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Rasmussen had a 'semi-bad day'

Here’s what the main players had to say at Ax-3 Domaines, France, following Saturday’s fireworks in the Pyrenees. Lance Armstrong (Discovery Channel), yellow jersey (second at 52 seconds back, first overall) On comparing to his troubles two years ago: “Yeah, for sure, I kept trying to remember my training day here six weeks ago versus the 2003 Tour, because I felt better then. It’s a similar situation, again with Ivan and Jan, same as 2003. Similar also with the heat, it was incredibly hot.” On the difficulty of Sunday’s stage: “We’re going to have a hard time to recover from today’s

Evans on the ascent Saturday

T-Mobile's attack early on the Port de Pailhères got rid of the entire Discovery team... well, except for that one guy.

My hats off to the Americans in this year’s Tour de France. In today’s 173.5 kilometer stage from Miramas to Montpellier, one American in particular rode remarkably for the whole stage but lost the race in the last kilometer. Another American lead out the winner of the stage in the last kilometer and still finished third for the stage. All this while three other American’s hold places in the top 10 on General Classification. We sure have come a long way! 150 kilometers in the lead but 150 meters short at the lineJust 17 kilometers into the race American Chris Horner found himself with

Armstrong has a specific rig for the flat stages, too.

Stage 13 - Miramas to Montpellier >173.5km

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Stage 13 - Miramas to Montpellier >173.5km

Horner gets a day out front...

McEwen rockets out to another stage win

... he's in there somewhere.

Mavic's Ksyrium ES Dixieme Anniversaire wheels

Super German photog Giro works out of his office in the back of a van, and transmits photos from the finish line.

Yeah, but what's its weight in Belgian ale?

Waiting to award the best young rider jersey

Just plain-vanilla aluminum posts

Rasmussen is looking a little gaunt on the podium today. Rumor has it that he will simply dry up and blow away after the Pyrenees.

Horner makes it into a break

A look ahead to Stage 14: This could be tricky

Course: There is only an early cat. 4 climb on this transitionalstage across the Midi between the Alps and Pyrénées, so it’sa rare chance for the sprinters to come to the fore. A choppy 20km finishingcircuit awaits the peloton in the streets of Montpellier, where there’sa short, 200-meter-long finish straight. History: No less than 24 stages have finished in Montpellier.The latest was in 1994, when Dane Rolf Sørensen took the honorsin a two-man break with Aussie Neil Stephens. Favorites: The tight finish should see attacks by the likes ofFlecha and Erik Dekker in a bid to trump the Aussie

Davitamon-Lotto clocks in for McEwen

A look ahead to Stage 14: This could be tricky

Following the expulsion of one rider and the arrest of another, talk of doping at the Tour de France has re-emerged as the doctor of one of France's top teams said the race is still being “contested on two levels.” For Gerard Guillaume, the doctor of the Francaise des Jeux team of Bradley McGee and Baden Cooke, his riders simply can't keep up with a peloton whose speeds have amazed everyone in the first 12 days of the race. The Tour, which American Lance Armstrong is bidding to win for a seventh consecutive time, has so far been raced at a punishing pace, leaving some complaining

Horner workin' it

Voeckler makes it, too

If American Chris Horner had hoped to leave an impression on his first Tour de France, he can consider his mission accomplished. The 33-year-old California native, who joined the Spanish squad Saunier Duval-Prodir at the end of the 2004 season after three seasons spent dominating the domestic calendar, came painfully close to winning stage 13 in Montpellier on Friday. But he was caught before the line by a hard-charging peloton. Instead of an amazing victory, Horner could only watch as Aussie Robbie McEwen (Davitamon-Lotto) took his third sprint win of this Tour by edging out Stuart O’Grady

May I have your attention, please?

Da Cruz and Horner proved less than simpatico in the break

Stage Results1. Robbie McEwen (Aus), Davitamon-Lotto, 3:43:142. Stuart O’Grady (Aus), Cofidis, 00:003. Fred Rodriguez (USA), Davitamon-Lotto, 00:004. Guido Trenti (USA), Quickstep, 00:005. Thor Hushovd (Nor), Credit Agricole, 00:006. Anthony Geslin (F), Bouygues Telecom, 00:007. Forster Robert (G), Gerolsteiner, 00:008. Magnus Backstedt (Swe), Liquigas-Bianchi, 00:009. Gianluca Bortolami (I), Lampre, 00:0010. Christopher Horner (USA), Saunier Duval, 00:00 11. Allan Davis (Aus), Liberty Seguros, 00:0012. Baden Cooke (Aus), Francaise des Jeux, 00:0013. Peter Wrolich (A), Gerolsteiner,

McEwen praised his team in general and Fast Freddie in particular

The beauty of tactics: How to blow it with 150 meters to go

Levi ready for uphill challengeOn the fight for the podium I feel good. I feel better than I have in the Tour before. I think the GC will continue to sort out a little bit. I’ve been trying to save as much energy as possible because I know what’s coming up. It’s definitely going to be decisive. It’s hot now, tomorrow and the next day are going to be very decisive. The day after tomorrow (Sunday) when we get to the bottom of Pla-d’Adet, it’s going to explode, it’s going to be every man on his own. It’s going to be very painful. On Saturday’s stage to Ax-3 Domaines Follow the best, but there’s

Armstrong's next big test comes this weekend

Friday's relatively flat transitional stage almost lived up to that tradition that would have had the day's breakaway succeed. Almost. Our man Casey Gibson captured scenes of the day's stage before, during and after the heart-breaking finish into Montpellier, where Saunier Duval's Chris Horner was caught just meters from the line after being on the attack for more than 160km.

A descent into what is the mosh pit in front of the Discovery bus...

On Sunday, Lance Armstrong will pay tribute to his former teammate at Motorola, Fabio Casartelli, who died in a crash on the descent of Porte d'Aspet a decade ago. Casartelli was the reigning Olympic road race champion in 1992, and joined Armstrong's team soon afterwards for what was supposed to be a promising future - until his fatal crash on the Pyrenean descent. On what should prove an emotional weekend for the American six-time winner of the Tour, remembering Casartelli will be one of the foremost things on the American's mind. "It's going to mean a lot, because it is

...where grown men and women crush small children up against the barriers to get an autograph or a look at Lance ...or his friend.

The Discovery Channel team will probably try to stop Lance Armstrong’s main rivals from attacking him on Saturday’s stage 14 into the Pyrénées. But that won’t be a simple task on what looks like being a very long, hot day under a blazing sun. In the four to five hours of racing before stage 14 even reaches the two forbidding climbs at the end, there are sure to be many attacks. And should those breaks include some of those riders between five and 10 minutes back on GC — such as Kazakhstan’s Alex Vinokourov (T-Mobile) and Andrey Kashechkin (Crédit Agricole) or Australians Cadel Evans

Geez, who is she looking for?

Stage 12 - Briançon to Digne-les-Bains >187km

Nothing like fighting your way through a crowd after a sweaty day in the saddle

Stage 12 - Briançon to Digne-les-Bains >187km

Lance fans took over the finish-line stands today

Moncoutie gives the French something else to celebrate on Bastille Day

Ullrich looks for the exit

Casar makes it one-two for the home crowd

Padrnos pushes through

Armstrong is enjoying the change in weather

Say, where the heck's the bike race, anyway?

The CSC duo of Julich and Basso stick close to Armstrong

The Liberty Seguros fleet

Beltran crashed out of the Tour

. . . and the Discovery armada

Course: This third alpine stage bypasses the area’s big climbs— Izoard, Vars and Allos — and instead sticks to the valleys and foothills.The (mild) sting in the tail comes when the race reaches Digne-les-Bains,where the riders do a 40km loop, the first half up and over the narrowCat. 2 Col du Corobin, the last half on a rolling main road back into town. History: Digne was a regular stage town in the 1930s and ’40s,but the Tour hasn’t returned here since 1969 when Merckx outsprinted breakcompanion Felice Gimondi over a course that included Vars and Allos. Favorites: With the GC hierarchy

The day's big break

A barricade of Subarus

With 11 stages down and 10 to go, the French have yet to win a stage of this 92nd Tour de France. The home fans have had to be satisfied by some aggressive-riding awards by the likes of Laurent Brochard, Christophe Mengin and Thomas Voeckler, and the overall challenge of Christophe Moreau (who moved up to third overall on Wednesday). But what they really want is a stage win. With almost 100 riders now more than an hour behind race leader Lance Armstrong, there is a good chance for riders out of the overall picture to make successful bids for a stage victory. And the French will be trying

With Boonen out, Hushovd is in green

David Moncoutié gave the French something to cheer about on Bastille Day while Lance Armstrong kept a low profile on the Tour de France’s hilly 187km stage on Thursday. Moncoutié tore away from a 13-strong break late on the day’s second to last climb to score the first French win of the 2005 Tour while Armstrong coasted and roasted through a hot day as the Tour rolled south from the Alps into sunny Provence. “It was a stage for a bold man, not for the best man in the Tour,” said Moncoutié, who also won a stage last year. “I was not the best rider in the Tour, but the strongest in the break.

Moncoutié wins one for the home crowd

Stage 12 Results1. David Moncoutie (F), Cofidis, 4:20:062. Sandy Casar (F), Francaise des Jeux, 00:573. Angel Vicioso (Sp), Liberty Seguros, 00:574. Patrice Halgand (F), Credit Agricole, 00:575. Jose Luis Arrieta (Sp), Illes Balears, 00:576. Franco Pellizotti (I), Liquigas-Bianchi, 00:577. Axel Merckx (B), Davitamon-Lotto, 00:578. Juan Manuel Garate (Sp), Saunier Duval, 00:579. Thor Hushovd (Nor), Credit Agricole, 03:1510. Stuart O’Grady (Aus), Cofidis, 03:15 11. Massimo Giunti (I), Fassa Bortolo, 03:1512. Stephan Schreck (G), T-Mobile, 03:1813. Giovanni Lombardi (I), CSC, 03:2114. Robbie

Was your ride today this pretty?

Joseba Beloki - Facing his demons two years onIt was two years ago today that Joseba Beloki suffered that horrible high-speed crash on the descent of the Col de la Rochette, just as the 2003 Tour de France exited the Alps. Images of that fall, on the day’s last switchback, as he and Lance Armstrong were chasing Alexandre Vinokourov into Gap, sit in the minds of everyone who witnessed it. Beloki, who is back racing the Tour for the first time since then, says the scars of what was his most frightening moment on the bike are still very fresh in his mind. In an interview with the French sports

Armstrong and Hincapie will find themselves a man short in the Pyrenees

A few hours before the Tour de France peloton left Briançon on Thursday, one man, who had just days earlier been leading the race, grabbed a ride to the airport. CSC’s Jens Voigt had little choice but to fly home to Berlin after missing the time cut by a mere 41 seconds on Wednesday’s stage, one that featured the feared Col du Galibier. Before his flight, Voigt took time to speak with a small group of German reporters about the events leading up to his unfortunate exit from the Tour. Voigt said his performance on Wednesday had been hampered by illness, something he’d felt come on in Grenoble

Another scenic

Tour de France Comes to the Big Screen in Live HD Simulcast in 53 MovieTheatres Across the United States on July 16“Live. Loud. Large: Tour De France Stage 14 on the Big Screen”Presented by The Tyler Hamilton Foundation, National CineMedia andOutdoor Life® NetworkA portion of the proceeds to benefit the Tyler Hamilton Foundationand the Davis Phinney FoundationFans won’t want to miss the chance to watch the top cyclists battlelive and uninterrupted in high-definition on the Big Screen as The TylerHamilton Foundation hosts a live simulcast of Stage 14 of the 92nd Tourde France in 51 Regal

The peloton rolls past a lovely lake in the midday heat. We wish we were in it

It was a scorcher on the Tour on Wednesday - meteorologically speaking, anyway, and results-wise, too if you happened to be French. So it's no surprise that ace shooter Casey Gibson's attention was drawn to the cool, blue waters of a lake the Tour passed en route to Digne-les-Bains. "We were thinking we should join all of those vacationers rather than work 16-hour days," notes Casey. "Looks lovely, eh?" That it does. And us too fat for a Speedo . . . .

Beltran consults with the race doctor before withdrawing

Today was one of those days that you just put your head down, ride and wait for the finish. It’s not that this stage was so hard, it’s that I suffered so much yesterday that I am still trying to recover. To start, I came down on the descent of the Col de la Madeleine and then spent the rest of the day hurting. I was on my own, just trying to get back on to the grupetto and I locked up my front wheel in a corner and landed on my back. You may remember last year that, after the highlight of winning at Roubaix, a lot of my problems later in the season revolved around my back. As it turned

The peloton climbs through another camper city

In his first Tour (1969), Merckx controlled the climbing tempo on the Galibier…

The hard road ahead.

… just as Induráin did in 1993.

Beat the clock: Voigt charges to beat the time cut. He didn't make it.

Stage 11 - Courchevel to Briançon >173km

Horner gets into the early break

Stage 11 - Courchevel to Briançon >173km