News

Voigt and Bennatti working it

Frankie Andreu doing a standup for Versus

With wounds weeping through the stitches on both knees and an elbow, Astana captain Alexandre Vinokourov walks like an injured penguin. Having lost more than 8 minutes on race-leader Michael Rasmussen (Rabobank), Vinokourov sits in 19th place, well outside what many would consider a chance of a podium finish. But has he given up? Hardly. On a hot and blustery stage 11, Vinokourov gave his troops their marching orders when the peloton entered a strong crosswind section about 105km into the 183km stage from Marseille to Montpellier. About 3km after the peloton rolled through the feed zone,

The Bennatti escape

Marcus Burghardt is swarmed by the media about the German TV boycott

You might think our man Casey Gibson felt a bit peckish today, what with all the pictures from the feed zone. Not so, says the man behind the camera: "They gave us the wrong exit for the bypass, and there were a hundred or so Tour vehicles driving around looking for the race. Maddening at first, but then it got funny as at every intersection, there were three or four cars going every which way. None of us found it, but I did manage to get stuck in the traffic jam leaving." Lucky you — you get to see what Casey saw, but without the traffic jam.

Nice horsie

Xavier Florencio get a double feed, and Dave Zabriske keeps an eye on it

For the second time in this Tour de France Fred Rodriguez ended a stage flat on his back, writhing in pain. And both times, in Ghent 10 days ago and in Montpellier Thursday, the Predictor-Lotto sprinter was critical of the race organization. “They do it every time. They don’t care,” said an angry Rodriguez. “It’s the Tour de France and they think they own this race. They have no respect for the riders. I’m sick of it.” The crash happened 700 meters from the line at the end of a chicane that was not shown on the map in the official road book. The chicane followed a fast run down a narrow

Hincapie doing a job of work

There's an old Marx Brothers routine about viaducts and a chicken, but we're not gonna do it here

Tour de France leader Michael Rasmussen has been axed from the Danish national team following a disagreement over drug testing, it was announced on Thursday. The director of the Danish Cycling Union (DCU) Jesper Worre told DR1 television station that Rasmussen had received a number of warnings over failing to inform doping authorities over his training whereabouts. "We consider this case with great seriousness and the executive of the DCU decided that Michael will no longer be part of the national team and he was informed of this on June 26," said Worre. The decision means that Rasmussen

Another day in yellow for Rasmussen

Waiting to feed the Discos

Today’s 230k went by as fast as it possibly could, given the conditions. Out on the road it was more than 100 degrees all day and the pavement was rough. Some of us were still a bit tired after the mountain day yesterday that took us over the famed Galibier. It was a great mountain stage that started at the bottom of the Col de l'Iseran in the ski town of Val-d'Isère. The Iseran goes straight up to 2770 meters (9088 ft.) and there ain’t so much air up there. I went with a few attacks and every extra effort was rewarded with a straight-up bout of dizziness. Then we raced down to

ChristianVande Velde’s SRM with FSA manufactured carbon arms.

... and Daniel Lloyd gets the jersey.

Stage 11 - Marseille to Montpellier - (182.5km)

Discovery Channel’s new Madone wired and ready.

A big bump in the road for Stapleton and efforts to save T-Mobile.

Stage 11 - Marseille to Montpellier - (182.5km)

The GPRS unit.

MTB News and Notes: A conversation with Adam Craig

Vasseur takes it

SRM had to refine the profile of the crank mounted gauge to fit the Trek Madone’s new cup-less bottom bracket shell.

Allan Davis gets the sprint...

This Belgian gent is celebrating his 50th year of attending the Tour

Lloyd takes Qinghai Lake lead, Davis takes a hat-trick

Where do those tight closeups come from? Why, from the guys with the 400mm lenses

Lloyd takes Qinghai Lake lead, Davis takes a hat-trick

At 35 degrees C it was bottle after bottle, all day long

Rasmussen retains the leader's jersey

The break heads past the village of Theze

COURSE: This is one of the flattest courses of the entire Tour, skirting the Camargue marshes of the Rhône delta, just north of the Mediterranean coast. This stage has “sprinters” written all over it, especially if the Mistral winds are blowing. The finish loops to an end on the western edge of Montpellier, an ancient city dating back to the 8th century. HISTORY: There have been 25 Tour stage finishes at Montpellier, the latest in 2005, when Robbie McEwen won a tight field sprint after breakaways Chris Horner and Sylvain Chavanel were caught in the finishing straightaway. FAVORITES: A few

A little scenery — the town of Sisteron

A young French fan at the finish

T-Mobile rider Patrik Sinkewitz reacted in amazement on Wednesday after he was informed he had failed a doping test as he prepared for the Tour de France last month. The German Cycling Federation (BDR) announced on Wednesday that the 26-year-old's A sample, taken on June 8, had a raised testosterone level and he must now decide if his B sample will be tested. The up and coming rider has been suspended by his team who say that if the B sample confirms the first test then he will be sacked. That news sent shockwaves through the German media, with national TV networks ARD and ZDF

And a little scenery of another kind altogether (no testosterone jokes, please)

'When I was your age, we walked 20 kilometers to see a Tour stage, uphill both ways, in the snow . . .'

If there was anyone able to grab a stage win for CSC on the Tour de France's 10th stage here Wednesday, it was Jens Voigt. However the German, who suggested he would have dedicated the victory to his stricken teammate Stuart O'Grady, was left with the crumbs after being outfoxed in the closing meters, leaving the outcome to a tight sprint duel between Sandy Casar and Cedric Vasseur. Voigt, watching three of his sprint rivals on his left, fell victim to Vasseur's perfectly-executed attack as the experienced Frenchman sneaked up on Voight’s right in the race's final 200

The big break of the day

Horner goes better with Coke

Weather: Very sunny and warm, highs into the 90s, moderate headwinds Stage winner: Cédric Vasseur (QuickStep-Innergetic) outsmarted five riders that were the remnants of the day’s winning 11-man breakaway with a surprise sprint on the right side of the road with 200m to go. His second career Tour victory comes a decade after he won with a 145km solo break into La Chatre to snag the yellow jersey in the 1997 Tour. The win is the third for QuickStep in this year’s Tour. Race leader: Michael Rasmussen (Rabobank) retained the yellow jersey after finishing 30th safely tucked inside the bunch at

Voigt driving

Meanwhile, back at the podium . . .

It’s been a long decade for Spanish cycling fans. By the 1990s, fans south of the Pyrénées became accustomed to toasting victory in Paris with wins by Pedro Delgado in 1988 and Miguel Indurain with five straight yellow jerseys from 1991-95. It’s been a long wait ever since. Riders such as Abraham Olano, Fernandro Escartín and Joseba Beloki all came close, but could never quite live up to the Indurain legacy. The 2007 Tour marks the return of the Spanish Armada. With four riders securely in the top 10 coming out of the Alps, many are hoping that this is the year to see a Spanish spoken

Marcus Burghardt’s bike wired up and ready to race.

It's all orange on the front as Rabobank sets the tempo

If American T-Mobile boss Bob Stapleton thought the past few days at theTour de France had been trying, Wednesday was a hot day spent tossed outof the frying pan and into the fire. On Sunday’s stage 8 into Tignes, the T-Mobile squad saw banged-up Britishrider Mark Cavendish abandon his first Tour, Australian Michael Rogersleave the race after crashing as the virtual yellow jersey on the road and German Patrik Sinkewitz sent to the hospital with a broken nose and injured jaw after a freak collision with a fan followingthe stage. On Tuesday’s stage T-Mobile’s German Marcus Burghardt struck a

SRM techs getting the Giant setup to transmit power data.

Ruins in the start village of Tallard . . .

"Hotter than hell today," reports Casey Gibson from Stage 10 of the 2007 Tour de France." How hot was it? The ASO folks said the air temperature was 35 Celsius and the road temp' 49C. "That converts to flippin' hot," notes Casey (actually, that converts to 95 in the air and 120 on the road, but we'd say '"flippin' hot" is a fair approximation. Happily, Casey sent back some equally hot pics, and you can find them below.

The GPRS transmission unit.

. . . and a knight from there as well

Results-Stage 10 (Tallard To Marseille)1. Cédric Vasseur (F) Quick Step-Innergetic, 229.5km in 5:20:242. Sandy Casar (R) Francaise Des Jeux, at S.T.3. Michael Albasini (Swi) Liquigas, at S.T.4. Patrice Halgand (F) Credit Agricole, at S.T.5. Jens Voigt (G) CSC, at S.T.6. Staf Scheirlinckx (B) Cofidis , at 0:367. Paolo Bossoni (I) Lampre-Fondital, at 0:368. Marcus Burghardt (G) T-Mobile, at 1:019. Aleksandr Kuschynski (Blr) Liquigas, at 2:3410. Antonio Juan Antonio (Sp) Rabobank, at 2:34 11. Andriy Grivko (Ukr) Milram, at 3:4212. Sébastien Chavanel (F) Francaise Des Jeux, at 10:3613. Tom

The power control unit.

A Frenchman on the podium: Cedric Vasseur

French champion Christophe Moreau, one of the stars of Sunday’s grueling stage to Tignes, says he is hoping to do well in the Pyrénées in the Tour’s final week and finish on the podium in Paris. His best Tour finish to date was fourth in 2000. After eight stages of this Tour he’s sitting in seventh overall, 3:06 down on race leader Michel Rasmussen, but on a par with other contenders like Alejandro Valverde, Cadel Evans, Fränk Schleck and Denis Menchov.

The normally stoic Vino' weeps after conceding more time on Tuesday

A rebound adjuster on the lower right leg.

Stage winner Juan Soler Hernandez looks quite composed.

Spaniard Alejandro Valverde has refused to rule out Alexander Vinokourov’s chances for the yellow jersey this year. His co-captain Oscar Pereiro, however, believes otherwise, saying that Astana’s other star - Andreas Klöden – may pose a bigger threat over the final two weeks of the Tour de France. Valverde played a key role in Sunday's eighth stage when a series of attacks by Frenchman Christophe Moreau led to the Astana pair losing more time on their rivals.

Valverde leads

The three-piece crown.

Leipheimer and Evans were in good company.

Buried deep in Sunday’s UCI commissaires’ report was a penalty against Levi Leipheimer for illegal mechanical assistance and bidon pulls. The top American contender was fined 50 CHF and penalized 5 points and 10 seconds for the bidon pull and fined an additional 50 CHF for illegal mechanical assistance. Leipheimer couldn’t care less about the money or the points, but those 10 seconds could be vital in the battle for the overall crown when every second counts.

The break

The under side of the crown.

Hincapie on the Galibier

Discovery Channel team leader Levi Leipheimer admitted on the Tour’s first rest day that he’s not yet riding to his top ability, but believes he will be by the time the race reaches the Pyrénées in its pivotal third week.

Astarloza cracked the break

Evans was the only rider to bridge to Contador.

Gibson offers many thanks to Volkswagon, for making posi-traction to allow him to park like this on the Galibier.

Results - Stage 91. Mauricio Soler (Col), Barloworld 4:14:24 (38.92kph)2. Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Sp), Caisse d'Epargne, at 0:383. Cadel Evans (Aus), Predictor-Lotto, at 0:384. Alberto Contador Velasco (Sp), Discovery, at 0:405. Iban Mayo Diez (Sp), Saunier Duval, at 0:426. Michael Rasmussen (Dk), Rabobank, at 0:427. Levi Leipheimer (USA), Discovery, at 0:428. Kim Kirchen (Lx), T-Mobile, at 0:469. Andreas Klöden (G), Astana, at 0:4610. Carlos Sastre (Sp), CSC, at 0:46 11. Christophe Moreau (F), Ag2r, at 0:5412. Mikel Astarloza (Sp), Euskaltel-Euskadi, at 0:5413. Yaroslav Popovych

Contador has a go

Nicolas Portal with the Havik.

It takes work to look good on the podium

Hardly anyone knew a thing about Juan Mauricio Soler Hernández before he ran away with Tuesday’s climbing stage across the Galibier. Journalists were scrambling to find out more about the soft-spoken son of farmers from central Colombia who bolted away from the world’s best climbers to win Barloworld’s first stage of the 2007 Tour de France.

Contador and Popovych

Portal had a crowd waiting for him at his team bus.