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This guy needed three extension cords and a control for his roadside attraction

Now that’s more like it. Today I saw the Lance Armstrong I’ve been hoping would show up at the Tour de France: the guy with fire in his eyes and the determination of ten men. His teammates, his managers and I had done everything we could over the past few days to fire him up, but it took an actual jolt to the system to stoke the fire in Lance’s belly. When I saw Lance hit the ground on Luz Ardiden, time stood still. It’s been a rough Tour, full of strange incidents and near misses, each of which Lance found a way to compensate for. Crashing while launching an attack on the final summit

One of the cuter cows in the whole race, complete with green dots

George and Frankie talk before the stage

The anticipated carnage began as soon as the stage 15 rolled out from Bagnères-de-Bigorre, just as the race rose up steeply for 1.5km to the aptly named Haute de la Côte. Virtually the first thing we heard in our car on Radio Tour — besides “top, départ donné,” to signal the official start — were the numbers of three riders “en difficulté” and that the speeding peloton was in one long line, indicating a very fast start to the day. The stage was barely a little over an hour old — 1:13 p.m. to be precise — when the first abandon was announced. That was number 52, Italian Leonardo Bertagnolli

... Armstrong and Mayo recover...

Roadside Pyrenees climb

...Mayo goes down, Ullrich avoids...

Village food

Sure, we've all looked at every square millimeter of Lance Armstrong's Trek by now, but what is his main rival riding at this Tour? Jan Ullrich's Bianchi EV3 is based on the production model EV3 that is available in shops, but as you might guess, it differs slightly from its commercial counterpart. Jan Ullrich’s EV3 features an oversized downtube and somewhat more-swaging on the toptube and seattube for improved aerodynamics. Custom built, Ullrich’s EV3 sports a 56.5cm seattube with a 58cm toptube. A CNC-machined headtube houses an FSA integrated headset, while the forged bottom bracket

John Lieswyn celebrates after winning at Bensonville

What every gas station in France stocks, oil and wine

My apologies for the lag in getting an update out. I've been a little tapped the last few nights. This feels like the fifth week of the Tour de France for me, not the third. Most GC riders spend the first week of the race laying low, conserving energy. But I feel like I've been on the rivet since the get-go. Adrenaline and disbelief probably got me through the first ten stages of the race. But all the effort to keep going has taken its toll. And as a result the Pyrénées have been a bigger challenge than I would have liked. Today's stage started out with a two-kilometer climb from the gun.

... and back to the front.

Freddy heads home

Armstrong matched Ullrich on the Tourmalet

Vinokourov was left to chase on his own.

A stray musette bag triggers Bedlam...

Vino' after arriving at Luz-Ardiden

Botero and Chavanel survived the early move

Gilberto Simoni and Lance Armstrong ended up in the same camper van after Sunday's thrilling stage high in the French Pyrénées. The Italian and the American were hidden away inside the innocuous camper van behind the Tour de France winner's podium moments after crossing the finish line. It's a place for podium riders to wipe down, change their clothes, and catch their breath after a hard day of racing. Simoni was there after winning an exciting stage over six punishing climbs, while Armstrong was there after withstanding a dangerous attack by Alex Vinokourov who moved to within 18 seconds of

Col de la Core river

Individual Results for Stage 141. Gilberto Simoni (I), Saeco, 5:31:522. Laurent Dufaux (Swi), Alessio, 00:003. Richard Virenque (F), Quick Step-Davitamon, 00:004. Andrea Peron (I), CSC, 00:035. Walter Beneteau (F), Brioches La Boulangere, 00:106. Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz), Telekom, 00:417. Iban Mayo (Sp), Euskaltel-Euskadi, 00:418. Steve Zampieri (Swi), Caldirola, 00:419. Haimar Zubeldia (Sp), Euskaltel-Euskadi, 01:2410. Ivan Basso (I), Fassa Bortolo, 01:2411. Lance Armstrong (USA), U.S. Postal Service, 01:2412. Jan Ullrich (G), Bianchi, 01:2413. Christophe Moreau (F), Credit Agricole,

The final three switchbacks, jammed with fans, on Col de Peysourde

To see how Stage 14 of the Tour unfolded live, just go to our Live Update window and follow the action all the way to the finish.

The ascent to Col de Mente

The descent from Col de la Core

Despite losing more time to Alexander Vinokorouv, Stage 14 was a better day for Lance Armstrong. Armstrong and I talked prior to the start of today’s stage, and he was upbeat and happy with the way his legs felt. He confirmed that gut feeling with a strong ride alongside Jan Ullrich throughout today’s tough climbs. He looked comfortable with the pace, even when Ullrich cranked up the tempo on the Col de Peyresourde. Armstrong and Jan Ullrich can afford to let the Kazahk gain time on them because they know they can both finish well ahead of him in the final time trial. Even with a lackluster

Village of Castillon en Couserans

Dufaux, Simoni, and Virenque

The bull wants his side of the road

ONE OF THE great metaphors inspired by the Tour de France is that of the race as a road to Calvary. Le calvaire has been routinely used throughout the 100 years since the great race was born to describe the process of a cyclist continuing in the face of great affliction, be it injury, or illness, or the mental agony that follows the death of a close relative. Tyler Hamilton has put all the past century of two-wheeled battles against pain into a new perspective over the past two weeks. He has ridden on in spite of a broken collarbone, holding a high place overall as the race entered the

Vinokourov will not give up...

We had just cleared the 1069-meter summit of the Col de Portet d’Aspet when the memories of July 18, 1995 came flooding back. They were of Italian Olympic road champion Fabio Casartelli and his fatal crash on the Pyrénéan mountain’s descent in the Tour de France. Since then, the Tour has frequently returned to the forested mountainside where, incredibly, the concrete bollards that Casartelli hit his head on still menacingly line the sinewy descent. But today seemed different. Maybe it was because Samuel Abt of the New York Times was sitting beside me in the back seat. The last time he did

... and neither will Ullrich.

Tactics, timing and tenacity should all come into play on Monday at what should be the most gripping stage yet of this astonishing Tour de France. For the past two days in the Pyrénées, Lance Armstrong’s U.S. Postal-Berry Floor team and Jan Ullrich’s Bianchi team have played a delicate tactical battle in addition to the overt one between the two stars. Each day, Postal has sent a rider off in the stage’s long break (José Luis Rubiera Saturday, Manuel Beltran Sunday), which has allowed Armstrong’s team to follow rather than lead the peloton; on Sunday, Bianchi led for much of the last 100km.

Simoni's spider theme

Lauri Aus at Paris-Nice in 2000

It is difficult to produce a television documentary that is both incisive and probing when every 12 minutes one is interrupted by 12 dancing rabbits singing about toilet paper. – Rod Serling Wouldn’t you know, this would be the year I decide to do without TV for the Tour. It seemed like a good idea at the time, when we left Westcliffe for Colorado Springs. We’d had satellite TV on Mount Dog – HBO, OLN, the works – but the signal-to-noise ratio got way out of balance in late 2001, and we thought that we could spend the $50 a month on something that offered a little more return on the

Sacchi gets his own custom job

Hamilton attacks on l'Alpe d'Huez

Simoni edges Dufaux and Virenque for the win

Deda's Alanera - no flashy graphics, but...

Green drops out of the 'Heart of Darkness.'

Simoni gets a win, Virenque adds to his KOM lead

Armstrong still in yellow, but it is close

Premont smooth and in control

Armstrong was not impressed with Simoni's talk earlier in the Tour

Pyrenees Picnic

Green and Hesjedal cross Fitzsimmons Creek.

Simoni joined the right move

Hotel Auberge Catalane

Redden ended up second.

Cioni's 2003 Pinarello Dogma

Fasso car

The men's race was full tilt from the start.

Zabel and the Pinarello crew are just as Dogmatic as the Fassas

Cows and cyclists on backroad

It's good ... but it's just not OLN

Traffic jam from hell in Ax-Les-Thermes. The team buses were stuck as well.

Sastre's win adds to CSC's lead in team standings

Lance Armstrong made it through an epic day in the Pyrénées Saturday, but he only just kept the race leader's yellow jersey on his back after a frantic finale to the 197.5km stage 13 of the 2003 Tour de France. The four-time Tour champion was attacked from all sides on the grinding, 9.1km climb to the Ax-3 Domaines ski area high in the French Pyrénées, but hung on to finish fourth and retain the maillot jaune by a scant 15 seconds over Bianchi’s Jan Ullrich. Armstrong admitted that he was fatigued from the efforts in Friday's individual time trial and tried to limit his losses when Ullrich

Tour supplies for a day on the mountain. No wonder they are so excited when the race comes through