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Despite the rain, large crowds were a constant throughout the 208km route.

The front Mavic R-SYS is built with 4mm tubular carbon spokes.

Levi has a feed

Welcome To VeloNews.com's coverage of the 2007 Tour de France. Sit back and enjoy the most spectacular bike race in the world with the most comprehensive online coverage presented by VeloNews: The Journal of Competitive Cycling.All Tour de France content is FREE and accessible via the special VeloNews.com Tour de France Web site.Visit the Tour 2007 site now Programming Schedule: ItemDescriptionFrequencySchedule

Well, if you call another 80km not far, then...

The rear uses Zicral spokes on the drive side and carbon on the non-drive side.

VeloNews editorial director John Wilcockson interviews Bradley Wiggins this morning

Results-Stage 111. Robert Hunter (Rsa), Barloworld, 3:47:502. Fabian Cancellara (Swi), CSC, s.t.3. Murilo Fischer (Brz), Liquigas, s.t.4. Filippo Pozzato (I), Liquigas, s.t.5. Alessandro Ballan (I), Lampre-Fondital, s.t.6. Paolo Bossoni (I), Lampre-Fondital, s.t.7. Claudio Corioni (I), Lampre-Fondital, s.t.8. Philippe Gilbert (B), Francaise Des Jeux, s.t.9. William Bonnet (F), Credit Agricole, s.t.10. Kim Kirchen (Lux), T-Mobile, s.t. 11. Markus Fothen (G), Gerolsteiner, s.t.12. Enrico Poitschke (G), Milram, s.t.13. Peter Wrolich (A), Gerolsteiner, s.t.14. Andrey Kashechkin (Kz), Astana,

All too easy for Discovery's Allan Davis.

Cannondale was the first major manufacturer to take system integration seriously.

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

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

Weather: Highs in 80s, partly cloudy, brisk cross-headwinds Stage winner: Colombia's Mauricio Soler (Barloworld) took the biggest win in both his career and the history of his team by breaking clear of the peloton 10km from the top of the Col du Télégraphe. The 24-year-old from Ramiriqui, Colombia, then rode through the remnants of the day’s breakaway to finish 38 seconds ahead of Alejandro Valverde and Cadel Evans. Race leader: Rabobank’s Michael Rasmussen defended his yellow jersey by sticking with the race’s top GC contenders.

Contador and Evans

Alberto Contador with his green glasses.

Ludewig gets the stage . . .

After the recent withdrawalsof three high-profile Australians, cycling fans from down under found somethingto cheer about Tuesday in the form of Predictor-Lotto’s Cadel Evans. Theslim Aussie rode aggressively on the race’s first two hors categorieclimbs in stage 9 to finish third on the stage and move into fourthoverall.

Going up: The 9085-foot, hors categorie Col de l'Iseran

A closer look at the Havik

. . . Massaglia gets the lead

The Tour de France offered up another beautiful in the Alps and our man Casey Gibson was there to record it.

Rasmussen knows who the boss is at Rabobank now — it's him

Sponsored athletes will have a special branded model.

Stage 10 - Tallard to Marseille (229.5km)

Soler attacked 'like a crazy man'

Bruyneel was happy before the stage. We're bet he's even happier now.

Stage 10 - Tallard to Marseille (229.5km)

RockShox’s new BlackBox cross-country fork.

A busy start village

Soler takes the stage for Barloworld

A side view revealing the Power Bulge.

The start village at the Tour offers a variety of entertainment

Rasmussen crosses with Leipheimer on his wheel

The damper assembly.

Stage 9 - A Casey Gibson Gallery

Rabobank setting tempo

The upper air chamber.

Meanwhile, the fans gather on the climbs...

T-Mobile's evil luck continued as a stray dog wandered onto the route . . .