News

The outside of the non drive arm is threaded so a tool can be mounted for its removal

Which came first the chicken or the egg? What is better? Being physically or mentally exhausted? This is a serious question. Is it better to have tired legs from riding at the front all day for a week or because you haven't slept in a week, sitting bolt upright every time you dream that you are riding into the back of the guy ahead and your brakes aren't working? Personally I like the situation we are currently in, dictating the race, rather than having its terms handed to us by other teams. Really, it sucks having no impact on the race whatsoever and suffering from behind

Pereiro expects no gifts this year.

6. It looks sharp mounted up

Dear Readers,In mylast Legally Speaking column, we had a question from R.H. about ridingtwo abreast while pacelining in Pennsylvania. In this column, we have afew more questions about pacelining. First up is a question from readerG.F., who writes from Wisconsin to ask:Dear Bob,Thanks for your recent article on riding two abreast in Pennsylvaniaand New Jersey. I ride with a club in Wisconsin and we have had severaldiscussions on what is both safe and legal, in terms of riding etiquette. From your article about Pennsylvania and New Jersey I am projecting toour situation here in Wisconsin that

Discovery's young phenom, Alberto Contador, poses for the photogs.

You can see the aluminum spider between the rings

Stage 6 - Semur-en-Auxois to Bourg-en-Bresse - (199.5km)

The War memorial in Chablis

The non-drive arm, mounted and adjusted

Stage 6 - Semur-en-Auxois to Bourg-en-Bresse - (199.5km)

The best idea yet for this doping mess.

Ronny Schulz’s rig with the electronic group

Pozzato wins

After sign-in, Leipheimer heads back to the bus.

The right lever’s indicator window

Vino' stacked it at speed and crossed the line nearly 90 seconds down

Hincapie talks to Andrew Hood.

The right lever

As is the new R-SYS

Japanese photographer Sunada shares the wheat field, and preps for a shot.

The Chavenal escape

When you have the yellow jersey, the work load falls to your teammates

The break ticks along

...until the sprinters' teams see an opportunity, that it.

COURSE: This should be the most decisivestage of the opening week on a course that traverses the Chablis wine regionand Morvan hills on its way through Burgundy. It resembles a race likeLiège-Bastogne-Liège and features one Cat.2, three Cat. 3and four Cat. 4 climbs. The narrow back roads, with their short steep climbs and twisting descents,continue all day, with a twisting 6km descent preceding the finish in Autun.This town of 18,000 has a Roman amphitheatre and a medieval cathedral amongits tourist attractions. HISTORY: Only one Tour stage hascome to Autun. That was in 1998, on the

The yellow jersey is unconcerned

Stage Results1. Thor Hushovd (N), Credit Agricole, 193km in 4:37:47 (41.687kph)2. Robert Hunter (Rsa), Barloworld, at 00:003. Oscar Freire (Sp), Rabobank, at 00:004. Erik Zabel (G), Milram, at 00:005. Danilo Napolitano (I), Lampre-Fondital, at 00:006. Gert Steegmans (B), Quick Step-Innergetic, at 00:007. Robert Förster (G), Gerolsteiner, at 00:008. Tom Boonen (B), Quick Step-Innergetic, at 00:009. Sébastien Chavanel (F), Francaise des Jeux, at 00:0010. Mark Cavendish (GB), T-Mobile, at 00:00 11. Marcus Burghardt (G), T-Mobile, at 00:0012. Ruben Perez (Sp), Euskaltel-Euskadi, at 00:0013.

And Xandio becomes the latest casualty of this year's Tour

Maybe it’s the long winter nights in his native Norway or perhaps he’s the peloton’s only practicing Buddhist. Thor HushovdBorn:January 18, 1978, in Arendal, NorwayHeight: 183cmWeight: 81kgTour de France Record:5 stage wins (1 in 2002, 1 in 2004, 2 in 2006, 1 in 2007)Points Jersey - 2005Vuelta a España2 stage wins (1 in 2005, 1 in 2006)Other Notable VictoriesGhent-Wevelgem (2006)Tour of Vendee (2004)GP of Denain (2004)Haribo Classic (2004)Paris-Correze (2001)Tour of Sweden (2001)Tour of Normandy (2001)Norwegian time trial Championships (2002, 2004, 2005) Norwegian road race Championships

Ever wonder what one of those 'natural breaks' looks like? Now you know

Weather: Partly cloudy all day, but no showers, brisk southwesterly winds, highs in upper 60s Stage winner: Thor Hushovd (Credit Agricole) came off an excellent lead-out from Julian Dean to win ahead of a fast-charging Robert Hunter (Barloworld) in the fourth-straight sprint finish. The victory is the Norwegian’s first since winning a stage in last year’s Vuelta a España. “The victory means a lot. I’ve been sick and had crashes all spring,” he said. Race leader: Cancellara enjoyed his fourth day in yellow but saw Hushovd claw within 29 seconds. Team CSC kept a five-man break on a short

Quick Step adds a man to the pursuit

After a brisk ride through the Brie and Champagne regions of France, Norwegian Thor Hushovd uncorked a ferocious sprint to win stage 4 of the Tour, and our man Casey Gibson was there to catch every drop. Prosit!

Another look at the finish

Stage 5 - Chablis to Autun (182.5km)

Crash!

Stage 5 - Chablis to Autun (182.5km)

The Villers-Cotteret band at the start.

Hushovd wins

CSC director Allain Gallopin wants to be sure he doesn't get lost on the way.

Mavic's Skoda

Polka dot jersey Auge interviewed at start.

Field clocking in for the day's work

There will be no breakaways with the peloton riding nine abreast.

We have yellow Cannondale Caad 9 spare bikes equipped with SRAM Force

Passing the Aisne Marne Cemetery, where 2298 American soldiers from WW1 are buried.

Because of all of the different clipless pedal options, spare bikes come equipped with toeclips and straps

Bike racing is an eco-friendly sport with a really tiny carbon footprint, right?

The new Cosmic Carbone Ultimate is available should it be needed

Sprick, Verdugo, Flecha, Chavanel, and Knees make a break for it.

With his impressive stage win in Compiègne and its accompanying 20-second time bonus, CSC’s Fabian Cancellara widened his gap over the rest of the field to margins that might well hold until the race’s first real tests later this week. The Swiss “time machine” now holds a 33-second lead over Astana’s Andreas Klöden, with Saunier Duval’s David Millar sitting third, 41 seconds back. But the more important number is Cancellara’s lead over the race’s top sprinters, who stand to gain time bonuses at intermediate and finishing sprints in the coming days.

Bob Stapleton (right) with Andrzej Bek (middle) and Oakley’s Steve Blick.

Discovery's Alberto Contador just wants to get to the mountains.

Well spank me and call me Patrice. Fabian is a bad man and when you have other bad men working for the most badass of the bad, then sometimes you get genius. But that’s still pretty rare. Most times you work with all of the good intentions in the world and still come up short. Then, when you least expect it, when your pants are down and you’re scrambling just to stay alive, you win anyway! In those moments you come off looking like we did today… like we meant to do it.

Michael Rogers’s new prototype time-trial bike.

Meier wins

The third stage of the Tour de France was this year's longest, covering 236.5km from Waregem to Compiègne. While the course closely parralled the route of the great spring classic Paris-Roubaix (although in reverse), it avoided the the pave' that makes the Hell of the North as tough as it is.

The new bike was built the night before the prologue.

Grain rips it

Stage 4 - Villers-Cotterêts to Joigny (193km)

Marcus Burghardt’s Giant TCR Advanced, set to go.

Stage 4 - Villers-Cotterêts to Joigny (193km)

The spare bikes are equipped with the Zipp 404/808 combination as well.

Cancellara defends from the front

T-Mobile’s custom Hed H3C.

Vogondy and Ladagnous had an early go

The whole team races with SRM power meters.

When Auge and Willems bridged up, the break was a foursome

The bikes were equipped with FSA ceramic bottom brackets.

Hincapie sports a bandage after getting caught in Monday's pileup

A banged-up Mark Cavendish at the start.

The polka-dot jersey and yellow jersey rolling along

Let's just say the pace was not frantic

COURSE: This rolling stage through the Champagne and Brie regions to the east of Paris could be similar to an early stage of Paris-Nice — without the freezing temperatures! Until the final 18km, the stage will be played out on mostly narrow, winding back roads that feature four Cat. 4 climbs, along with twice as many short hills that don’t merit categorization but will make it tricky for the sprinters’ teams to organize a full-scale chase. The finish in the medieval town of Joigny, population 10,000, is on the right bank of the Yonne River. HISTORY: A Tour stage has never finished in Joigny,

Okay, so where are the sunflowers?

Okay, it was slow...

After Freddie Rodriguez broke his collarbone for the fifth time of his career in stage three of last year’s Tour de France, doctors inserted a titanium rod to piece together the brittle bones in his left shoulder. That extra support prevented the 33-year-old sprinter from reaching No. 6 in the broken bones department Monday after he hit the deck hard in the finish-line mayhem that left the road completely blocked by a pile of writhing bikes and bodies. “Initially, I thought I broke my shoulder and I wasn’t sure if I could continue,” Rodriguez told VeloNews before Tuesday’s start.

A battered Rodriguez gets a wheel and a push

... really slow.