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Yaroslav Popovych is now 3:27 down on GC

The stem/bar juncture offers adjustablility

WeatherCloudy in morning, partly cloudy skies and increasing winds in afternoon,highs in upper 70s, low 80sStage winnerSergei Gontchar (T-Mobile), 1h01:43, 50.554kph – The 36-year-oldUkraine pulled a surprise win on a day when the pundits were predictingan American sweep. The 2000 world time trial champion was fastest at allthe splits to win his first career Tour stage. Floyd Landis (Phonak) wassecond at 1:01 despite a bike change at 13km after his aero-bars broke. Race leaderGontchar, 1,309.6km in 30h23:20, 43.095kph – Gontchar becomesUkraine’s first rider to wear the yellow jersey, taking

Paolo Savoldelli (at 2:10) could mount a strong challenge in the mountains

Making final adjustments to comply with the rules

Calm under fire is always a good quality in pressure packed races like the Tour de France. And judging by the way Floyd Landis sloughed off a bevy of stage 7 bike problems Saturday, the American is as cool as they come. Despite having to change the level of his aero’ bars just an hour and a half before the race, and then having those bars break during the 52-kilometer individual time trial, Landis still managed a strong second place finish, making him leader in the clubhouse after the 2006 Tour’s first truly decisive stage. “It was a little mechanical, no problem,” said Landis, who’s now

Cunego - now more than seven minutes back - may have a tough time

The new waterbottle

If you ask the UCI commissaries at the Tour de France, Floyd Landis’s “praying mantis” time trial position is illegal. The race jury put the kibosh on Landis’s distinctive time trial position on Saturday little more than one hour before the start of the 52km time trial, the Tour’s first decisive day since rolling out of Strasbourg on July 1. Landis’s preferred angle – with his elbows together and his hands pressed together high – challenged UCI technical regulations that say a time trial bike’s handlebars and seat must be on the same horizontal plane. (see “Tour Tech - Landis readies for

114th on day, Mickael Rasmussen would probably prefer a tour without Time Trials

The drivetrain

Stage 7: St. Grégoire to Rennes - 52km (ITT)

Hincapie will have to climb better than he ever has...

Is that comfy?

Stage 7: St. Grégoire to Rennes - 52km (ITT)

... if he hopes to make the podium in Paris.

The new ride

Gontchar roars to the win and the overall lead

Eki' finishes 22nd on the day. Not bad for his 15th Tour

These are old?

Landis switched bikes and still managed a runner-up finish

Mixed bag for the world TT champ. He didn't win, but his teammate did.

Another old item.

The new man in yellow

Saunier Duval's David Canada

Lelangue and Landis confirm compliance

GC says it all: 62. Levi Leipheimer (USA), Gerolsteiner, 06:17

Hincapie was hoping for better.

Despite the bike switch, the Phonak leader kept his cool

Big day for T-Mobile, but Rogers wanted a win.

Course: With a week of racing in their legs, the GC contenders finally get their day in the sun with this critical 52km time trial. The counterclockwise circuit has two distinct halves: narrow, hilly back roads at first and long, straight flat highways at the end. The final 15km are likely to be very fast with a tail wind. History: A total of 13 Tour stages have finished in Rennes, the unofficial capital of the Brittany region, the most recent in 1994 when a massive 270km stage from Cherbourg was taken by Italian Gianluca Bortolami from a seven-man break that contained Motorola’s Sean Yates

Julich was the day's only non-finisher

13th was not what most expected from Zabriskie

If any greater upset were possible in the stage 7 time trial of the Tour de France, then anyone who witnessed today’s race of truth would have been pressed to think of one. The 52km St. Grégoire to Rennes time trial in Brittany was decisive, mainly because of the way it seriously compromised the Tour-winning hopes of so many pre-race favorites. No rider really emerged as a standout contender to win the first post-Lance Armstrong Tour — but there was a major a shift in the balance of power, from Discovery Channel to T-Mobile. Take out the stage winner, Ukrainian Sergei Gontchar (T-Mobile),

The Big Question of the Day: What happened to Levi?

Gontchar powered through time checks, smashing previous best times.

From the morning sign-in at the start to the podium at the finish, Casey Gibson covers it all. "Stop me if you have seen this before, guys," Gibson writes us today. "McEwen wins; Boonen pounds his fist in frustration. Its not even close, boys. Three or four bike lengths every day." But our man Casey spent the day on the road, as well, and there was much more than that increasingly predictable finish.

The beauty of Normandy in the summer...

Can the Americans repeat their time-trial dominance from last month’s Dauphiné Libéré – when they swept the top four places – in Saturday’s 52km stage that will kick-start the battle for the overall victory in the 93rd Tour de France? At the Dauphiné, Dave Zabriskie won by an impressive 53 seconds ahead of Floyd Landis on a mostly flat, but windy 43km course. Third at 1:16 was Levi Leipheimer and fourth was George Hincapie at 1:34. The seven-rider American contingent will roll down the start ramp with excellent chances of victory. Also looking for strong rides will be Bobby Julich and

... and the beauties of Normandy in their summer best.

WeatherShowers at start, mostly cloudy and some sprinkles in the afternoon, temperatures in the high 70s, light to moderate head-crosswinds Stage winnerRobbie McEwen (Davitamon-Lotto), 4h10:17, 45.309kph – McEwen took another dominant victory by three bike lengths to score a Tour hat-trick, winning his third stage in just six tries. Last year, McEwen also won three stages, but it took 13 stages to pull it off. Italian Daniele Bennati (Lampre-Fondital) won the battle for second place. Race leaderTom Boonen (Quick Step-Innergetic), 29h21:00, 42.833kph – The world champion pounded his right

Boonen will be in yellow for Saturday's time trial...

The moment of truth has arrived. After almost a week of following wheels, sheltered in the peloton, all the yellow-jersey favorites are racing “alone and unassisted” on Saturday. That expression was coined in Britain, where road time trials were invented in the late 19th century, to overcome police restrictions on packs of cyclists “riding furiously” and scaring the horses pulling carts and carriages. More than 100 years later — and 71 years after individual time trials were introduced to the Tour — the Brits and their English-speaking brethren are still teaching the Continentals how to race

... and he gets to start behind the man in Green. Will we see a catch?

Rumors that Floyd Landis is set to move to Discovery Channel in 2007 appear to be just that, at least for now. Michael Rutherford, Landis’s agent and lawyer, denied reports that the Phonak rider is poised to return to the American team for which he raced during 2002-04. “There have been no discussions with Discovery Channel at all,” Rutherford told VeloNews. “That is definitely just a rumor.” Rutherford confirmed that Landis’s contract with Phonak is up at the end of this season, but said that no new deal for next year has been cut with any team. With new sponsor iShares taking over for

McEwen, though, specializes in sprints.

Stage 6: Lisieux to Vitré - 189km

Man, does he specialize in sprints.

Stage 6: Lisieux to Vitré - 189km

Julian Dean shows the aftermath of yesterday's crash.

That's three for the Aussie pocket rocket

The tools to keep track of Jens Voigt's progress tomorrow

Tellow jersey on the attack. Boonen livened things up early in the stage

Otherwise I wouldn’t be here. Merckx has confidence in Landis's chances

Brard, Backstedt and Geslin moved ahead of the break

Stage Stats: Stage 6 by the numbers

.. but, as usual, the chase kicked in in earnest...

Stage Stats: Stage 6 by the numbers

Course: There’s some initial fun with a visit to Camembert cheese country and a Cat. 3 hill at Vimoutiers that has a 13-percent pitch, but then the shorter (189km) stage settles into a series of long, straight, sometimes hilly highways across the open farmland of Normandy. Rolling hills precede the entry into Vitré, where the course loops around and through town to reach a slightly uphill finishing straight almost 2km long. History: There have been three stage finishes at Vitré, all won by sprinters: Belgian Rudy Matthijs in 1985, Italian Mario Cipollini in 1995 and German Marcel Wüst in

With Boonen back in the fold, the peloton eased off..

McEwen takes the stage and solidifies his hold on the points jersey

After claiming a stunning third Tour de France stage win in five days, Australian sprinter Robbie McEwen warned his shattered rivals that there is plenty of speed left in his legs. And the real bad news for Belgian Tom Boonen, Italian Daniele Bennati, Norwegian Thor Hushovd and Spaniard Oscar Freire is that he plans to use that speed again as soon as possible. But wait, there’s more from the Queenslander whose three-length victory over a frustrated Bennati (Lampre-Fondital) and Boonen (Quick Step-Innergetic) was clocked in an average stage speed of 45.309 kph for the 189km ride from Lisieux

.. with predictable results

1. Robbie McEwen (Aus), Davitamon-Lotto, 189km in 4:10:17 (45.308kph)2. Daniele Bennati (I), Lampre, 00:003. Tom Boonen (B), Quick Step-Innergetic, 00:004. Bernhard Eisel (A), Francaise des Jeux, 00:005. Thor Hushovd (Nor), Credit Agricole, 00:006. Oscar Freire (Sp), Rabobank, 00:007. Erik Zabel (G), Milram, 00:008. Luca Paolini (I), Liquigas-Bianchi, 00:009. Gert Steegmans (B), Davitamon-Lotto, 00:0010. Inaki Isasi (Sp), Euskaltel-Euskadi, 00:00 11. David Kopp (G), Gerolsteiner, 00:0012. Jimmy Casper (F), Cofidis, 00:0013. Steven De Jongh (Nl), Quick Step-Innergetic, 00:0014. Arnaud Coyot

Bobby J seems relaxed these days.

Andréas Klöden is not exactly your average big mouth. When the slender T-Mobile pro speaks, his dark brown eyes are fixed on an imaginary spot in the carpet and one has to move really close to him, to understand his almost whispering voice. He offers up sentences like, "Yes, I have the GC in the back of my mind." It's a statement that clearly falls way short of an announcement that Klöden would like to win the Tour de France. Klöden does not seem to quite grasp that after the demise of Jan Ullrich, Ivan Basso and Alexandre Vinokourov he is one of the big favorites of this year's

Robbie the Rocket seems focused.

Earlier this week, Eddy Merckx said he picked Floyd Landis as the favorite to win this year’s Tour de France. Like father, like son. Axel Merckx agrees with his father that Landis is sitting in the pole position going into Saturday’s decisive time trial to win the stage and grab the maillot jaune. VeloNews European correspondent Andrew Hood grabbed a quick interview with the Belgian ahead of Friday’s start. Here are excerpts from that interview. VeloNews.com: What is your role in the team this year? Do you have a little bit of freedom or are you going to be helping Landis? Axel Merckx:

Hey, is that Frankie rifling through the back of Bjarne's car?

Weathercooler, highs in low-80s, partly cloudy in afternoon, brisk headwinds in final sprint Stage winnerOscar Freire (Rabobank), 5h18:50, 42.342kph – The three-time world champion won his first stage of this year’s Tour, relegating reigning world champ Tom Boonen to second place. The Spanish rider started an early sprint against a brisk headwind to pull the surprise win for just his first Tour win since 2002 while in the rainbow jersey. Race leaderTom Boonen (Quick Step-Innergetic), 25h10:51, 42.423kph – The world champion fell short of victory, but was pleased to keep the yellow jersey

Stage 5: by the numbers

A lot of people are talking about why this Tour de France appears to be slower than last year’s, which reached the finish in Paris at a record average of 41.605kmh. Most people ask if it is due to the absence of those riders who would otherwise be overall favorites. What I do know is that, yes, the Tour is a hell of a lot different than last year. And the one major influence, with Lance Armstrong and a few of the main favorites not being here, is that every team now thinks they are in with a chance to win the overall. Those teams – including ours - are racing tactically quite differently

Pineau preserves his polka-dot jersey

While you relaxed in the cube farm, occasionally sneaking a glance at our Live Update, Casey Gibson was galloping through France alongside Le Tour, chronicling the day's action. Here's what he sent back across the pond.

Tour-winner Riis at the start

Floyd Landis has been a media nowhere man so far this Tour de France, staying bunkered down inside the Phonak bus before and after stages and otherwise keeping a very low profile. Obviously, the Phonak rider wants to let his legs to do the talking. Saturday’s 52km time trial will be the first chance to see who’s going to have the legs to challenge for overall victory. “Floyd is good. He is ready to make a good time trial. It’s the first important day,” Phonak sport director Juan Fernandez told VeloNews. “Everyone talks about the nerves the first week, but Floyd has been very calm.” Ninth

Dumoulin leads the break over the Seine bridge

On every road stage of this 2006 Tour de France, it has been relatively easy for the sprinters’ teams to control the race. One reason is because there was no team trial this year and so no major time gaps have developed in the general classification, which means that in every early break there is generally someone, time-wise, who is not far from the yellow jersey. For example, on Thursday, several riders near the top of the GC rankings went with the early eight-man break. Despite several kilometers of flat-out effort (almost 46km were raced in the opening hour on far-from-flat terrain), the