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Rather than a display of frequent and vicious attacks on the final climbs to the finish of mountain stages, we’re seeing a much more controlled style of racing in the 2004 Tour de France. The leaders set a fast pace on the final climb and then wait until the last 750 meters to really open the throttle and surge for the finish line. Accelerating from an already high climbing pace is very demanding, but something you can prepare for. During Lance Armstrong’s preparations for the Tour de France, we spent time specifically focused on what happens when you approach a mountain summit in a race.

The Mail Bag is a Monday-Wednesday-Friday feature on VeloNews.com, but will appear daily during the Tour. If you have a comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have seen in cycling, in VeloNews magazine or on VeloNews.com, write to WebLetters@InsideInc.com. Please include your FULL NAME, HOMETOWN and STATE, or NATION if you live outside the United States. Letters may be edited for length and clarity.So, these two guys walk into a bar . . .Editor:I just have to share this actual conversation with you. This was overheard by a friend at the bar in a TGI Friday’s where OLN was

In a classic truth-is-stranger-than-fiction tale Mary McConneloug has won her arbitration case and been awarded the lone women’s start spot on the U.S. Olympic cross-country team. This was a reversal of Friday’s USA Cycling announcement, which had awarded the spot to Sue Haywood after a week of deliberation. But McConneloug appealed that ruling and after a four-hour conference call on Monday that included USAC staff, Haywood, McConneloug and their legal counsel, an arbitrator with the American Arbitration Association reversed the decision on Tuesday. McConneloug challenged the original

STAGE 15 July 20 Valréas - Villard-de-Lans (111.231mi/179km)

STAGE 15 July 20 Valréas - Villard-de-Lans (111.231mi/179km)

STAGE 15 July 20 Valréas - Villard-de-Lans (111.231mi/179km)

Armstrong edges Basso for his second stage win and the yellow jersey

The Posties just keep on rollin'

No worries

A day in the spotlight

Switchbacks galore!

Rasmussen and Virenque

Ullrich isn't surrendering

Landis drives the chase

The sad consequence of having too much time on your hands in July

Leipheimer was in elite company throughout the day

GIRONA - Well, I certainly didn’t expect to be filing a journal entry from Spain during the Tour de France this year. With eight starts, I have never had to abandon the Tour before. It has been a difficult couple of days for me but everyone around me keeps telling me to stay focused on the future. I think that’s good advice, so, as I always say, upward and onward. I guess my Tour de France really ended in Stage 6 on July 9th when I went down in the massive pile up one kilometer from the finish. I went over the handlebars and landed on my back. We had been going about 65 kilometers per hour

Tour de France great Bernard Hinault, one of the five riders to win the race five times, said he feels that Germany's 1997 winner Jan Ullrich is heading for oblivion on the race he once dominated. Ullrich, who rides for T-Mobile, is heading for another runner-up place to go with the five he has already after two days of painfully trying to keep up with American five-time winner Lance Armstrong. US Postal leader Armstrong turned up the tempo during two tough days in the Pyrenees, a tempo which Ullrich found hard to match and which left him seven minutes adrift of his rival. Hinault, who in

Tour de France race leader Thomas Voeckler, of the La Boulangere team, has won his place on France's Olympic team for the men's road race in Athens. Voeckler, who has given the hosts plenty to smile about on the race since taking the yellow jersey over a week ago from Lance Armstrong, is expected to hand it over to the American five-time winner in the near future. The 24-year-old Voeckler only has a 22-second lead on US Postal's team leader ahead of Tuesday's tough 180km stage over seven climbs in mountains south of the Alps. However Voeckler's feisty performances on the race, and

Ivan Basso was the star attraction at Monday’s second and final rest day of the Tour de France as dozens of journalists crammed into a small conference room at the team hotel to learn more about the sensation of the 2004 Tour. Basso has been the only rider strong enough to follow Tour dominator Lance Armstrong and sits third overall, just 1 minute, 17 seconds behind the Texan. “I feel good, I feel strong. Normally, Armstrong goes full-gas, but I stayed with him. I didn’t die,” Basso said. “It’s been a little bit of a surprise, but I knew I had the power before the Tour. I knew of my

When Thomas Voeckler rode into the Tour de France yellow jersey 11 days ago, the 25-year-old Frenchman, with his beaming and infectious smile, brought a breath of fresh air into cycling that the sport has long needed. In an era that reeks of cynicism, commercialism and myriad on- and off-saddle scandals, Voeckler brought back to the Tour (and all those who love it) a much-needed and hefty dose of the romanticism that has drawn so many of us to cycling. Voeckler, 25, has been modest yet understandably appreciative of his spell in the yellow jersey. He knows the Tour is like no other race,

Lance Armstrong may not have won his record sixth yellow jersey yet, but a day before the Tour de France restarts with the mountainous 15th stage, his team manager Johan Bruyneel could not feel better. After just two weeks of racing, Armstrong - in second place at 22sec behind race leader Thomas Voeckler of France - has taken massive steps towards a sixth consecutive yellow jersey, and got rid of three of his main rivals in the process. Jan Ullrich, Germany's 1997 winner, is almost seven minutes adrift of Armstrong while last year's fourth place finisher Tyler Hamilton, formerly of US

The Pyrénées did a lot of damage to the Tour de France peloton and to several riders’ chances of challenging for the yellow jersey. Nevertheless, there are still a lot of very strong men left in the race, and the next major challenge before them is stage 16’s individual time trial up L'Alpe d’Huez. The fabled climb, with its 21 numbered switchbacks, is a very difficult and technically demanding time-trial course. However, since it’s only 15.5km long, and it’s not coming at the end of a long road stage, I don’t expect any of the top riders to gain a big chunk of time. Riding by themselves,

Watching the Tour de France, one can easily conclude that one of Lance Armstrong’s biggest strengths is he can be coldly calculating, but the same can be said of the U.S. Postal Service team, which also plays the Tour de France as if it were a game of chess. Armstrong and the team have brought many new things to the Tour, like chiropractors, team chefs, and the scouting of every single stage route prior to the race. Less publicized and perhaps as unprecedented are the tiny details of meticulous planning that the team does. As in chess, every move a team or rider makes during the Tour has

Breanna Loster (Dr. Walker) added a victory in the 200-meter sprint to her 500-meter time trial win on Sunday in the Alpenrose Velodrome Challenge, while Mike Creed (U.S. Postal Service-Berry Floor), fresh off winning the overall at the Cascade Cycling Classic, claimed a win in the 100-lap points race. Sunday’s racing in Portland, Oregon, began with 200-meter qualifiers for the women’s sprint. Defending champion Annette Hanson (Team Rubicon) qualified second in 13.44 behind Loster (13.28), with top local sprinter Heather Van Valkenberg’s (Sorella Forte) third in 13.80. Hanson lost in the

Rest day number two. Man do we need this! We are all taking advantage of the down time. The first course of mountain stages has been hard and everyone needs to take a deep breath before going under for the last week in the Alps. Most people who are still in the race are going to finish at this point, but everyone still needs a rest every now-and-then; the riders, the staff, the mechanics, the directors… maybe even Lance. Sometimes I think that I'd rather just get on with it and finish one day earlier. Then I usually think differently. Our team was lucky enough to be at a golf course for

Basso smiles as he carries his daughter Domitilla before taking the start of Stage 14

Voeckler has enjoyed his time in the yellow jersey

Voeckler's remarkable Stage 13 fight to save his jersey earned him the respect of many.

Beltran skirts the interview...

... as Johan Bruyneel talks to the press.

Psssssssst.... Geoff Browne changes Osipow's tire.

Creed en route to the points-race win

Loster proved fastest in the women's sprint

COURSE: This stage is a straight shot along the coastal plain of the Mediterranean. The main difficulties will probably be the heat, the Mistral wind and perhaps the speed, should the sprinters get a scent of victory. The race could split up in the crosswinds. FAVORITES: Look for good results from tough men like Stuart O’Grady,Jakob Piil, Thor Hushovd and Leon Van Bon, all of whom can out-sprint abreakaway group or do well in a field sprint. HISTORY: The last of 14 stages to finish in Nîmes camein 1986, when the stage also started at Carcassonne. But that was on ahilly course 40km

Aitor Gonzalez's win in the 14th stage of the Tour de France may have given him cause to celebrate, but it has to count as one of the most expensive returns on investment for any sponsor in the sport of cycling. For sure, Fassa Bortolo's Gonzalez was smiling after he time-trialed away from a 10-man break to finish 27 seconds ahead of Frenchmen Nicolas Jalabert (Phonak) and Christophe Mengin (Fdjeux.com). But considering the promise that came with his $750,000 salary, one Tour stage win and a time-trial success at the 2003 Giro d'Italia in his two years with Fassa is hardly great value for

Drizzly Oregon weather didn’t keep Trexlertown regular Cassandra Osorio-McKenna (Hot Tubes) from winning the miss-and-out and points race Saturday at the Alpenrose Velodrome Challenge, though a couple of events had to be shortened to accommodate the damp conditions, including the men’s scratch race and Madison, won by Milton Wynants and Agustin Margaleff (Uruguay National Team). Saturday’s racing at Portland’s Alpenrose Velodrome began with the 200-meter qualifiers for the sprint tournament. Dean Tracy (Team Rubicon) posted a 12.01, with Stephen McLaughry (Bike Central) upping the ante in

STAGE RESULTS1. Aitor Gonzalez (Sp), Fassa Bortolo, 4:18:322. Nicolas Jalabert (F), Phonak, 00:253. Christophe Mengin (F), FDJeux.com, 00:254. Pierrick Fedrigo (F), Crédit Agricole, 00:295. Peter Wrolich (A), Gerolsteiner, 00:316. Marc Lotz (Nl), Rabobank, 00:317. Igor Gonzalez Galdeano (Sp), Liberty-Seguras, 00:318. Santiago Botero (Col), T-Mobile, 00:379. Inigo Landaluze (Sp), Euskaltel-Euskadi, 00:4110. Egoi Martinez (Sp), Euskaltel-Euskadi, 00:43 11. Robbie Mc Ewen (Aus), Lotto-Domo, 14:1212. Thor Hushovd (Nor), Crédit Agricole, 14:1213. Danilo Hondo (G), Gerolsteiner, 14:1214. Stuart

Ullrich won’t quit, but may work for KlödenFormer Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile) has handed rival Lance Armstrong (U.S. Postal Service-Berry Floor) further room to breathe after announcing he may in fact become a support rider for teammate Andreas Klöden. The 1997 winner and five-time runner-up came into the Tour de France as the main threat to Armstrong, but could now finish the race further down than second place for the first time in his career. In the Pyrénées, Armstrong has all but ended the German's yellow-jersey hopes. Ullrich began the 14th stage already seven minutes

The Mail Bag is a Monday-Wednesday-Friday feature on VeloNews.com, but will appear daily during the Tour. If you have a comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have seen in cycling, in VeloNews magazine or on VeloNews.com, write to WebLetters@InsideInc.com. Please include your FULL NAME, HOMETOWN and STATE, or NATION if you live outside the United States. Letters may be edited for length and clarity.Less gossip, more racing discussion, pleaseEditor:With cycling enjoying a rare renaissance in America, an American team doing well, exceptional racing and coverage (and VeloNews

Everyone knew what the script was. Everyone knew what they were supposed to do. Lance Armstrong is here going for a record six Tour de France victories. Then there is the small army of riders who are waiting to spoil it for him: Jan Ullrich is supposed to shake that second-place monkey from his back and score his second Tour win. Iban Mayo, the Spanish climbing master had already proven he can out-climb the Texan, so the mountain challenge is there. Of course, Armstrong’s former teammate and fellow American Tyler Hamilton is ready to show the world that the defending champ and his Postal

Although the organizers of the Tour de France stacked all the mountain stages into the end of the race, their decision to put a relatively easy transitional stage right before the race’s second rest day gives the overall contenders a reasonably long time to recover between the Pyrénées and the Alps. Either wind or tactics could have made stage 14 pretty tough, but after two hard days in the mountains, the majority of the peloton wasn’t eager to ride hard on Sunday. Still, the first two hours of the race were fast and difficult, while riders repeatedly attacked off the front to establish the

Dear Lennard,After watching the prologue and the TTT in this year's Tour, I have noticed T-Mobile is not riding rear discs. Why is that? Everyone knows that a rear disc is faster than a non-disc. What gives?John Dear John,First, all of the T-Mobile riders I saw in the prologue used a reardisc. Here is one on the start ramp, on the new Giant time trial frame. As for the team time trial, Dirk Spiers of Giant Europe said that T-Mobile chose to not use rear discs out of concerns raised by that day's strong crosswinds on the course. He is not at all sure that it was the right choice in

Michelle Dumaresq (Santa Cruz) won her second consecutive national downhill title in the women's category at the Canadian National Mountain Bike Championships on Sunday at Mont Ste Anne, while Mathieu Laurin (Ironhorse) took the men's title. Rain through the week leading up to the Championships turned the 1.7 kilometer course into a muddy mess, causing almost every rider to crash. Some sections in the woods were under nearly a foot of water. Dumaresq, who took seventh two weeks earlier in the World Cup race on the same course, was the fastest woman in qualifying and in the final run, with

STAGE 14 July 18 Carcassonne - Nîmes (124.280mi/200km)

STAGE 14 July 18 Carcassonne - Nîmes (124.280mi/200km)

STAGE 14 July 18 Carcassonne - Nîmes (124.280mi/200km)

Gonzales outkicks the break

Hot Tubes' Osorio-McKenna overpowered Team Rubicon's Hanson and Godfrey in the miss-and-out

Team Uruguay proved strongest in the Madison

Carney takes the miss-and-out

Armstrong - seen here with Bobby Julich - was none too concerned by seeing Gonzalez go.

The break had the right ingredients for success...

... while earlier attempts did not.

Another day in yellow for the man.

A serious chase might have been tough in the heat and wind.

Waiting for the day to start.

Passing through Beziers

The peloton actually had time to take in the scenery today

T-Mobile at the prologue

T-Mobile at the TTT

Tour de Tech: Four spokes and secret bikes

Ignore the label

Tour de Tech: Four spokes and secret bikes

Dumaresq

Laurin says international competition has helped hom

Dumaresq tops the women's podium

COURSE: This is a classic 217km Pyrenean stage with half-a-dozenbig climbs before the destructive summit finish on the Plateau de Beille.The 10km, 8.4-percent climb of the Col d’Agnes at 154km is the steepest,and is followed by a short downhill and climb before descending a narrowtwisty back road, which could be treacherous in the rain. A short valley section then precedes the 18.5km, 6.4-percent haul to the finish. FAVORITES: This has every sign of being the key stage of the Tour, a day when Armstrong will discover his true rivals. KILOMETERS CLIMBING66.3KILOMETERS

It was a stage that was heavily billed to be defininitive in the final outcome of this year's Tour de France. But after Lance Armstrong won the 205.5km 13th leg through the Pyrénées, everyone was left saying it was more like the decisive stage. In a stage that began in Lannemezan and had seven categorized climbs, Armstrong (U.S. Postal-Berry Floor) turned around his second-place finish to Ivan Basso (CSC) in the previous day's stage by outsprinting the impressive young Italian to the summit finish of Plateau de Beille at 5870 feet. In third place behind the pair was Austrian George

Annette Hanson (Team Rubicon) and Kenny Williams (First Rate Mortgage) kicked off the sixth annual Alpenrose Velodrome Challenge on Friday in Portland, Oregon, with wins in the men’s and women’s pursuit. Hanson, a multiple national and world masters pursuit champ from Kirkland, Washington, won the 3000-meter race in 4:09:87 on the 268-meter, cigar-shaped concrete track ahead of teammate Brie Gudsell of New Zealand and Hot Tubes’ Cassandra Osorio of Florence, South Carolina. In the men’s 4000-meter contest, it was Williams turning a 5:01:64 for 4000 meters to outpace a pair of Kiwis racing

STAGE RESULTS1. Lance Armstrong (USA), U.S. Postal Service, 6:04:382. Ivan Basso (I), CSC, 00:003. Georg Totschnig (A), Gerolsteiner, 01:054. Andréas KlÖden (G), T-Mobile, 01:275. Francisco Mancebo (Sp), Illes Balears-Banesto, 01:276. Jan Ullrich (G), T-Mobile, 02:427. Azevedo José (P), U.S. Postal Service, 02:508. Christophe Moreau (F), Crédit Agricole, 02:519. Pietro Caucchioli (I), Alessio-Bianchi, 02:5110. Gilberto Simoni (I), Saeco, 03:43 11. Oscar Pereiro Sio (Sp), Phonak, 04:2912. Stephane Goubert (F), Ag2R Prevoyance, 04:2913. Thomas Voeckler (F), Brioches La Boulangere, 04:4214.

Lance Armstrong said manic Basque cycle fans were his biggest worry as he surged to victory on stage 13 of the Tour de France high in the Pyrénées on Saturday. U.S. Postal’s five-time Tour winner and Italian Ivan Basso (CSC) threaded a precarious route through thousands of fans on the way to the summit at the end of the 205-km stage. French police estimated the crowds on the stage at between 150,000 and 200,000, with around 85,000 of them sporting the orange colours of Euskaltel-Euskadi, whose Basque rider Iban Mayo was having a dismal ride and nearly abandoned. "We just passed a

The Mail Bag is a Monday-Wednesday-Friday feature on VeloNews.com, but will appear daily during the Tour. If you have a comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have seen in cycling, in VeloNews magazine or on VeloNews.com, write to WebLetters@InsideInc.com. Please include your full name and home town. Letters may be edited for length and clarity.Numbers don't lie, do they?Dear Editors,I guess I'm in the minority of those who can't quite figure out howUSA Cycling totals its points. (see "Withsingle-point margin, Haywood gets Olympic nod ")I went to the UCI website and as of

Ivan Basso was on Lance Armstrong’s original list of potential threats for the 2004 Tour de France, but he was not near the top of that list. He is now. The former winner of the Tour’s Best Young Rider jersey has been the only man able to match Armstrong pedal stroke for pedal stroke over the past two days. Though the young Italian said he was forced to his limit to keep up on the final climb to Plateau de Beille, Armstrong didn’t have an overabundance of energy left when it came time to sprint either. Sitting just 1:17 behind Armstrong is a man many believe represents the future of the