tom Boonen. Was he simply saving himself for an upcoming mountain stage? — Steve
Stage 14 Results 1 Alberto Contador (Spa) Discovery Channel 5.25.48 (36.28 km/h) 2 Michael Rasmussen (Den) Rabobank 3 Mauricio Soler (Col) Barloworld 0.36 4 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Discovery Channel 0.38 5 Carlos Sastre (Spa) Team CSC 0.52 6 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana 1.52 7 Cadel Evans (Aus) Predictor-Lotto 8 Antonio Colom (Spa) Astana 2.23 9 Andrey Kashechkin (Kaz) Astana 10 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Discovery Channel 3.06 Full Results and Live Text Coverage — Cyclingnews General Classification after Stage 14 1 Michael Rasmussen (Den) Rabobank 2 Alberto Contador (Spa) Discovery Channel 2.23 3 Cadel Evans (Aus) Predictor-Lotto 3.04 4 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Discovery Channel 4.25 5 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana 4.38 6 Carlos Sastre (Spa) Team CSC 5.50 7 Andrey Kashechkin (Kaz) Astana 6.58 8 Mikel Astarloza (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 8.25 9 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 9.45 10 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Discovery Channel 10.55
Stage 14 Preview
July 22 update: We're entering the Ariege Pyrenees today, one of the great cycling regions. Just about everybody is calling this stage the most decisive stage in the Tour because of the two back-to-back, hors catégorie climbs — the toughest climbs in this year's Tour — positioned at the end. There will be massive carnage. The Plateau de Beille has been used three times in the Tour and each time the stage winner has gone on to win the Yellow Jersey (Marco Pantani in '98 and Lance Armstrong in '02 and '04) — Steve
Last year, I cycled Port de Pailhères climbing and descending both sides on separate days. The east side ascent (see photo left) is the harder climb and it's the side the Tour will do today. Port de Pailhères is the second highest col in the French Pyrenees after Col du Tourmalet.
Stage 13 Results: Vino and Rasmussen win big in Albi
Albi → Albi, 54k (hilly)
July 21 update: I'll count myself among those who underestimated Michael Rasmussen before today's time-trial. His 11th place performance was outstanding by his standards and if he produces one more effort like we saw today, next Saturday, then he could be wearing the Yellow Jersey at the end of the race. The other winner today was Alexandre Vinokourov, who lead Astana's dominance of today's TT with teammates Andreas Klöden and Andrey Kashechkin taking 3rd and 4th. Steady and consistent Cadel Evans broke up the Astana podium sweep and also moves up into second overall exactly one minute behind Rasmussen. Unquestionably, the big losers on the day were the Spaniards, Alejandro Valverde and Iban Mayo who were sitting 2nd and 3rd before the day, but have now dropped out of the top ten. It was a shocking sight to see Rasmussen catch and pass Valvarde, his three minute man. The weather played a big factor in the results with an advantage going to the early and late starters. Many riders in between had to negotiate the course when it was most slippery from the rain. Early starter, Bradley Wiggins' best time of 1:08.48 held until Alexandre Vinokourov came through much later and more than two minutes faster, averaging 48.6 kph on the 54k course. Vino is still more than 5 minutes back on GC. For slip and slide coverage see the video stills below. — Steve
Stage 13 Results 1 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) Astana 1.06.35 (48.661 km/h) 2 Cadel Evans (Aus) Predictor - Lotto 1.14 3 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana 1.39 4 Andrey Kashechkin (Kaz) Astana 1.44 5 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 2.13 6 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 2.15 7 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Discovery Channel 2.18 8 Sylvain Chavanel (Fra) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 2.37 9 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 2.38 10 Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 2.41 Full Results and Live Text Coverage — Cyclingnews General Classification after Stage 13
Stage 13 Preview
July 21 update: On the day of the first important individual time-trial, controversy continues to build at this year's event. I have so many things I could say, but I'll keep it brief: all the controveries you have heard or read about could have been dealt with by the UCI before the race started and now it's annoying that it affects the race in progress. I'd rather just stick to the racing and not get caught up in more destructive bike racing politics.
The time-trial course looks like a good one. It's 54k, it has some hills, it has tricky spots and then there is the flat stretch at the end to hammer it home. The last hill is actually a cat 4 climb followed by a technical descent. Unless Michael Rasmussen has miraculously improved his time-trialing skills in high secrecy, he probably won't be in the Yellow Jersey at the end of tomorrow which what the organizers are probably hoping for. Andreas Klöden's fractured tailbone must be very slight because it hasn't affected him in recent days. Last month's Tour de Suisse final day time-trial in Bern saw TT World Champion Fabian Cancellara and Astana's Andreas Kloden finish one-two as they did to start this year's Tour de France prologue and there is good reason to expect a similar outcome in Albi. The required adjustments Levi Leipheimer has made to his TT position (see the podcast just below) will hurt his chances tomorrow. Discovery Channel's sporting director, Johan Bruyneel, is predicting Predictor-Lotto's Cadel Evans will be in the Yellow Jersey tomorrow night. Remember, all riders depart in reverse order of the current general classification with three minute intervals between the contenders. — Steve
Stage 12 Results: Tom Boonen gets his 2nd win with a "bonus" sprint finish in Castres.
Montpellier → Castres, 179k (hilly)
July 20 update: When the two man break consisting of Pierrick Fédrigo (Bouygues Telecom) and Amets Txurruka (Euskaltel-Euskadi) had an advantage of 5'21" at the top of the big (and lone significant) climb of the day with 50k to go, it looked like they'd succeed. However, the headwind and chasing peloton quickly reduced the lead on the downhill run into Castres. They were caught with 2k to go after being away for 120k. Lampre and Française des Jeux did all the chasing for their sprinters Daniele Bennati and Sébastien Chavanel, but it was Quickstep's Tom Boonen who won the "bonus" sprint ahead of Erik Zabel and yesterday's winner, Robbie Hunter. — Steve
Stage 12 Results 1 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quickstep-Innergetic 2 Erik Zabel (Ger) Milram 3 Robert Hunter (RSA) Barloworld 4 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Lampre-Fondital 5 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Crédit Agricole 6 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) T-Mobile 7 Sébastien Chavanel (Fra) Française Des Jeux 8 Nicolas Jalabert (Fra) Agritubel 9 Robert Förster (Ger) Gerolsteiner 10 Andrey Kashechkin (Kaz) Astana Full Results and Live Text Coverage — Cyclingnews General Classification after Stage 12 1 Michael Rasmussen (Den) Rabobank 2 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 2.35 3 Iban Mayo Diez (Spa) Saunier Duval - Prodir 2.39 4 Cadel Evans (Aus) Predictor - Lotto 2.41 5 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Discovery Channel 3.08 6 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Team CSC 3.39 7 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana 3.50 8 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Discovery Channel 3.53 9 Kim Kirchen (Lux) T-Mobile Team 5.06 10 Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 5.20
Stage 12 Preview
July 20 update: After yesterday's fast stage, the 10.4k, 6.1% (cat 2) climb, 60k from the end of today's stage 12, could seem much harder then it looks on paper. The GC contenders will not chase a break unless they really have to since they'll want to save themselves for the following day's important individual team trial in Albi. All things considered, there is an excellent chance a break will succeed today. There will be another flat finish when we reach Castres in the Midi-Pyrenees region. — Steve
Stage 11 Results: Robbie Hunter takes advantage of a late crash, jumps early and holds on for the win
Marseille → Montpellier, 183k (pancake flat)
L to R: 2nd Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Team CSC, 3rd Murilo Fischer (Bra) Liquigas, 1st Robert Hunter (RSA) Barloworld
photo credit: FRANCK FIFE/AFP/Getty Images
July 19 update: This race was a lot more interesting than expected. With a five man break up the road, Astana went to the front of the peloton, driving the pace with 70k to go. They were not interested in any of the riders in the break, but rather in splitting the field in the strong cross winds. Any riders at the back thinking they would be pulled this entire flat stage made a serious miscalculation. Among those at the back was GC contender Christophe Moreau, who earlier collided with his teammate in a silly accident and after receiving medical attention continued to hang in the rear. The peloton never regrouped despite the efforts of his AG2r teammates and in the end Moreau would lose 3 minutes in GC. The flat finish featured sweeping turns which took out several sprinters in the second last corner including Tom Boonen and Fred Rodriguez. Add them to sprinters like Erik Zabel, Thor Hushovd and Sébastien Chavanel, who missed the split earlier in the race, and there weren't many pure sprinters left in contention in the final dash for the line. But, Robbie Hunter was well positioned going into the final corner, sitting smartly in fourth position, and once through the corner he jumped with 300 m to go and held off CSC's Fabian Cancellara at the line. Hunter becomes the first native African to ever win a Tour de France stage. Astana's 50 kph pacesetting produced a race that finished earlier than the fastest estimated time causing David Zabriskie to miss the time-cut by 4 minutes. He is now on his way home. The moral of the day: stay up front and you'll avoid the crashes and missing important moves. — Steve
Stage 11 Results 1 Robert Hunter (RSA) Barloworld 3.47.50 (48.06 km/h) 2 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Team CSC 3 Murilo Fischer (Bra) Liquigas 4 Filippo Pozzato (Ita) Liquigas 5 Alessandro Ballan (Ita) Lampre-Fondital 6 Paolo Bossoni (Ita) Lampre-Fondital 7 Claudio Corioni (Ita) Lampre-Fondital 8 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Française Des Jeux 9 William Bonnet (Fra) Crédit Agricole 10 Kim Kirchen (Lux) T-Mobile Full Results and Live Text Coverage — Cyclingnews General Classification after Stage 11 1 Michael Rasmussen (Den) Rabobank 2 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 2.35 3 Iban Mayo Diez (Spa) Saunier Duval - Prodir 2.39 4 Cadel Evans (Aus) Predictor - Lotto 2.41 5 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Discovery Channel 3.08 6 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Team CSC 3.39 7 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana 3.50 8 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Discovery Channel 3.53 9 Kim Kirchen (Lux) T-Mobile Team 5.06 10 Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 5.20
Stage 11 Preview
July 19 update: We are so close to the Mont Ventoux yet today's stage 11 has just one climb, rated a measly cat 4 so the scenery shots of the Mediterranean coast might be more interesting than the action for most of the race. Unless the right composition of riders get in the main break, we are destined for an exciting sprint finish in downtown Montpellier. Now that Robbie McEwen is out of the race, his domestique Fast Freddie Rodriguez will have a chance to contest the sprint for himself. The last 1k of this stage is dead flat and look for Tom Boonen at the end of this hot stage in the Provence. — SteveThursday's viewer mailbag: I've received good feedback on the TVU Network option for watching the Versus coverage online that I posted yesterday. Brian B. from Seattle, Ned M., Bernie V. from the UK and David P. from the Washington, D.C. have all given thumbs up with Ned summerizing it best: "thanks for locating the TVU Networks feed - so far so good - strong uninterrupted signal - but yes, TONS of commercials for long breaks, but hey, it's free...". David's TVU/Versus review was the most detailed and definitely worth a read.... Brad G. from the UK, has sent in a good link to daily podcasts hosted by two writers of Pro Cycling magazine. I'm now posting a link to the daily podcasts as part of each stage results... Speaking of Tour podcasts, David B. aka The Fredcast also informed me that he's doing daily audio recaps of each stage. He clearly puts a lot of work into each episode and they're worth checking out. Another Tour podcast comes from ITV and Chris Boardman which includes audio highlights from Phil and Paul's live coverage and post race interviews with the riders. Thanks for the feedback. — Steve
Stage 10 Results: Cedric Vasseur (Quick Step - Innergetic) wins the sprint among the five man break in Marseille ahead of a fast charging Sandy Casar
Tallard → Marseille, 230k (flat-rolling)
Being the first stage after the mountains on a course that suited a break, it wasn't surprising that the main break stayed away. The eleven men up front built a lead of over 10 minutes without any team in the peloton caring. Rabobank was setting obligatory tempo at the front of the peloton, but they had a teammate, Juan Antonio Flecha, in the break and none among the eleven was a threat in the GC. With 30k to go, Patrice Halgand (Crédit Agricole) split the group with a surge up the first of two cat 3 climbs positioned at the end of the stage. Four others were able to stay with, or claw back, the move by Halgand: Jens Voigt (CSC), Michael Albasini (Liqugas), Cedric Vasseur (Quick Step - Innergetic) and Sandy Casar (Française Des Jeux). With 300 m to go, it was Cedric Vasseur who started and won the flat sprint from the back, just holding off Sandy Casar at the line. It was the first flat stage winning break and the first win by a Frenchman this Tour. — Steve
Stage 10 Results 1 Cédric Vasseur (Fra) Quickstep - Innergetic 5.20.24 (42.978 km/h) 2 Sandy Casar (Fra) Française des Jeux 3 Michael Albasini (Swi) Liquigas 4 Patrice Halgand (Fra) Crédit Agricole 5 Jens Voigt (Ger) Team CSC 6 Staf Scheirlinckx (Bel) Cofidis - Le Crédit par Téléphone 0.36 7 Paolo Bossoni (Ita) Lampre - Fondital 8 Marcus Burghardt (Ger) T-Mobile Team 1.01 9 Aleksandr Kuchynski (Blr) Liquigas 2.34 10 Juan Antonio Flecha Giannoni (Spa) Rabobank Full Results and Live Text Coverage — Cyclingnews General Classification after Stage 10 no significant change
Juan Antonio Flecha was at the back of the main break while his team (Rabobank) set tempo for their Yellow Jersey and the peloton, who were content to let the break get away:
Live coverage options: Internet streaming videoor Worldwide English TV Schedule
race start time: 12:00 CEST; estimated finish: 17:05 CEST (subtract 6 hours for ET, 9 hours for PT)
* Versus Sunday's TV coverage starts at 8:30 AM ET / 5:30 AM PT world clockWednesday's viewer mailbag: I've fallen a little behind on the emails, but a common request I've been getting is to email the link for the Versus online coverage. It has changed and I no longer know what it is. However, Stefan Z. from North Carolina and Tom from Australia say you can get the free Versus live feed on TVU Networks. Tom says you "need to download the player but great quality (lots of ads though)." Stefan says "Go to Channel 51222 in the "All" section, this is the Versus TV channel." The player is Windows specific so I haven't been able to test it out. (One of these days I'll get Parallels Desktop for Mac). Send me an email if you find this tip useful. — Steve
Stage 10 Preview
July 18 update: We are heading to the Provence for the start of three flat-to-rolling stages before the first of two very important individual time-trials. The GC will not change much at the very top as the sprinters return to the limelight. In any stage race, those sprinters that stick it out over the big mountains and make the time-cut are rewarded with a better shot at winning based on sheer attrition alone. Guys like Robbie Hunter, who were close in the first week and are still around, stand a much better chance now that top-sprinters like Danilo Napolitano (Lampre-Fondital) and Robbie McEwen (Predictor-Lotto) are out of the race. Hunter will be inspired by his Barloworld teammate, Juan Mauricio Soler, who won yesterday's stage. With fewer sprinters and more tired riders, the chances of a successful break increase and since this stage has two cat 3 climbs in the last 35k, it's very possible a break will stay away today. If it doesn't, the last 1k of this stage is very flat so there will be a fast sprint finish in Marseille if called upon. — Steve
Looking through the Provence limestone at the hot sun dancing off the Mediterranean Sea near Marseille
Stage 9 Results: Unknown Colombian Juan Mauricio Soler (Barloworld) escapes on Col du Galibier with a 2 minute lead and wins by 38 seconds after the 37k descent
Val-d'Isère → Briançon, 161k (mountainous)July 17 update: An unknown rider from the wild card team, Barloworld, has taken the third mountain stage. Juan Mauricio Soler attacked on the monumental Col du Galibier, passed the six-man breakaway and crested with a two minute lead. When Discovery riders, Yaroslav Popovych and Alberto Contador, crossed next with a 30 second gap on the main group of contenders, it looked like Discovery was going to set itself up for a stage win. But, the 24 year-old Colombian held it together on the long descent into Briançon and the stiff 1.5k uphill finish giving Barloworld a surprise win. Popovych and Contador were caught on the flats near the finish by the group containing the Yellow Jersey. Alejandro Valverde then won the uphill group sprint, but it would be for second. Alexander Vinokourov was emotionally drained at the finish having lost more time and his hopes for the overall win. The average speed was a fast 39 kph. — Steve
The only rider behind Juan Mauricio Soler at the line was the tape-delayed, big screen image of himself
Stage 9 Results 1 Juan Mauricio Soler (Col) Barloworld 4.14.24 (38.92 km/h) 2 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 0.38 3 Cadel Evans (Aus) Predictor - Lotto 4 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Discovery Channel 5 Iban Mayo Diez (Spa) Saunier Duval - Prodir 0.42 6 Michael Rasmussen (Den) Rabobank 7 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 8 Kim Kirchen (Lux) T-Mobile Team 9 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana 10 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Team CSC 11 Christophe Moreau (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance 0.46 12 Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 13 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 14 Juan Jose Cobo Acebo (Spa) Saunier Duval - Prodir 15 José Ivan Gutierrez Palacios (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 16 Oscar Pereiro Sio (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 3.23 17 Chris Horner (USA) Predictor - Lotto 18 Andrey Kashechkin (Kaz) Astana 19 Patrice Halgand (Fra) Crédit Agricole 20 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) Astana Full Results and Live Text Coverage — Cyclingnews General Classification after Stage 9 1 Michael Rasmussen (Den) Rabobank 43.52.48 2 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 2.35 3 Iban Mayo Diez (Spa) Saunier Duval - Prodir 2.39 4 Cadel Evans (Aus) Predictor - Lotto 2.41 5 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Discovery Channel 3.08 6 Christophe Moreau (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance 3.18 7 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Team CSC 3.39 8 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana 3.50 9 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 3.53 10 Kim Kirchen (Lux) T-Mobile Team 5.06
Stage 9 Preview
July 17 update: Today is another mountain day in the Alps and riders will tackle the hors catégorie, Col de I'lseran right from the start with "rested" legs. It's the highest mountain of this year's Tour at 2770 m (or 9087 ft). From there, it's a long (2000 m) descent to the base of the monster, two-tier climb over Col du Telegraphe and Col du Galibier, which together total 30k of climbing at an average grade of 6.8%. From the top of the Galibier, the descent is technical down to Col du Lautaret. The rest of the descent to the finishing town is very straightforward after riders make a left turn onto N91, the major highway through the valley. However, the last 1.5K to the finish, at the other end of Briançon, is uphill with an average grade of 6% so this stage favors the best power sprinter among the great climbers... someone like Alejandro Valverde. Last year, I cycled Col du Telegraphe and Col du Galibier (
Monday is a rest day
July 16 update: Today (Monday) is a rest day in the Alps. If you are looking to get updated then this page will literally point you in the right direction to results, photos and video. I've enhanced the Team Roster sidebar by making each rider's bib number a hyperlink to their stage-by-stage results and personal data. Tuesday's Stage 9/Alps preview will be posted later today. Best of luck to recreational cyclists, who are today riding the Etape du Tour, the same course as Stage 15, Foix → Loudenvielle. — Steve
General Classification after Stage 8
Stage 8 Results: The phenomenal Michael Rasmussen shells everyone on a day with lots of carnage; grabs the win and the Yellow Jersey
Le-Grand-Bornand → Tignes, 165k (mountainous)
July 15 update: It was a stage that suited Michael Rasmussen perfectly and he didn't disappoint. After missing an important early break, he slowly worked his way up to the front when the natural hat-trick of cat 1 climbs started. On the the second last climb of the day, there were only two riders (Antonio Colom and David Arroyo) who could stay with him; the grade was too gradual for Rasmussen to drop them. He waited until the base of the finishing climb to Tignes, before dropping them with a thud and soloed in for the win with a margin of four minutes most of the way. Near the end, Iban Mayo soloed closer and crossed 2.47 back for 2nd. Alejandro Valverde sat on Christophe Moreau's wheel most of the climb and passed the exasperated Frenchman for 3rd. Cadel Evans also preferred to suck wheel all the way up. These riders were part of a group of 7 or so that had over a minute on the other chase group containing some big name GC contenders, yet couldn't get organized to increase the gap. As Johan Bruyneel explained later, [other than
The win was in the bag, but Rasmussen passed up a victory salute to ensure he would get the Yellow Jersey photo credit: AFP/Franck Fife AG2R] it didn't look like teams knew what to do. Levi lost a little ground and says he hopes to peak in the Pyrenees. Aussies Michael Rogers and Stuart O'Grady have crashed out. Rogers was in the virtual yellow jersey before he and David Arroyo missed a corner (see video stills below). Arroyo took a header and soft landing in the woods while Rogers took the full brunt of the side-rail, suffering a right arm injury that prevented him from continuing. It was a tough day and the carnage spilled over to the sprinters as well. Neither Danilo Napolitano (Lampre-Fondital) nor Robbie McEwen (Predictor-Lotto) made the time-cut and are out of the race. However, picking through the results, you may notice that veteran sprinter Erik Zabel placed a very respectable 57th in a group containing rising-star Thomas Dekker, just two minutes behind George Hincapie and Paolo Savoldelli, both 17.26 back of the winning time. When was Hincapie's last good mountaintop result since his Tour de France stage win two years ago? — Steve
Stage 8 Results 1 Michael Rasmussen (Den) Rabobank 4.49.40 (34.18 km/h) 2 Iban Mayo Diez (Spa) Saunier Duval - Prodir 2.47 3 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 3.12 4 Christophe Moreau (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance 3.13 5 Frank Schleck (Lux) Team CSC 6 Cadel Evans (Aus) Predictor - Lotto 7 Andrey Kashechkin (Kaz) Astana 8 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Discovery Channel 3.31 9 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank 3.35 10 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Team CSC 11 Haimar Zubeldia Agirre (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 3.59 12 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Discovery Channel 13 Juan Jose Cobo Acebo (Spa) Saunier Duval - Prodir 14 Manuel Beltran Martinez (Spa) Liquigas 4.13 15 Oscar Pereiro Sio (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 16 Juan Manuel Garate (Spa) Quickstep - Innergetic 4.29 17 David Arroyo Duran (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 18 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana 19 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) Astana 20 Linus Gerdemann (Ger) T-Mobile Team 5.05 Full Results — Cyclingnews General Classification after Stage 8 1 Michael Rasmussen (Den) Rabobank 15.37.42 2 Linus Gerdemann (Ger) T-Mobile Team 0.43 3 Iban Mayo Diez (Spa) Saunier Duval - Prodir 2.39 4 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 2.51
The second last climb - the lead group:
Stage 8 Preview
July 15 update: Yesterday's tough stage looks like a warmup compared to today's stage that finishes with a natural, hat-trick of cat 1 climbs: Cormet de Roselend (length: 20k, avg: 6%), Montée d'Hauteville (length: 15k, avg: 4.7%) and Montée de Tignes (length: 18k, avg: 5.4%). There are also cat 4, cat 3 and cat 2 climbs in succession over the first third of the course. This stage has Michael Rasmussen's name written all over it. He flexed his muscles (kidding
Stage 7 Results: Linus Gerdemann (T-Mobile) wins the first mountain stage and dons the Yellow, White and Most Aggressive Rider Jerseys... "the last km felt like 2 hours"
Bourg-en-Bresse → Le-Grand-Bornand, 197k (mountainous)
July 14 update: Today's win by T-Mobile's Linus Gerdemann, in the first mountain stage of this year's race, should send ripples out to the cycling world. First, a young, unknown German has won the biggest race of his short (two year), pro racing career and secondly, he's a rider from one of the strongest anti-doping squads that is clearly proud of their "authentic result." The clean Gerdemann dropped his last breakmate on the cat 1, Col de la Colombière, took a few dicey chances on the tricky descent and finished the 197k mountain stage in 4:53:13... that's a very fast 24 mph or 40 kph. It's great to see the day's most aggressive rider win the race by a good margin (1:49 and 3.38 ahead of the GC Contenders) that also puts him into the Yellow and White (and almost Polka) Jerseys. He'd better enjoy the Yellow tonight because it looked like he spent all his bullets today and tomorrow's stage is much tougher. — Steve
Stage 7 Results 1 Linus Gerdemann (Ger) T-Mobile Team 4.53.13 (40.41 km/h) 2 Inigo Landaluze Intxaurraga (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 0.40 3 David De La Fuente Rasilla (Spa) Saunier Duval - Prodir 1.39 4 Mauricio Soler (Col) Barloworld 2.14 5 Laurent Lefevre (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 2.21 6 Fabian Wegmann (Ger) Gerolsteiner 3.32 7-42 Juan Manuel Garate (Spa) Quickstep - Innergetic & GC Contenders 3.38 Full Results — Cyclingnews General Classification after Stage 7 1 Linus Gerdemann (Ger) T-Mobile Team 34.43.40 2 Inigo Landaluze Intxaurraga (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 1.24 3 David De La Fuente Rasilla (Spa) Saunier Duval - Prodir 2.45 4 Laurent Lefevre (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 2.55 5 Mauricio Soler (Col) Barloworld 3.05 6 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana 3.39 7 Vladimir Gusev (Rus) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 3.51 8 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Caisse d'Epargne 3.52 9 Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 3.55 10 Thomas Dekker (Ned) Rabobank 3.57 11 Alberto Contador (Spa) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 4.01 12 Andrey Kashechkin (Kaz) Astana 13 Cadel Evans (Aus) Predictor - Lotto 4.02 14 Michael Rogers (Aus) T-Mobile Team 4.03 15 Oscar Pereiro Sio (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 16 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 4.06
Stage 7 Preview July 14 update: The Tour de France is traditionally a flat race for the first week as it is this year. But, today riders will tackle two Cat 3 climbs followed by a Cat 4 and then the first Cat 1 climb of the Tour, Col de la Colombière (length: 16k; grade: 6.8%) cresting it just 13k before the finish. George Hincapie figures (
Col de la Colombière (16k, avg 6.8%)
source: CyclingCols.com
Stage 6 Results: Yawn... Tom Boonen wins the slow motion finish on a hot, slow recovery day before hitting the mountains tomorrow
Semur-en-Auxois → Bourg-en-Bresse, 200k (flat)
July 13 update: The first 195k of today's "race" looked like your local club ride. The battered, hot and tired peloton took the day off and let poor Bradley Wiggins dangle off the front all day. It looked like they were cycling into a headwind the whole time, which is partly true. It reminded me of Stage 11 from this year's Giro d'Italia, which was also a very slow stage one day before mountains. Luckily we didn't have a crash-and-slide finish as the Giro had. Instead, Tom Boonen finally gets his stage win (see video stills below) in a slow to materialize sprint finish. Fabian Cancellara will now have the Yellow Jersey for a full week leading into the Alps tomorrow. I've posted several new sources of live video in time for this weekend's mountain stages... — Steve
Stage 6 Results 1 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quickstep-Innergetic 2 Oscar Freire (Spa) Rabobank 3 Erik Zabel (Ger) Milram 4 Sébastien Chavanel (Fra) Française Des Jeux 5 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Crédit Agricole 6 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Lampre-Fondital 7 Robert Förster (Ger) Gerolsteiner 8 Robert Hunter (RSA) Barloworld 9 Romain Feillu (Fra) Agritubel 10 Murilo Fischer (Bra) Liquigas Full Results — Cyclingnews
spare cycle's stage 6 link round up
Stage 6 sprint analysis:
Stage 6 Preview:
July 13 update: Today's stage is flat, but we have some new dynamics so it could be interesting. Regardless of whether Astana riders Andreas Kloden and Alexandre Vinokourov start today, I can't see them being a factor in the GC anymore. Vinokourov has some really nasty road rash and required stitches in one of his knees. There is no way he'll be 100% when we start the Alps on Saturday. Regarding Kloden, if your tailbone is "slightly fractured" then you are not going to be comfortable riding a bicycle for a while.
Now that the action is heating up, let's talk about what might happen today, one day before we hit the Alps. CSC may not want to spend the bullets needed to keep the Yellow Jersey for just one more day. In fact, if I were Fabian Cancellara, I'm not sure I'd want TV cameras recording the Yellow Jersey getting dropped like a sack of potatoes going up the Cat 1, Col de la Colombiere. All of the GC contenders will be expending as little energy as possible today to save themselves for the Alps. So, basically this stage sets up well for either a break of non-climbers and non-GC contenders or as slow stage with flat sprint finish. — Steve
Friday's viewer mailbag: Mixed in with some cool feedback yesterday was an email from the Versus legal department. To put it mildly, they asked me to remove the live feed link. I then called them and had a nice chat. I figure legally I don't have to remove the link, but I'm not interested in ticking off Versus. Besides they'll eventually find the leak in their operation and the feed link will become private as they intended. If it's a concern to a big company like Versus then it's probably a big deal. My guess is they are getting heat from the Tour de France organizers (ASO) for broadcasting on the internet outside of the U.S. Hope you enjoyed it while it lasted ... Alternative feeds in foreign languages that some people have had success with include TV2 Video streaming from Denmark (nice quality), ZDF Sport from Germany (nice quality) and RTS 2 TV (small frame size, but it's video) from Serbia. By the way, thanks to the viewers who pointed out I incorrectly linked to RTS 1 instead of RTS 2. Pete M. has also sent in a link to Serbia's RTS2 TV Schedule to figure out when it's airing. "The lines you need to look for will be like this 16.25 Biciklizam: Tour de France, prenos". Adjust to your time zone accordingly... Ulich R. has sent in a link to the daily weather forecast and radar map for each stage. Thanks for tuning in. — Steve
Live coverage options: Internet streaming video or Worldwide English TV Schedule
race start time: 12:40 CEST; estimated finish: 17:05 CEST (subtract 6 hours for ET, 9 hours for PT) world clock
Stage 5 Results: Filippo Pozzato sprints to win a tricky stage and moves up to 3rd in GC
Chablis → Autun, 183k (hilly)July 12 update: As expected, Fabian Cancellara battled today to retain his Yellow Jersey. He's an underrated (power) climber and if needed he would have been right there in the sprint too because he's also an underrated sprinter. Although, there was no change at the top the GC, the Tour outlook has changed dramatically today with the favored team, Astana, suffering two severe blows. First, Alexandre Vinokourov crashed heavily with 23k to go suffering a lot of road rash. Surprisingly, his all-star team could do little to drag him back to the peloton and he ended up doing most of the chasing himself losing 1:20 at the end of the day. Even worse, Astana's second in command and second in GC, Andreas Kloden, may have fractured his coccyx (tailbone) in an earlier crash. The two riders were taken to hospital for x-rays.
The hills in this race eliminated many of the pure sprinters and it was Filippo Pozzato (Liquigas) who fulfilled his promise of a stage victory today edging out Oscar Freire (Rabobank) with a bike throw. Pozzato neatly picked his way through riders in the final corner and outsprinted what was left of the peloton going 50 mph (78 kph) on the slight, uphill finishing kick. It was a tough day for many riders on the narrow, hilly, windy roads, but let's not hear any more whining from the riders and commentators about the roads being too narrow. — Steve
Stage 5 Results 1 Filippo Pozzato (Ita) Liquigas 2 Oscar Freire (Spa) Rabobank 3 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Lampre-Fondital 4 Kim Kirchen (Lux) T-Mobile 5 Erik Zabel (Ger) Milram 6 George Hincapie (USA) Discovery Channel 7 Cristian Moreni (Ita) Cofidis 8 Stefan Schumacher (Ger) Gerolsteiner 9 Bram Tankink (Ned) Quickstep-Innergetic 10 Jerome Pineau (Fra) Bouygues Telecom Full Results — Cyclingnews General classification after stage 5 1 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Team CSC 24:28.56 2 Andreas Kloden (Ger) Astana @ .33 3 Filippo Pozzato (Ita) Liquigas .35 4 David Millar (GBr) Saunier Duval-Prodir .41 5 George Hincapie (USA) Discovery Channel .43 6 Vladimir Gusev (Rus) Discovery Channel .45 7 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Caisse d'Epargne .46 8 Mikel Astarloza (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi .49 9 Thomas Dekker (Ned) Rabobank .51
Stage 5 Preview:
July 12 update: Today's stage may have 8 categorized climbs, but lets not get carried away. It may seem mountaineous compared to previous stages, but the climbs are all baby chow either in grade or distance. If you followed last month's Tour de Suisse coverage, you may recall Fabian Cancellara held the Yellow Jersey by a similar time margin going into Stage 3 of the Tour de Suisse which was tougher than today's stage. He battled up the final cat 2 climb to stay close enough to the winner and retained his Yellow Jersey that day. Cancellara is a fighter who takes the Yellow Jersey seriously and if his team is willing to work hard they should keep it at the end of the day. There will be many opportunities for breaks on today's hilly, windy 183k route, but CSC has the fire power to keep the race together although it won't be easy with many non-sprinters itching for camera time and the chance for glory. — Steve
Thursday's viewer mailbag: Thanks for the many emails informing me about the Versus feed still being intact, unfortunately I was slow to update this site ... A few more Windows users reported they are missing a software component needed to view the Eurosport videos. I've put together a Windows and Mac users Eurosport video tech note which hopefully helps. Most of you are viewing them successfully I assume? ... Kirstin D. has added to the list of live feeds and it seems accessible from around the world, originating from Serbia of all places: RTS 2 live feed. RTS 2 is a general tv station so I'm not sure how much air time will be given to the Tour each day. It streams at 150 kps which is good for people with a slow internet connection ... Thanks to Stefan J. and Gerald K. for noticing I posted the Sporza and NOS live feeds links and descriptions incorrectly. They've now been fixed. — Steve
Stage 4 Results: Julian Dean delivers his Credit Agricole team captain, Thor Hushovd, to the line in the "first big sprint stage of the Tour"
Villers-Cotterêts → Joigny, 190k (flat with a few hills)Stage 4 Preview (results are below):
A painting of Joigny, France source: dicart-net
July 11 update: It's stage 4 today, the first full stage in France. We're headed south to the Alps, but we are definitely not there yet; another flat finish is guaranteed with a few hills along the way. How the sprint will unfold in Joigny is uncertain. After yesterday's terrific win, Fabian Cancellara has extended his overall lead to 33 seconds which is quite healthy for flat racing. Cancellara will not be wearing Yellow in Paris on the final day, but he may hang on to it until this Saturday's first mountain stage in the Alps. Sometimes a team isn't interested in defending the lead because of the extra work in chasing breaks so early in the Tour. But, Cancellara unequivocally indicated (Wednesday's viewer mailbag:
The Versus live feed url isn't valid anymore.I'll be checking online stations for an alternative feed during stage 4, but don't hesitate to send me some scoop if you've got it. An alternative video feed doesn't have to be in english it just needs to be accessible from the english-speaking world... Several people have reported problems viewing the Eurosport videos. If you have the latest QuickTime Player installed and still get a "missing component" error then send me your computer's vitals (operating system name and version and age/type of your computer)... Ok, the Versus feed is still active. Thanks for all the emails. — Steve
Stage 4 Race Summary
The small break was caught with 7k to go and the peloton passed them going just under 60 kph. Phil called it the "first big sprint stage of the Tour... it's a free for all". Thor Hushovd wins after a great leadout by teammate and New Zealand National Champion, Julian Dean...
Photo credit: FRANCK FIFE/AFP/Getty Images
How the stage 4 sprint unfolded:
L-R: 2nd Robert Hunter, 1st Thor Hushovd, 3rd Oscar Freire (behind Hushovd), 4th Eric Zabel
Photo credit: FRANCK FIFE/AFP/Getty Images
Stage 3 Results: Fabian Cancellara gambles with 1k to go and rides away from the field to win a sleepy stage and extend his overall lead
Waregem, Belgium → Compiègne, France, 236k (flat)Stage 3 Preview (results just below):
July 10 update: We are now headed south back to France where we'll stay for the rest of the race. Today's stage from Waregem, Belgium to Compiègne, France is 70k longer than yesterday's and the longest stage of this Tour, but it will likely end in another massive sprint. There'll be a lot of sore, scuffed up riders after yesterday's high speed pile up. So far, the only confirmed non-starter for today is Discovery's Tomas Vaitkus. Fast Freddie Rodriguez was in a lot of pain, crossing the line last before heading to a local hospital for x-rays so we'll see whether he starts today. Cyclingnews points out that today's stage will pass through locales like Wallers, Denain and Solesmes that are familiar to Paris-Roubaix before passing through Fontaine-au-bois, the home town of former Tour boss Jean-Marie Leblanc. For more information on the finishing city, check out Compiègne's Tour site (French only) — SteveTuesday's viewer mailbag: Stephen C. (not associated with Versus) says Versus may start asking sites like this to take down the live feed link. They may or should just simply change it so enjoy it while it lasts... Thanks to Jaap S. for sending in the Netherlands live streaming coverage (in Dutch with country restrictions)... Flemish television has an excellent "TourTracker" complete with video and live/updated text, map, and profile: Flemish tour tracker (in Dutch, valid only in Belgium). Thanks to Wim V. for pointing it out... James C. in the UK has sent in a link to The Guardian's minute-by-minute text coverage... Karen T. has pointed out a broken link to Fast Freddie crossing the line in the preview above which has been fixed. This dashboard page has many links and I appreciate feedback on those that don't work. — Steve
Stage 3 Race Summary
Although it was a very slow stage, the riders in the 230k break deserve special mention for plowing through the wind all day: Nicolas Vogondy (Agritubel), Mathieu Ladagnous (Francaise des Jeux), Stephane Auge (Cofidis) and Frederik Willems (Liquigas). Unfortuantely, they resigned themselves to be being caught in the last km. But, it wasn't the field that caught them it was one man who rode off the front of the peloton, blew by the four man break and held off the sprinters at the line. Fabian Cancellara did something few men ever do in the Tour de France and in the process extended his overall lead to 33 seconds. David Zabriskie was dropped somewhere near the end and finished last, 1:05 behind his winning teammate. He's at the Tour as a domestique and says he hasn't found his legs yet. (
Stage 3 Results 1 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Team CSC 6.36.15" (35.81km/h) 2 Erik Zabel (Ger) Milram 3 Danilo Napolitano (Ita) Lampre-Fondital 4 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quickstep-Innergetic 5 Robert Hunter (RSA) Barloworld 6 Robert Förster (Ger) Gerolsteiner 7 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Predictor-Lotto 8 Bernhard Eisel (Aut) T-Mobile 9 Mark Cavendish (GBr) T-Mobile 10 Heinrich Haussler (Ger) Gerolsteiner Full Results — Cyclingnews General classification after stage 3 1 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Team CSC 15:12:08 2 Andreas Kloden (Ger) Astana @ .33 3 David Millar (GBr) Saunier Duval-Prodir . .41 4 George Hincapie (USA) Discovery .43
How the last km of Stage 3 unfolded:
... see Cancellara victory salute photo (above)
Stage 2 results: Tom Boonen's lead out man, Gert Steegmans, wins ahead of his leader giving Quickstep and the Belgians a one-two finish; a big crash at 2.4k to go
Dunkerque, France → Ghent, Belgium, 167k (pancake flat)Stage 2 Preview (results just below):
July 9 update: The London and France Tour organizers must be very pleased. The first two days have been blessed with great weather, huge crowds and an exciting finishes. Fabian Cancellara has a firm hold on the Yellow Jersey after his world class time-trial win in front of 1 million people in downtown London on Saturday. And yesterday ace sprinter, Robbie McEwen, demonstrated in convincing fashion that you can't keep a good man down. Today, we cross the English Channel for the start in Dunkerque, France where the riders will wage a short (167k) war on the flatlands to Ghent (Gand), Belgium. If McEwen is healthy after yesterday's crash-and-win, he'll be the favorite today. As an added incentive, McEwen's wife is Belgian and they live just 30k from Ghent so Belgian cycling fans won't only be cheering for Belgium's top-sprinter and yesterday's 3rd-place finisher, Tom Boonen. — Steve(photo: Belfry of Ghent in front Saint Nicholas church)
Stage 2 Race Summary
Tom Boonen had a great lead out by 3 of his men and one them was
An uphill finish at the end of a very flat stage in front of huge crowds:
Quickstep in the clear by several bike lengths:
By the expressions on the post-race faces of Fabian Cancellara, Fred Rodriguez, George Hincapie and two other Discovery riders, you get a sense of the hair-raising 54 kph crash (see video stills below) that occurred at the end of today's finish in Ghent, Belgium. The peloton was severed as a result and the 20 or so smart and lucky riders that survived were then at the whim of the Quickstep train which was still largely intact. The lead-out for Tom Boonen was so good that his teammate, Gert Steegmans, crossed just ahead of him with remnants of the peloton, including Robbie McEwen, several bike lengths back. It sure didn't look like Boonen allowed Steegmans to win as some have speculated. The huge Belgian crowd was overjoyed with their fellow countrymen finishing one-two. The highs and lows of a sprint finish were clearly evident today. — Steve
still in the lead at the finish:
Crash stills...
The start of the 54 kpm (36 mph) crash, at the front, with 2.4k to go (just inside the 3k rule):
Riders going down at high speed before the door on the left is closed:
The pile up quickly cut off the narrow road:
The Yellow Jersey, Fabian Cancellara, suffered a slight wrist injury in the crash:
(you can spot him in the above photo on top of the left pile up in bright yellow)
Stage 1 Results: Robbie McEwen wins the sprint finish in Canterbury from far back after crashing
London → Canterbury, 203k (flat-rolling)
Stage 1 Preview
July 8 update: Stage 1 continues in England weaving from London to prehistoric Canterbury in the southeast (Kent) region of England. The profile of this 203k stage is flat-to-rolling with a few small (category 4) hills before a slight downhill run into Canterbury, virtually guaranteeing a sprint finish. Early sprint stages in the Tour are often known for wild finishes with the full, fresh field barreling through the last few corners and at least few (young) riders will get overzealous. The winner's time bonus will cut into Fabian Cancellara's overall lead, but he'll keep the Yellow Jersey at the end of today and he may in fact go after some intermediate sprint bonuses since he is not a bad sprinter. The Official Tour de France in London site and BBC Sports have lots of additional information. — Steve
Stage 1 Race Summary
After crashing, finding himself at the back and separated from the peloton with 23k to go, Robbie McEwen wins (
• Live Text Report on how it unfolded
Prologue Results: CSC's Fabian Cancellara delivers a smashing performance in London... fitting of a World Champion
Prologue Preview, 8k (mostly flat)
July 6 update:
For those in London right now getting ready for tomorrow's start, here's a good video to help you determine where to watch the 8k prologue. Great Britain riders Bradley Wiggins and David Miller both have a very good shot at winning on this course in their home country. For those watching at home, here's the Worldwide English TV Schedule. 150 million television viewers in 170 countries watched the Tour last year. Video rights are tightly controlled by the organizers, but there may be internet video streaming from some country for those without TV access. If there is then it will be announced here. — Steve
• The Official Tour de France in London site has lots of additional information.
• Rider start times and course preview (substract 5 hours to convert to ET)
It looked like no one was going to beat Andreas Kloden's intermediate best time of 9.03 after local boy Bradley Wiggins crossed 10 seconds back near the end of today's 8k opening time-trial. But, the World Champion, Fabian Cancellara, was still to come and boy did he deliver a world class performance, crushing the excellent time posted by Kloden by 13 seconds, making him the only rider to crack the 9 minute mark. Cancellera's strong 8 minute and 50 second effort could have him wearing Yellow through Wednesday if CSC wants to keep it. George Hincapie had another fine Tour de France prologue performance finishing 3rd, a split second ahead of Wiggins. Last month's low-profile Tour de Suisse stage race, which few people watch in the English-speaking world, was evidently excellent preparation for the start of the Tour de France with Tour de Suisse riders placing 1st, 2nd, 5th, 6th and 8th today. — Steve
Prologue Results 1 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Team CSC 8.50 (7.9k in 53.7 km/h) 2 Andreas Kloden (Ger) Astana 9.03 3 George Hincapie (USA) Discovery Channel 9.13 4 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Cofidis 9.13 5 Vladimir Gusev (Rus) Discovery Channel 9.15 6 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Caisse d'Epargne 9.16 7 Alexander Vinokourov (Kaz) Astana 9.20 8 Thomas Dekker (Ned) Rabobank 9.21 9 Manuel Quinziato (Ita) Liquigas 9.22 10 David Zabriskie (USA) Team CSC 9.22 Full Results — Cyclingnews
Live Tour de France Internet Options
Text/ticker coverage via Cyclingnews, Eurosport, Velonews, the BBC's bbc.co.uk sport (thanks to Paul D. for pointing out the bbc live text coverage) and The Guardian's minute-by-minute text coverage (Thanks to James C. for sending this link)
The Versus live feed is been removed at their request. Legally, I didn't have to, but I'm not interested in ticking off Versus. I believe they took some heat from the Tour de France organizers for providing worldwide (high quality) video streaming over the internet. Hope you enjoyed it while it lasted.
July 6 update: Last October, as part of the official unveiling of the 2007 route, the following 8 minute video was shown as a segue from last year to this year. It's a fast moving, entertaining video featuring the best moments from the 2006 Tour, but it has a controversial ending. See for yourself...
... and if you haven't seen them yet, here are more videos to get you inspired. — SteveJuly 5 update: Milram's star sprinter, Alessandro Petacchi, has been suspended by his team and will not start the Tour. You'll notice Ukrainian Andriy Grivko has replaced Alessandro Petacchi in the list of full, provisional rosters I've just added to this page. (Team leaders are denoted in red). Also, checkout Confident Leipheimer ready to rumble for Levi Leipheimer and Team Director Johan Bruyneel's persective on this year's Discovery roster and the expected battle for the overall title. Bruyneel and others aren't picking Ag2r-Prevoyance's Christophe Moreau to crack the top five, however Moreau is aiming for the Tour podium. At 36 years-old, he's climbing better than ever and he should cross first during one of the three mountaintop finishes, but his poor time-trialing skills will kill his chances for the Tour podium in Paris. The rider who is heavily favored for the top podium step is embattled Astana rider, Alexandre Vinokourov, whose link to an infamous sports doctor and recent allegations by former teammate and confessed doper, Jorg Jaksche, are drawing a growing fire. — Steve
July 3 update: I've updated the World TV Schedule with updated info and links for UK, Canada and Australia TV coverage. — Steve
July 1 update: Versus has started posting videos to get you inspired for next weekend's start:
Update: Sorry, Versus has for some reason removed these clipsJune 28 update: The Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team announced their Tour de France roster yesterday with the intent on Levi Leipheimer capturing a podium spot, Alberto Contador winning the Young Rider's Jersey and the team getting at least one stage win. Discovery sport director Johan Bruyneel is expecting Astana to dominate the race like Postal Services did under Lance Armstrong. In addition to Leipheimer and Astana riders Alexander Vinokourov and Andreas Kloden, Bruyneel figures Cadel Evans (Predictor-Lotto), Vladimir Karpets (Caisse d'Epargne), Denis Menchov (Rabobank) and Carlos Sastre (CSC) could all be in the mix for a top-five finish. — Steve
June 23 update: It took long enough, but someone has finally posted a Google Earth KMZ file: 2007 Tour de France Stages in Google Earth
. Although, the imagery for the French Alps has been improved since last year, in general, this year's kmz file is not as detailed as last year's verison that Google helped to develop. Nonetheless, many thanks to earthview.nl for this year's version. — Steve
June 19th update: I was just updating this page when I came across additional information on the list of teams on the revised official website. Alberto Contador is apparently the leader of the Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team going into the TdF. Also, the only picture on pg 144 of the official guide which analyzes the team roster is of Contador; however Levi is listed as the leader in the printed guide so the web site may have a mistake or access to new information. — Steve
June 19th update: The maps for each stage have been posted by the official site and are accessible from the map links in the stage summary table on this page. The maps provide an overview of the roads and the categorized climbs the Tour will follow with relief-shaded elevation.
June 18 update: Check out the 71st Tour de Suisse dashboard, featuring stages details, results and video from another one-week stage race that is a popular, mountainous, warm-up for the Tour de France.
June 10 update: Today is the start of the 60th Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré, a one-week stage race in France that has been become a popular, mountainous, warm-up for the Tour de France.
June 2 update: Versus will broadcast live daily coverage, replays throughout the day and expanded primetime coverage: Versus 2007 Tour de France TV Schedule. For more TV viewing options check out the TV Schedule section on this page.
May 30 update: The 2007 Tour de France teams were offically announced today. In addition to the expected ProTour teams, the selection includes three wild card teams: Agritubel (France), Barloworld (United Kingdom) and Astana (Switzerland).
The complete list of 2007 Tour de France teamsApril 24th update: Yesterday, ASO unceremoniously announced the precise route for the first eight stages in this Tour with the remaining stage details to be released on May 2nd. See the timetable links in the stage summary table. The timetables indicate when and where the caravan and peloton will pass points along the route which all spectators will find useful. Expect the remaining stage profiles to be released shortly as well.
Apr 13th update: While you wait for new information on this year's Tour de France, take a vicarious tour through the steephill.tv France cycling reports, photos and videos:
French Pyrenees
• Col du Tourmalet, Luz-Ardiden
• Col du Soulor, Col d'Aubisque
• Col de la Core, Ariege
• Col de la Crouzette, Ariege
• Col d'Agnes and Col d'EscotsFrench Alps
• Alpe d'Huez and Col du Galibier
• Col de Sarenne (Alpe d'Huez)
• Villard Notre Dame
• The Vercors
• The Provence: Le Mont-VentouxJan 26th update: Early 2008 Tour de France details announced.
Jan 16th update: Detailed London to Canterbury Stage 1 profile, map and cue sheet now posted at tourdefrancelondon.com and bbc.co.uk By the way, London is thought to have paid nearly six million dollars to host the starting stages of this year's race. It's the first time the Tour has started anywhere in the United Kingdom.
Oct 30th update: Tour route roundtable with VeloNews and CyclingNews.com. Plus reactions from the riders. Start and finish towns paid 80,000€ and 150,000€, respectively, to host this year's stages according to PezCycling News.
Oct 26th update: The official rollout and 2007 Etape du Tour announcement
Oct 25th, 8:15 PM PST update: Here is the exclusive scoop on the 2007 Tour de France route with start and finish locations in the stage details table to the right. There are six mountain stages and two time-trials not including the prologue. It's all but guaranteed that Stage 15, Foix - Loudenvielle featuring Col de Port, Portet d'Aspet, Mente , Port de Bales, Peyresourde, will be the 2007 Etape du Tour route and it should be held on Monday, July 16th (the first rest day prior to Stage 15). No team time-trial again this year. Biggest surprise... I don't have all the stage details but it looks like Mont Ventoux is not in the plans. How did I get the route map in advance? After some quick deductive research, I tested a few possible urls and bingo! Chalk one up for independent media. — Steve
Oct 14th update: If you are looking for one single “dashboard” page that summarizes the 2007 Tour de France and points you to the important stuff on the official site and elsewhere then here it is. Of course, this is a very early start our 2007 dashboard coverage, but more details will be posted as they are announced. Here is our completed 2006 Tour de France dashboard page to show you what to expect. The 2007 Tour de France route will be announced on Thursday, October 26th and this site will be updated on the same day. So far, it's been announced the 2007 Tour de France will start in London, England and the stage details table to the right has been updated with all known information (and rumors where noted). Each day during the Tour, we'll find and link to the best live feed. As content becomes available, the "live", "results", "photos" and "video" links will be activated. Stay tuned...
— Steve
Tour de France English TV Schedules 
Updated, July 6th:
In the United States, Versus will broadcast live daily coverage, replays throughout the day and expanded primetime coverage: Versus 2007 Tour de France TV Schedule. (Update regarding VERSUS HD: Although the Tour de France will be carried on VERSUS HD, Versus has decided not to broadcast it in high-definition which is what they originally promised) In Canada, OLN Canada's Tour de France TV schedule includes live coverage with rebroadcasts in the evenings. In Europe, Eurosport will have extensive coverage featuring live coverage with a pre-game show; and morning and nightly highlights. Similarly, in Australia, SBS will have live coverage and evening highlights. The UK based ITV stations will televise nightly highlights and live coverage on the weekends. Or alternatively, checkout Cycling Weekly's ITV and British Eurosport Tour de France guide.If you have new information or corrections you'd like to share then don't hesitate to send me an email. — Steve
 map (carte) and profiles source: letour.fr |
Running from Saturday July 7th to Sunday July 29th 2007, the 94th Tour de France will be made up of a prologue and 20 stages and will cover a total distance of 3,547 kilometres.
The 20 stages have the following profiles:
* 11 flat stages,
* 1 medium mountain stages,
* 6 mountain stages,
* 2 individual time-trial stages,
Key points to this year's event
* 3 mountain finishes,
* 2 rest days,
* 117 kilometres of individual time-trials (including the prologue). No team time-trial.
* 21 category 1, category 2 and hors catégorie climbs
The battle for the Yellow Jersey always comes down to who can time trial and climb the best and it's the mountain stages where the action lights up and the weak are weeded out. There are three Alps mountain stages and three Pyrenees stages, late in the Tour, for six in total -- one more than last year but one less categorized climb. Three of six mountain stages have a mountain top finish with Pyrenees stages 14 and 16 looking to be pivotal. Stage 14 has two of the toughest climbs featured this year back-to-back; the downright nasty, east side ascent of Port de Pailheres (16.8 km at 7.2%) followed by the difficult Plateau de Beille (15.9 km at 7.9%). If you are looking for one key stage, I think stage 14 is it; otherwise, look to stage 16. Stage 16 finishes at the top of the historic and scenic Col d'Aubisque. The climb is 14 km at 6.9% which isn't the toughest climb in this year's Tour, but it's the last climb of a 218 km stage on the last mountain day. The results could be all over the map since it follows a rest day late in the Tour which can wreck a rider's rhythm.
Time-trialing is the other half of the equation needed to win the Tour. Before the riders enter the Pyrenees, the first time-trial stage will take place in Albi at 54k in length. The second time-trial stage of roughly the same distance, 55k, occurs three days after the last mountain stage on the 2nd last day of the Tour. So, with 109k of individual time-trialing and the two most important mountain stages, the last week of competition will be very exciting. — Steve
Guide to the Pyrenees Stages — Versus
Guide to the Alps Stages — Versus
Update: Sorry, Versus has for some reason removed these clips
Stage 7 (Le Grand-Bornand)
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Stage 8 (Tignes)
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Stage 9 (Briancon)
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Stage 14 (Plateau de Beille)
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Stage 15 (Loudenvielle)
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Stage 16 (Aubisque)
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| Tour de France the early years: | Tour de France (Mostly Painful) Moments: |
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