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If you are going to have a press conference about the yellow jersey, you need a bigger tent

Bob Stapleton talks to VeloNews European correspondent Andy Hood about the German TV network

Oh, yeah, the bike race — these guys got caught

Crunch time: A preview of the Albi time trial

Crunch time: A preview of the Albi time trial

No. 3 for Mary McConneloug

Sometimes walking is just faster

The 11th stage of the 2007 Tour de France dealt a cruel blow to one GC contender and welcomed a new country into its hall of champions on Thursday. The newcomer was South Africa and top sprinting star Robbie Hunter, who won a mad dash to the line that concluded the pan-flat, 182.5km ride from Marseille to Montpellier.

COURSE: This stage is similar to the one from Narbonne to Toulouse in 2003 that went to the Spanish racer Juan AntonioFlecha, who made a late attack from a breakaway group. Look for a repeat on this similar course that heads through the hills on the southern edge of the Massif Central. The Cat. 2 Montée de la Jeante climbs to over 3000 feet and is followed by 40km of winding back roads before the fast 8km run-in to Castres. HISTORY: Just one Tour stage has finished at Castres, in 1991, when Italian Bruno Cenghialta won stage 14 from St. Gaudens out of a seven-man break that fi nished a

Welcome To VeloNews.com's coverage of the 2007 Tour de France. Sit back and enjoy the most spectacular bike race in the world with the most comprehensive online coverage presented by VeloNews: The Journal of Competitive Cycling.All Tour de France content is FREE and accessible via the special VeloNews.com Tour de France Web site.Visit the Tour 2007 site now Programming Schedule: ItemDescriptionFrequencySchedule

Results-Stage 111. Robert Hunter (Rsa), Barloworld, 3:47:502. Fabian Cancellara (Swi), CSC, s.t.3. Murilo Fischer (Brz), Liquigas, s.t.4. Filippo Pozzato (I), Liquigas, s.t.5. Alessandro Ballan (I), Lampre-Fondital, s.t.6. Paolo Bossoni (I), Lampre-Fondital, s.t.7. Claudio Corioni (I), Lampre-Fondital, s.t.8. Philippe Gilbert (B), Francaise Des Jeux, s.t.9. William Bonnet (F), Credit Agricole, s.t.10. Kim Kirchen (Lux), T-Mobile, s.t. 11. Markus Fothen (G), Gerolsteiner, s.t.12. Enrico Poitschke (G), Milram, s.t.13. Peter Wrolich (A), Gerolsteiner, s.t.14. Andrey Kashechkin (Kz), Astana,

A continent away, as drugs and scandal appear to be perennially linked to the Tour de France, we hope - perhaps now even pray - that what we are seeing at China’s Tour of Qinghai Lake is the real deal. Allan Davis' name was linked to Operación Puerto, but he was cleared to race late last year. Despite taking an unprecedented fourth stage win in Xining Thursday ahead of the Ukraine's Yuriu Metlushenko and Wiesenhof's André Schulze, it's hardly what one would call inhuman: the Discovery rider lost the lead three days ago because he wasn't climbing well enough, but stuck to

Comeback kid Saul Raisin has the green light to return to competition. Raisin received medical clearance this week after undergoing a battery of tests at a hospital in Bordeaux to resume racing some 15 months after he nearly died in a crash at the Circuit de la Sarthe in April, 2007. His comeback race will be the U.S. national time trial championships in September. “I have clearance to race the time trial championships, and depending on how that goes, I might be able to race the road race, too,” Raisin told VeloNews ahead of the start of Thursday’s 11th stage at the Tour de

CSC's Jens Voigt was among several German riders who blasted a decision by their country’s two major television channels to stop live coverage of the Tour de France because of news of a positive doping test. ARD and ZDF, two of Germany's leading channels, stopped their live broadcast of the 10th stage from Tallard to Marseille after hearing that T-Mobile rider Patrik Sinkewitz had tested positive for testosterone. According to the German cycling federation (BDR), Sinkewitz, who is home recovering after colliding with a spectator on Sunday's stage, had abnormal levels of the male

Although the trio of alpine stages did not determine who will win the Tour de France, the combination did decide who most likely will not. CSC’s Fränk Schleck came to the race to ride support for team captain Carlos Sastre, but also to test his own fate in the high mountains. Schleck see-sawed in high climbing performances, but remains confident in his abilities going into the Pyrenees. After finishing ahead of Sastre on stage 8 in Tignes and moved into fifth overall, the Luxembourger crossed the line on stage 9 in Briançon minutes behind Sastre for a general classification placement of

Robert Hunter said he hopes his history making win at the Tour de France on Thursday will result in greater professional opportunities for young riders from South Africa. Hunter became the first African rider to win a stage at the Tour de France when he launched a long, ambitious drive for the finish line which beat Switzerland's Fabian Cancellara and Brazilian Murilo Fischer on the 11th stage. The win was also his Barloworld team’s second victory of this Tour. It was Hunter's biggest career win and comes less than a week after he had come a close second to Norwegian Thor Hushovd in

No one expected Barloworld to be in the Tour de France, let alone win a mountain stage in the Alps and field a contender for the points jersey. Indeed, the continental pro team’s season goal was merely to be invited to cycling’s biggest show. But when it found out it was the last team invited, its goals evolved. Riders and management alike promised to be on the attack everyday, until they won a stage. Now the team has won two. “The goal originally was to get into the Tour,” said Gary Blem, a mechanic with three years tenure at Barloworld and the first South African to spin wrenches for a

American Dave Zabriskie crossed the finish line in Montpelier alone, 31:26 behind the field. The CSC rider missed the time cut and abandoned the race. Zabriskie has been struggling with knee pain since the Tour began, attributing it to a team-mandated decision to switch shoes during the Giro d’Italia in May. “The pain is in my left knee, the one that was damaged in a car accident [in May 2003],” Zabriskie said. “The screws in there are just too sensitive to change.” Zabriskie had hoped to recover during the flat stages between the Alps and the Pyrenees, but found the pace too

Weather: Sunny, not so hot with highs in the upper 80s, brisk cross/tailwinds. Stage winner: Robbie Hunter survived a mid-race echelon and late-race crash to bolt to his first career Tour stage victory ahead of Fabian Cancellara (CSC). The win is wild-card Barloworld’s second in three days and the first by a South African. Race leader: Michael Rasmussen (Rabobank) retained the yellow jersey after finishing 46th with the front pack. Despite splits among the front pack due to a crash in the final two kilometers, all the leading 80 riders were awarded the same time as the winner. Christophe

With wounds weeping through the stitches on both knees and an elbow, Astana captain Alexandre Vinokourov walks like an injured penguin. Having lost more than 8 minutes on race-leader Michael Rasmussen (Rabobank), Vinokourov sits in 19th place, well outside what many would consider a chance of a podium finish. But has he given up? Hardly. On a hot and blustery stage 11, Vinokourov gave his troops their marching orders when the peloton entered a strong crosswind section about 105km into the 183km stage from Marseille to Montpellier. About 3km after the peloton rolled through the feed zone,

You might think our man Casey Gibson felt a bit peckish today, what with all the pictures from the feed zone. Not so, says the man behind the camera: "They gave us the wrong exit for the bypass, and there were a hundred or so Tour vehicles driving around looking for the race. Maddening at first, but then it got funny as at every intersection, there were three or four cars going every which way. None of us found it, but I did manage to get stuck in the traffic jam leaving." Lucky you — you get to see what Casey saw, but without the traffic jam.

For the second time in this Tour de France Fred Rodriguez ended a stage flat on his back, writhing in pain. And both times, in Ghent 10 days ago and in Montpellier Thursday, the Predictor-Lotto sprinter was critical of the race organization. “They do it every time. They don’t care,” said an angry Rodriguez. “It’s the Tour de France and they think they own this race. They have no respect for the riders. I’m sick of it.” The crash happened 700 meters from the line at the end of a chicane that was not shown on the map in the official road book. The chicane followed a fast run down a narrow

Tour de France leader Michael Rasmussen has been axed from the Danish national team following a disagreement over drug testing, it was announced on Thursday. The director of the Danish Cycling Union (DCU) Jesper Worre told DR1 television station that Rasmussen had received a number of warnings over failing to inform doping authorities over his training whereabouts. "We consider this case with great seriousness and the executive of the DCU decided that Michael will no longer be part of the national team and he was informed of this on June 26," said Worre. The decision means that Rasmussen

Stage 12 - Montpellier - Castres (178.5km)

Stage 12 - Montpellier - Castres (178.5km)

Hunter takes the win for South Africa and Barloworld

Despite the rain, large crowds were a constant throughout the 208km route.

Well, if you call another 80km not far, then...

All too easy for Discovery's Allan Davis.

Don't get the girl! New race leader Gabriele Massaglia (Selle Italia) lets loose with the champers.

Astana caught Moreau off guard and he paid dearly for it

Schleck is ready to work for Sastre, but doesn't wanted to be counted out as GC player.

Astana puts the hammer down

Ho, hum, just another day at the office

Voigt and Bennatti working it

The Bennatti escape

Nice horsie

Hincapie doing a job of work

Another day in yellow for Rasmussen

Hunter hopes his win will spark an uptick in South African cycling

Hunter’s new Super Six

Barloworld relies on an aluminum FSA cockpit; Hunter uses an OS-115 stem and RD-200 bar.

The front Mavic R-SYS is built with 4mm tubular carbon spokes.

The rear uses Zicral spokes on the drive side and carbon on the non-drive side.

Cannondale was the first major manufacturer to take system integration seriously.

Vittoria provides the team with some special tires.

Liquigas rider, Pozzato’s Lightweight wheel equipped Super Six.

Mavic’s Cosmic Carbone Ultimate.

Linus Gerdemann provided a bright moment for T-Mobile

Vino' saw an opportunity and took it, sending Astana on the attack in a stiff crosswind

Frankie Andreu doing a standup for Versus

Marcus Burghardt is swarmed by the media about the German TV boycott

Xavier Florencio get a double feed, and Dave Zabriske keeps an eye on it

There's an old Marx Brothers routine about viaducts and a chicken, but we're not gonna do it here

Waiting to feed the Discos

Cadel Evans is already licking his lips over lunch

Nah, this isn't the team bus, its the flippin Carlos Sastre Fan Bus!

George says hello at the sign in

Levi has a feed

VeloNews editorial director John Wilcockson interviews Bradley Wiggins this morning

A decade after his first Tour de France stage win, 36-year-old Frenchman Cedric Vasseur gave the host country something to cheer about on Wednesday, taking the 10th stage of the 2007 Tour, a 229.5km rolling run from Tallard to Marseille. Vasseur (Quick Step-Innergetic) shot out the right side of a five-man breakaway 200 meters from the finish, narrowly holding off countryman Sandy Casar (Française des Jeux); the difference at the line barely more than a tire width. It was the first victory by a Frenchman at the Tour since Pierrick Fedrigo took stage 14 into Gap a year ago.

COURSE: This is one of the flattest courses of the entire Tour, skirting the Camargue marshes of the Rhône delta, just north of the Mediterranean coast. This stage has “sprinters” written all over it, especially if the Mistral winds are blowing. The finish loops to an end on the western edge of Montpellier, an ancient city dating back to the 8th century. HISTORY: There have been 25 Tour stage finishes at Montpellier, the latest in 2005, when Robbie McEwen won a tight field sprint after breakaways Chris Horner and Sylvain Chavanel were caught in the finishing straightaway. FAVORITES: A few

T-Mobile rider Patrik Sinkewitz reacted in amazement on Wednesday after he was informed he had failed a doping test as he prepared for the Tour de France last month. The German Cycling Federation (BDR) announced on Wednesday that the 26-year-old's A sample, taken on June 8, had a raised testosterone level and he must now decide if his B sample will be tested. The up and coming rider has been suspended by his team who say that if the B sample confirms the first test then he will be sacked. That news sent shockwaves through the German media, with national TV networks ARD and ZDF

Until Wednesday, many believed overall victory in China's Tour of Qinghai Lake would go to one of two teams: Selle Italia with Gabriele Massaglia, or Relax-Gam with Francisco Mancebo. But a 26-year-old Englishman by the name of Daniel Lloyd, a relative unknown who hails from a small London suburb a stone's throw from Heathrow Airport, has set out to prove them wrong. Courtesy of a five-second bonus after finishing third in a 42-man sprint, won for the third time by Discovery Channel's Allan Davis, the DFL-Cyclingnews rider earned the privilege to don the yellow jersey on

If there was anyone able to grab a stage win for CSC on the Tour de France's 10th stage here Wednesday, it was Jens Voigt. However the German, who suggested he would have dedicated the victory to his stricken teammate Stuart O'Grady, was left with the crumbs after being outfoxed in the closing meters, leaving the outcome to a tight sprint duel between Sandy Casar and Cedric Vasseur. Voigt, watching three of his sprint rivals on his left, fell victim to Vasseur's perfectly-executed attack as the experienced Frenchman sneaked up on Voight’s right in the race's final 200

Weather: Very sunny and warm, highs into the 90s, moderate headwinds Stage winner: Cédric Vasseur (QuickStep-Innergetic) outsmarted five riders that were the remnants of the day’s winning 11-man breakaway with a surprise sprint on the right side of the road with 200m to go. His second career Tour victory comes a decade after he won with a 145km solo break into La Chatre to snag the yellow jersey in the 1997 Tour. The win is the third for QuickStep in this year’s Tour. Race leader: Michael Rasmussen (Rabobank) retained the yellow jersey after finishing 30th safely tucked inside the bunch at

It’s been a long decade for Spanish cycling fans. By the 1990s, fans south of the Pyrénées became accustomed to toasting victory in Paris with wins by Pedro Delgado in 1988 and Miguel Indurain with five straight yellow jerseys from 1991-95. It’s been a long wait ever since. Riders such as Abraham Olano, Fernandro Escartín and Joseba Beloki all came close, but could never quite live up to the Indurain legacy. The 2007 Tour marks the return of the Spanish Armada. With four riders securely in the top 10 coming out of the Alps, many are hoping that this is the year to see a Spanish spoken

If American T-Mobile boss Bob Stapleton thought the past few days at theTour de France had been trying, Wednesday was a hot day spent tossed outof the frying pan and into the fire. On Sunday’s stage 8 into Tignes, the T-Mobile squad saw banged-up Britishrider Mark Cavendish abandon his first Tour, Australian Michael Rogersleave the race after crashing as the virtual yellow jersey on the road and German Patrik Sinkewitz sent to the hospital with a broken nose and injured jaw after a freak collision with a fan followingthe stage. On Tuesday’s stage T-Mobile’s German Marcus Burghardt struck a

You will never see a general classification rider hooked up to SRM’s telemetric data system. By beaming real-time power meter data directly to SRM’s servers television stations and websites can see the exact effort whatever rider on the other end is expending. The transmission provides all of the information a SRM power meter can gather to commentators, but it gives anyone, including other teams a look at the wired rider’s cards. It’s up to the team and the individual rider to decide if they want to participate in the program. This year riders from a handful of teams including, T-Mobile,

"Hotter than hell today," reports Casey Gibson from Stage 10 of the 2007 Tour de France." How hot was it? The ASO folks said the air temperature was 35 Celsius and the road temp' 49C. "That converts to flippin' hot," notes Casey (actually, that converts to 95 in the air and 120 on the road, but we'd say '"flippin' hot" is a fair approximation. Happily, Casey sent back some equally hot pics, and you can find them below.

Results-Stage 10 (Tallard To Marseille)1. Cédric Vasseur (F) Quick Step-Innergetic, 229.5km in 5:20:242. Sandy Casar (R) Francaise Des Jeux, at S.T.3. Michael Albasini (Swi) Liquigas, at S.T.4. Patrice Halgand (F) Credit Agricole, at S.T.5. Jens Voigt (G) CSC, at S.T.6. Staf Scheirlinckx (B) Cofidis , at 0:367. Paolo Bossoni (I) Lampre-Fondital, at 0:368. Marcus Burghardt (G) T-Mobile, at 1:019. Aleksandr Kuschynski (Blr) Liquigas, at 2:3410. Antonio Juan Antonio (Sp) Rabobank, at 2:34 11. Andriy Grivko (Ukr) Milram, at 3:4212. Sébastien Chavanel (F) Francaise Des Jeux, at 10:3613. Tom

Today’s 230k went by as fast as it possibly could, given the conditions. Out on the road it was more than 100 degrees all day and the pavement was rough. Some of us were still a bit tired after the mountain day yesterday that took us over the famed Galibier. It was a great mountain stage that started at the bottom of the Col de l'Iseran in the ski town of Val-d'Isère. The Iseran goes straight up to 2770 meters (9088 ft.) and there ain’t so much air up there. I went with a few attacks and every extra effort was rewarded with a straight-up bout of dizziness. Then we raced down to

American cross-country Adam Craig claimed the biggest international victory of his young career July 13 at the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The 25-year-old sprung away from the field in the opening meters of the race, holding his advantage to the end. For Craig, currently the top-ranked American in the UCI and World Cup standings, the win brought in more valuable UCI points needed for the United States’s push for the 2008 Olympic Games. The U.S. men are currently ranked sixth in the UCI rankings, and only the top-five countries will earn the maximum three spots for the

Stage 11 - Marseille to Montpellier - (182.5km)

Stage 11 - Marseille to Montpellier - (182.5km)

Vasseur takes it

Allan Davis gets the sprint...

Lloyd takes Qinghai Lake lead, Davis takes a hat-trick

Lloyd takes Qinghai Lake lead, Davis takes a hat-trick

Rasmussen retains the leader's jersey