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Boonen was feeling the weight of the green jersey today

Another tumble at the finish.

Wegemann led the peloton into Germany - but couldn't stay out front

Calzati took a hit, but carried on.

The Boss would like a sprint-free finish on Saturday

Welcome to Germany

Wet railroad tracks right after the border caused this one.

Robbie decided to wait this one out.

Course: The two early climbs may encourage some attacks, but the flat final half of this stage through the Rhine Valley virtually guarantees a bunch finish in Karlsruhe. History: The only time the Tour has visited this part of Germany was in 1987, when the race started in Berlin two years before the Wall fell. The third stage was in two parts: The short morning leg was won in a solo break by Belgian Herman Frison in nearby Pforzheim (where stage 8 begins), while the afternoon leg began in Karlsruhe. Favorites: The expected huge crowds lining the long (1.2km),wide finishing straight in the

Fast Freddy and his own personal 'fast' food

McEwen again,

Australian Robbie McEwen stole the show again at the Tour de France on Friday, both on and off the bike, as the great race headed into Germany. McEwen (Davitamon-Lotto) won't be seen in the fray of battle in the mountains coming up this weekend, but he did more than enough to leave a lasting impression on the 2005 Tour as it completed its first week. The two-time green jersey champion claimed his second stage win of the first week by outsprinting Swede Magnus Bäckstedt (Liquigas-Bianchi) and Austrian Bernhard Eisel (Française des Jeux) in a bunch sprint marred by another nasty crash in

Do the Germans like the Tour? Oh, ja, ja

The Specialized Tarmac SL

1. Robbie McEwen (Aus), Davitamon-Lotto, 5:03:45 2. Magnus Bäckstedt (Swe), Liquigas-Bianchi3. Bernhard Eisel (A), Francaise des Jeux4. Gerrit Glomser (A), Lampre5. Baden Cooke (Aus), Francaise des Jeux6. Fabian Cancellara (Swi), Fassa Bortolo7. Tom Boonen (B), Quickstep8. Gianluca Bortolami (I), Lampre9. Thor Hushovd (Nor), Credit Agricole10. Juan Antonio Flecha (Sp), Fassa Bortolo, all s.t. 11. O’grady Stuart (Aus), Cofidis12. Luciano Pagliarini (BRA), Liquigas-Bianchi13. Robert Förster (G), Gerolsteiner14. Nazon Jean-Patrick (F), Ag2r Prevoyance15. Philippe Gilbert (B), Francaise des

Whoopsadaisy . . .

A glimpse of the carbon cockpit

That a bicycle race can bring out millions of fans to line rural roads and jam up the boulevards of a finishing town is actually a relatively recent phenomenon in Germany. Cycling enthusiasm did spike – albeit briefly – in Germany when Didi Thurau, the "angel face" from Frankfurt, wore the maillot jaune for 15 days in the 1977 Tour de France. But German interest faded as Thurau’s career derailed through doping scandals and fans saw a remarkable talent wasted on too much racing for quick money. Instead, in the 1980s and ‘90s, Germans returned to what they knew best: soccer. But the passion –

Floyd rolls into the start, looking relaxed and cool

Well that was quite a finish in Nancy, eh? Thankfully, I missed the mess at the last turn… mostly because I got dropped on the last climb, got back on the descent and decided I didn’t have the legs to contest the sprint anyway, so I stayed back a little, think it was smarter to stay out of that last turn on wet roads. Looking at the book this morning, you could just see that thing would be trouble in wet weather… especially with that crosswalk and all that white paint right on the turn. That stuff always makes things touch-and-go. As soon as it’s raining, it doesn’t really matter if you’re

Mengin on a descent in the rain

Stage 6 - Troy to Nancy > 199km

Peloton in fields near Troyes

Survivor: Bernucci celebrates his luck... and his first win as a professional

Bernucci charges through the final corner with the first win of his career

Oh the heartbreak

Vinokourov in the final corner, driving for the line and precious seconds on Armstrong

The break

Stage 6 - Troy to Nancy > 199km

Course: Still heading east, this 199km stage finally has someterrain conducive to long breakaways. The day’s four Cat. 4 climbs areevenly spaced, but there are plenty of undulations in between, particularlyin the 40km before the final, and longest, hill — the Côte de Maron— which comes just before the finish. History: There have been 13 stage finishes at Nancy in the past100 years, including wins for Tour champs Fausto Coppi, Louison Bobet,Joop Zoetemelk and Bernard Hinault. The last visit was in 1988, when abreak on the climb before Nancy produced a stage win for German Rolf Gölz(now a

Lucky and liking it

Angel-faced Didi Thurau briefly ruled the '77 Tour

Most people have figured out by now that Tom Boonen and Robbie McEwen are the hottest two sprinters at this year’s Tour de France, and that’s why their Quick Step and Davitamon-Lotto have done the bulk of the work on the three road stages to date, chasing down each day’s main breakaway with respectively 12km, 2km and 11km to go. That picture could change on Thursday because stage 6 from Troyes to Nancy is the hilliest one yet. Still heading east (with the wind), this 199km stage finally has some terrain conducive to long breakaways. The day’s four Cat. 4 climbs are evenly spaced, but there

Kirsippu and Mengin

If you put Boonen and McEwen each on his own Laufmaschine, who would you bet your money on?

Wet roads, tight corners and a nervous peloton are always a recipe for disaster. Add a gang of hard-charging sprinters anxious to reel in a breakaway, and you’ll come up with the crash-derby finish to Thursday’s 199km Tour de France stage 6 from Troyes to Nancy. It was a veritable otter slide on the rain-soaked final right-hander 700 meters from the finish line as a score of riders slipped, skidded and piled into the metal barriers. “It was like ice on that corner, there was nothing you could do,” said Fred Rodriguez (Davitamon-Lotto) who ended the day with a nasty scrape on his right knee.

Mengin jumps

Ag2R's unmarked Reynolds carbon clinchers

1. Lorenzo Bernucci (I), Fassa Bortolo, 4:12:52 2. Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz), T-Mobile, 00:003. Robert Förster (G), Gerolsteiner, 00:074. Angelo Furlan (I), Domina Vacanze, 00:075. Thor Hushovd (Nor), Credit Agricole, 00:076. Kim Kirchen (Lux), Fassa Bortolo, 00:077. Gianluca Bortolami (I), Lampre, 00:078. Egoi Martinez (Sp), Euskaltel-Euskadi, 00:079. Gerrit Glomser (A), Lampre, 00:0710. Arvesen Kurt-Asle (Nor), CSC, 00:07 11. Laurent Brochard (F), Bouygues Telecom, 00:0712. Jérome Pineau (F), Bouygues Telecom, 00:0713. Massimo Giunti (I), Fassa Bortolo, 00:0714. Oscar Pereiro Sio (Sp),

Armstrong didn't care for today's stage

Gerolsteiner takes a broad stance in the TTT

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission,in cooperation with the firm named below, today announced a voluntary recallof the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using recalledproducts immediately unless otherwise instructed.Name of product: 2003 Rolf Prima Vigor and Elan Bicycle Wheels(rear wheel only)Units: About 870Manufacturer: Rolf Prima Inc., of Eugene, Ore.Hazard: The rear wheel freehub mechanism can malfunction causingno resistance when pedaling. The bicycle rider could lose balance, falland suffer injuries.Incidents/Injuries: No injuries

Stage 6 - Troy to Nancy > 199km

This could be the start of something ... no, let's not make that joke, please

Former cycling great Rudi Altig has added to the pressure on Jan Ullrich by saying the German is uncommitted in his bid to win back the Tour de France yellow jersey. Ullrich, 31, has come runner-up five times in the Tour de France - which he won in 1997 - and three of those have come behind American Lance Armstrong. Armstrong currently leads the race with more than a minute's advantage over Ullrich ahead of two crucial medium mountain stages this weekend, where the German could - if he's ambitious - try to attack the 33-year-old Texan and upset his plans for a seventh consecutive

Stage 6 - Troy to Nancy > 199km

PRO wheels

Course: Still heading east, this 199km stage finally has someterrain conducive to long breakaways. The day’s four Cat. 4 climbs areevenly spaced, but there are plenty of undulations in between, particularlyin the 40km before the final, and longest, hill — the Côte de Maron— which comes just before the finish. History: There have been 13 stage finishes at Nancy in the past100 years, including wins for Tour champs Fausto Coppi, Louison Bobet,Joop Zoetemelk and Bernard Hinault. The last visit was in 1988, when abreak on the climb before Nancy produced a stage win for German Rolf Gölz(now a

Lance gets weighed in with champagne at the start.

Okay, who slipped the Lawrence Welk into my iPod's playlist?

Our man Casey Gibson, ever the master of understatement, noted after Thursday's soggy stage to Nancy: "Rain makes things a little exciting at the end, eh?" No kidding – especially if you're Christophe Mengin (Française des Jeux), who was lookin' good until that final corner. Happily, Casey kept upright, and here's the upshot.

Boonen and McEwen roll in together after Mengin laid it down

London bombings won’t change Tour securityNews of the terrorist bomb attacks in London shocked the Tour de France entourage - as it did the world. In memory of those killed and injured, the peloton will observe a minute's silence before the start of Friday's seventh stage, the 228.5km leg from Lunéville to Karlsruhe in Germany. While the terrorist alert level in France was escalated to the red on Thursday, it appears that security at the Tour de France is already quite high and there is little the Tour can do to make it tighter. While representatives of the Garde Republicaine

Lance on the front of the peloton early in the race, just outside Troyes

“Die Tour Kommt!” (The Tour is coming!) is the message that has been plastered across billboards in the German city of Karlsruhe for the past several months. Expect most of the city’s 300,000 people to be at the roadside Friday afternoon, along with perhaps three times that number from neighboring cities in the heavily populated valley of the Rhine. The last two times that a Tour de France stage finished in Germany (Saarbrücken in 2003 and Freiburg in 2000), crowd numbers were astronomical. They will be just as big on Friday when the final 40km of the stage are run on German roads, with the

Lance attacks and Vinokorov follows

Stage 5 - Chambord to Montargis > 183km

With The Boss in yellow, Discovery clocks in and goes to work

Stage 5 - Chambord to Montargis > 183km

Armstrong and Virenque: 'Hey, Lance, remember me?'

McEwen finally nails one

Boonen tackles a short climb

Armstrong donned the yellow jersey after a squabble with Leblanc

Sprinters to the front, please . . . sprinters to the front, please . . .

McEwen pips a fading Boonen at the line...

Three amigos: Hincapie, Armstrong and Basso

Armstrong adds another jersey to his collection

Despite the aches of Tuesday's crash (and the loss of the yellow jersey) Zabriskie manages a smile

Levi, Gerolsteiner and that darn clock thing

A beautiful start for a fast finish

Course: This stage has one of the event’s most beautiful stagingareas. Chambord is the largest of the Loire châteaux and one of world’sfinest Renaissance buildings. The stage is on rolling roads that generallyhead eastward, with crosswinds likely on a 40km stretch next to the LoireRiver before a final with-the-wind swoop into Montargis. History: The Tour has only once ended a stage in Montargis, in1969, when it was the terminus of a giant 10-hour, 330km slog from Clermont-Ferrand on the penultimate day. The winner was Belgium’s Herman Van Springel, who also won that year’s stage over the

Flecha has a go at 20km...

Emotion fuelled the windswept, rain-spattered 183km stage 5 of the Tour de France from Chambord to Montargis on Wednesday - and for a full spectrum of reasons. At the start, we had an almost reluctant overall race leader in American Lance Armstrong (Discovery Channel) not wanting to wear the yellow jersey he felt that, morally, still belonged to Dave Zabriskie of CSC. But it was a gesture the Tour organizers would not allow. Then at the finish, we had an elated stage winner, Australian Robbie McEwen (Davitamon-Lotto), championing his vengeance against a race jury that relegated him to last

Ullrich is looking forward to riding into Germany

Stage 5 Results1. Robbie McEwen (Aus), Davitamon-Lotto, 183km in 3:46:00 (48.584kph)2. Tom Boonen (B), Quickstep3. Thor Hushovd (Nor), Credit Agricole4. O’grady Stuart (Aus), Cofidis5. Angelo Furlan (I), Domina Vacanze6. Allan Davis (Aus), Liberty Seguros7. Bernhard Eisel (A), Francaise des Jeux8. Baden Cooke (Aus), Francaise des Jeux9. Jens Voigt (G), CSC10. Robert Forster (G), Gerolsteiner 11. Nazon Jean-Patrick (F), Ag2r Prevoyance12. Daniele Righi (I), Lampre13. Maxim Iglinskiy (Kaz), Domina Vacanze14. Laurent Brochard (F), Bouygues Telecom15. Peter Wrolich (A), Gerolsteiner16. Daniel

... and soon gets some company...

Suggestions that Lance Armstrong could be showing the first signs of weakness as he bids for a seventh consecutive yellow jersey have been knocked on the head by Tour de France great Raymond Poulidor. Former French cycling ace Laurent Jalabert suggested that Armstrong's facial expression in Tuesday's hard-fought team time trial victory, which handed the American the yellow jersey, appeared to show a chink in his armor. "In the final section of the team time trial there was one thing which struck me," Jalabert wrote in L'Equipe the day after Discovery beat the CSC team by only

... and then there were four.