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The yellow jersey should take on a significantly more sporting hue on Sunday when the Tour de France peloton tackles the first of three stages in the feared Pyrénées mountains. Denmark's Michael Rasmussen has worn the race's fabled yellow jersey since his stage victory at Tignes in the French Alps last Sunday, but in recent days the Rabobank climber has been subject of doping suspicions. Following three days in the Alps, the race's 14th stage will herald the second segment of climbing in this year's race, and Sunday's 197km race from Mazamet to Plateau de Beille

Victory a virtual certainty for Gabriele Massaglia.

Is this a long race or what? I'm pooped

Another look at the new seatpost.

Results - Stage 13 (Albi - Albi)1. Alexandre Vinokourov (Kz), ASTANA, 1:06:342. Cadel Evans (Aus), PREDICTOR - LOTTO, 1:143. Andréas KlÖden (G), ASTANA, 1:394. Andrey Kashechkin (Kz), ASTANA, 1:445. Bradley Wiggins (GB), COFIDIS CREDIT PAR TELEPHONE, 2:146. Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr), DISCOVERY CHANNEL TEAM, 2:167. Alberto Contador (Sp), DISCOVERY CHANNEL TEAM, 2:188. Sylvain Chavanel (F), COFIDIS CREDIT PAR TELEPHONE, 2:389. Levi Leipheimer (USA), DISCOVERY CHANNEL TEAM, 2:3910. Mikel Astarloza (Sp), EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI, 2:42 11. Michael Rasmussen (Dk), RABOBANK, 2:5512. Vladimir Gusev (Rus),

Evans giving it the gas for second

Vino' ripping it up

Campagnolo’s time-trial shifter.

Tour de France chief Christian Prudhomme said Saturday that organizers could have refused to allow Michael Rasmussen to compete in this year's race if they had known that he had missed several random doping tests in the past two years. The Danish Rabobank rider is leading the world's most prestigious cycling race. But it emerged this week that the Danish Cycling Union (DCU) decided in June not to select Rasmussen for September's world cycling championships and the Olympic Games in 2008 because he missed out-of-competition tests. Rasmussen has had several warnings from the UCI

Klöden takes third

Graham Watson checks to see if the rain has buggered his camera

Vino’s special Selle Italia saddle.

Weather: Rainy and cool in morning, early afternoon, highs in 60s; rain easing off in afternoon, 10kph northerly winds. Stage winner: Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) - who nearly abandoned after crashing hard on both knees in stage 5 - won in a remarkable display at 1:14 ahead of an equally impressive Cadel Evans (Predictor-Lotto). The victory was Vino’s fourth career Tour stage victory and his first Tour time trial. “For me, the Tour begins today,” he said. Race leader: Michael Rasmussen (Rabobank) retained the yellow jersey after what he described as the best time trial of his life. The

Rasmussen tries to catch his breath after riding the ITT of his life

Vino' roars back to life

Astana’s Alexander Vinokourov continued an impressive comeback from injury, winning the 13th stage of the Tour de France to re-launch his yellow jersey hopes Saturday. Vinokourov, still nursing injured knees from his fall in the fifth stage, moved up to ninth overall at 5:10 behind leader Michael Rasmussen after claiming his fourth stage win and first ever time trial win on the Tour. Given his relative weakness in the race against the clock, Rabobank team leader Rasmussen was expected to relinquish the yellow jersey which he has worn since winning the second Alpine stage to Tignes last

Cancellara gets a close going over by TV shortly before crashing

Rasmussen turns in a strong defense of his yellow jersey

The first long individual time trial of the 2007 Tour de France, as always, provided a few surprises — not least of which was Michael Rasmussen's strong defense of his yellow jersey. Casey Gibson was on hand to capture all the action.

Contador blazing back to Albi

Wiggins set the early mark to beat

The veneer of invincibility returned to Astana on a soggy Saturday in Albi a week after their armor suffered near-fatal chinks when Alexandre Vinokourov and Andreas Klöden both saw their Tour hopes take a dive in a pair of crashes in stage 5. Just four days after collapsing in tears at the finish line in Briançon, his morale as shredded as both of his knees, Vinokourov proved he has more Tour lives than a cat with a stunning victory in Albi. The Kazakh attacker powered over the undulating course along a foggy Tarn Valley and clawed his way to ninth at 5:10 behind race leader Michael

Prepping the road for CSC early in the morning

Leipheimer said he didn't quite have that spark

Cadel Evans, a rider from Astana and a rider from Discovery Channel. That’s how the Paris podium could look in a week’s time. At least, that’s what a selection of team directors and riders is thinking after Saturday’s highly anticipated stage 13 time trial in Albi. However, whom the Discovery Channel and Astana riders might be, and the order each might finish, is far from certain. With the Tour’s first long TT in the books, the battle for the general classification became clearer as the riders brace themselves for three difficult stages in the Pyrénées, beginning with Sunday’s

Evans throws down en route to second on the day and overall

Kashechkin did — he finished fourth

Stage 14- Mazamet to Plateau de Beille (197km)

Fans head for their favorite places two hours before the start

Contador rode strongly, finishing seventh on the day

Stage 14- Mazamet to Plateau de Beille (197km)

Hincapie rolling along

Vino' and his boys are ready to put everyone in the pain cave

Results - Stage 12 (Montpellier - Castres)1. Tom Boonen (B), QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC, 4:25:322. Erik Zabel (G), TEAM MILRAM, s.t.3. Robert Hunter (RSA), BARLOWORLD, s.t.4. Daniele Bennati (I), LAMPRE-FONDITAL, s.t.5. Thor Hushovd (N), CREDIT AGRICOLE, s.t.6. Bernhard Eisel (A), T-MOBILE TEAM, s.t.7. Chavanel Sébastien (F), FRANCAISE DES JEUX, s.t.8. Nicolas Jalabert (F), AGRITUBEL, s.t.9. FÖrster Robert (G), GEROLSTEINER, s.t.10. Andrey Kashechkin (Kz), ASTANA, s.t. 11. Freddy Bichot (F), AGRITUBEL, s.t.12. Martin Elmiger (Swi), AG2R PREVOYANCE, s.t.13. Cristian Moreni (I), COFIDIS CREDIT

Boonen gets it

Crunch time: A preview of the Albi time trial

A former amateur mountain-bike racer alleged Thursday that Tour de France yellow-jersey holder Michael Rasmussen (Rabobank) attempted to trick him into carrying illegal doping products to Europe in 2002. Whitney Richards, 38, a one-time Colorado-based cross-country racer, told VeloNews that in March of 2002, Rasmussen asked him to transport a box containing cycling shoes. But the shoebox, according to Richards, actually contained bags of an American-made human blood substitute. None of the information Richards provided VeloNews involves allegations of current doping. Asked by VeloNews

Rasmussen stays in yellow

Crunch time: A preview of the Albi time trial

Everyone loves a parade — so Casey Gibson obliged us with a few snaps of the wacky Tour caravan today. Enjoy

A horny fan

No. 3 for Mary McConneloug

Weather: Sunny but cooler in morning, brewing clouds and cooler temperatures at finish, highs in the low 70s, brisk headwinds. Stage winner: Tom Boonen (QuickStep-Innergetic) won after a textbook perfect lead-out from his train ahead of Erik Zabel (Milram) and Robbie Hunter (Barloworld). A two-man breakaway was caught with just over 1km to go to set up the sprint in the final sprint-friendly stage until next Thursday. Race leader: Michael Rasmussen (Rabobank) retained the yellow jersey after finishing 47th with the front pack. There were no major changes in the GC as the peloton seemed

Popovych, Hincapie and Gusev working it

Sometimes walking is just faster

If having a good night’s sleep is key to doing well in Saturday’s stage 13 time trial of the Tour de France, then the advantage is with the Discovery Channel riders Alberto Contador and Levi Leipheimer over the other yellow-jersey contenders. The Disco boys are lodged this weekend at a country hotel in the foothills of the Black Mountains about 45 minutes south of the Albi TT start, while their rivals are staying at chain hotels with small bedrooms or in plusher digs in the busy center of Albi. The ones staying at the budget hotels are race leader Michael Rasmussen of Rabobank and Astana’s

The small road is the rabbit's-warren path where we had to park, and drive through to reach the course

After a rough and tumble first half of the Tour de France, Astana is hoping things will go their way in Saturday’s decisive time trial. Team captains Andréas Klöden and Alexander Vinokourov were battered and bruised and nearly abandoned the Tour, but the team is hoping the pair will be able to finally shake off the effects of a nasty crash in stage 5 to assume what everyone thought would be their position atop the Tour peloton. “We had a crisis physically. We never gave up,” Astana manager Marc Biver told VeloNews. “We never had tensions or a bad mood on the team. We always had a good

Montepellier, with caravan

Stage 13 - Albi, Individual time trial (54km)

That's what we call some big news

Stage 13 - Albi, Individual time trial (54km)

Bonjour from Caisse d'Epargne

Boonen blasts across the line

We have no idea what's going on here, but we paid for it and by gum we're gonna use it

SK Whirlpool's Martin Mares comes home a winner in Menyuan

A desperate Disco fan

Congrats to race leader Gabriele Massaglia

No word on how one of former Attorney General John Ashcroft's people got into the plaza to drape the statues

The early break of 16 hit the lower slopes of Daban mountain

The stage in front of the Montpellier Opera House

Rasmussen took over the jersey on Sunday.

All together now (all together now)

Ongarato hit the deck

If you are going to have a press conference about the yellow jersey, you need a bigger tent

Verdugo and Fedrigo off the front

Bob Stapleton talks to VeloNews European correspondent Andy Hood about the German TV network

COURSE: Similar to the first long time trial of 2003, when Lance Armstrong suffered from dehydration at Cap’Découverte, this long, hilly time trial on the edge of the Massif Central is likely to be contested in burning heat. The course leaves Albi to the east on long, straight roads that climb gradually to the first time check at Villefranche d’Albigeois (18km). There it follows a sharp descent to the town of Ambialet (29km), where the riders turn left along the Tarn River valley before tackling the main climb (560 vertical feet in 3km) to the second time split on the Côte de la Bauzié

Liquigas chasing

Oh, yeah, the bike race — these guys got caught

Comeback kid Saul Raisin has the green light to return to competition. Raisin received medical clearance this week after undergoing a battery of tests at a hospital in Bordeaux to resume racing some 15 months after he nearly died in a crash at the Circuit de la Sarthe in April, 2007. His comeback race will be the U.S. national time trial championships in September. “I have clearance to race the time trial championships, and depending on how that goes, I might be able to race the road race, too,” Raisin told VeloNews ahead of the start of Thursday’s 11th stage at the Tour de

Don't get the girl! New race leader Gabriele Massaglia (Selle Italia) lets loose with the champers.

Vittoria provides the team with some special tires.

CSC's Jens Voigt was among several German riders who blasted a decision by their country’s two major television channels to stop live coverage of the Tour de France because of news of a positive doping test. ARD and ZDF, two of Germany's leading channels, stopped their live broadcast of the 10th stage from Tallard to Marseille after hearing that T-Mobile rider Patrik Sinkewitz had tested positive for testosterone. According to the German cycling federation (BDR), Sinkewitz, who is home recovering after colliding with a spectator on Sunday's stage, had abnormal levels of the male

Astana caught Moreau off guard and he paid dearly for it

Liquigas rider, Pozzato’s Lightweight wheel equipped Super Six.

Although the trio of alpine stages did not determine who will win the Tour de France, the combination did decide who most likely will not. CSC’s Fränk Schleck came to the race to ride support for team captain Carlos Sastre, but also to test his own fate in the high mountains. Schleck see-sawed in high climbing performances, but remains confident in his abilities going into the Pyrenees. After finishing ahead of Sastre on stage 8 in Tignes and moved into fifth overall, the Luxembourger crossed the line on stage 9 in Briançon minutes behind Sastre for a general classification placement of

Schleck is ready to work for Sastre, but doesn't wanted to be counted out as GC player.

Mavic’s Cosmic Carbone Ultimate.

Robert Hunter said he hopes his history making win at the Tour de France on Thursday will result in greater professional opportunities for young riders from South Africa. Hunter became the first African rider to win a stage at the Tour de France when he launched a long, ambitious drive for the finish line which beat Switzerland's Fabian Cancellara and Brazilian Murilo Fischer on the 11th stage. The win was also his Barloworld team’s second victory of this Tour. It was Hunter's biggest career win and comes less than a week after he had come a close second to Norwegian Thor Hushovd in