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VeloNews photographer Casey Gibson is at the Tour de France and is taking time to shoot not just the race, but also the scenes along the road and the activity just outside of the peloton.

Rodriguez struggles and eventually misses the time cut.

Jonathan Boyer, the first American to compete in the Tour de France, has been charged with 10 felony counts of child molestation in Monterey County, in California. According to a report in the Salinas Californian,Boyer, who first raced in the Tour in 1981, was arrested in May in Seaside, California, after a 16-year-old girl alleged that the 46-year-old Boyer had molested her for at least a year, beginning five years ago. Boyer posted $300,000 bail in the case and was released. Last week Boyer made his first court appearance in the case, where the presiding judge scheduled a preliminary

After attacking early on, Boogerd heldon to take the stage.

Boogerd struggled to hold off his pursuers over the last few kilometers.

Sastre and CSC-Tiscali Staff Member Piet DeMoor goof off on Rest Day #2

Up the Galibier

Merckx, Jalabert and the rest of the break.

O'Grady's hunt for points took him over some tough terrain.

Rumsas is solidly holding on to third

The doc'

World-famous cycling Photographer Graham Watson in the flesh

PRELIMINARY STAGE RESULTS: 1. Santiago Botero (Col), KEL, 226.5 km in 5:55:16. (38.253 kph) 2. Mario Aerts (Bel), LOT, at  01:51. 3. Axel Merckx (Bel), DFF, at 02:30. 4. Emmanuel Magnien (Fra), BJR, at 04:22. 5. Sandy Casar (Fra), FDJ, at 04:28. 6. Vicente Garcia-Acosta (Sp), BAN, at 05:15. 7. Raimondas Rumsas (Lit), LAM, at 06:41. 8. Joseba Beloki (Sp), ONE, at 06:41. 9. Lance Armstrong (USA), USP, at 06:41. 10. Francisco Mancebo (Sp), BAN, at 06:46. 11. Roberto Heras (Sp), USP, at 06:47. 12. Ivan Basso (Ita), FAS, at

Germany's 1997 Tour de France champion Jan Ullrich was banned for six months by the German Cycling Federation (BDR) on Tuesday after testing positive for amphetamines. The 28-year-old Olympic champion, who rides for the Telekom team, tested positive in an out-of-competition test on June 12 at a Bavarian rehabilitation clinic where he was recovering after a knee operation. The injury had already ruled him out of this year's Tour de France. The ban begins on Wednesday and will run until March 23 to take into account the two winter months. Three days after revelations of the positive

The Tour de France needs it fans. They are the source of its popularity. But there are some fans out there that the race can really do without. Always has. Just ask Lance Armstrong. He has already said what he thinks of those who jeered him all the way to the top of Mont Ventoux on stage 14. Go back in time and ask Eddy Merckx. In 1975, while leading the Tour on stage 14 to the Puy de Dôme, he found himself at the receiving end of a mighty wack in the kidneys from a roadside fan. Well, maybe not a fan. Merckx still believes the attack cost him the overall victory, which that year went to

Rob,Yes, I asked to have my contract cut short, but it's not quite as dramatic as OLN made it sound, I suppose I'm still racing with Crédit Agricole till the end of 2002 … or at least getting paid by them. I just asked to be released for 2003, simply because it just wasn't working for me. I had lost my fire to be a pro in Europe, and as you've seen first hand in the Dauphiné, it's just too hard to do it strictly for the money. Rob, I reached my full potential over there, contrary to what some of my own very optimistic friends and fans will say, and in some ways exceeded what I thought was

VeloNews photographer Casey Gibson is at the Tour de France and is taking time to shoot not just the race, but also the scenes along the road and the activity just outside of the peloton.

The day after a rest day is a dangerous stage. In some ways rest days can be as much harm as good. Some riders don’t handle disruptions in the rhythm of racing very well, others recuperate to the point they can rip people’s legs off on the next stage. Santiago Botero had a rough day on the Mont Ventoux, but the rest day was all he needed to breathe new life into his legs for a great stage win today. Botero was allowed some freedom because his troubles on the Ventoux put him 18 minutes down on Armstrong in the GC. Since he was no longer perceived as a primary threat to the yellow jersey,

The breakaway formed at 65km

Still in yellow. Still in control.

Blue protects yellow.

Orca is back. The team stickers, by the way, are free at your local Post Office..

Functional fashion -- check the next photo

She swears she rode up L'Alpe d'Huez with these things.

Passing the orchard

Aquarel

Race food?

Belgian cycling legend Eddy Merckx, who claimed five Tour de France and Giro d’Italia titles, admitted Monday that he never thought Lance Armstrong could one day win the Tour de France. Merckx, who now works a radio consultant and runs the bicycle factory that bears his name, became friends with the 30-year-old American just before he was struck down by testicular cancer in 1997. Since then, the two men have grown closer and Merckx now believes the U.S. Postal team leader, currently heading for a fourth consecutive Tour triumph, can win as many editions of the world's top bike race as he

A rest day leg-loosener for a professional bicycle racer in the Tour deFrance is a hard weekend ride for most people. Lance Armstrong, hiseight U.S. Postal Service teammates and actor Robin Williams set out ona 90km, two-hour “spin” through the countryside of Vaucluse on Monday.After about 30 minutes, Williams took a right turn and flew back to Hollywood. Armstrong kept on pushing to keep his legs limber as he goes into thefinal stretch of his run for a fourth consecutive Tour de France victory. The dust settled Monday following the fireworks on Mont Ventoux. Armstrongset a new record of 58

After a long stage that finished on Ventoux yesterday, I was happy to have a bit of rest this morning. And I had some company as well. In the form of the four legged furry kind. My wife made a surprise trip up from Spain along with our dog Tugboat yesterday. He decided to spend the night at my hotel versus getting back into the car to travel on with Haven. It was nice to have him around, although we found out the hard way, that my roommate Carlos Sastre is allergic to dogs. After spending only a few minutes in our room with Tugs his eyes and legs started to swell. But he was a sport about

VeloNews photographer Casey Gibson is at the Tour de France and is taking time to shoot not just the race, but also the scenes along the road and the activity just outside of the peloton.

Rapinski (left) and Clark will battle to the death.

Michael Johnson

Robbie Ventura (left) and Roberto Gaggioli hanging back.

A U.S. fan with a liking for hats

Watch out Phil!

Begian fans

French fans

Pavel on Ventoux

'I'm sorry, sir, the rulebook clearly says both wheels must be the same size.'

The Tom Simpson memorial

The Prize

Giuseppe Guerini and Chechu Rubiera in the final kilometer

5:23 p.m. PRELIMINARY STAGE RESULTS1. Richard Virenque (Fra), DFF, 221 km in 5:43:26. 38.610 kph) 2. Alexandre Botcharov (Rus), A2R, at ˆ 01:58. 3. Lance Armstrong (USA), USP, at 02:20. 4. Marco Serpellini (Ita), LAM, at 02:54. 5. Raimondas Rumsas (Lit), LAM, at 03:36. 6. Ivan Basso (Ita), FAS, at 03:39. 7. Francisco Mancebo (Esp), BAN, at 03:51. 8. Joseba Beloki (Esp), ONE, at 04:05. 9. Dariusz Baranowski (Pol), BAN, at 04:10. 10. Ivan Gotti (Ita), ALS, at 04:16. 11. Levi Leipheimer (USA), RAB, at 04:25. 12. Jose Azevedo (Por), ONE, at 04:45. 13. Stephane Goubert (Fra), DEL, at

Tour de France race leader Lance Armstrong took a swipe at French fans who he said insulted him regularly as he blasted his way up the Mont Ventoux during the 14th stage on Sunday. The 30-year-old three-time winner of the world's biggest bike race finished third on a stage won by Frenchman Richard Virenque, who managed to hold on to his early lead despite Armstrong chasing him down in the final few kilometers. Armstrong's failure to catch Virenque, who finished 2:20 ahead of the American and 1:58 ahead of Russian Alexandre Botcharov, had good consequences however for his overall position in

VeloNews photographer Casey Gibson is at the Tour de France and is taking time to shoot not just the race, but also the scenes along the road and the activity just outside of the peloton.

Richard Virenque’s return to the Tour de France had gone relatively quietly until Stage 14. Up to this point he had ridden well and was consistently near the front of the race, but he had not shown his aggressive racing style of years past. He changed all that today by attacking the peloton 19 kilometers into a 221-kilometer stage. Fortunately the group with Virenque was committed to the breakaway and was big enough to afford everyone some rest time between pulls. The gap to the peloton grew to over 12 minutes, and was down to about 8 at the base of the Mont Ventoux. Virenque conjured up

Armstrong has solidified his lead as heads to the Alps.

Virenque was on the attack for more than 200km

The main escape started at km 19

It was soon down to a familiar list of major players - Rubiera, Armstrong and Beloki.

After trying an attack, Beloki (second from left) found himself struggling and slipped back to his teammate Padera.

Virenque and Armstrong big winners atop Ventoux

Welcome to Provence

Lance Fans

From West Virginia to Ventoux

VeloNews photographer Casey Gibson is at the Tour de France and is taking time to shoot not just the race, but also the scenes along the road and the activity just outside of the peloton.

Alfred contemplates his next move

When Lance Armstrong says that Mont Ventoux is “the hardest climb we’lldo this year,” you know he means it. He clarified that statement by sayingSunday’s 221km stage from Lodève to the 6273-foot Ventoux summitmay not be the most difficult stage, because there are no other climbs.But when you have already been riding on rough, rolling roads in 90-degreeheat for more than five hours, the sudden effort of scaling a 21.5km climbhas an added bite. The severity of the climb cannot be exaggerated. As the French cyclistRaphaël Geminiani said on a stage of the 1955 Tour: “Easy Ferdi, theVentoux is

Saturday action hot at Alpenrose Velodrome

How about that Laurent Jalabert? The guy's been riding like an animal for three days. I honestly don't know how he does it. Attacking off the front takes a lot out of you, especially going up hill. He's incredible. We're happy to see him wearing the polka-dot climber’s jersey. Doing so was a big personal goal for him and for our team. And you could say the entire country of France is happy for him, too. It seems like the entire population has come out to wish him well in his last Tour de France. The frenzy surrounding this guy is nothing short of a circus. It's great to see. Yesterday

Nothstein

It’s been a long nine years for Jonathan Vaughters and the Crédit Agricole rider says he’s now ready to come home and put an early end to his career as a member of the European peloton. Vaughters, who withdrew from the the Tour de France last week after a Stage 11 crash on the descent of the Col d’ Aubisque, said that the mishap simply accelerated his decision to seek an early end to his existing contract with his team. “It’s been on my mind for a while now,” the 29-year-old Vaughters told VeloNews. “I don’t enjoy being away from my wife and son and even when they’re here (in Spain), I’m

It’s been a long nine years for Jonathan Vaughters and the Crédit Agricole rider says he’s ready to come home and put an early end to his career as a member of the European peloton. Vaughters, who withdrew from the the Tour de France last week after a Stage 11 crash on the descent of the Col d’ Aubisque, said that the mishap simply accelerated his decision to seek an early end to his existing contract with his team. “It’s been on my mind for a while now,” the 29-year-old Vaughters told VeloNews. “I don’t enjoy being away from my wife and son and even when they’re here (in Spain), I’m off

The 2002 Tour de France is going to end up being a great teaching tool for cycling coaches. All you have to do is go back and watch the way the tactics have unfolded each day. The final 20 kilometers of Stage 8 and Stage 13 should be used to teach racers how to win races from a breakaway. Today David Millar pulled off a perfect counterattack to reduce the leading group from 11 to five men; thereby increasing his chances of getting the stage win. Millar’s attack was critical to the end result of the stage because he was in a breakaway with two iBanesto teammates and two Rabobank teammates.

Talk about having rules to match the occasion. The Tour de France (dis)organization race jury have excelled themselves this time. A look at the green points jersey classification after stage 13 fromLavelanet to Beziers was a case in point. First glance shows Australian Robbie McEwen (Lotto) having taken the green jersey back from Erik Zabel (Telekom) after outsprinting the German for second place in the bunch sprint. McEwen's 13th place on the stage (offering 13 points) against Zabel's 14th (offering 12) now leaves them tied on 229 points and with the battle destined to go down to the

A parade float along today's route

Allez Jaja

Allez Levi

Today's podium girls are bound to generate a letter or two!

There's really only one climb on Stage 14.

Artwork by Odessa

Put the rulebook downRoop!

5:24 p.m. With the sprint starting with a lead-out from Credit Agricole's Thor Hushovd for O'Grady. Telekom comes to the front. The traffic is heavy and it's a mess at the front. The two main points contenders do not win the field sprint, but McEwen nis Zabel at the line, giving him a one-point advantage for the day and putting the two men in a tie on the points standings. 5:23 p.m. We are in the final kilometer. 5:22 p.m. The peloton is heading in to town. The gap is still large. McEwen is active and antsy near the front. Zabel is close by. 5:28 p.m. Now the next big contest will be

Walrod and Carney reall were a 'Prime Alliance'

Dufaux, Jalabert and Nozal on the Col de la Core

Rubiera sets the pace on the road to Plateau de Beille

Jalabert is caught in the final kilometers again.