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After an aggressive start, Hincapie rides to the finish after the climbing stars pass

Not everyone in the 'laughing group' was laughing on Sunday.

In the Tour de France's first foray into the mountains, it was race newcomer Linus Gerdemann stealing all the headlines. The baby-faced German wunderkind escaped a 15-rider breakaway late in stage 7, and then rolled solo to the finish in Le Grand Bornand, taking the stage win and possession of the yellow and white jerseys.

COURSE: This second alpine stage has an unusual, and tough, ending with three long climbs: one 20km (the two-part Cormet de Roselend, one 15km (up to Hauteville on the Petit St. Bernard pass),and a final one for 18km (the first part of the ascent to Val d’Isère followedby 10km of climbing out of the valley to Tignes). The last 2km are flat before the finish line. The final two climbs aren’t particularly steep, but that was the case with the 2006 Tour’s summit finish at Pla de Beret, and it proved very decisive. HISTORY: This is the first time a stage has finished at the alpine ski resort

Expect to see more North American riders on T-Mobile next season. That’s according to team manager Bob Stapleton, who told VeloNews the once-heavily-German team wants to bolster its profile in the United States and Canada by bringing on big-name domestic talent for next season. “We’re expanding our North American presence because we want more riders from where T-Mobile has strong markets,” Stapleton said Friday. “There are a lot of talented North American riders. It’s a win-win for us. We can gain top cycling talent and increase our exposure in one of our key markets.” Several top American

In the eponymous town that gives this race its name, a perfectly timed move 150 meters before the line delivered Discovery Channel's Allan Davis to victory on the opening stage of the Tour of Qinghai Lake. The 26-year-old Australian, who hails from the Queensland town of Bundaberg, beat Intel-Action's Denus Kostyuk and Denmark's Casper Jorgensen to claim his second victory of the season. It was by no means an easy one because of the altitude - the Qinghai Lake finish being some 3,231 meters above sea level – and Davis said he left his finishing sprint a little later than

Stage 7 results1. Linus Gerdemann (G), T-Mobile, 4:53:132. Inigo Landaluze (Sp), Euskaltel-Euskadi, at 0:403. David de la Fuente (Sp), Saunier Duval-Prodir, at 1:394. Juan Mauricio Soler Hernandez (Col), Barloworld, at 2:145. Laurent Lefevre (F), Bouygues Telecom, at 2:216. Fabian Wegmann (G), Gerolsteiner, at 3:327. Manuel Juan Manuel (Sp), Quick Step-Innergetic, at 3:388. Xavier Florencio (Sp), Bouygues Telecom, same time9. Christophe Moreau (F), Ag2r Prevoyance, s.t.10. Alejandro Valverde (Sp), Caisse D’Epargne, s.t. 11. Oscar Pereiro Sio (Sp), Caisse D’Epargne, s.t.12. Tadej Valjavec

Phil Zajicek (Navigators Insurance) beat teammate Ben Day by just one second in Friday morning’s Cascade Classic stage 3 time trial, but put enough time on the other GC contenders to take the leader’s jersey away from Chris Baldwin (Toyota-United), retaining it through the evening’s stage 4 twilight criterium in downtown Bend. As the sun set in Central Oregon, Ivan Dominguez (Toyota-United) returned to stage racing after his mid-May crash at the Tri-Peaks Challenge with a resounding win in a dramatic bunch sprint at the crit. Time trial

Felix Cardenas is back at the Tour de France after nearly disappearing off the peloton map. The 34-year-old Colombian climber is back in cycling’s bigs after bouncing around Spanish teams before joining Barloworld in 2005. The team finally got a Tour berth this season and he’s ready to make the most of it. “It’s good to be back to the Tour,” Cardenas told VeloNews before the start of Saturday’s stage. “I’ve only been to one Tour and I won a stage, so I hope to keep the streak alive this year.” After Cardenas won a Tour stage while with Kelme in 2001 at Plateau de Bonascre, he bounced

German cycling has been on the ropes for the past year. First it was Jan Ullrich and his links to notorious Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes and Operación Puerto, revealed a day before the start of the 2006 Tour. Then there was the avalanche of doping confessions earlier this summer from a generation of current and former pros such as Erik Zabel, Udo Bölts, Rolf Aldag, Christian Henn and Jörg Jaksche. Linus Gerdemann and his Boy Scout image is just what crippled German cycling needs. Gerdemann presents a modern, yet cleaner image, and he’s not shy about talking about cycling’s doping past

After the first day in the mountains, T-Mobile riders sit at the very top and the very bottom of the 2007 Tour de France general classification. In between 24-year-old stage winner Linus Gerdemann and 22-year-old lanterne rouge Mark Cavendish sits team captain Michael Rogers, who at 27 is aiming to climb on the podium in Paris. Rogers and teammate Kim Kirchen finished stage 7 in the selective main front group of 35, which came in 3:38 behind Gerdemann. Immediately after Gerdemann’s win — which also saw the team overtake CSC for the lead in the team competition — the T-Mobile camp hadn’t yet

Just behind the fireworks of the stage-7 breakaway, Discovery Channel quietly placed four riders in the selective, 35-man front group. Levi Leipheimer, Yaroslav Popovych, Alberto Contador and Vladimir Gusev all cruised in with the Tour’s top climbers. All looked quite comfortable. Leipheimer only needed a few seconds after crossing the line to catch his breath. “It went as planned,” the Californian said. “It was about as many riders over the last climb as I thought. I was thinking maybe a few less. It was a hot day. It was important to eat a lot and drink a lot. The first day of the

"Mountains, finally!" exclaimed ace shooter Casey Gibson as the Tour de France headed for the high country on Saturday. Take a peek.

Weather: Sunny, warmer, highs in mid 80s, moderate head-crosswinds Stage winner: Tour rookie Linus Gerdemann (T-Mobile) joined a 15-man breakaway and bridged out to the attacking Dmitriy Fofonov (Crédit Agricole) on the day’s final climb on the Colombière. He counterattacked with 7km to go and soloed in 40 seconds ahead of the chasing Iñigo Landaluze (Euskaltel). Race leader: Gerdemann moved from 20th into the maillot jaune, the 12th German to wear the leader’s jersey. Gerdemann is now 1:24 ahead of Landaluze as five riders from the day’s breakaway moved atop the leaderboard. Fabian

American Adam Craig and Canadian Catherine Pendrel won the 2007 Pan AmericanGames cross-country race, held Saturday, July 14 in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.American Mary McConneloug and Brazilian Rubens Valeriano took home thesilver.The 15th edition of the Pan American Games featured a newly built cross-countrycourse called Morro o Outeiro, or Outeiro Hill. Heavy rainstorms two beforemountain biking event transformed the course into a muddy quagmire. Howeversunshine on the day of the event dried out the course enough to preventa rescheduling.The course appeared perfect for Craig, who competed in

Stage 8 - Le Grand Bornand to Tignes - (165km)

Stage 8 - Le Grand Bornand to Tignes - (165km)

Gerdemann wins the first Alpine stage and claims the yellow jersey

Your new race leader

Cardenas: Back in the bigs

Cavendish is headed home, but he'll be back

The UCI weighs in for the first alpine stage

Race leader Cancellara traded his yellow collar for a blue one today

Gerdemann and Fofonov grinding away off the front

Gerdemann goes it alone

Hincapie was gapped on the big hill

Rabobank chases

Likewise Caisse d'Epargne

Gerdemann hopes to become one of the German greats

Leipheimer says the legs are good

Michael Rogers and a very close Ivan Parro on the descent at 40-plus mph

Stapleton took a risk bringing the young German to this Tour — and it paid off

The Alps loom over the road to Le Grand Bornand

The most incredible bike sculpture ever — at least 100 bikes, strung from cranes 200 feet in the air

The village of Copponex went all out, and had a huge festival on the third climb for Bastille Day

Cadel Evans interviewed at the start

Fairies on stilts and the Arc de Triomph in Copponex

Stage winner young Mr Gerdemann on the descent off the Colombiere

Chris Horner has a chat with our own Neal Rogers

Those darn sunflowers — they're everywhere

A banged-up Noval heads for the barn

The peloton cruises through the trees

All the talk of big Tom Boonen not being able to hang with the pure sprinters was silenced Friday, as the burly Belgian took a commanding win at the finish of Stage 6 of the 2007 Tour de France, a mostly flat, 199.5km run from Semur-en-Auxois to Bourg-en-Bresse. The Quick Step-Innergetic star burst from the right side of a scrambled sprint, took the front, then drifted left and right, keeping second-place finisher Oscar Freire (Rabobank) at bay. German Eric Zabel (Milram) was third on a day when the bunch spent 5:20:59 in the saddle.

COURSE: Only a week into the race, much earlier than usual, this first mountain stage will give an indication of who is going to challenge for the yellow jersey. The stage finale includes the long, tougher northern side of the Cat. 1 Col de la Colombière, which has an average grade of almost 7 percent for 16km. Before this Cat. 1 climb, the stage uses winding roads through the edge of the Jura, with flat roads in the limestone gorges mixed with two Cat. 3 and a Cat. 4 climb. After the Colombière, the course has a fast, open 10km descent into Le Grand Bornand, with a flat 4km loop into the

On stage 13 of the Tour de France 40 years ago today, July 13, Tom Simpson collapsed and died on Mont Ventoux. It still seems like yesterday. That was the fifth year I had followed the Tour by bicycle. During those years I had raced in Brittany for a couple of summers. One of the other Brits I trained with was Colin Lewis. He was as rugged a cyclist as I’ve ever met. His training rides were as tough as most races. He could have taken his pick of European teams, but he told me he never wanted to take drugs, so he signed with a small pro team in England. Colin rode the 1967 Tour for the Great

Stage Results1. Tom Boonen (B), Quick Step-Innergetic, 5:20:592. Oscar Freire (Sp), Rabobank, at 00:003. Erik Zabel (G), Milram, at 00:004. Sébastien Chavanel (F), Francaise Des Jeux, at 00:005. Thor Hushovd (N), Credit Agricole, at 00:006. Daniele Bennati (I), Lampre-Fondital, at 00:007. Robert Förster (G), Gerolsteiner, at 00:008. Robert Hunter (Rsa), Barloworld, at 00:009. Romain Feillu (F), Agritubel, at 00:0010. Murilo Fisher(Brz), Liquigas, at 00:00 11. Francisco Ventoso (Sp), Saunier Duval-Prodir, at 00:0012. Jérôme Pineau (F), Bouygues Telecom, at 00:0013. Robbie Mc Ewen (Aus),

Billed as “the highest race in the world,” the Tour of Qinghai Lake kicks off Saturday from Xining, 2,200 meters above sea level and the capital of China's stunning Qinghai Lake province. Situated in the northeast region of the Qinghai-Tibet plateau, Qinghai Lake is the largest inland saltwater lake in the country, and much of the nine days of racing to follow are centered around this remarkable natural wonder. This year marks the sixth edition of the race; inaugural winner Tom Danielson was said to be back for another crack at the title, but a nagging virus that saw him miss out on a

Alison Sydor has spent the past two decades making her mark as the most-accomplished Canadian mountain-bike racer ever. But in 2007 Sydor, owner of 13 world championship medals, has gone missing from the starting line of the World Cup. Instead, Sydor has turned her attention to stage races and marathon mountain-bike events, including the June 9-16 Trans Germany off-road race, which she won with Rocky Mountain-Haywood teammate Carsten Bresser. Is her shift in focus permanent? The 40-year-old Sydor said isn’t quite sure yet. VeloNews: What was the reason for your departure from the World

Yellow-jersey contender Alexandre Vinokourov will continue the Tour de France despite enduring a painful day in the saddle, his team manager said Friday. However, Astana team manager Marc Biver admitted that Vino’ and his injured co-leader Andreas Klöden will suffer in the Alps this weekend. Both riders were injured in separate spills on Thursday's crash-marred fifth stage, Klöden sustaining a hairline fracture to his tailbone and Vinokourov receiving 30 stitches to cuts on his knees. The pair finished Friday's sixth stage, although Klöden hobbled into the team bus afterwards

Friday the 13th at the Tour de France showered a mixed bag of fate on the 183 riders who began the sixth stage. Some crashed, others suffered through the heat with injuries, but most had uneventful rides. One declared the supposedly ill-omened day downright lucky. Before and after the 200km stage, riders expressed a similarly wide range of beliefs on the date. Steven De Jongh (Quick Step-Innergetic) was among those in the mildly superstitious camp. “With number 13 I have had some very bad crashes,” the Belgian said at the start. “So I will be very careful today.” Whenever De Jongh receives

Germany’s veteran sprinter Erik Zabel (Milram) had not one but two Tour de France green jerseys taken from him Friday before stage 6 even finished. He lost the first — his overall best sprinter title from 1996 — when Tour de France authorities announced they were revoking it because of Zabel’s admission this May to use of the banned blood-booster EPO that year. He lost the second — the current green jersey of the 2007 Tour de France sprint competition — on the road today after Tom Boonen (Quick Step-Innergetic) scored points at two intermediate sprints and the final to overtake him in the

Weather: Sunny, warmer, highs in mid 80s, moderate head-crosswinds. Stage winner: Tom Boonen (QuickStep-Innergetic) ended a two-year Tour dry spell dating back to stage three of the 2005 Tour to win his fifth career stage in a wild sprint. With a brisk headwind and a slow average speed (37.291kph), everyone thought they had a chance. Boonen had to restart his sprint with about 150m to go and held off Oscar Freire (Rabobank), second for the second day in a row. Race leader: Fabian Cancellara (CSC) enjoyed his sixth day and what will likely be his final day in the race leader’s jersey. The

Cofidis rider Bradley Wiggins made no secret that he was disappointed after finishing fourth in the Tour de France’s opening prologue in London. The reigning world and Olympic track pursuit champion — and an outspoken critic of doping in cycling — had set his season around winning in London, on streets he rode as a teenager. Earlier this year, Wiggins even set out to test out the course at 3 a.m., to get the feel of the route with the fewest numbers of cars on the course. He showed he was on form by winning the prologue of the Dauphiné Libéré in June. But when Wiggins crossed the finish

Benjamin Noval vows to fight on despite a horrible crash in Thursday’s stage when he smashed into a car window that Discovery Channel officials say was the fault of an inattentive Bouygues Telecom sport director. The 28-year-old Spanish rider barreled into the back of a Bouygues Telecom team car Thursday after coming off the day’s final climb in the harrowing, eight-climb stage and suffered horrible cuts to his right arm and chin. Noval gutted it through Friday’s 199.5km sixth stage with his arms, hand, chin and leg wrapped in gauze and bandages. “It was a really hard stage. The first

A long, hot day punctuated by a 190-kilometer solo effort by Cofids's Bradley Wiggins and our man Casey Gibson was there to capture it for history.

After the finish of stage 2 in Ghent, Belgium, the Quickstep-Innergetic team bus was mobbed. At the sight of Tom Boonen leaving the podium pen with the green jersey, a father and his teenaged daughter opened into a full sprint trying to get to their country’s hero for an autograph. One can only imagine what the scene was like yesterday after his stage 6 win in Bourg en Bresse. Tom Boonen will never pay for a beer in Belgium. Tom Boonen has Belgian pop songs written about him. For god sakes, in Belgium he has his own breakfast cereal — the man is a god. And he will probably stay that way for

Stage 7 - Bourg-en-Bresse to Le Grand Bornand - (197.5km)

Stage 7 - Bourg-en-Bresse to Le Grand Bornand - (197.5km)

Boonen gets it

British champ Tom Simpson

The monument in his memory, erected on the spot where he died

Don't look back, Bradley old boy — something may be gaining on you

Sydor may be shifting her focus

VIno' sports a full medicine cabinet's worth of bandages

Degano's had better days — he stacked it in the feed zone

Cancellara finished with the bunch to keep his jersey, but it's almost certainly a goner tomorrow as the race hits the Alps

Vino' is somewhat the worse for wear

Wiggins rides that long, lonely road

T-Mobile on the hunt

CSC chips in

The peloton

The obligatory arty shot

A long, long, long day

Noval: All wrapped up and ready to roll

In his own little universe. The TDF brings out all kinds of unusual media types. I think this guy is filming himself, or maybe has video feedback of what he is seeing... maybe he's watching an old Al Franken schtick on Saturday Night Live.

Big crowds at the start

Peloton makes a nice scenic as they cross a canal early in the race.

Saunier Duval car filling up with bottles in the feed zone on a hot day.

CSC car in feed zone, complete with TV antennae and Riis logo.

Dave Zabriskie grabs lunch.