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If any greater upset were possible in the stage 7 time trial of the Tour de France, then anyone who witnessed today’s race of truth would have been pressed to think of one. The 52km St. Grégoire to Rennes time trial in Brittany was decisive, mainly because of the way it seriously compromised the Tour-winning hopes of so many pre-race favorites. No rider really emerged as a standout contender to win the first post-Lance Armstrong Tour — but there was a major a shift in the balance of power, from Discovery Channel to T-Mobile. Take out the stage winner, Ukrainian Sergei Gontchar (T-Mobile),

The Big Question of the Day: What happened to Levi?

Gontchar powered through time checks, smashing previous best times.

1. Sergei Gonchar (Ukr), T-Mobile, 01:01:432. Floyd Landis (USA), Phonak, 01:02:443. Sebastian Lang (G), Gerolsteiner, 01:02:474. Michael Rogers (Aus), T-Mobile, 01:03:075. Gustav Larsson (Swe), Francaise des Jeux, 01:03:176. Patrik Sinkewitz (G), T-Mobile, 01:03:227. Marcus Fothen (G), Gerolsteiner, 01:03:258. Andréas Klöden (G), T-Mobile, 01:03:269. Denis Menchov (Rus), Rabobank, 01:03:2710. Joost Posthuma (Nl), Rabobank, 01:03:28 11. Cadel Evans (Aus), Davitamon-Lotto, 01:03:3212. Vladimir Karpets (Rus), Caisse d'Epargne-I.B., 01:03:3513. David Zabriskie (USA), CSC, 01:03:4014.

Zabriskie rode to a respectable 13th place

Stage Stats: Stage 7 by the numbers

I am back on the air after a short break due to technical difficulties with my Blackberry Service. So I woke up this morning to 30 real e-mails (and a hefty dose of SPAM) and now life is back to normal again. I am driving to the time trial start right now, trying not to think too much about the situation at hand… or how fast Sabine is driving. We rode the course this morning in the rain and I was appalled at all the people already lining the course. The funny thing is that sometimes there are more people before the race, lining the course to scoop up some free swag from the publicity

Of the big GC contenders, Landis was the big winner of the day

Stage Stats: Stage 7 by the numbers

Among the sheaf of communiqués issued by the Tour de France organization Saturday night, the one that the riders are probably happiest about gives details of the charter flights they will take Sunday evening after stage 8. They’re headed to Bordeaux, where they’ll enjoy a full rest day on Monday and have time to take stock of what is developing into one of the strangest Tours in living memory. But before their flights, which are scheduled to leave Lorient at 6:15 and 6:30 p.m. local time, there’s the not-small matter of a tricky 181km stage across the hills of Brittany to overcome. Huge

When the Tour hits the mountains next week, Landis will have to be considered a favorite.

Stage Stats: Stage 7 by the numbers

With the overall standings at the Tour de France finally breaking up a bit, the St. Grégoire to Rennes time trial proved to be as decisive as it was surprising. Our guy Casey Gibson was there and here are a few of the images he captured on Saturday.

Yaroslav Popovych is now 3:27 down on GC

The stem/bar juncture offers adjustablility

WeatherCloudy in morning, partly cloudy skies and increasing winds in afternoon,highs in upper 70s, low 80sStage winnerSergei Gontchar (T-Mobile), 1h01:43, 50.554kph – The 36-year-oldUkraine pulled a surprise win on a day when the pundits were predictingan American sweep. The 2000 world time trial champion was fastest at allthe splits to win his first career Tour stage. Floyd Landis (Phonak) wassecond at 1:01 despite a bike change at 13km after his aero-bars broke. Race leaderGontchar, 1,309.6km in 30h23:20, 43.095kph – Gontchar becomesUkraine’s first rider to wear the yellow jersey, taking

Paolo Savoldelli (at 2:10) could mount a strong challenge in the mountains

Making final adjustments to comply with the rules

Calm under fire is always a good quality in pressure packed races like the Tour de France. And judging by the way Floyd Landis sloughed off a bevy of stage 7 bike problems Saturday, the American is as cool as they come. Despite having to change the level of his aero’ bars just an hour and a half before the race, and then having those bars break during the 52-kilometer individual time trial, Landis still managed a strong second place finish, making him leader in the clubhouse after the 2006 Tour’s first truly decisive stage. “It was a little mechanical, no problem,” said Landis, who’s now

Cunego - now more than seven minutes back - may have a tough time

The new waterbottle

If you ask the UCI commissaries at the Tour de France, Floyd Landis’s “praying mantis” time trial position is illegal. The race jury put the kibosh on Landis’s distinctive time trial position on Saturday little more than one hour before the start of the 52km time trial, the Tour’s first decisive day since rolling out of Strasbourg on July 1. Landis’s preferred angle – with his elbows together and his hands pressed together high – challenged UCI technical regulations that say a time trial bike’s handlebars and seat must be on the same horizontal plane. (see “Tour Tech - Landis readies for

114th on day, Mickael Rasmussen would probably prefer a tour without Time Trials

The drivetrain

Stage 7: St. Grégoire to Rennes - 52km (ITT)

Hincapie will have to climb better than he ever has...

Is that comfy?

Tellow jersey on the attack. Boonen livened things up early in the stage

Otherwise I wouldn’t be here. Merckx has confidence in Landis's chances

Brard, Backstedt and Geslin moved ahead of the break

Stage Stats: Stage 6 by the numbers

.. but, as usual, the chase kicked in in earnest...

Stage Stats: Stage 6 by the numbers

Course: There’s some initial fun with a visit to Camembert cheese country and a Cat. 3 hill at Vimoutiers that has a 13-percent pitch, but then the shorter (189km) stage settles into a series of long, straight, sometimes hilly highways across the open farmland of Normandy. Rolling hills precede the entry into Vitré, where the course loops around and through town to reach a slightly uphill finishing straight almost 2km long. History: There have been three stage finishes at Vitré, all won by sprinters: Belgian Rudy Matthijs in 1985, Italian Mario Cipollini in 1995 and German Marcel Wüst in

With Boonen back in the fold, the peloton eased off..

McEwen takes the stage and solidifies his hold on the points jersey

After claiming a stunning third Tour de France stage win in five days, Australian sprinter Robbie McEwen warned his shattered rivals that there is plenty of speed left in his legs. And the real bad news for Belgian Tom Boonen, Italian Daniele Bennati, Norwegian Thor Hushovd and Spaniard Oscar Freire is that he plans to use that speed again as soon as possible. But wait, there’s more from the Queenslander whose three-length victory over a frustrated Bennati (Lampre-Fondital) and Boonen (Quick Step-Innergetic) was clocked in an average stage speed of 45.309 kph for the 189km ride from Lisieux

.. with predictable results

1. Robbie McEwen (Aus), Davitamon-Lotto, 189km in 4:10:17 (45.308kph)2. Daniele Bennati (I), Lampre, 00:003. Tom Boonen (B), Quick Step-Innergetic, 00:004. Bernhard Eisel (A), Francaise des Jeux, 00:005. Thor Hushovd (Nor), Credit Agricole, 00:006. Oscar Freire (Sp), Rabobank, 00:007. Erik Zabel (G), Milram, 00:008. Luca Paolini (I), Liquigas-Bianchi, 00:009. Gert Steegmans (B), Davitamon-Lotto, 00:0010. Inaki Isasi (Sp), Euskaltel-Euskadi, 00:00 11. David Kopp (G), Gerolsteiner, 00:0012. Jimmy Casper (F), Cofidis, 00:0013. Steven De Jongh (Nl), Quick Step-Innergetic, 00:0014. Arnaud Coyot

Bobby J seems relaxed these days.

Andréas Klöden is not exactly your average big mouth. When the slender T-Mobile pro speaks, his dark brown eyes are fixed on an imaginary spot in the carpet and one has to move really close to him, to understand his almost whispering voice. He offers up sentences like, "Yes, I have the GC in the back of my mind." It's a statement that clearly falls way short of an announcement that Klöden would like to win the Tour de France. Klöden does not seem to quite grasp that after the demise of Jan Ullrich, Ivan Basso and Alexandre Vinokourov he is one of the big favorites of this year's

Robbie the Rocket seems focused.

Earlier this week, Eddy Merckx said he picked Floyd Landis as the favorite to win this year’s Tour de France. Like father, like son. Axel Merckx agrees with his father that Landis is sitting in the pole position going into Saturday’s decisive time trial to win the stage and grab the maillot jaune. VeloNews European correspondent Andrew Hood grabbed a quick interview with the Belgian ahead of Friday’s start. Here are excerpts from that interview. VeloNews.com: What is your role in the team this year? Do you have a little bit of freedom or are you going to be helping Landis? Axel Merckx:

Hey, is that Frankie rifling through the back of Bjarne's car?

From the morning sign-in at the start to the podium at the finish, Casey Gibson covers it all. "Stop me if you have seen this before, guys," Gibson writes us today. "McEwen wins; Boonen pounds his fist in frustration. Its not even close, boys. Three or four bike lengths every day." But our man Casey spent the day on the road, as well, and there was much more than that increasingly predictable finish.

The beauty of Normandy in the summer...

Can the Americans repeat their time-trial dominance from last month’s Dauphiné Libéré – when they swept the top four places – in Saturday’s 52km stage that will kick-start the battle for the overall victory in the 93rd Tour de France? At the Dauphiné, Dave Zabriskie won by an impressive 53 seconds ahead of Floyd Landis on a mostly flat, but windy 43km course. Third at 1:16 was Levi Leipheimer and fourth was George Hincapie at 1:34. The seven-rider American contingent will roll down the start ramp with excellent chances of victory. Also looking for strong rides will be Bobby Julich and

... and the beauties of Normandy in their summer best.

WeatherShowers at start, mostly cloudy and some sprinkles in the afternoon, temperatures in the high 70s, light to moderate head-crosswinds Stage winnerRobbie McEwen (Davitamon-Lotto), 4h10:17, 45.309kph – McEwen took another dominant victory by three bike lengths to score a Tour hat-trick, winning his third stage in just six tries. Last year, McEwen also won three stages, but it took 13 stages to pull it off. Italian Daniele Bennati (Lampre-Fondital) won the battle for second place. Race leaderTom Boonen (Quick Step-Innergetic), 29h21:00, 42.833kph – The world champion pounded his right

Boonen will be in yellow for Saturday's time trial...

The moment of truth has arrived. After almost a week of following wheels, sheltered in the peloton, all the yellow-jersey favorites are racing “alone and unassisted” on Saturday. That expression was coined in Britain, where road time trials were invented in the late 19th century, to overcome police restrictions on packs of cyclists “riding furiously” and scaring the horses pulling carts and carriages. More than 100 years later — and 71 years after individual time trials were introduced to the Tour — the Brits and their English-speaking brethren are still teaching the Continentals how to race

... and he gets to start behind the man in Green. Will we see a catch?

Rumors that Floyd Landis is set to move to Discovery Channel in 2007 appear to be just that, at least for now. Michael Rutherford, Landis’s agent and lawyer, denied reports that the Phonak rider is poised to return to the American team for which he raced during 2002-04. “There have been no discussions with Discovery Channel at all,” Rutherford told VeloNews. “That is definitely just a rumor.” Rutherford confirmed that Landis’s contract with Phonak is up at the end of this season, but said that no new deal for next year has been cut with any team. With new sponsor iShares taking over for

McEwen, though, specializes in sprints.

Stage 6: Lisieux to Vitré - 189km

Man, does he specialize in sprints.

Stage 6: Lisieux to Vitré - 189km

Julian Dean shows the aftermath of yesterday's crash.

That's three for the Aussie pocket rocket

The tools to keep track of Jens Voigt's progress tomorrow

Freire catches the favorites napping

The final sprint

The yellow jersey is not a bad consolation prize

Freire celebrates

Schröder and Dumoulin spent a long day off the front...

Landis is biding his time

... and Boonen's Quick Step team spent a long day chasing

Course: The fourth long stage in a row, this one (225km) starts on the open, windswept roads of Picardy, tackles a series of short climbs across the Seine Valley, and concludes with more undulations across Normandy. It’s likely that only seconds will separate the race leaders on GC going into this stage, and the yellow jersey could change hands with time bonuses at the intermediate sprints, the last of which is at Pont l’Evêque with 50km to go. A fast, tricky run-in to sprawling Caen, population 113,000, will make it hard for a sprinter’s lead-out train to succeed, and perhaps favor a late,

Hincapie had an easy day

After racing through heat-wave temperatures on the Tour de France’s opening five days, the peloton will be grateful for more temperate conditions in the upcoming week — starting with Thursday’s 225km stage 5 that starts north of Paris and heads southwest into Normandy. Local forecasts call for temperatures in the low 70s, moderate west winds in the riders’ faces and a 40-percent chance of rain. Head winds don’t favor small breakaways, so expect to see another bunch finish at Caen on Thursday. The course has plenty of ups and downs in its middle section through the Seine Valley, but the

Pineau stays in the climber's jersey another day

After knocking on the door for several days, Spaniard Oscar Freire finally kicked it right in on Thursday, outsprinting yellow-jersey wearer Tom Boonen to win his first Tour de France stage since 2002. The three-time world champion from Rabobank won a chaotic drag race against Boonen on the stage 5 finishing stretch down Guillou Boulevard in Caen, near France’s northwestern coast and the beaches of Normandy. After being shut out by his green-jersey rivals in previous sprints this week, the 30-year-old Freire came into Thursday’s stage with a different plan of attack. Instead of reacting to

Zabriskie is thinking about Saturday's time trial

1. Oscar Freire (Sp), Rabobank2. Tom Boonen (B), Quick Step-Innergetic, 00:003. Inaki Isasi (Sp), Euskaltel-Euskadi, 00:004. David Kopp (G), Gerolsteiner, 00:005. Robbie Mc Ewen (Aus), Davitamon-Lotto, 00:006. Alessandro Ballan (I), Lampre, 00:007. Thor Hushovd (Nor), Credit Agricole, 00:008. Francisco Ventoso (Sp), Saunier Duval, 00:009. Erik Zabel (G), Milram, 00:0010. Bernhard Eisel (A), Francaise des Jeux, 00:00 11. Luca Paolini (I), Liquigas-Bianchi, 00:0012. Laurent Brochard (F), Bouygues Telecom, 00:0013. Cristian Moreni (I), Cofidis, 00:0014. Jimmy Casper (F), Cofidis, 00:0015. Eddy

Stage 5, Beauvais to Caen, 225km

Weathercooler, highs in low-80s, partly cloudy in afternoon, brisk headwinds in final sprint Stage winnerOscar Freire (Rabobank), 5h18:50, 42.342kph – The three-time world champion won his first stage of this year’s Tour, relegating reigning world champ Tom Boonen to second place. The Spanish rider started an early sprint against a brisk headwind to pull the surprise win for just his first Tour win since 2002 while in the rainbow jersey. Race leaderTom Boonen (Quick Step-Innergetic), 25h10:51, 42.423kph – The world champion fell short of victory, but was pleased to keep the yellow jersey

Stage 5: by the numbers

A lot of people are talking about why this Tour de France appears to be slower than last year’s, which reached the finish in Paris at a record average of 41.605kmh. Most people ask if it is due to the absence of those riders who would otherwise be overall favorites. What I do know is that, yes, the Tour is a hell of a lot different than last year. And the one major influence, with Lance Armstrong and a few of the main favorites not being here, is that every team now thinks they are in with a chance to win the overall. Those teams – including ours - are racing tactically quite differently