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Spaniard Juan Manuel Garate dedicated his maiden victory on the Tour de France to his Rabobank team. Rabobank came to the race hoping to challenge for the yellow jersey but their team leader Denis Menchov, the Tour of Italy champion, went from bad to worse on a campaign littered with crashes and mediocre performances. Having also lost riders through injury, the Dutch outfit were set to go home empty-handed and had been looking to Spanish sprinter Oscar Freire to lift morale on the ride to the Champs Elysees on Sunday.

Maybe Lance Armstrong will like Mont Ventoux a little more now. Armstrong hung tough on the mountain that’s always given him trouble to fend off attacks from the Schleck brothers and secure a podium spot with third place going into Sunday’s finale at the 2009 Tour de France. “I cannot complain for an old fart coming here,” Armstrong said after the stage. “Getting third on these young guys is not so bad.”

Columbia's Mark Cavendish says he never focuses on his rivals, but on Sunday's final stage of the Tour de France the Columbia rider would do well to keep a close eye on Thor Hushovd. Despite going one better than he did in 2008 by winning five stages at the race so far this year Cavendish has unfinished business - challenging for the points competition's green jersey. Going into Sunday's 164km ride from Montereau-Fault-Yonne to the Champs Elysees in Paris Hushovd has a significant lead of 25 points on Cavendish.

Rabobank finally got a victory in the 2009 Tour de France as Juan Manuel Garate joined an early break on Saturday and stayed away to win the penultimate stage atop the forbidding summit of Mont Ventoux. Saxo Bank's Andy Schleck did all he could do to upset the top of the GC — his team powered the peloton much of the day and Schleck led the yellow jersey group for much of the climb, attacking alone and with his brother Frank.

Rain changed things for mountain bikers in the Northeast this season. Nearly 30 days of stormy weather in May and June altered trails and canceled frequent riding plans and, while sunnier skies are shining in Quebec for this weekend’s UCI World Cup Mountain Bike races, changes in the riding surface caused by moisture could be a blessing to some, a curse to others.

Moises Aldape (Team Type 1) must have experienced a little déjà vu as he crossed the finish line of the Cascade Lakes Road Race by himself in stage 4 on Friday – he won this same stage last year. Phil Zajicek (Fly V Australia p/b Successful Living) won a bunch sprint to take second place 13 seconds later, while Francisco Mancebo (Rock Racing) took third. The top of the GC remained unchanged with Oscar Sevilla (Rock Racing) retaining his lead, Jeff Louder (BMC) in second at 40 seconds back, and Mancebo in third at 1:00 back.

The courses for Thursday's Annecy time trial stage vs. the team time trial in Montpelier a few weeks ago were quite different. The same can be said of the TT bikes in use by various teams and riders — they are all quite individual. However there are always some common themes, and at the TTT in week 1 of the Tour, we noticed some trends. Let’s have a look at some trends in the team paddock.

Slippery wheels

Columbia's Mark Cavendish won 19th stage of the Tour on Friday, a hilly stage tucked between the Annecy time trial and the penultimate Mont Ventoux stage. All the GC favorites and race leader Alberto Contador finished safely in the front group, setting up a battle for the Parisian podium on the slopes of Mont Ventoux Saturday. Lance Armstrong (Astana) was the only GC favorite on the right side of a four-second split at the end, picking up a small edge going into the final two days.

Friday's tough day of racing at the Tour de France was contested with Saturday's big stage to the Ventoux at the back of most riders' minds. Photographer Casey Gibson spent much of the day on a motorcyle crossing this part of France with the peloton.

Alberto Contador (Astana) all but has the 2009 Tour de France in the bag. The same goes for second-place Andy Schleck (Saxo Bank). At 4:11 back, the younger Schleck probably won’t be passing the Spanish climber, yet if his climbing legs click back into gear, he won’t have to worry too much about anyone else bouncing ahead of him on the podium. That leaves a real dogfight for the final podium spot, with four riders separated by just 38 seconds.

Second-placed Andy Schleck says only a disaster on Mount Ventoux for yellow yersey holder Alberto Contador will give him any chance of winning the Tour de France. With just two stages left, 24-year-old Schleck is 4:11 behind Contador, with his teammate Lance Armstrong in third and determined to finish second behind Spain's 2007 Tour winner. But Saxo Bank leader Schleck says he will do everything he can to take time off Contador on Saturday's penultimate stage from Montelimar, which finishes after the fierce 21.1km climb up Mont Ventoux.

Lance Armstrong ruffled some feathers when he called the 2008 Tour de France a “joke” in the months ahead of his celebrated comeback. The seven-time Tour winner has since apologized for making those remarks, but the top stars from last year’s Tour are not having much luck in the 2009 edition. Of last year’s top 10, only two – Frank Schleck and Christian Vande Velde – are hanging among the leaders this year. Four – Bernhard Kohl, Samuel Sánchez, Alejandro Valverde and Tadej Valjavec – aren’t even in the race.

Garmin chief Jonathan Vaughters said Friday that while Tour de France leader Alberto Contador is a "fantastic rider," he would not confirm rumors his team was hoping to hire the Tour de France leader. Contador, of Astana, has a virtually unassailable lead of 4min 11sec over second-placed Luxembourger Andy Schleck ahead of Saturday's 20th and penultimate stage to the summit of Mont Ventoux. Two days before the end of the race a huge question mark is hanging over the future of the Astana team, whose leaders are Contador and seven-time champion Lance Armstrong.

Lance Armstrong said Friday he is already looking at potential riders for his new team at next year's Tour de France. Armstrong will lead Team Radioshack in the 2010 race and while no riders have yet been signed, he is looking at several options. "We haven't signed anybody yet, but there are still a lot of guys on the radar," said Armstrong. "Obviously there are a few guys I have already been working with like Levi Leipheimer, Chris Horner and Andreas Kloden. "We have a good bunch of guys here and we want to keep them together.