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The faithful have to come up a day in advance to get a camping spot at a mountaintop finish in the Tour.

Another view down from Luz Ardiden on a perfect, cloudless day for a bike race.

Roberto Laiseka may have gotten up 13km of these switchbacks in only 37 minutes, but don't kid yourself. There are a lot of them, and they are tough!

The view from Luz Ardiden is not lost on the fans.

Oh, those Telekom fans. They are everywhere, especially on the tops of the mountains where Jan Ullrich almost reigns supreme.

The drivers of the TV trucks have had to get their rigs up tortuous roads for five stages in a row -- plus a long day of driving during the first 'rest day.' They are tired and can be found sleeping anywhere these days.

Hesjedal took the front at the start, but soon crashed out.

The epic 'dangerous stages' are done, Armstrong said after the day.

Green gets his second win of the weekend.

Barel on his was to the win.

Muxlo finally got her first win.

Giove won her third straight NORBA downhill.

Carter took out all of the game's heavy hitters.

The women's podium: Streb, Repo, Giove, Donovan and Connolly

A Basque racing in the Pyrenees. That's cycling's equivalent to the home-court advantage for Laiseka.

Armstrong's aluminum T.A. cogset had a 21-22-23 on top. Even with a sparking clean chain and cogs in the morning, they still pick up this much grime during a seven-hour stage in perfect weather conditions.

Lance's climbing bike is tuned everywhere to eliminate excess weight. The large cylindrical-head titanium caliper pivot bolt replaced the standard domed-head pivot bolt. Bolts everywhere on the bike have been changed to minimize weight.

Roberto Heras was awesome today on this bike. Better yet, he, like his teammates, has eyelets on his dropouts and could have mounted a rack and packed a lunch!

Photogs stake out the start line, waiting for Lance to show up in his new yellow jersey.

6:37 p.m. local timeQuite a few of you have asked that we not reveal the winner in the headline or first paragraph, so if you don't want be surprised as you work your way through our now-not-so-live updates click HERE to work up from the bottom and follow the race from the start. For the rest of you today's winner was ... 5:25 p.m. (local time) Kivilev, the man who began the day in second overall, has finished at 2:27. This might be a good time to glance at the results and standings as of the end of yesterday’s stage. 5:22 p.m. (local time) Laiseka -- the only remaining member of the

On the start line today. From left: Oscar Sevilla, best under 25 rider; Jalabert in climber's jersey; Lance in Yellow; and O'Grady in the sprinter's green jersey.

By taking the yellow jersey with another superlative stage win on Saturday, Lance Armstrong has done the hardest part of winning a third consecutive Tour de France. As expected, his only true opposition is Jan Ullrich, now 5:13 behind the American. When asked last night what is still possible, Ullrich threw up his arms and said, "I will try stuff, and my team will try stuff, but Lance is even stronger than he's been the past two years. I don't know what we can do." Then, referring to Sunday's stage 14, the last day in the mountains, Ullrich said, "Tomorrow is another very tough stage and

The Coca Cola break dancers performing in front of the city fountain at the village. A little cultural juxtaposition.

Tour de France chief Jean-Marie Leblanc on Sunday scotched American hopes of a race stage being held in the United States, saying the Tour had more pressing priorities. Speaking prior to the 14th stage of this year's 88th Tour, Leblanc told AFP: "It's a project that's been talked about for about 10 years, though not recently, so it's always been lingering in the background. "But I think that now is not the perfect time. Since we're in the period following the Festina (doping) affair (1998) our aim is to re-establish the sporting credibility of the Tour and to continue our battle against

The labarynth of switchbacks that make up the finish at Luz-Ardiden.

The press gauntlet, the front-row presentation, and the winding road to the finish (and Jumbotron) at Luz-Ardiden.

Hamilton in the big mountains.

SAINT-LARY-SOULAN: (Sorry about the delay with yesterday's journal folks, I couldn't get online!) I don't know that I've ridden a lot of stages more difficult than today. When we came to preview the course in May we realized this day was probably going to be one of the most critical of the Tour de France. There was no mercy - just up and down and back up again. Good bike karma has not been on my side much at this edition of the Tour de France. For the third time in this year's race my bike had mechanical issues. For the second time, the derailer on my climbing broke. There's nothing

A view of the climb to Luz-Ardiden, with the giant TV screen and fans on the point, framed by the Pyrenees.

Green simply powered away from the field.

Julich's group had 3:20 on the peloton as they started up Col d’Aspin.

Dunlap got her second short track win of 2001.

Telekom led the chase, while Armstrong rode shotgun on Ullrich.

A castle overlooking the start in Foix.

One of the day's two biggies looked serious at the start

Frederick Guesdon leads two teammates through a turn on the first climb.

Euskaltel fans took over one entire climb of today's race. One entire mountain of crazy ... er enthusiastic Basques!

The incredible climb to the summit of Col de Val-Louron-Azet.

The village of Saint-Lary-Soulet below, and the day’s final climb to the Pla d'Adet ski area at the upper left.

Armstrong powering his way up a climb by himself is becoming a familiar sight at this Tour

Jalabert led the charge and then stayed out on his own almost until the end.

And again, it came down to a two-man battle

4:18 p.m. Simon has finished at 13:20 behind Armstrong. He has lost the yellow jersey to the American. 4:14 p.m. Simon is still on the road and the clock has just passed the nine-minute mark. Armstrong has the yellow jersey. 4:12 p.m. We have now passed the 7:00 mark and Simon has more than 2km to go. The yellow jersey will move from Simon to Armstrong today. 4:08 p.m. Beloki and Heras have finished at 1:46 for third and fourth. Garzelli has taken fifth. Jalabert has finished in seventh at 3:06. Cofidis's Kivilev has finished 4:02 behind Armstrong. Simon is stll way down on the

It was a photographer's dream: A beautiful sunny day at the Tour and lots and lots of scenics. But for the guys in the peloton the theme wasn't quite sunshine and scenic vistas. It was pretty much climb, climb, climb and then climb some more.

CSC-Tiscali's Laurent Jalabert said after the stage finish in Ax les Thermes yesterday that he was going to get the polka-dot climber's jersey today on St. Lary Soulan. That seemed not to be such a slam dunk as he intimated, as he would start the day with 106 points to the 127 points of Laurent Roux (Jean Delatour). When Roux picked up 20 more points on the Col du Portet d'Aspet to Jalabert's goose egg, even devoted Jalabert fans might have begun to doubt. But then JaJa went on an impressive solo breakaway and got the first-place KOM points on the Col de Menté, Col du Portillon, Col de

Following its incredible opening week, the Crédit Agricole team came down from its high once the race hit the Alps. G.C. hopeful Bobby Julich struggled on the stage to Alpe d’Huez and the time trial to Chamrousse. Then, after two solid rides in the Alpes, Jonathan Vaughters had problems of his own in the Pyrénées. Following Friday’s stage to Ax-Les-Thermes, Julich said that the first week had definitely taken it’s toll. "I did use a lot of energy the first week, as did the rest of the team," he said, "but you know, we won the team time trial, we had seven days in yellow, which was amazing

Simon remains in the yellow jersey - despite losing four minutes today.

The Postal team kept the gaps to a manageable level

Armstrong stayed put for much of the climb to Aix-les-Thermes

Cardenes at the start. And how did Casey know to snap a shot of him? Beats us...but nice work.

This morning Armstrong was presented with a miniature reproduction of the Fabio Casartelli memorial -- a site the race will be passing tomorrow.

Though the stage was in France, the architechture reflects a strong Spanish influence.

And if the architechture wasn't a clue, the flags were a sure sign of who the fans are cheering for..

The flags say it all.

OLN and CBS commentator Jessie Greico shares a moment with George Hincapie. They were teammates on the 1991 world junior team.

5:19 p.m. – (local time) Felix Cardenas (Kelme) won the 12th stage of the Tour de France, a tough 166.5km mountain stage from Perpignan to Aix les Therme on Friday. It was the first Tour de France victory for 28-year-old Cardenas and the tenth ever for a Colombian rider France's Francois Simon of the Bonjour team holds the overall leader's yellow jersey for the second day. Cardenas came in some 15 seconds ahead of Spaniard Roberto Laiseka and defending Tour champion Lance Armstrong of the U.S. Postal team who left Telekom's Jan Ullrich in the final 2km. At the finishing line Armstrong

Dutch cyclist Bram de Groot suffered severe concussion after a horrific crash during the 12th stage of the Tour de France from Perpignan to Ax-les-Thermes Friday. A medical source said that the 26-year-old Rabobank rider, who failed to negotiate a bend during the descent from Jau and crashed into a rock before colliding with a security barrier, was in a coma in hospital in Perpignan. Gerard Porte, the Tour de France's chief doctor, said: "Initial scanner and radiograph tests carried out have come back negative. The rider is currently undergoing further examination." "At 1800 (10:00

From the start in Perpignan and on the road to Ax-les-Thermes.

It was windy today (Friday, July 20). At the start (in Perpignon, on the southeastern coast), it was a head-crosswind. The attacks started before first climb. U.S. Postal and even some Bonjour riders took control of the race a bit. With the wind, groups went away, but kept coming back. On first descent, we caught that first group with Vinokourov in it. Despite the course profile, it was pretty uneventful today. We rode this stage once during training. I knew the first climb wasn’t very steep, and I could kind of picture happening what did. The climbs were short and weren’t steep enough to

For the first week of the Tour de France, Lance Armstrong had little to say to the media, usually only a few brief words on leaving the team bus to go to sign-in in the morning, or after the race going from the bus to the car taking him to the team hotel. But after his consecutive stage wins in the Alps, the two-time defending champion spoke at length during the obligatory stage-winner’s press conferences. Among the issues that the U.S. Postal Service leader addressed were the upcoming stages in the Pyrénées, his continued improvement year after year, and his relationship with his former

It had been rumored for some time, and now it’s official: Mountain cross will be contested at the NORBA NCS finals at Mount Snow, Vermont. The four-rider, dual-hybrid event will take place on Sunday, August 19, after the downhill finals. Practice and qualifying is tentatively set for Thursday, August 16. Mountain cross made its primetime debut in March at the Sea Otter Classic and drew mostly rave reviews. At Mount Snow the jumps won’t be quite as big , but that should allow for tighter racing. As he did at Sea Otter, pro downhill/slalom racer Eric Carter will design the course at Mount

On the time trial stages in the Tour de France, journalists have the option of following behind one of the riders to get from the start to the finish of the stage. You might think that on the uphill test to Chamrousse, well, that’s a no-brainer. Follow Lance. Or Ullrich. Or Beloki. Of course, things are never so simple. For one thing, most of us would prefer to get to the pressroom at the finish before those big hitters have started, so that we can monitor their progress all the way up the hill. For another, when you follow the favorites, you get a good view of the team car, a couple of

As I've mentioned in previous years, rest days at the Tour de France are kind of a misnomer. You might think we get to sleep in, drag ourselves to breakfast and then hang out for the day. But as it turns out we do just about everything but rest. For starters, we usually have to make a transfer. Which we did today by plane from the Alps. This meant we got up at the crack of dawn so we could eat breakfast and have our bags packed well before departure time. The flight was an hour long and we arrived in Perpignan in the pouring rain. I don't know if the storm clouds are following us or if

Armstrong about former teammate Livingston: And it’s awkward to see him riding on the front in a pink jersey

Armstrong's dedication to the Tour looks to be paying off.

Drivers on the 405 freeway in Los Angeles give each other more space than what Pradera got from the Cochonou van.

By the top, Pradera even had his right thumb and pinky extended out, cocking his wrist in a drinking motion, hoping to bum yet another water from the crowd.

The start platform in Grenoble.

Stuart O'Grady rode unmarked Mavic carbon Cosmics up to Chamrousse.

Prisoners of passion, or style. Our policy is: don't ask, don't tell.

ONCE's mechanic, like that of Postal, was very thorough and wiped down every tire before the start.

When you have to wade to get your bike, it is not going to be a good day. But things dried out by the start.

Did you know.... that the Mavic neutral-support bikes are Cannondales equipped with Shimano Ultegra parts (and Mavic wheels and derailleurs).

Secret see-through GoreTex (tm) seatcovers? Nay, plastic bags from the produce vendor down the street.

The guy on the right is apparently going to air mail his pants home at the end of the Tour.

A young fan runs alongside CSC -Tiscali's Francisco Cerezo to cheer him on. The boy must have done this with nearly 30 riders.