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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.

French TV has to set up a studio in the most obscure places, every day.

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 majority of the team uses the new prototype carbon wheels from Shimano we’ve seen under many other teams at the Tour.

Many of the bikes had Kool-Stop brake pads.

Leipheimer hopes the 10-second penalty won't make a difference in Paris.

Vande Velde and Zabriskie meet the press

No charity... just sage advice

Leipheimer expects a lot from the Pyrénées.

Moreau animated the chase on stage 8.

Leipheimer meets the press.

Moreau hopes to keep attacking through the mountains.

Davis confirms why is race leader at this point

Sparkling vintage for the stage winner...

.. and the race leader's bottle.

Rasmussen’s ride

Another view, the team trains on 32-spoke alloy tubular wheels.

Rasmussen’s one-piece PRO Stealth Evo handlebar and stem combination

There’s not even a place for a second waterbottle cage.

Rasmussen’s wheels are kept separate from the rest of the team.

Australian cycling fans may be drowning their sorrows in a cold Foster’s Monday after learning that not one but three of their nation’s top riders were out of the Tour after Sunday’s critical climbing stage. First to leave the race was CSC’s Paris-Roubaix champion Stuart O’Grady, who was taken to the hospital after a crash on the fast and tricky descent of the Cormet de Roselend. According to hospital officials O'Grady suffered fractures to five ribs. “For the moment he is in the hospital and is getting a scan,” said CSC team director Kim Andersen. “It is difficult to say more than

Rogers' dislocated shoulder meant the Tour contender was forced to withdraw.

Moreau and Evans lead the chase.

Discovery Channel played its joker card Sunday and sent Spanish phenomenon Alberto Contador on the attack. The 25-year-old Paris-Nice champion took flight and easily marked accelerations by Christophe Moreau and Iban Mayo up the Cat. 1 Tignes finale, but saw a puncture with about 4km to go take the wind out of his sails. “I tried to get back but I lost my rhythm. I was going well and it’s unfortunate to have this bad luck,” said Contador, who finished eighth at 3:31 back. “Things were going OK and you have to remember there’s a lot of racing ahead of us, but when you lose time like this

Vinokourov showed a crack in his armor on Sunday, but with Kloden's help, he fought back to stay in contention.

An intense Contador on the final climb.

What a difference a day makes. Less than 24 hours after celebrating Linus Gerdemann’s Tour de France stage win and capture of the yellow jersey, T-Mobile found itself down three riders, including team captain Michael Rogers, who crashed and dislocated his shoulder while riding as the virtual yellow jersey on a stage-8 descent. Mark Cavendish’s abandonment had been planned for today to prevent exhausting the young sprinter in his first Tour. The likely abandonment of Patrik Sinkewitz, however, was anything but foreseen. After the Tour’s first summit finish atop the Cat. 1 climb in the

Leipheimer finished 12th on the day.

Chris Horner suffers on the final climb.

Weather: Very much, highs in 80s, intense alpine sun, brisk cross-headwinds Stage winner: Michael Rasmussen (Rabobank) claimed his third career Tour stage with a daring attack on the Cornet de Roseland. The former world mountain bike champion known as “Chicken” spun his slender legs to reel in the day’s early break that included George Hincapie (Discovery Channel) and soloed in for victory at 2:47 ahead of Iban Mayo (Saunier Duval-Prodir). Race leader: Rasmussen erased enough time to overtake leader Linus Gerdemann (T-Mobile) to claim the yellow jersey for the first time of his career. The

Moreau was aggressive on the final climb

Vino fought to minimize the damage.

Just as CSC’s time-trial specialist Fabian Cancellara took the first yellow jersey of this Tour de France at the prologue in London and held it until the race hit the mountains, Rabobank’s climbing specialist Michael Rasmussen took the mailliot jaune Sunday at the summit finish Tignes, and could well keep it until next Saturday’s 54km time trial in Albi. By winning Sunday’s stage on a colossal solo effort, Rasmussen took the race lead by 43 seconds ahead of overnight leader Linus Gerdemann (T-Mobile), and 2:39 over Spanish climber Iban Mayo of Saunier Duval. More importantly, however, is

Very little time in the flats meant riders were either climbing or trying to survive fast descents.

After an aggressive start, Hincapie rides to the finish after the climbing stars pass

Riders, writers, fans and photographers knew Sunday's 165km stage from Le Grand Bornand to Tignes would be decisive. Our man Casey Gibson was there to document it all for the record books.

Rasmussen takes off

Not everyone in the 'laughing group' was laughing on Sunday.

They mountains started in earnest today and they didn't disappoint. Oh and before I go on. I would like to write a little disclaimer. All of these entries have been written on my Blackberry and my bn button doesn't work well, I am at altitude and... well, I have a lot of excuses. So anyway, about the mountains. Yesterday offered a little taste things to come with the Columbiere. Today, though, was the real deal, with six categorized climbs. There were attacks from the gun and they didn't let up until we crossed the line. Racing up and then down the climbs made for a really

By the base of the final climb, there were just three... and Rasmussen quickly rid himself of Aroyo and Colom.

Stage 9 - Val-d’Isère to Briançon - (159.5km)

Hincapie spent hours off the front, before being reeled in and settling in for a long ride to the finish.

Stage 9 - Val-d’Isère to Briançon - (159.5km)

Mayo managed to scamper off for second place

Schulze takes a gamble

Rasmussen is likely to keep the jersey at least until Saturday's time trial. After that? Who knows?

Davis holds the jersey

Readying for another day of marketing before the peloton rolls through

Rasmussen gets his first-ever yellow jersey. Can he keep it?

Seeking divine intervention to boost those climbing legs?

Rasmussen took advantage of his strength on Sunday, but concedes the Tour is far from over.