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Ivan Basso was the star attraction at Monday’s second and final rest day of the Tour de France as dozens of journalists crammed into a small conference room at the team hotel to learn more about the sensation of the 2004 Tour. Basso has been the only rider strong enough to follow Tour dominator Lance Armstrong and sits third overall, just 1 minute, 17 seconds behind the Texan. “I feel good, I feel strong. Normally, Armstrong goes full-gas, but I stayed with him. I didn’t die,” Basso said. “It’s been a little bit of a surprise, but I knew I had the power before the Tour. I knew of my

When Thomas Voeckler rode into the Tour de France yellow jersey 11 days ago, the 25-year-old Frenchman, with his beaming and infectious smile, brought a breath of fresh air into cycling that the sport has long needed. In an era that reeks of cynicism, commercialism and myriad on- and off-saddle scandals, Voeckler brought back to the Tour (and all those who love it) a much-needed and hefty dose of the romanticism that has drawn so many of us to cycling. Voeckler, 25, has been modest yet understandably appreciative of his spell in the yellow jersey. He knows the Tour is like no other race,

Lance Armstrong may not have won his record sixth yellow jersey yet, but a day before the Tour de France restarts with the mountainous 15th stage, his team manager Johan Bruyneel could not feel better. After just two weeks of racing, Armstrong - in second place at 22sec behind race leader Thomas Voeckler of France - has taken massive steps towards a sixth consecutive yellow jersey, and got rid of three of his main rivals in the process. Jan Ullrich, Germany's 1997 winner, is almost seven minutes adrift of Armstrong while last year's fourth place finisher Tyler Hamilton, formerly of US

The Pyrénées did a lot of damage to the Tour de France peloton and to several riders’ chances of challenging for the yellow jersey. Nevertheless, there are still a lot of very strong men left in the race, and the next major challenge before them is stage 16’s individual time trial up L'Alpe d’Huez. The fabled climb, with its 21 numbered switchbacks, is a very difficult and technically demanding time-trial course. However, since it’s only 15.5km long, and it’s not coming at the end of a long road stage, I don’t expect any of the top riders to gain a big chunk of time. Riding by themselves,

Rest day number two. Man do we need this! We are all taking advantage of the down time. The first course of mountain stages has been hard and everyone needs to take a deep breath before going under for the last week in the Alps. Most people who are still in the race are going to finish at this point, but everyone still needs a rest every now-and-then; the riders, the staff, the mechanics, the directors… maybe even Lance. Sometimes I think that I'd rather just get on with it and finish one day earlier. Then I usually think differently. Our team was lucky enough to be at a golf course for

STAGE 14 July 18 Carcassonne - Nîmes (124.280mi/200km)

T-Mobile at the TTT

STAGE 14 July 18 Carcassonne - Nîmes (124.280mi/200km)

Tour de Tech: Four spokes and secret bikes

Gonzales outkicks the break

Ignore the label

Hot Tubes' Osorio-McKenna overpowered Team Rubicon's Hanson and Godfrey in the miss-and-out

Tour de Tech: Four spokes and secret bikes

Team Uruguay proved strongest in the Madison

Dumaresq

Carney takes the miss-and-out

Laurin says international competition has helped hom

Armstrong - seen here with Bobby Julich - was none too concerned by seeing Gonzalez go.

Dumaresq tops the women's podium

The break had the right ingredients for success...

COURSE: This stage is a straight shot along the coastal plain of the Mediterranean. The main difficulties will probably be the heat, the Mistral wind and perhaps the speed, should the sprinters get a scent of victory. The race could split up in the crosswinds. FAVORITES: Look for good results from tough men like Stuart O’Grady,Jakob Piil, Thor Hushovd and Leon Van Bon, all of whom can out-sprint abreakaway group or do well in a field sprint. HISTORY: The last of 14 stages to finish in Nîmes camein 1986, when the stage also started at Carcassonne. But that was on ahilly course 40km

... while earlier attempts did not.

Aitor Gonzalez's win in the 14th stage of the Tour de France may have given him cause to celebrate, but it has to count as one of the most expensive returns on investment for any sponsor in the sport of cycling. For sure, Fassa Bortolo's Gonzalez was smiling after he time-trialed away from a 10-man break to finish 27 seconds ahead of Frenchmen Nicolas Jalabert (Phonak) and Christophe Mengin (Fdjeux.com). But considering the promise that came with his $750,000 salary, one Tour stage win and a time-trial success at the 2003 Giro d'Italia in his two years with Fassa is hardly great value for

Another day in yellow for the man.

STAGE RESULTS1. Aitor Gonzalez (Sp), Fassa Bortolo, 4:18:322. Nicolas Jalabert (F), Phonak, 00:253. Christophe Mengin (F), FDJeux.com, 00:254. Pierrick Fedrigo (F), Crédit Agricole, 00:295. Peter Wrolich (A), Gerolsteiner, 00:316. Marc Lotz (Nl), Rabobank, 00:317. Igor Gonzalez Galdeano (Sp), Liberty-Seguras, 00:318. Santiago Botero (Col), T-Mobile, 00:379. Inigo Landaluze (Sp), Euskaltel-Euskadi, 00:4110. Egoi Martinez (Sp), Euskaltel-Euskadi, 00:43 11. Robbie Mc Ewen (Aus), Lotto-Domo, 14:1212. Thor Hushovd (Nor), Crédit Agricole, 14:1213. Danilo Hondo (G), Gerolsteiner, 14:1214. Stuart

A serious chase might have been tough in the heat and wind.

Ullrich won’t quit, but may work for KlödenFormer Tour de France winner Jan Ullrich (T-Mobile) has handed rival Lance Armstrong (U.S. Postal Service-Berry Floor) further room to breathe after announcing he may in fact become a support rider for teammate Andreas Klöden. The 1997 winner and five-time runner-up came into the Tour de France as the main threat to Armstrong, but could now finish the race further down than second place for the first time in his career. In the Pyrénées, Armstrong has all but ended the German's yellow-jersey hopes. Ullrich began the 14th stage already seven minutes

Waiting for the day to start.

The Mail Bag is a Monday-Wednesday-Friday feature on VeloNews.com, but will appear daily during the Tour. If you have a comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have seen in cycling, in VeloNews magazine or on VeloNews.com, write to WebLetters@InsideInc.com. Please include your FULL NAME, HOMETOWN and STATE, or NATION if you live outside the United States. Letters may be edited for length and clarity.Less gossip, more racing discussion, pleaseEditor:With cycling enjoying a rare renaissance in America, an American team doing well, exceptional racing and coverage (and VeloNews

Everyone knew what the script was. Everyone knew what they were supposed to do. Lance Armstrong is here going for a record six Tour de France victories. Then there is the small army of riders who are waiting to spoil it for him: Jan Ullrich is supposed to shake that second-place monkey from his back and score his second Tour win. Iban Mayo, the Spanish climbing master had already proven he can out-climb the Texan, so the mountain challenge is there. Of course, Armstrong’s former teammate and fellow American Tyler Hamilton is ready to show the world that the defending champ and his Postal

Passing through Beziers

Although the organizers of the Tour de France stacked all the mountain stages into the end of the race, their decision to put a relatively easy transitional stage right before the race’s second rest day gives the overall contenders a reasonably long time to recover between the Pyrénées and the Alps. Either wind or tactics could have made stage 14 pretty tough, but after two hard days in the mountains, the majority of the peloton wasn’t eager to ride hard on Sunday. Still, the first two hours of the race were fast and difficult, while riders repeatedly attacked off the front to establish the

The peloton actually had time to take in the scenery today

STAGE 14 July 18 Carcassonne - Nîmes (124.280mi/200km)

T-Mobile at the prologue

STAGE 13 July 17 Lannemezan - Plateau de Beille (134.844mi/217km)

Azevedo was the last Postie driving the train

STAGE 13 July 17 Lannemezan - Plateau de Beille (134.844mi/217km)

Leipheimer eventually lost contact on the climb to Plateau de Beille.

STAGE 13 July 17 Lannemezan - Plateau de Beille (134.844mi/217km)

Ullrich fights his way up to Plateau de Beille

Armstrong outkicks Basso at the end

Not all fans were hostile Saturday

Armstrong gets his first stage this year

Azevedo was the last Postie driving the train

Voeckler was valiant in defense of his jersey

Leipheimer eventually lost contact on the climb to Plateau de Beille.

Once again, Postal put the big hammer down

Ullrich lost more ground today

And on the final climb, it was down to Armstrong and Basso

Not all fans were hostile Saturday

COURSE: This is a classic 217km Pyrenean stage with half-a-dozenbig climbs before the destructive summit finish on the Plateau de Beille.The 10km, 8.4-percent climb of the Col d’Agnes at 154km is the steepest,and is followed by a short downhill and climb before descending a narrowtwisty back road, which could be treacherous in the rain. A short valley section then precedes the 18.5km, 6.4-percent haul to the finish. FAVORITES: This has every sign of being the key stage of the Tour, a day when Armstrong will discover his true rivals. KILOMETERS CLIMBING66.3KILOMETERS

Voeckler in yellow once again

It was a stage that was heavily billed to be defininitive in the final outcome of this year's Tour de France. But after Lance Armstrong won the 205.5km 13th leg through the Pyrénées, everyone was left saying it was more like the decisive stage. In a stage that began in Lannemezan and had seven categorized climbs, Armstrong (U.S. Postal-Berry Floor) turned around his second-place finish to Ivan Basso (CSC) in the previous day's stage by outsprinting the impressive young Italian to the summit finish of Plateau de Beille at 5870 feet. In third place behind the pair was Austrian George

Mayo had a really bad day, nearly abandoning

STAGE RESULTS1. Lance Armstrong (USA), U.S. Postal Service, 6:04:382. Ivan Basso (I), CSC, 00:003. Georg Totschnig (A), Gerolsteiner, 01:054. Andréas KlÖden (G), T-Mobile, 01:275. Francisco Mancebo (Sp), Illes Balears-Banesto, 01:276. Jan Ullrich (G), T-Mobile, 02:427. Azevedo José (P), U.S. Postal Service, 02:508. Christophe Moreau (F), Crédit Agricole, 02:519. Pietro Caucchioli (I), Alessio-Bianchi, 02:5110. Gilberto Simoni (I), Saeco, 03:43 11. Oscar Pereiro Sio (Sp), Phonak, 04:2912. Stephane Goubert (F), Ag2R Prevoyance, 04:2913. Thomas Voeckler (F), Brioches La Boulangere, 04:4214.

Chavanel and Voight got things rolling early

Lance Armstrong said manic Basque cycle fans were his biggest worry as he surged to victory on stage 13 of the Tour de France high in the Pyrénées on Saturday. U.S. Postal’s five-time Tour winner and Italian Ivan Basso (CSC) threaded a precarious route through thousands of fans on the way to the summit at the end of the 205-km stage. French police estimated the crowds on the stage at between 150,000 and 200,000, with around 85,000 of them sporting the orange colours of Euskaltel-Euskadi, whose Basque rider Iban Mayo was having a dismal ride and nearly abandoned. "We just passed a

A friendly rivalry that looks as though it may last all the way to Paris

The Mail Bag is a Monday-Wednesday-Friday feature on VeloNews.com, but will appear daily during the Tour. If you have a comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have seen in cycling, in VeloNews magazine or on VeloNews.com, write to WebLetters@InsideInc.com. Please include your full name and home town. Letters may be edited for length and clarity.Numbers don't lie, do they?Dear Editors,I guess I'm in the minority of those who can't quite figure out howUSA Cycling totals its points. (see "Withsingle-point margin, Haywood gets Olympic nod ")I went to the UCI website and as of

Back pain drove Hamilton out of the Tour

Ivan Basso was on Lance Armstrong’s original list of potential threats for the 2004 Tour de France, but he was not near the top of that list. He is now. The former winner of the Tour’s Best Young Rider jersey has been the only man able to match Armstrong pedal stroke for pedal stroke over the past two days. Though the young Italian said he was forced to his limit to keep up on the final climb to Plateau de Beille, Armstrong didn’t have an overabundance of energy left when it came time to sprint either. Sitting just 1:17 behind Armstrong is a man many believe represents the future of the

Who loves ya, baby? Not this Basque

STAGE 13 July 17 Lannemezan - Plateau de Beille (134.844mi/217km)

The Tour picked the wrong time to visit Basque Country, with Mayo having a rough ride

STAGE 13 July 17 Lannemezan - Plateau de Beille (134.844mi/217km)

Photographer Casey Gibson was one of our eyes in the sky as the Tour de France raced toward its first mountaintop finish. Here's a sampling of what he saw.

Julich picked his wheel and cruised into the finish

We’ve been talking for weeks about the relative strengths of the teams contesting the 2004 Tour de France, but when it comes right down to it, there’s a point when the team leader has to step up and deliver the goods. When that time arrived during Stage 12, some men rose to the occasion and others faded dramatically. Lance Armstrong has been looking forward to the stages to LaMongie and Plateau de Beille for a long time. He has been victorious before on these climbs, he knows them well, and he knows how to exploit their slopes to his advantage. Prior to the stage, the US Postal Service

The stage came down to two men.

The surroundings were familiar to Bobby Julich as he entered the Pyrénées Friday during the 12th stage of the 2004 Tour de France: the chaotic sea of orange shirts, the deafening tunnel of Basque fans cheering, and the high peaks above. The first major mountain test of the 2004 Tour de France was a one-two Pyrénées punch of Category 1 climbs — the Col d’Aspin and the mountaintop finish at La Mongie. The last time Julich was here in 2002, the scene looked about the same. But for the 32-year-old American, now riding for the CSC team in support of Italian star Ivan Basso, everything was

Voeckler holds on...

The Mail Bag is a Monday-Wednesday-Friday feature on VeloNews.com, but will appear daily during the Tour. If you have a comment, an opinion or observation regarding anything you have seen in cycling, in VeloNews magazine or on VeloNews.com, write to WebLetters@InsideInc.com. Please include your full name and home town. Letters may be edited for length and clarity.Is the fix on?Velo,Regarding George’sprediction of the race(s) outcome I wonder if is going to have theSupreme Court fix the tour too. Bill WilliamsDavis, California Compare and contrastEditors,We are fortunate indeed to stand

O'Grady's favorite part of the Tour

Everyone is wondering when something important will happen.Sam Abtwriting in the July 15 edition of The New York Times Not to contradict Sam Abt, who has forgotten more about the Tour de France than I will ever know, but plenty of important stuff has happened during this year’s Tour. True, most of what’s happened has had little to do with who will roll down the Champs-Élysées wearing a stylish yellow jersey and a big white grin come July 25. But then you can’t have everything, not even in the Tour. For starters, it’s moderately important that the stage layout sucks. Front-loading the Tour

Sastre goes for it

Sometimes the riders dictate the tactics on the course; other times, the course decides the tactics. In today’s 197km stage from Castelsarrasin to La Mongie, the peloton headed into the Pyrénées, racing over the Col d’Aspin and finishing with the famous Col du Tourmalet. It was the first real test of fitness, a race of man against man, and man against gravity. The peloton rolled along until it approached the fury of a rainstorm and the looming mountains ahead. Little attacks here and there meant nothing in what everyone knew would be a decisive stage, a day on which the field would shatter,