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CSC's FSA-SRM crank

CSC's nifty new Cervélo Soloist Carbons

Course: With four Cat. 3s, a Cat. 2 and this Tour’s first Cat.1 climb (the 9km, 7-percent Ballon d’Alsace) through the Vosges, the climberswill finally get some terrain to their liking. But on completing the lastdownhill from the Ballon, there are still 43km to ride in the valley beforereaching the finish in Mulhouse. History: This is the 100th anniversary of the Ballon d’Alsacebecoming the first major climb included in the Tour. The last time a climbingstage through the Vosges ended in Mulhouse was in 1992, when a soon-to-retireLaurent Fignon broke clear on the Grand Ballon climb to score a

The 92nd Tour de France was given an inspiring display Sunday of the panache, courage and desire needed to challenge Lance Armstrong in his bid to win the race for a seventh year in succession. First, brave Dane Michael Rasmussen, a one-time world mountain bike champion who launched many an attack in the mountains last year, grabbed his first elusive win on stage 9 from Gérardmer to Mulhouse after a 167km-long breakaway. His victory not only extended his lead in the King of the Mountains competition he took on Saturday, but also gave his Dutch team, Rabobank, its second stage victory in a

Stage 9 Results1. Mickael Rasmussen (Dk), Rabobank, 4:08:202. Christophe Moreau (F), Credit Agricole, 03:043. Jens Voigt (G), CSC, 03:044. Stuart O’Grady (Aus), Cofidis, 06:045. Philippe Gilbert (B), Francaise des Jeux, 06:046. Anthony Geslin (F), Bouygues Telecom, 06:047. Sebastian Lang (G), Gerolsteiner, 06:048. Laurent Brochard (F), Bouygues Telecom, 06:049. Jérôme Pineau (F), Bouygues Telecom, 06:0410. Gerrit Glomser (A), Lampre, 06:04 11. Stefano Garzelli (I), Liquigas-Bianchi, 06:0412. Oscar Pereiro Sio (Sp), Phonak, 06:0413. Christopher Horner (USA), Saunier Duval, 06:0414.

Quotes, quotes and more quotes. Here’s what the big guns had to say before and after Sunday’s stage: Jens Voigt (CSC), in the yellow jersey:On finally getting the green light to attack: "We had a team meeting before the race. Riis said everyone with Basso today, but Jens you're free to attack. I've been asking Bjarne every day, but he said no. Finally he let me free today and I was able to do what I wanted to do and it worked out great." On flatting and Moreau waiting for him: "I want to thank so much Moreau that he waited for me. It would have been very difficult to try to maintain

Michael Rasmussen's stunning victory in the Tour de France's ninth stage following a 169km breakaway was impressive enough in itself, but even more so for the fact he only took up professional road racing three years ago. Rasmussen's relative lack of victories in the discipline is apparent - before Sunday's win he only had three wins to his name spread over his three years as a professional road rider. However, his decision to switch from mountain biking in 2001 was justified tenfold Sunday when he claimed the biggest prize a rider of his caliber could hope for. The

The lead changed hands at the Tour de France on Sunday, and Casey Gibson was on hand to capture the action. Here's what he saw from his vantage point on the final climb.

A train of light-green jerseys swept through Bend's Old Mill District on Sunday, as Scott Moninger of Health Net-Maxxis cruised behind his teammates to secure his fourth overall victory in the Cascade Cycling Classic. Moninger, who had an 11-second lead on Navigators' Cesar Grajales coming into Sunday's Old Mill District Criterium, stayed with his team in the front of the main pack on the tight, 1.2km loop. "That's two days in a row they've just absolutely ridden amazing," Moninger said of his five teammates. "They were going so fast the last four or five laps, I

After talking with her teammate Ina Yoko Teutenberg the other night, Kristin Armstrong of T-Mobile knew it was coming. She knew Teutenberg would put on a display of raw power en route to winning the Old Mill District Criterium in Bend on Sunday, lapping the field with teammate Katie Mactier. Teutenberg's second victory of the Cascade Cycling Classic – she also won Friday's Twilight Criterium - also helped secure the overall victory for Armstrong in the women's portion of the Cascade Cycling Classic. "We were all talking and Ina goes: 'You know what? I haven't lapped the

Dry, dusty winds and a rocky, technical cross-country course, coupled with the formidable altitude of New Mexico's Angel Fire Resort couldn’t derail the efforts of Swiss Christoph Sauser (Siemens-Cannondale) and Norway’s Gunn-Rita Dahle (Multivan-Merida) to repeat their titles as overall World Cup cross-country champions as they won the first World Cup cross-country race on American soil in three years on Sunday. “It was a very hard race, I had a hard time breathing at some points. Lots of suffering,” said Dahle. “I was still very tired from the Brazil race.” Despite her fatigue, Dahle

Stage 9 - Gérardmer to Mulhouse >171km

Stage 9 - Gérardmer to Mulhouse >171km

CSC gets the jersey back

Armstrong doesn't need that jersey - not right now

Moreau and Voigt work together

Chicken Run: Rasmussen on his own

Rasmussen has dreamed of this day

Armstrong's teammates were back on the job Sunday

Wake me when they get here . . .

T-Mobile fans are prevalent

Christophe Moreau and Voight on the final climb

Popovych leads Discovery in the chase

Lance working hard near the summit of Le Ballon d'Alsace

Riders flash by on the descent from Col de Grosse Pierre

Mickael Rasmussen attacks all alone and is putting time on the peloton

Chicken becomes the Energizer Bunny with this win

Voigt and Moreau cooperated all the way to the finish

Rasmussen takes a gamble

Does France have renewed hope?

Rasmussen gets company, but only for a while

Moreau breaks up the chase group

Ullrich takes a tumble

Course: The opening 60km of this longest stage so far (231.5km)passes through the beautiful Black Forest — Ullrich’s longtime traininggrounds. Any damage done on the four Cat. 3 climbs will be rectified bythe following 120km down and across the Rhine Valley. All the action shouldtake place on this Tour’s first Cat. 2 climb, the 16.8km-long Col de laSchlucht, which tops out at an elevation of 3736 feet just 15km from thefinish.History: A Tour stage has never started or finished in Gérardmer,a tourist town of fewer than 10,000 people set on a scenic lake deep inthe pine forests of the Vosges

Lance Armstrong looked around near the summit of the rather anonymous Cat. 2 Col de la Schlucht in the chilly Vosges Mountains and couldn’t find many friendly faces. In the big front group he was with, there were no other Discovery Channel riders. No Chechu, no Triki, no Popo. Not even his 2005 favorite mountain goat, José Azevedo. What the six-time Tour champion did see were lots of riders licking their chops. For the first time in years at the Tour de France, Armstrong was isolated. “It was not a great day. I didn’t feel very good and the other teams did feel good,” said Armstrong, who

Stage 8 -Pforzheim to Gérardmer >231.5km1. Pieter Weening (Nl), Rabobank, 231.5km in 5:03:54(45.705kph)2. Andréas Klöden (G),T-Mobile, same time3. Alejandro Valverde (Sp),Illes Balears, at 00:274. Kim Kirchen (Lux),Fassa Bortolo, at 00:275. Jens Voigt (G),CSC, at 00:276. Jan Ullrich (G),T-Mobile, at 00:277. Cadel Evans (Aus),Davitamon-Lotto, at 00:278. Christophe Moreau (F),Credit Agricole, at 00:279. Christopher Horner (USA),Saunier Duval, at 00:2710. Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz),T-Mobile, at 00:27 11. Stefano Garzelli (I),Liquigas-Bianchi, at 00:2712. Franco Pellizotti (I),Liquigas-Bianchi,

Dutchman Pieter Weening (Rabobank) gave a glimpse of his potential and ended a frustrating streak of runner-up places with a well-taken win on the eighth stage of the Tour de France Saturday in Gerardmer. Weening had to wait an agonizing few minutes before finding out for sure if he had really won a two-man sprint with Germany's Andreas Klöden (T-Mobile) - and when the result came he could still not quite believe it. "In a two-man sprint nothing's decided until it's over so I just tried to hold on for as long as possible," said Weening, who is the first Dutchman to win a stage

Salvo's salvationThe disappearance of Lance Armstrong's Discovery Channel team in today's eighth stage from Pforzheim to Gérardmer was main topic of discussion of the Tour this evening. One of his key teammates, two-time Giro d'Italia winner Paolo Savoldelli, finished the day in 68th place at 2:57. Not exactly what might have been expected. An interview with Savoldelli, who was recruited to be one of Armstrong's principal support men in the mountains of the Vosges, Alps and Pyrénées, was published in Saturday's edition of the French sports daily L`Equipe. Of

Any real cycling fan knows there's more to the Tour de France than the race itself - the sideshows are often as interesting (if not more so) than the main event. Plus a guy can only look at so many pictures of bike racers before he goes all cross-eyed. So we appreciate it when our man Casey Gibson takes a slightly different approach to Le Tour - and for you overly-focused out there, we even included a couple of race pics. Check 'em out.

The Tour never lies. So when Lance Armstrong’s teammates all reported absent during the critical stages of the Col de la Schlucht climb on Saturday, the six-time defending champion had to be concerned. “It was a shitty day,” Armstrong told French television Saturday evening. “Perhaps the team and the boys on the team were too confident … after we did well at the prologue, and won the team time trial. Everyone shows up at the Tour and wants to win, but there are no guarantees.” The one certainty on Saturday was that Jan Ullrich’s T-Mobile team did show up to win. Armstrong himself had to

It’s a cliché, I admit, but there’s a reason things become clichés and the wisdom behind that old line “It ain’t over ‘till it’s over,” has certainly been proven more than a few times over the first few days of this year’s Tour de France. If anyone thinks this year’s Tour is going to be just another cakewalk for defending champion Lance Armstrong – or anyone else for that matter - they have another thing coming. If anything, Armstrong’s six previous Tours are conspiring against him. Given a remarkable string of good luck over the past six years, the odds have to be catching up with him. It

The scene during the men’s World Cup downhill finals at Angel Fire, New Mexico, was vaguely reminiscent of the men’s finals at the Deer Valley NORBA on June 19. Having set the early fastest split, Aussie strongman Chris Kovarik (Intense) sat in the hot seat with only two riders left on course – 2003 world champion Greg Minnaar (G-Cross Honda) and 2005 downhill revelation Jared Graves (Yeti). Before Minaar and Graves finished, Kovarik was not optimistic about his chances. “Obviously I hope I can win it, but Greg is so fast right now,” he said. At Deer Valley, Minnaar dethroned Kovarik and

As Jeff Louder of Navigators and four other cyclists broke away from the pack, Scott Moninger and his Health Net-Maxxis teammates sat at the front of the peloton and waited. And waited. Finally, during the final climb to the finish of Saturday's Awbrey Butte Circuit Race in the Cascade Cycling Classic, Health Net made its move. Moninger, the race leader coming in, was propelled to the front by his teammates and finished second in the stage to hang onto the overall lead. "It's a lesson in patience," Moninger said. "My teammates just rotated through. We've been in this position a

The strongest team in United States women's cycling is poised to make a clean sweep of the podium in Central Oregon's Cascade Cycling Classic. Kimberly Baldwin of T-Mobile won the 58-mile Awbrey Butte Circuit Race on Saturday in 2 hours, 23 minutes, 10 seconds, and her teammate Kristin Armstrong finished second to retain the overall lead. T-Mobile now has the top three spots in the general classification, and six riders in the top 10. T-Mobile riders have won all four stages thus far. Armstrong's overall time is 7:04:58, and Baldwin is in second, 42 seconds back. Kori Seehafer of

July 9 - Stage 8 - Pforzheim to Gérardmer >231.5kmIt was a long day. To start out, we had four third category climbs right at the beginning and things went flat out right away. Almost as soon as the peloton hit the first climb we had 40 or 50 guys who got dropped straight away more or less and we spent the next 150ks trying to get back on to the peloton. Once we got back on – seriously only about three or four kilometers after we got back on – the boss calls up and tells us to go to the front. There was a break away and he wanted us to cut the gap down before the last climb - the second

Stage 8 - Pforzheim to Gérardmer >231.5km

Judges said it came down to a 2mm margin at the line and gave Weening the win over Klöden

Isolated and under attack: There weren't a lot of Discovery jerseys with Armstrong on the Col de la Schlucht

Weening would like to try for the yellow jersey one day - but not this year

The lead sax player on what Casey calls the worst rendition of ' I Did It My Way' that he's ever heard

No, he's not a walking, talking Capitol One ad - just another German fan

The peloton races through the lovely borough of Herbolsheim

Hincapie leading the descent in the early break

Baron von Münchhausen turns out for the Tour

Fans check out the race on the Col de la Schlucht

A lovely bike hidden away, with wooden fenders and woven spoke guard

Casey's competition gets younger every year

Armstrong had company alright... but the wrong kind of company..

Moreau gives it a go...

T-Mobile came into the climb with guns blazing...

Casar leads the break, as Hincapie keeps an eye on things.

,,, as does Valverde.

Sorenson and Co. join Casar to form a new break

Armstrong readies for the coming battle.

Landis is ready.

After a series of attacks, it's Klöden's that sticks... bringing much needed relief to the fading Weening

Mengin was on his way to the line...

No one would have thought Beloki's 2003 Tour would have ended this way

Sunday's stage offers up plenty of challenges.

Liquigas goes to the front

Course: The two early climbs may encourage some attacks, but the flat final half of this stage through the Rhine Valley virtually guarantees a bunch finish in Karlsruhe. History: The only time the Tour has visited this part of Germany was in 1987, when the race started in Berlin two years before the Wall fell. The third stage was in two parts: The short morning leg was won in a solo break by Belgian Herman Frison in nearby Pforzheim (where stage 8 begins), while the afternoon leg began in Karlsruhe. Favorites: The expected huge crowds lining the long (1.2km),wide finishing straight in the

Australian Robbie McEwen stole the show again at the Tour de France on Friday, both on and off the bike, as the great race headed into Germany. McEwen (Davitamon-Lotto) won't be seen in the fray of battle in the mountains coming up this weekend, but he did more than enough to leave a lasting impression on the 2005 Tour as it completed its first week. The two-time green jersey champion claimed his second stage win of the first week by outsprinting Swede Magnus Bäckstedt (Liquigas-Bianchi) and Austrian Bernhard Eisel (Française des Jeux) in a bunch sprint marred by another nasty crash in

1. Robbie McEwen (Aus), Davitamon-Lotto, 5:03:45 2. Magnus Bäckstedt (Swe), Liquigas-Bianchi3. Bernhard Eisel (A), Francaise des Jeux4. Gerrit Glomser (A), Lampre5. Baden Cooke (Aus), Francaise des Jeux6. Fabian Cancellara (Swi), Fassa Bortolo7. Tom Boonen (B), Quickstep8. Gianluca Bortolami (I), Lampre9. Thor Hushovd (Nor), Credit Agricole10. Juan Antonio Flecha (Sp), Fassa Bortolo, all s.t. 11. O’grady Stuart (Aus), Cofidis12. Luciano Pagliarini (BRA), Liquigas-Bianchi13. Robert Förster (G), Gerolsteiner14. Nazon Jean-Patrick (F), Ag2r Prevoyance15. Philippe Gilbert (B), Francaise des

When Fred Rodriguez needs a lift at the end of a long day in the trenches of the Tour de France, he reaches into the back pocket of his Davitamon-Lotto jersey and pulls out a little cup of coffee. No, he doesn’t have a coffee-maker back there. Instead, he grabs an energy gel bearing a shot of his own band of “Fast Freddy” coffee. “I can’t carry a cup of coffee in the race, so now I have something to take in the last part of the race to give me a last boost of energy,” Rodriguez said. “I usually have one or two near the end of a stage.” Rodriguez said he met with Clif Bar officials to

After a week in the saddle, and four days in the yellow jersey, Lance Armstrong says the Tour de France is only now getting set to start. After wrapping up stage 7 in Karlsruhe, Germany, won by Robbie McEwen (Davitamon), the six-time Tour champion said he feels none of the pressure he did last year when he was bidding to secure a record-breaking sixth victory. "In terms of pressure it's nothing compared to last year, so I'm a little relieved I don't have the pressure of winning the sixth Tour that people said couldn't be done,” said Armstrong. “It feels different this year.

Neither rain, nor sleet, nor hordes of German fans can keep Casey Gibson from his appointed rounds. Our boy was with the Tour as it crossed from France into Germany on Friday; here's what he saw along the way.

The noise reached record levels in Karlsruhe at around 5:30 local time Friday, as a huge crowd of happy Germans cheered the man stepping up to the podium of the Tour de France. It was not stage winner Robbie McEwen this crowd was cheering. Nor was it Lance Armstrong in the yellow jersey, nor Tom Boonen in green. No, the assembled crowd at the Karlsruhe fairgrounds had been following the progress of their hero throughout the day. It was Gerolsteiner's Fabian Wegmann. Wegmann stepped onto the Tour podium to have the polka dot jersey of the Tour’s best climber put on his shoulders,