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Stage Results1. Lance Armstrong (USA), Discovery Channel, 1:11:462. Jan Ullrich (G), T-Mobile, 00:233. Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz), T-Mobile, 01:164. Bobby Julich (USA), CSC, 01:335. Ivan Basso (I), CSC, 01:546. Floyd Landis (USA), Phonak, 02:027. Cadel Evans (Aus), Davitamon-Lotto, 02:068. George Hincapie (USA), Discovery Channel, 02:259. Francisco Mancebo (Sp), Illes Balears, 02:5110. Vladimir Karpets (Rus), Illes Balears, 03:05 11. Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr), Discovery Channel, 03:0912. Carlos Sastre (Sp), CSC, 03:1013. Christophe Moreau (F), Credit Agricole, 03:1114. Levi Leipheimer (USA),

A raging Ullrich bumped teammate Vino' down a notch

A fan cannot survive the Tour on mineral water, you know

Lance Armstrong knows exactly where he will be next July - sitting in front of his television watching his soon-to-be ex-rivals Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso battle it out for the yellow jersey. Armstrong, who won the 20th and penultimate stage of the Tour de France on Saturday, will retire after the end of Sunday’s 144km 21st stage when he will have guaranteed a seventh consecutive victory on the race. Last year, when he broke the record of the four other riders who, before him, had won the race five times, there had been a reason for sticking around. This year, he said, it was all about

Julich had a solid ride

It was a little humid in Snowmass

Australian Robbie McEwen will become one of the Tour de France's all-timegreats if he wins a fourth stage in Paris on Sunday. If McEwen wins the 144.5km 21st and final stage of the 3607km Tour onthe Champs Élysées, he will be only the 14th rider – andseventh sprinter – in the post-war era to win four or more stages on theone Tour. “He would be a hero,” said McEwen's Davitamon-Lotto team manager, HendrikRedant. “To win four stages in one Tour is amazing. There are not a lotof guys except those like Eddy Merckx. It will be really, really special.” Merckx, who won the Tour de France

Vino' showed his strength

The men blaze the start

Geek-bikes and skinsuits, bars shaped like wings . . . these are a few of our favorite things. And Casey Gibson was there at the stage-20 time trial to snag a few more shots for our virtual scrapbook. Here they are.

Dad goes out as a champ

Vanlandingham is in another league right now . . .

Kerry chums it up with Discovery crewSen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) was hanging out at the Discovery Channel bus before the start of the 20th stage of the Tour de France. Dressed in a button-down sports shirt, chinos and penny-loafers, the cyclist and former presidential candidate looked on as Lance Armstrong warmed up for the race on his stationary bike. With hundreds of fans looking on, and scores of photographers snapping pictures of the scene, Kerry chatted with George Hincapie, Chris Carmichael and Sheryl Crow. “I wished him well and congratulated him on an extraordinary accomplishment,

Rasmussen had an appalling ride

. . . as teammate Alison Dunlap rolls toward retirement

With his seventh consecutive Tour de France victory locked up, Lance Armstrong is ready to ride the final stage of his final Tour and the very last competitive event of his professional cycling career. He did say Saturday night that after retirement he might show up to race a local cyclo-cross or mountain-bike race, or even a 10K run or triathlon. But this is it for Lance the pro cyclist. Stage 21 of the 92nd Tour de France finishes on the Champs-Élysées for the 30th year. It previously finished in the velodromes at Vincennes (1968-74) and the Parc des Princes (1904-67). The first Tour, in

Landis crossed sixth

Sen. John Kerry thinks Lance Armstrong would make a terrific politician -- but fears he'd be running for the other party. Watching Armstrong during his warmup for Saturday's time trial, the Democrat from Massachusetts listed the Texan's winning qualities. “What's made him so special at the Tour de France, and as an athlete, is the level of focus, discipline, intelligence, strategic ability, and obviously, his endurance - his ability to just take it on and go,” Kerry said. Those qualities would serve Armstrong well in politics, Kerry said. But Armstrong is also friendly

Hincapie finished eighth

Hello!I made the final podium in Paris! Well, assuming nothing happens on the final ride to the finish. For me, today’s time trial went pretty much as I had hoped and expected. What happened to Mickael Rasmussen was absolutely awful for him. I regret not winning the stage, but I have to admit that Lance was, once again, the best one out there. For T-Mobile, we earned two very beautiful stage wins – the two won by Vino’ and Guero’- but again, we come away without the one prize we had our eyes on: the yellow jersey. The fact that we failed in that effort yet again is disappointing to us as a

Horner finished 25th

Stage 20 - St.-Etienne to St.-Etienne >55.5km

Basso started fast, but faded

Stage 20 - St.-Etienne to St.-Etienne >55.5km

Commentator Jean-Rene Godart has some fans, it seems

The cross-country course

Casar took the sprint for second, not the prize he was after.

The downhill track

Guerini gets the green light from T-Mobile

The Super-D route

Illes Balears works to keep the gap reasonable.

Pelizzotti joins in to add some horsepower

Course: At 153.5km, this is the 2005 Tour’s second shortest road stage, but certainly not the easiest. The climbs aren’t particularly difficult, but the roads are often narrow and twisting, the perfect ingredients for another breakaway. There’s a fast downhill toward Le Puy before a final short, up-and-down loop into the backside of town. History: Only two Tour stages have finished at Le Puy. The last time, in 1996, the stage went to the Swiss Pascal Richard, who went on to take the following month’s Olympic title in Atlanta. Favorites: Teams yet to win a stage will be going for the

Is this contest already settled?

This time Giuseppe Guerini saw the people who wanted to take his photo. En route to winning Friday's stage 19, a hilly 153km from Issoire to Le Puy-en-Velay, Guerini enjoyed a clean run to the finish line. That’s something he didn’t get on his way to winning at L'Alpe d'Huez in 1999. Back then, a fan - the now infamous "Erik the Photographer" - capturing Guerini’s victorious pedal strokes about a kilometer from the line forced the Italian to fall before finishing. “Yes, L’Alpe d'Huez is more dangerous,” said a smiling Guerini, 35, when reminded at his post-stage press

Nicely timed, Giuseppe,

Stage Results1. Giuseppe Guerini (I), T-Mobile, 3:33:04, 43.225kmp for 153.5km2. Sandy Casar (F), Francaise des Jeux, 00:103. Franco Pellizotti (I), Liquigas-Bianchi, 00:104. Oscar Pereiro Sio (Sp), Phonak, 00:125. Salvatore Commesso (I), Lampre, 02:436. Arvesen Kurt-Asle (Nor), CSC, 02:487. Nicolas Portal (F), Ag2r Prevoyance, 02:488. Bert Grabsch (G), Phonak, 02:489. Sylvain Chavanel (F), Cofidis, 02:4810. Pieter Weening (Nl), Rabobank, 03:50 11. Jose Azevedo(P), Discovery Channel, 04:2112. Carlos Da Cruz (F), Francaise des Jeux, 04:2113. Juan Antonio Flecha (Sp), Fassa Bortolo, 04:2114.

Guerini was almost denied his 1999 stage win.

Leipheimer aiming for fifthLevi Leipheimer needs a strong ride in Saturday’s 55.5km individual time trial at Saint Etienne to reach his stated goal of finishing among the Tour’s top five. Standing in front of him is Spanish rider Francisco Mancebo, fifth overall at 1:04 ahead of sixth-place Leipheimer. Under normal conditions, Leipheimer is a stronger, more consistent time trialist, but the final week of the Tour is something else altogether. “It will be difficult to make up more than a minute in the time trial,” Leipheimer said. “It's not a normal time trial. It's hilly and that

After gluing up nine sets of tubulars, clinchers probably start looking pretty good

On Thursday T-Mobile took back the lead in the overall team competition of the Tour and Jan Ullrich took back 36 seconds from Mickael Rasmussen, putting himself in a good position to claim the third podium spot in the final time trial on Saturday. Victory in the team competition and third overall, results most teams would be very pleased with at the end of the Tour. Not so T-Mobile. “We’re disappointed that we didn’t get the yellow jersey,” says new team director, former star sprinter Olaf Ludwig. “That was clearly our goal. We wanted to isolate Lance, which we managed to do a few times.

Why is this man laughing?

Second act for Cipo'?The recently retired Italian champion Mario Cipollini may make a second career as a television personality. According to Eurosport, the deep-voiced playboy was close to accepting an offer to work as one of the broadcaster’s “consultants” for the Tour de France – the expert commentators narrating the broadcast. “We wanted to have Cipollini too,” says executive producer Patrick Chassé, who oversees the Eurosport coverage. “He wanted to spend the holidays with his family, so it was not possible.” “Maybe next year,” says Chassé. McEwen ready to rage on

Probably because he thinks this man is going to win the 2006 Tour

The Tour may be winding down, but our man Casey Gibson isn't. He's still snapping away out there; here's what caught his eye on stage 19.

Landis and his James Bond eyewear

This is not the time for Lance Armstrong to take chances, push harder, let it all hang out. Unless, that is, he wants to check off the one accomplishment he's lacked on his final Tour de France: a stage win to call his own. The Discovery Channel captain has taken and held a commanding overall lead without winning a single stage, and Saturday's final time trial gives him an excellent chance to change that. The rolling 55.5km route at Saint-Etienne in central France should suit a fast roller and climber like Armstrong. But it will also severely test legs worn out by the thousands of

Guerini tears it up on the descent

Stage 19 - Issoire to Le Puy-en-Velay >153.5km

The leaders fly along

Stage 19 - Issoire to Le Puy-en-Velay >153.5km

The obligatory ruins shot

Guerini collects a second career Tour stage win

Sometimes a shooter gets desperate for images as the race winds down

Merckx and Vasseur try to bring Serrano back

Course: Unlike the easy finish in 2003, up the Atlantic coast, this year’s Tour sees a series of difficult stages through the Massif Central. The last 60km of this stage includes a challenging Cat. 2 climb out of the Tarn Gorge, a Cat. 3 climb at 15km to go, a swift downhill into the Lot valley at Mende, and a severe 14-percent Cat. 2 climb in the final 1.5km. History: In the only Tour stage finish at Mende, in 1995, Laurent Jalabert used the closing Croix-Neuve climb to drop his longtime breakaway companions and score a memorable Bastille Day stage victory. Favorites: Depending on the

Serrano still had enough to attack

The third week of the Tour de France often becomes many races within one. Thursday's 189km stage 18 from Albi to Mende was one of those days. Riders desperate for a stage victory to "save" their Tours were off the front attacking over the hilly, five-climb course through France's Massif Central. And the overall contenders were cooling their jets until the day's final climb, anxious to either drop rivals ahead of them on the GC, make up time they've lost on previous days or, at least in the case of Ivan Basso, take one last swing for the fences. Marcos Serrano, a Spanish

Ullrich isn't giving up without a fight

We’ve had the Alps and the Pyrénées. Now comes the Massif Central, with three challenging stages that will decide the final outcome of the 2005 Tour de France. At 189km, Thursday’s stage 18 is the longest of the three. It’s also likely to be the hottest of the three, with a blazing sun and forecast temperatures in the upper-80s. The heat will make this stage particularly difficult as there’s not much shade on the limestone plateaus that the course traverses in the Aveyron and Lozère regions. The last 80 kilometers are particularly difficult starting with a Cat.3 climb just before the race

1. Marcos Serrano (Sp), Liberty Seguros, 189km in 4:37:36 (40.85kph)2. Cedric Vasseur (F), Cofidis, 00:273. Axel Merckx (B), Davitamon-Lotto, 00:274. Xabier Zandio (Sp), Illes Balears, 01:085. Franco Pellizotti (I), Liquigas-Bianchi, 01:086. Thomas Voeckler (F), Bouygues Telecom, 01:287. Luke Roberts (Aus), CSC, 01:288. Matthias Kessler (G), T-Mobile, 01:449. Egoi Martinez (Sp), Euskaltel-Euskadi, 02:0310. Carlos Da Cruz (F), Francaise des Jeux, 02:38 11. Cadel Evans (Aus), Davitamon-Lotto, 11:1812. Lance Armstrong (USA), Discovery Channel, 11:1813. Ivan Basso (I), CSC, 11:1814. Jan Ullrich

Julich is heading to Paris with his best result since 1998

Lance Armstrong will kick start his retirement years with 600 of his best friends during a huge blowout Sunday night in Paris. Armstrong’s illustrious career will be feted in the private affair at the Paris Ritz hotel in the heart of Paris. The A-list guest ledger includes top Hollywood and political movers and shakers. “This year we’re doing more of a celebration of Lance and his accomplishments,” said Dan Osipow, Discovery Channel team spokesman. “Win or lose, we’re going to celebrate Lance’s career, but we’re hoping we’re going to win.” More than 600 invited guests along with riders,

Hey Bob,Last week some guy opened the door on his truck just as I was passing by him and I couldn't avoid running into the door. I have a large gash in my forehead and my Giant is totaled. The guy's insurance company originally was very nice, but yesterday I received a letter in which they blamed me for “riding too close to the parked cars” and “failing to keep a look out” and stated that they are “not accepting liability” in the matter. Am I out of luck?J.F.Seattle, Washington Dear J.F.,Don’t let a letter from the insurance company scare you away from a potential claim. We have all

Attention Retailers:Be sure to hold on to your 2005 Official Tour de France Guides! They will be in high demand for the remainder of the year. The Guide should be displayed until September 14th. Please do not send in returns until after this date. Call 1-800-494-1413 (option 2) with any related questions.

Stage 18 - Albi to Mende >189km

Stage 18 - Albi to Mende >189km

Serrano scores one for the Liberty squad

The KMC chain and master link used by Liberty Seguros

Cañada's prototype Rotor Q-Ring

A fiddly adjustment, that

Vasseur, Kessler and the others posed no threat on GC

The Massif Central is beautiful but a tough ride

Alexandre Vinokourov has had his fill of T-Mobile. After five successful years with the German communications corporation, the “Kamikaze Kazakh” is looking for a new challenge. “He wants to ride somewhere as a captain, lead a team in the Tour,” says team manager Olaf Ludwig, soberly. Adds Vinokourov, who is ranked ninth in this Tour, almost 10 minutes behind Lance Armstrong: “I want to win the Tour de France in the coming years.” At the start of Wednesday’s stage in Pau, Vinokourov said he would make an official announcement in Paris, adding somewhat jokingly, “For me there is either

Fedrigo triggers a split

Two successive stages of the Tour de France this week put the same rider – Phonak’s Oscar Pereiro – on to both sides of the same question, namely when is a rider obligated to pull through in a breakaway? In stage 16 George Hincapie found himself in a breakaway group on what had to be the toughest stage of this Tour de France. As you know, Hincapie is a teammate and real workhorse for Lance Armstrong, the overall leader of the Tour. As a result, it’s well understood that Hincapie had absolutely no obligation to pull through as the break moved away from the peloton. Even though it was