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Lance (r) and Jose Rubiera take the front of the chase through the corn fields of the Rhein Valley.

5:35p.m. (local time) The main field has finished around 35 minutes behind the leaders. That is outside the 10-percent time limit, but with 160 riders outside of that limit the Tour can invoke Article 22 of its rule book which states that if the percentage of riders to be eliminated is more than 20 percent of the number of riders who have started the stage, the time limit could be extended by agreement of race officials and organizers of the Tour. 5:35p.m. (local time) The main field has finished around 35 minutes behind the leaders. That is outside the 10-percent time 5:23p.m. (local

Grigson held off Blatter in the climbs, then pulled away on the descents.

What do you get when you mix rain, freezing cold temperatures and the Tour de France? One long day and a back ache. I don't know what we did to deserve it, but Mother Nature is sure letting us have it. If I could have a conversation with this woman I'd beg for mercy. Enough with the wind and the rain and the unseasonable temps already. The race is enough of a challenge all by itself. The early part of the day was a bit hectic given that Telekom's Vinokourov was part of the epic break that went up the road at 5 kilometers in. Perhaps the cycling fates were on our side and didn't want us to

Absalon kept Leuchs at bay and passed Evans after he flatted.

Did the fans today witness the stage the blew the Tour apart, or just the first of a day or two of jumbled standings?

Sauser had his lunch a little earlier than anticipated.

Lopes motors past Gracia in the dual semis.

Green looked good here, but trouble loomed.

Gracia got by Carter in the men's consolation race.

Green was forced to stop for air three times.

Dekker had time for a shower and maybe a massage before the peloton arrived.

The scene at the finish line was reminiscent of last week.

The time trail included a trip through a local brew pub.

Postal worked to limited the gap -- and the damage.

Lopes stood atop the podium in Durango.

Pascal stayed dry on his way to World Cup win No. 1.

The women's podium: (l to r) Grigson, Redden, Haywood, Florit and Brutsaert.

Carter, with Tomac looking on, saw 17 riders miss his mark while he sat in the hot seat.

Kelme is racing the road stages on Shimano wheels with carbon rims that have carbon braking surfaces as well

Chausson easily won the women's race.

The spoke heads are in the wall of Shimano carbon rims, while the nipples are at the hub, same as with Shimano aluminum wheels.

Giove came up short in front of her hometown crowd.

At the finish in Colmar, after negotiating five steep and winding descents, some of the material of the Shimano cork brake pads on the front of this Rabobank bike seems to have been melted and pushed to the leading edge by the Fir Santara carbon rims

Olympic champion Miguel Martinez enjoys the sunny part of the day.

Tour Tech: A bit more on wheel selection

Bobby Julich at the start.

The unseen and forgotten American, Kevin Livingston, looking very fit at the start of today's stage.

On Friday, the Tour de France riders had a small taste of the climbing that faces them Saturday on the 162.5km (101-mile) stage 7 between Strasbourg and Colmar. The foretaste was the 2,385-foot Col du Donon, a 4 km-long climb in the Vosges mountains that was enough to split the peloton, and leave many of the sprinters behind. All the five climbs that await them Saturday are longer than the Donon, and the riders having trouble will be not only the sprinters but probably men like current yellow jersey Stuart O'Grady of Australia - who has trouble on long climbs. From Strasbourg, stage 7 goes

The Champion two-piece band, which unfortunately opens each stage with the one and only song they know.

5:53p.m. (local time) We just finished speaking with John Vande Velde, the father of U.S. Postal Sevice rider Christian Vande Velde. He says that his son has apparently suffered a fractured left arm, contusions on his neck and a possible concussion. Vande Velde was wearing a helmet when he struck a post after missing a turn earlier in the stage. He recovered enough to get back on his bike, but realized his injuries were serious enough to warrant medical attention and then withdrew from the Tour. We'll try to update you as soon as we know more. The senior Vande Velde, just back from the

Les Cadets, junior racers that are having the thrill of their lives at the Tour.

Four people were taken to hospital in Colmar, France Saturday, with one reported to be in a serious condition, after a spectator drove his car into security barriers at the finish line of the Tour de France seventh stage. One woman bystander is in a serious condition after being thrown into the air when struck by the car and is receiving treatment for severe head and leg injuries. Three others - two policemen and a Tour official - were also hospitalised with minor injuries, according to Patrice Clerc, president of the Tour's parent company AOS. "We'll tell you what we know, which is

French flags, and road painting, encouraged all of the French riders to win on Bastille Day.

The bands that play, the fans that come, and the riders at the center of it all.

One of hundreds of German caravans, or small campers, that have joined the Tour and can be found along the course all through the Alps and Pyrennes.

U.S. Postal rider Christian Vande Velde and Fassa Bortolo’s Ivan Basso have been forced out of the Tour de France due to injuries the two young riders suffered in separate accidents during the seventh stage of France’s national tour on Saturday. Vande Velde, a 25-year-old Boulder, Colorado resident suffered a broken left arm, bruises on his neck and shoulder and a possible concussion after missing a turn on the descent of the Category 2. Col d’ Adelspach and striking a metal post. Vande Velde lay on the ground until his team car came to his aid. He then got up and rode for about

Jalabert made all of France cheer

Going into Saturday's stage to Colmar, I didn’t know how I was feeling after all of the hard stages. I stayed at the front not because I was trying to attack, but as a tactic for survival. Again, guys were just attacking from the gun. Finally, on the first climb, it was at full speed, we were flying up that. After a while, though, I was feeling pretty comfortable at the front. When I saw the 1km to go, I kind of shut it down and let a lot of guys go by and rolled down the descent back to the front. I did pretty much the same on all of the climbs. Romans (Vainsteins) tried letting the guys

The day's big winner has to be Voigt - now six minutes up on Armstrong and Ullrich.

Kelme: A force in the peloton, a curiosity in the caravan It has had an incredible 20-year run as a cycling team sponsor, but Kelme’s entry in the Tour publicity caravan doesn’t quite live up to the same standards as the team, yet. While most sponsors in the caravan sport a whole fleet of elaborately decorated and rigged-up vehicles, Kelme really is an army of one. The green pick-up truck with the giant soccer shoe on top is kind of a lonely sight each day, looking like someone who sort of got swept away by a parade barreling down Main St. But is it effective? Well, hey, they got their

The five who defined the stage.

When Bonjour does a team chase to set up its sprinter, Damien Nazon, the yellow ovals on a long line of these Spinergys looks spectacular.

Rabobank uses gray pads on the front brakes with its Fir Santara carbon braking surfaces.

Lance Armstrong blitzed a 165-man field in the 11th stage individual time trial up to the ski resort of Chamrousse Wednesday to win his second successive stage on this year's Tour de France. Check VeloNews's Tour de France page for the complete story by VeloNews's Bryan Jew, a post-race analysis from John Wilcockson, stunning race images by Graham Watson, a Tour photo gallery by Casey Gibson and more tech news from Lennard Zinn.

Mapei uses Ambrosio XCarbo deep-section rims on road stages, and, like Telekom, uses Corima orange brake pads to stop them.

While many of us watch the Tour on TV, photographer Casey B. Gibson is at the Tour, looking for things you'll rarely see on the tube.

Telekom, like Mapei, uses Corima orange (cork) brake pads with two-piece bolt-together brake shoes for the carbon braking surfaces on the team's road wheels (and on Ullrich's time trial bike as well).

It's Friday the 13th at the Tour de France. Kind of a scary thought actually. This is after all, the race where grown men curse bad luck and pray that good karma is on their side. I don't know if the date was on most rider's minds today. Historically, I've always been kind of fond of the number 13. It's never frightened me too much. In fact, after finishing 13th in the Tour in '99 it kind of became a lucky number of sorts. Well, as of today, I'm going to have to scrap all this 13 worship and join the ranks of the leery. I officially dislike Friday the 13th - because today, as they

Laced to Campy straight-pull hubs to look like Campy Bora wheels, but they have carbon braking surfaces and look different from Boras in other ways as well. They appear to be Ambrosio XCarbo rims without decals.

While Zabel was caught in traffic, Kirsipuu had a clear shot

AG2R uses Trek-made Bontrager paired-spoke wheels. These are the same design as Rolfs, but now with Bontrager hubs and different different name, after Rolf left the company.

O'Grady spends another day in yellow.

This thing really drives with that giant wheel--it is churning around the rider!

With Merckx, Verbrugghe, Bartoli and Brochard, the break had horsepower. Bessy was there to keep guard.

Axel Merckx as you see him on TV, in the break on Col du Donon...

Bonjour's Simon retains the jersey...but Armstrong is now third overall.

Casey B. Gibson

Photographing the Tour is long hours of waiting, then frenzied bursts of energy, and very long days. Taylor Johnson, photographe

This poor girl has to dance her way across France as a croissant in the publicity caravan, all 2100 miles of it.

George Hincapie confers with Freddie Viaene at the finish line.

The peloton rolls through a scenic village near Commercy, early in the stage.

Paris may not have gotten the Olympics, but France leads the world in haystack art at Tour time.

Moreau's new Mavic Ksyrium SSC SL wheels. Winning a stage doesn't hurt your swag status.

Moreau is still in the mix on the strength of a great TTT

US Postal got concerned about the wind and exchanged its HED3 front wheels for Mavic Cosmics.

Credit Agricole's goal was to only lose a minute on the day. Surprise.

Freddy's new ride

O'Grady hangs on to the jersey one more day

Cofidis

Ready for the pre-race warm-up

Bobke doing a stand-up for OLN's U.S. broadcast

Verdun -- Jan Ullrich’s Deutsche Telekom squad has played things very smart so far in this year’s Tour de France. With the minimum of effort, it has kept Ullrich nicely placed in the top 10 on GC and has taken two of the first four stages with Erik Zabel. And on Wednesday’s stressful stage from Huy to Verdun, Telekom placed Alex Vinokourov in two early breaks, and then Udo Bölts in the day’s main nine-man move that blew the race apart. So while Lance Armstrong ’s Postal troops and Joseba Beloki’s ONCE riders were leading a long 50-kph chase, Telekom was able to follow wheels until it was in

Sentinals marked each kilometer along the Voie Sacree today -- the supply route in WWI to the Verdun front

5:37 p.m. local timeSo 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 ... 5:37 p.m.(local time) Here are the preliminary results of the top five teams. 1. CREDIT AGRICOLE 67km in 1:21;32; (49.3kph)2. ONCE, at 31 seconds;3. FESTINA, at 54 seconds;4. U.S. POSTAL, at 1:26;5. KELME, at 1:38; And we have some major changes in the overall

Ah, a steaming cup to start the day