News

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 . . .

The lower air chamber.

Some - those on catered tours - get to watch the Tour on TV and then from the side of the road

COURSE: With a start from just south of Gap, and heading through Provence to the Mediterranean coast, this long stage looks ripe for a successful breakaway. Two Cat. 3 climbs in the final 30km will split up the break and also disrupt the chasing efforts of the sprinters’ teams. The Col de la Gineste, out of the small wine town of Cassis, summits 10km from the finish, which is on a wide boulevard on the eastern edge of Marseille. HISTORY: There have been 32 stage finishes in the port city of Marseille, the most recent in 2003 and 1993. Four years ago, Denmark’s Jakob Piil out-sprinted

. . . and took down Marcus Burghardt

The brake cutout on the lower left leg.

Some fans make a long trip to show their colors.

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.

.. 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.

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...

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.

Robbie Ventura holding the mike for Versus network.

The village departe in one of it's most beautiful settings ever.

COURSE: Following a rest day at Tignes, the favorites will prepare for what should be one of the Tour’s major climbing days. This stage features the Tour’s highest mountain pass, the Col de l’Iseran (9085 feet) right from the start, which is followed by 70km of downhill and flats before the very long ascent via the Col du Télégraphe to the rugged Col du Galibier (8678 feet). After 35km of descending from the Galibier, the 2km climb to the finish in Briançon averages almost 7 percent. HISTORY: No less than 32 Tour stages have finished in Briançon, the most recent in 2005 and 2000. Two years

Gerdemann rode well and remains in second on GC

Stapleton talks about life... before disaster hit T-Mobile on Stage 8.

Stage 8 results1. Michael Rasmussen (Dk), Rabobank, 4:49:402. Iban Mayo (Sp), Saunier Duval-Prodir, at 02:473. Alejandro Valverde (Sp), Caisse d’Epargne, at 03:124. Christophe Moreau (F), Ag2r Prevoyance, at 03:135. Frank Schleck (Lux), CSC, at 03:136. Cadel Evans (Aus), Predictor-Lotto, at 03:137. Andrey Kashechkin (Kz), Astana, at 03:138. Alberto Contador (Sp), Discovery Channel, at 03:319. Denis Menchov (Rus), Rabobank, at 03:3510. Carlos Sastre (Sp), CSC, at 03:3511. Haimar Zubeldia (Sp), Euskaltel-Euskadi, at 03:59 12. Levi Leipheimer (USA), Discovery Channel, at 03:59 13. Cobo Acebo

O'Grady suffered three broken vertabra, five cracked ribs and a broken scapula.

Stage winner Rasmussen is a picture of concentration.

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