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L'Alpe d'Huez is just as steep going down as it is going up

The Alps … what an experience they were. And the people. I have never ever ridden through so many crowds. Whatever happens, it is an experience I will never forget. With them behind us now, I’ll have a bit of time to reflect back on the experience; well, that is until the Pyrénées come under our wheel and the road goes painfully up again. Today’s stage was hard, hot and hurt as the result sheet shows (I was 78th at 15:38, along with 13 others). This time I couldn’t finish with the leaders, as I did on stage seven where I was fourth, or even as I did in stage eight where I hit the last climb

Stage 9 Tech Talk: Hot tar, sticky brakes and Lance's daily driver

On the Col d'Izoard

Bumped into 1987 Tour de France winner Stephen Roche the other day. Literally. But as anyone who has followed the Tour will tell you, as the race gets bigger and bigger and more congested along the way, bumping into people is what you do. Forget meeting them. Doing so with Roche was a good thing. Our subsequent chat brought back a lot of fond memories. We spoke of his great races and tigerísh spirit to racing. We spoke of 1987, the year of his triple crown — victory in the Giro d’Italia, Tour de France and the world professional road championship (at Villach, Austria). We spoke and spoke

Stage 9 Tech Talk: Hot tar, sticky brakes and Lance's daily driver

Jaksche was a big factor all day.

More than anything, I wish the biggest story of the day was AlexanderVinokorouv’s victorious attack in the closing kilometers of Stage 9. Instead,our attention was once again drawn to the dangers of racing bicycles, thistime illustrated by Joseba Beloki’s brutal crash on the final descent ofthe day.No one really knows what happened first, whether his rear tire blewor slipped in melted asphalt, but the result was quick and painful. Belokifought to stay upright, his wheels dug into the soft pavement, and he wasthrown violently to the ground. Early reports indicate the impact brokethe upper

Up the Côte de la Rochette - moments before Beloki's crash

Armstrong is forced off the road as Beloki crashed

Armstrong knows better than anyone that this race is far from over

Vino' now in second overall

Riding with Richard

Armstrong puts on 'cross demo' for a startled spectator

Gracia grapples with his new trophy.

Prince Albert of Monaco talks with five time Tour winner Bernard Hinault

Beloki before the start

To see how Stage 9 of the Tour unfolded live, just go to our Live Update window and follow the action all the way to the finish.

Armstrong, Ullrich and Basso finish

If this year's Tour de France hasn't been exciting enough already, Monday's 184.5km stage 9 through the scorched French Alps proved yet again that there's never a dull day at the Tour. Tragically, last year's runner-up Joseba Beloki crashed out of the race in a high-speed spill with just 4km to go, while four-time defending champion Lance Armstrong had to test his cyclo-cross skills when he bounced through a hay field to avoid the fallen Beloki. When he crashed, Beloki was leading Armstrong in hot pursuit of Telekom's Alexandre Vinokourov, who was heading toward a famous stage win in Gap.

Stage 9 Individual Results1. Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz), Telekom, 5:02:002. Paolo Bettini (I), Quick Step-Davitamon, 00:363. Iban Mayo (Sp), Euskaltel-Euskadi, 00:364. Lance Armstrong (USA), U.S. Postal Service, 00:365. Jan Ullrich (G), Bianchi, 00:366. Ivan Basso (I), Fassa Bortolo, 00:367. Georg Totschnig (A), Gerolsteiner, 00:368. Francisco Mancebo (Sp), iBanesto.com, 00:369. Haimar Zubeldia (Sp), Euskaltel-Euskadi, 00:3610. Tyler Hamilton (USA), CSC, 00:3611. Roberto Laiseka (Sp), Euskaltel-Euskadi, 00:3612. Didier Rous (F), Brioches La Boulangere, 00:5213. Denis Menchov (Rus),

Virenque celebrates the climber's jersey with Laurent Jalabert

Stage 9 Tech Talk: Hot tar, sticky brakes and Lance's daily driver

When the Tour de France visited L’Alpe d’Huez two years ago, Lance Armstrong destroyed his opposition by a two–minute margin and virtually put his third Tour win on ice. That’s far from the case this year. In Sunday’s spectacular alpine stage, the defending champion was attacked from all quarters and it was the Texan who conceded the two minutes to an explosive Iban Mayo — the 25-year-old Euskaltel-Euskadi rider who already pushed Armstrong to the limit in taking second place at last month’s Dauphiné Libéré. You could say that Armstrong and his U.S. Postal-Berry Floor team were

Road painting for Lance in Turn 1

Mayo gives it everything

views of the north side of Galibier

Vinokourov held on to take second

Virenque Fan Club on Galibier

Virenque had Rogers' company up the final climb

Lance Armstrong loves to win, but he knows it is better to concede some battles in the effort to win the war. When he has a great day, Lance can leave everyone behind with one hard attack, but today wasn’t great and it became clear to him early on in the Alp d’Huez climb that the best strategy was to ride defensively. Lance went into Stage 8 intending to attack on Alp d’Huez and put as much time as possible into his main rivals for the yellow jersey. The US Postal Service set him up perfectly to do just that, setting a blistering pace up the initial slopes of the mountain. Their efforts

Simoni's new ride

The women's final podium: Johnson, Bessette, Albert

This was the one everyone was waiting for. At 219km, the stage from Sallanches to L'alpe D’huez was the fourth longest of this Tour, but it was, by a long stretch, the toughest so far. Of the five climbs, two are among the toughest (and most famous) in the world: the hors categorie 2645-meter Col du Galibier (the highest point of the entire race) and the much-feared 1850-meter L' Alpe d'Huez. To take on a day like this, both riders and their equipment needed to be ready for the seemingly endless climbs as well as heart-stopping descents. Here's a look at some of the equipment the riders

Stage 8 Tour Tech: Gear for the toughest of days

Candelario stays glued to Horner's wheel

A great injustice has occurred on the Tour de France and not a soul has stood up to make a point of it. By doing so now, I’ll probably find out why lips have remained tight. Basically, Tour history has stiffed the person who should be credited with founding the Tour. And it took today’s stage 8 from Sallanches to L’Alpe d’Huez to highlight that omission. As the stage passed the 2654-meter summit of the Galibier after 157km and we began the long descent, looking to the right we saw the massive stone monument dedicated to Henri Desgrange. Known as H.D (pronounced “ash-day” in French) to his

Stage 8 Tour Tech: Gear for the toughest of days

The men's final podium:Wherry, Danielson, Vaughters

What a difference a week makes. Last Sunday night was a pretty low point for me and everyone on the CSC team. But here we are seven days later, reflecting on a day we couldn’t have imagined was possible. It's impossible to explain the range of emotions this team has been through since the start of the Tour. But everyone has rallied around me and my effort to continue. I don't know where I'd be without their support. My being able to stay in this race has been the result of a full and collective effort by all the riders and staff. Everyone has tried to stay as positive as possible.

Dahle was on cruise control all day.

Paulissen survived to grab his first World Cup win.

Stage 8 Tour Tech: Gear for the toughest of days

Attrition.

No stage win, but Armstrong got a bigger prize

Stage 8 Tour Tech: Gear for the toughest of days

Green digging out a tool (yes he had his own) to fix his cleat.

It’s a name that’s synonymous with the Tour de France: L’Alpe d’Huez. The numbers are well known — 13.8km long, 21 switchbacks, 7.9 percent average grade — but they can’t begin to tell the story of the fabled climb. It has become to cycling what Kitzbühel is to ski racing, or Monaco to Formula 1. So when planning the course of this centennial Tour, it was clear that L’Alpe d’Huez had to be one of the “must” stage finishes. The Alpe wasn’t included in the Tour’s itinerary until 1952, so it has been featured only 21 times (this year will make it 22) in the event’s 89 editions. Although that

Ullrich lost 1:24 to Armstrong on the climb

American fans on Alpe d' Huez, from Seattle and Atlanta

Jakshe's Giant

Hermida powers to a second-place finish.

This is the third straight 200km-plus stage, and the most challenging yet. All the action will be in the final 100km. That’s when the race reaches the foot of the Col du Télégraphe, which is the start of 30km of uphill work (other than one brief downhill) to the 2645-meter (8697-foot) summit of the Col du Galibier, the high point of the 2003 Tour. This northern approach is unrelenting, and usually sees the peloton reduced to a handful of riders, especially if the weather is cold or wet. There will surely be some sort of regrouping on the 40km-long descent, but then comes the infamous 13.8km

Fast company

Courage, climbing Alpe d'Huez with one leg