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Stage 8 Tour Tech: Gear for the toughest of days

Haywood was at her best.

Since the 2003 Tour route was released in December, Sunday's stage 8 over the Télégraphe and Galibier climbs and up the 21 famed switchbacks of Alpe d'Huez had all the makings of a classic. Well, it certainly lived up to expectations. More than 400,000 fans lined the twisting, 14km final climb to Alpe d'Huez and enjoyed one of the most spectacular and exciting Tour stages in years. Iban Mayo (Euskaltel) delivered on his promise to win a Tour stage and shot away from a lead group of favorites with just over 7km to go and held on for the biggest win of his career. Lance Armstrong surged

The great HD left a mark on the Tour, but does he deserve all of the credit?

Stage 8 Individual Results1. Iban Mayo (Sp), Euskaltel-Euskadi, 5:57:302. Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz), Telekom, 01:453. Lance Armstrong (USA), U.S. Postal Service, 02:124. Francisco Mancebo (Sp), iBanesto.com, 02:125. Haimar Zubeldia (Sp), Euskaltel-Euskadi, 02:126. Joseba Beloki (Sp), ONCE - Eroski, 02:127. Tyler Hamilton (USA), CSC, 02:128. Ivan Basso (I), Fassa Bortolo, 02:129. Roberto Laiseka (Sp), Euskaltel-Euskadi, 02:1210. Pietro Caucchioli (I), Alessio, 03:3611. Christophe Moreau (F), Credit Agricole, 03:3612. Roberto Heras (Sp), U.S. Postal Service, 03:3613. Jan Ullrich (G), Bianchi,

views of the north side of Galibier

Merckx went on the attack on the way to the Télégraphe, but faded fast

Well, my pre-race top-five predictions aren't all doing so hot, so I fear that I may not be the wise sage I claim to be. However, one thing that I predicted that is definitely coming true is that Lance Armstrong is really having to fight for dominance this year. As I've said before, I think Armstrong will win this Tour de France, but I think it's going to be his toughest win ever. Today was an obvious example of that, since in the Alpe d’Huez stage in 2001, Lance just killed everyone, and buried the race on the first mountain day. Today, many men still have realistic hope of taking a

Biggest Lance fan on Alpe d'Huez, a Brit!

Postal took command up the Galibier

Member of the cycling monastary

Rous and Astarloza led the way on to l'Alpe

Stage 7 Individual Results1. Richard Virenque (F), Quick Step-Davitamon, 6:06:032. Rolf Aldag (G), Telekom, 02:293. Sylvain Chavanel (F), Brioches La Boulangere, 03:454. Michael Rogers (Aus), Quick Step-Davitamon, 04:035. Stefano Garzelli (I), Caldirola, 04:066. Christophe Moreau (F), Credit Agricole, 04:067. Laurent Dufaux (Swi), Alessio, 04:068. David Millar (GB), Cofidis, 04:069. Georg Totschnig (A), Gerolsteiner, 04:0610. Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz), Telekom, 04:0611. Mikel Astarloza (Sp), Ag2R Prevoyance, 04:0612. Guido Trentin (I), Cofidis, 04:0613. Grischa Niermann (G), Rabobank,

Pena spent his last day in yellow

Some true Aussie fans

The biggest polka dot jersey ever

Olympic champion Florian Rousseau failed to qualify for the world track cycling championships when he finished in 11th place in the keirin event at the French trials in Hyeres on Saturday. Rousseau, who won Olympic gold in the keirin event at the 2000 Games in Sydney, Australia, had also missed out on selection for the sprint event when he finished fourth in the trials on Thursday. Only the first three were picked for the championships, which take place in Stuttgart, Germany, from July 30 to August 3. –Copyright 2003/AFP

Bettini labors on Virenque's behalf

American Sandwich? Try the Al Capone or the Jazz Fish

Saeco team riders were all handed a 200 Swiss francs ($146.3) fine by Tour de France organisers for sporting white jerseys with a publicity slogan instead of their regular red team kits in Saturday's stage to Morzine. The Italian team wanted to use a new carbon-aluminum Cannondale for the mountains that weighs in at 6.6 kilograms, 200 grams lighter than the UCI minimum of 6.8kg. The UCI imposed the minimum standard three years ago for what the governing body says were safety reasons. To protest at the limitation, Saeco riders sported jerseys asking UCI to "legalize my Cannondale." Saeco

Peña and Armstrong ride in the group

Who?

Seeing a 40-strong group ride into Morzine with Lance Armstrong at the end of the Tour’s first mountain stage on Saturday was quite a surprise — especially after the Postal team leader’s three Spanish climbers had turned on the screws up the Cat. 1 Col de la Ramaz, 25km from the end. But looking back to the action on the Ramaz, we saw three of Armstrong’s billed rivals — Italian Gilberto Simoni, Colombian Santiago Botero and Spaniard Aitor Gonzales — fall back and concede up to six minutes on the defending champion. It was a shock to see those three struggling while American Tyler Hamilton

Far from attacking, Simoni was going backwards

Houseman earned an unlikely win.

Virenque takes the yellow ... and the polka-dot jersey

Steve Peat battles the elements.

What a day the seventh stage into the Alps turned out to be. To finish with my Quickstep-Davitamon teammate Richard Virenque winning the first mountain stage and taking the yellow jersey - and me "passing" my first test in the Alps - it couldn't have been better. Firstly, a few words about Richard. I said the other day he has given me a fair bit of advice and inside knowledge about the mountains. He proved today that his word is good. He told me this morning at breakfast that he was going to go for the stage win. He said he was going to attack on the first kilometer of the first climb,

Virenque celebrates

The crowds were thick in B.C.

There are all sorts you meet on the route of the Tour de France. People, that is. Many of them you forget as days, weeks and years pass. Others remain etched in your mind. Today, I fear, may be the latter. Had we filled the gas tank of our car earlier, rather than after the emergency light had been flickering for 50km, those fears would not exist. Finding service stations in France is not as easy as it sounds, and even less so on the Tour route. Filling stations are either closed, blocked off by barriers or take French-only credit cards. But we felt lucky today, 85km into stage 7 from Lyon

Virenque and sons

Griffiths made it two straight.

Four-time stage winner Alessandro Petacchi said he retired from the Tour de France early on Saturday's first mountain stage because he would never have made it to the end of the race. Though the Tour ends in Paris on July 27, the Italian climbed off his bike 45km into the 230km seventh stage to Morzine after being left behind by the main field. "I always said my form wasn't that good for the Tour de France," Petacchi said. "I didn't plan to retire but I was struggling on the very first climb. I knew it would have been impossible to make it to the finish of the stage, and I knew I could

Protest carries less weight when you're off the back

Moseley maintained a slim lead in the overall.

Lance Armstrong warned the rest of the Tour de France Saturday that he was gearing up to win cycling's biggest race for a record-equaling fifth time. The American allowed Frenchman Richard Virenque to take Saturday's first mountain stage at Morzine, along with the yellow jersey, but then said he was setting out to win the race, starting with Sunday's eighth stage climb up L'Alpe d'Huez. "For me, the Tour started today," the U.S. Postal Service leader told reporters. "In the first week of the race you're not riding to win, you're just trying to stay out of trouble and not lose it. Now it's

With the temp. in the 90's riders take all the bottles they can carry

Winning the Tour de France requires a balance of patience and aggression, and on the first mountain stage today, Lance and U.S. Postal Service chose to remain patient. Armstrong wasn’t the only man waiting to show his true strength. His main rivals, Jan Ullrich and Joseba Beloki rode quietly today as well, but tomorrow each man will be forced to lay his cards on the table. Quickstep’s Richard Virenque was Stage Seven’s main aggressor, attacking early and gaining enough time and mountain points to take both the yellow and polka dot jerseys. Virenque wore the yellow jersey briefly eleven years

Andrea Marchant waits for an autograph...

Virenque claims the first mountain stage of the '03 Tour

and Hincapie finally rewards her

Through the streets of Lyon

Simoni's new bike

U.S. Postal

all decked out...

Richard Virenque of Quick Step-Davitamon left behind a shaky past - not to mention the rest of the Tour de France peloton - to experience a dream day in the 2003 Tour's first big mountain stage. The Frenchman, disgraced after his role in the Festina scandal at the 1998 Tour, rebounded in Saturday's hot, steamy mountains opener in the French Alps to win the stage, grab the King of the Mountains jersey and take the overall lead. "Something magical happened to me today," said Virenque, who finished 2:29 ahead of Rolf Aldag (Telekom) after a 190km-long break. "I was going for the King of the

Jan Ullrich

with weights

As the Tour de France climbs into the Alps for three mountain stages, Marco Pantani – one of the greatest climbers in the history of cycling and winner of the 1998 Tour de France – is back on his bike for the first time since he left a drug and depression clinic. Pantani, who spent the second half of June in the clinic near Venice, looked well as he rode his bike for an hour and half near his home in Cesenatico on Friday. He refused to speak as he headed home from his ride, but La Gazzetta dello Sport suggested he could be training ready to make a return to racing at the Tour of Spain in

With the yellow jersey on Pena, chasing duties fell to Postal

A little card playing and wine drinking waiting for the stage

Petacchi didn't think he had it in him ... but he did

George Hincapie checks out a new Mercedes at the start

An Hors Categorie leader overlooks a Cat. 3 climb

Pena grabbing a bite to eat

Here come the Hurdy-gurdy men.

Stuart O'Grady and Anthony Geslin on a break that came oh so close to making it.

Simoni's bars and head tube

The Posties

Petacchi made a mark at the Giro... did Briko?

Pena leads

Petacchi is at the Tour... and so is Briko

There's just no stopping Alessandro Petacchi. Not even a suicidal two-man breakaway in Friday's hot, sweaty stage into Lyon could derail the Petacchi express. Crédit Agricole's Stuart O'Grady and La Boulangére's Anthony Geslin peeled away from the pack, a few kilometers away from the day's first points sprint at 36.5km. They lasted out there for nearly 200km, only to be brought back in the final kilometer of Friday's stage, the second-longest of this Tour. Petacchi said he told his Fassa Bortolo teammates that he was cooked after coming over two categorized climbs in the final 70km and

O'Grady and Geslin

Petacchi takes over the green jersey, too

Stage 6 Individual Results1. Alessandro Petacchi (I), Fassa Bortolo, 5:08:352. Baden Cooke (Aus), FDJeux.com, 00:003. Fabrizio Guidi (I), Bianchi, 00:004. Thor Hushovd (Nor), Credit Agricole, 00:005. Romans Vainsteins (Lat), Caldirola, 00:006. Damien Nazon (F), Brioches La Boulangere, 00:007. Hinault Sébastien (F), Credit Agricole, 00:008. Gerrit Glomser (A), Saeco, 00:009. Yuriy Krivtsov (Ukr), Jean Delatour, 00:0010. Luca Paolini (I), Quick Step-Davitamon, 00:0011. Salvatore Commesso (I), Saeco, 00:0012. Pablo Lastras (Sp), iBanesto.com, 00:0013. Mikel Pradera (Sp), ONCE - Eroski, 00:0014.

Stuart O'Grady and Anthony Geslin took off early and nearly made it work

Peña in yellow. How much longer?

Maybe you’re like me and you treated yourself to a hot dog to celebrate the Fourth of July. Heck, maybe you even downed two or three and chased them down with a cold beverage. Chances are, though, you did not wolf down three dozen wieners, and chase them down with another eight-and-a-half. In 12 minutes. That was the final tally for Takeru “The Tsunami” Kobyashi at the Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest, July 4 in Coney Island. The Japanese three-time champion’s 44-and-a-half dogs easily outdistanced second-place Ed “Cookie” Jarvis, who set an American record with 30-and-a-half hot dogs