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Leave it to a photographer to put all of us self-styled wordsmiths to shame in a single e-mail. In the frantic rush for post-race superlatives and pithy descriptions of what many regard as one of the most impressive performances in modern Tour de France history, it was photographer Casey Gibson who managed to sum up the past two days most succinctly: "Wow... again," Gibson wrote in the e-mail accompanying the collection photos from today's stage. Like the man said, "Wow... again."

A seemingly idylic day on to Col des Saisies with Mt. Blanc in the background

Menchov lost time on the Joux Plane

American Floyd Landis, who suffered such a spectacular implosion on Wednesday, is once again the yellow-jersey favorite after claiming a first-ever stage victory in the race following a third straight day of drama in the Alps. And Belgian legend Eddy Merckx, whose son Axel rides in Landis's Phonak team, played a part in his resurrection. Landis started the day with a deficit of eight minutes and eight seconds to Caisse d’Epargne’s Oscar Pereiro, having lost the yellow jersey to the Spaniard during his stunning collapse on stage 16. But thanks to some personal faith, and a telephone

Landis knows how to make up for an off day: Follow it with an on day

Stage 17 was not Klöden's best day

Andréas Klöden saw third place in the 2006 Tour de France slip away from him during Thursday's 200.5km stage from St. Jean de Maurienne to Morzine as American Floyd Landis (Phonak) staged an astounding comeback from his collapse of the day before, winning the last Alpine stage and bumping Klöden down into fourth with just three stages remaining. Sebastian Moll caught up with the German T-Mobile rider for a quick chat; here's the transcript. VeloNews: How are you feeling at the end of three weeks of the Tour de France? Andréas Klöden: I'm pretty much at my limit, like everyone

The chase begins

The Dane celebrates the end of a long day's work

The view from the driver's seat

What photogs do to pass the time while waiting for the race

A clearly shattered Landis

Head tube

A fan enjoys a long view of the break on the Galibier

With 4km to go, Klöden, Pereiro and Evans put the big hurt on their rivals

Seat tube

Discovery on the long ride in

Course: If L’Alpe d’Huez does not decide the Tour’s likely outcome, then this even tougher day in the Alps should do the job. The survivors first ride the 34km back to the top of the Lautaret, where a left turn takes them another 8.6km at 6.7 percent to the top of the Galibier — the Tour’s highest point at 8681 feet above sea level. After the 35km descent of the Galibier and intermediate Col du Télégraphe, the next 23km is down the Maurienne Valley. Of the remaining 79km, some 47km are uphill, in three separate climbs: the 23km Col de la Croix de Fer, the 6km Col du Mollard and the 18km

Landis had little to say at the end of the stage, which he finished 10 minutes behind Rasmussen

Drive train

The laughing group passes the church on La Toussuire

It was a mountain too far for Floyd Landis in Wednesday’s epic, four-climb stage 16 across the French Alps as the already-crazy 93rd Tour de France dropped more bombshells in an attack-riddled charge up the finishing climb to La Toussuire. The Phonak team captain apparently bonked on the lower flanks of the 18.4km final climb and saw his hopes of overall victory sink after finishing 22nd on the day, losing eight minutes to the other contenders in the final 12km. A rejuvenated Oscar Pereiro (Caisse d’Épargne-Illes Balears) bounced back into the yellow jersey, while Michael Rasmussen

The Galibier was only the start

Giant's integrated post

The church

1. Mickael Rasmussen (Dk), Rabobank, 182km in 5:36:04 (32.493kph)2. Carlos Sastre (Sp), CSC, 01:413. Oscar Pereiro Sio (Sp), Caisse d'Epargne-I.B., 01:544. Cadel Evans (Aus), Davitamon-Lotto, 01:565. Andréas Klöden (G), T-Mobile, 01:566. Christophe Moreau (F), Ag2r Prevoyance, 02:377. Pietro Caucchioli (I), Credit Agricole, 02:378. Cyril Dessel (F), Ag2r Prevoyance, 02:379. Levi Leipheimer (USA), Gerolsteiner, 03:2410. Haimar Zubeldia (Sp), Euskaltel-Euskadi, 03:42 11. Denis Menchov (Rus), Rabobank, 03:4212. Michael Rogers (Aus), T-Mobile, 03:4213. Eddy Mazzoleni (I), T-Mobile, 03:4214.

Go figure: Five days ago he was in 46th on GC and 28:50 out of first.

Look's setup

No doubt many a weary rider felt ready to check in here

Lance Armstrong is in no mood to forgive Tour de France race director Jean-Marie Leblanc. "The problems and the tension there are so deep," Armstrong said Tuesday. "I'm just not very optimistic." After the seven-time Tour winner retired from cycling last summer, Leblanc heralded a fresh start for cycling, predicting an exciting time for Armstrong's longtime rival Jan Ullrich of Germany and the promising Ivan Basso of Italy. But Basso, the 2005 Tour runner-up and 1997 Tour winner Ullrich were kicked out on the eve of this year's Tour, implicated in a Spanish doping

No one deserves the Polka Dot jersey more than Rasmussen after Wednesday's ride

The Ridley post

After his disastrous climb up La Toussuire on stage 16, fallen yellow jersey Floyd Landis entered his team car at the finish line without a word to the media. Asked by OLN commentator Frankie Andreu if he wanted to explain what happened to the viewers back home, Landis said simply, “No.” But a few hours later, word trickled through the press room that Landis was holding an impromptu press conference at 7:15, just two hours after he’d lost not only the race lead but any hope of winning the Tour de France. The decision was viewed unanimously as a brave move, and one that even his wife Amber

That's all she wrote: When Landis faded, he really faded.

Ag2r's B-Twin

Nothing is settled in this wild and wacky Tour de France. With one mountain stage to go, six riders are still within four minutes of each other: two Spaniards (Oscar Pereiro and Carlos Sastre), a German (Andréas Klöden), a Frenchman (Cyril Dessel), an Australian (Cadel Evans) and a Russian (Denis Menchov). Thursday’s 200.5km stage 17 from St. Jean-de-Maurienne to Morzine is not the hardest mountain stage of the Tour, but coming after almost three weeks of relentless racing, mostly in heat-wave conditions, it will be a terrible test of perseverance and stamina. More than half the peloton is

Leipheimer gives it a go.

Shimano's pedal

Seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong was atop La Toussuire, after a day spent watching stage 16 in the Discovery Channel car with team director Johan Bruyneel. Though Armstrong and Floyd Landis had had a strained relationship since Landis left U.S. Postal Service for Phonak at the end of the 2004 season, Armstrong spoke kindly of Landis at a press conference Tuesday evening at L’Alpe d’Huez, less than 24 hours before Landis’s meltdown. “I know Floyd and I have gone through a whole cycle of ‘on the team, off the team,’ friction here and there,” Armstrong said. “But for me

Rasmussen had company... for a while

Evans stayed with the right guys.

While Wednesday's biggest news centered on the implosion of American Floyd Landis on the trip up La Toussuire, there was also a lot to take in on the tech front at the 2006 Tour de France. Over at CSC VeloNews got an up-close look at David Zabriskie's new ride, the Cervélo Soloist Carbon SLC-SL. The frame has all the features of its predecessor – beefed-up bottom bracket for added stiffness, thinned-out head and down tubes for better aerodynamics - but is 200 grams lighter. Of course there's a cost for all this – in this case, $4500 for the frameset, or $1100 more than the

Landis struggles to finish...

Not everyone in France is happy to see the seven-time... uhhhh... Tour winner show up this year.

After a terrific ride in Wednesday’s 16th stage to La Toussiere, Cadel Evans showered, ate a snack and then invited the media to his team hotel to answer questions about how one of the most astonishing finale’s in modern Tour de France unfolded for him and what he expects in the crucial days ahead. VeloNews.com contributor Rupert Guinness was there VeloNews.com: How did you feel today, Cadel? Cadel Evans: Good, today was a much better race for me. Yesterday (stage 15) when we hit the bottom of the climb, you saw the size of the peloton. It wasn’t a very hard race until that point whereas

... and then heads to his hotel when he does.

Landis leads on the Galibier . . .

I am cooked, twice, maybe three times. I am still trying to get my breath back from today’s stage. I'm not joking. Or, maybe it is from the three plates of pasta I just put down. I - we - are all hurting, but tomorrow somebody will attack from kilometer 0. I don't know why and I don't know how it is possible, but some people are stupid. What can I say? We worked hard today and Carlos delivered what we thought he could. The last climb wasn't really steep enough for him to keep the chasers at bay, but tomorrow the last few climbs will be hard, so we still have one more day

Not a pleasant task

. . . only to suffer on the ascent to La Toussuire

It was a disastrous day for Floyd Landis, but a spectacular race nonetheless, and Casey Gibson was there to bring it all home to you.

Lelangue and his team leader admit to having a tough day.

Going backward

Stage 16: Bourg d’Oisans to La Toussuire -182km

Keeping it in perspective

Schleck and Fothen leave the yellow jersey in their wake

Stage 16: Bourg d’Oisans to La Toussuire -182km

David Z's new ride

Leipheimer has a go

Meet the Press: Armstrong speaks to reporters in Gap

Fans urge Horner along

Leipheimer is still making up time he lost with that awful TT

Meet the Press: Armstrong speaks to reporters in Gap

Long-time Tour fans watch the race unfold on TV

De la Fuente did what he had to to preserve his hold on the Polka Dot jersey

Meet the Press: Armstrong speaks to reporters in Gap

Zabel's group of sprinters make the final switchback

Landis was more concerned about his immediate rivals

Meet the Press: Armstrong speaks to reporters in Gap

Sastre struggles upward

Course: There’s no more spectacular finish than the 21-turn, 14km climb to L’Alpe d’Huez. This year it comes at the end of an already demanding 187km stage that climbs the hors-cat Col d’Izoard (14km at 7 percent) at 86km and Cat. 2 Col du Lautaret (12km at 4.4 percent) at 134km. Then comes more than 30km of mainly descending roads, which will likely see the race come back together before the assault on the Alpe (14km at almost 8 percent). History: This is the 25th time a Tour stage has finished at L’Alpe d’Huez since it was inaugurated — while still a dirt road — by Fausto Coppi winning a

Meet the Press: Armstrong speaks to reporters in Gap

Zabriskie's face says it all: 'Does this never end?'

American Floyd Landis (Phonak) may have started stage 15 of the Tour de France listening around him for the Russian inflection of Rabobank’s Denis Menchov, but after a dramatic 187km stage that featured three alpine climbs and ended in rain clouds atop L’Alpe d’Huez, the Phonak team leader will spend stage 16 paying closer attention to the German language of T-Mobile’s Andreas Klöden. Klöden, who finished second at the 2004 Tour de France, was Landis’s main general classification rival on the 21 switchbacks of the infamous Alpe, accelerating early on the climb behind teammate Andreas Kessler

On top of the World: Schleck makes his mark on cycling history

Stage Stats: Stage 15 by the numbers

1. Frank Schleck (Lux), CSC, 187km in 4:52.22 (38.376kph)2. Damiano Cunego (I), Lampre, 00:113. Stefano Garzelli (I), Liquigas-Bianchi, 01:104. Floyd Landis (USA), Phonak, 01:105. Andréas Klöden (G), T-Mobile, 01:106. Ruben Lobato (Sp), Saunier Duval, 01:147. Sylvain Chavanel (F), Cofidis, 01:188. Eddy Mazzoleni (I), T-Mobile, 01:289. Carlos Sastre (Sp), CSC, 01:3510. Levi Leipheimer (USA), Gerolsteiner, 01:49 11. Denis Menchov (Rus), Rabobank, 02:2112. Mickael Rasmussen (Dk), Rabobank, 02:2113. Pietro Caucchioli (I), Credit Agricole, 02:2114. Oscar Pereiro Sio (Sp), Caisse

Menchov lost 1:11 to Landis and Evans lost 1:39

Stage Stats: Stage 15 by the numbers

Lance Armstrong arrived in France on Monday and spent the rest day with old friends and teammates, shrugging off the chilly reception he received from the media, triggered largely by a comment he made while emcee-ing the ESPN ESPY Awards show last week. Tuesday, before the start of Stage 15’s epic ride to L’Alpe d’Huez, Armstrong met with a gaggle of reporters outside of the Discovery Channel team bus in Gap. VeloNews.com contributor was there and sends this transcript of a few of the questions posed. On his relationship with FranceQuestion: What can you say about your comments about the