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Fans line the start in front of the Hotel de Ville in Orleans.

Didier Rous (Bonjour) on his welded aluminium Time TT frame with a Spinergy Rev-X front wheel and a Time carbon fork. His aero' helmet has no chin strap; it's held on with an adjustable band, like a welding helmet.

Birthday boy Jean-Marie LeBlanc, the numero uno of the Tour de France, directs traffic at the finish. Leblanc turned 57 on Saturday.

Michaël Boogerd almost fell out of the top 10, losing almost six and half minutes in the TT. But he looked cool in his cap.

The Michelin cycle, rolls along each day in the publicity caravan.

Jan Ullrich uses a Limar aero' helmet. It seems to be as aerodynamic as any out there, but offers little protection. It's made of plastic that is probably no thicker than a common two-liter pop bottle.

Cycling fans come in all sizes and all ages in France.

Francisco Mancebo depended on Bell to guide the air smoothly over his head and down his back.

The end is nigh! Paris beckons.

Bootes wowed the crowd with a win in Japan.

PMU, a chain of betting parlors, sponsors the green jersey. They'll be fighting for that one until the end.

Donovan's stretched her World Cup lead on her smokin' farewell tour.

The sprint jersey duel between Zabel and O'Grady (that's his arm behind Zabel) will come down to Sunday's final sprint in Paris.

The Badger chats with The Lance.

Telekom's Livingston ahead of the Postal parade.

It's a B-L-T: Bobby Julich, Lance, and Telekom's Ullrich.

As the Tour de France edges closer to Paris, the sprinters get more nervous with every kilometer that passes under their wheels. Five-time sprint points winner Erik Zabel is one of those men, as for the first time in his reign he is not wearing the green jersey entering the final weekend. He trails 11 points behind Stuart O’Grady, whose consistency over the first 18 stages has given him the lead despite his not winning any stages. Zabel won two stages in the first week, and the German may have to win one of the last two stages if he is to get the better of his Australian rival. If Zabel is

Armstrong's mechanic, Julien Devries, is one of the few who makes sure on the starting ramp that there isn't the slightest flaw or piece of glass on the tires.

Quite a few of you have asked that we not reveal the winner in the headline or first paragraph, so if you don't want be surprised as you work your way through our now-not-so-live updates click HERE to work up from the bottom and follow the race from the start. Here is a provisional top-ten list for the day. 1. ZABEL Erik GER TEL In 3:12:27; 2. O'GRADY Stuart AUS C.A; 3. VAINSTEINS Romans LAT DFF; 4. TEUTENBERG Sven GER FES; 5. SVORADA Jan SLO LAM; 6. PETACCHI Alessandro ITA FAS; 7. NAZON Damien FRA BJR; 8. SIVAKOV Alexei RUS BIG; 9. CAPELLE Christophe FRA BIG; 10. CASPER

Heras, with Armstrong's spare helmet.

VeloNews photographer Casey Gibson's daily photo diary from the Tour de France.

Stuart O'Grady, the green sprint jersey holder, may not have been in the top 50 in the time trial, but his helmet and shorts sure match that green jersey nicely.

I'm going to cut to the chase since the word is out. This will be my last season with the US Postal Service Cycling Team. In January 2002, I will be joining the CSC Tiscali Team, based in Denmark. I'm able to look back on the last seven years and reflect upon an incredible experience with a tremendous team composed of some of the world's greatest athletes and support staff. I turned professional with this organization in 1995 and traveled along with it all the way Paris where we've hoped Lance Armstrong would write history at the Tour de France. It's been an unbelievable journey. One I will

Former yellow jersey François Simon dropped a place on GC in the time trial. The cap dragging in the wind was probably the least of his worries, though!

Lance Armstrong got the coolest Giro helmet, designed specifically for him with stars-and-stripes on it with his name down the center. His mechanic, Julien Devries, is one of the few who makes sure on the starting ramp that there isn't the slightest flaw or piece of glass on the tires. HerasWhen aero' guru John Cobb arrived at the Tour the day before the final time trial, Postal's Johan Bruyneel immediately requested assistance for Roberto Heras. Some of the changes Cobb suggested were not possible in the time available, but one was. Last winter, Cobb had seen that Lance's aero' helmet

Rudy Project spends over 90 percent of its efforts on sunglasses, but it appears worthwhile to make aero' helmets, since there is a lot more logo room than on the frames of sunglasses.

Today's sponsor village was in the shadow of the very large, and beautiful Cathedral of Orleans.

The hinged Catlike aero' helmet, when on the focused head of Santiago Botero with the visor down, can look intimidatingly fast.

The start is a mass of TV cables. Some compare it to running the TV operation for a Super Bowl, in a different town every day.

Note Armstrong’s front Hed3 wheel, rear Mavic disc and Vision aero bar with little Dia-Compe-style plug-in brake levers.

This is Heras's 52-cm frame; to get his bars low enough, his Vision bar clamp was cut down so that there is only one bolt, not two, holding it to the steerer.

Note the curved shape of Ullrich’s carbon aero’ bar.

Ullrich tweaked the adjustment on both front and rear brakes before the start.

The logo-less hub on Ullrich's bike has tall flanges to prevent hole deformation and cracking under high spoke tension

After a clockwise lap of France, the race -- the riders, the officials, the journalists -- is moving closer and closer to Paris.

Andrei Kivilev (who lost his podium spot in the time trial) was so nervous on the starting ramp that it looked like if you said 'boo,' he would fall off of the starting ramp. The Cofidis rider packed a little gel up his shorts leg for the ride.

Here's a glimpse of the tools that U.S. Postal, Team Telekom, Cofidis and ONCE riders had at their disposal for the time trial to St. Amand Montrond on July 25. Armstrong's bike, like the other U.S. Postal time trial bikes, has a frame done in the OCLV process, rather than as a monocoque. In other words, each separate part is individually molded, and the whole thing is bonded together. Note Armstrong’s front Hed3 wheel, rear Mavic disc and Vision aero bar with little Dia-Compe-style plug-in brake levers. All of the Trek time trial bikes on U.S. Postal have the same length top tube – 54cm.

Like Armstrong, ONCE's Gonzalez de Galdeano also used a Hed3 front wheel. He didn’t get such a cool Giro helmet as Lance, though. He probably didn’t want one that said 'Lance' down it.

If things went according to plan, I would have ridden the first half of today's (Montluçom--St. Amand-Montrond) time trial hard to set splits for Lance. But it was apparent by about 5.2 seconds into the race that my body was still crying Uncle. Knowing that I wouldn't be setting any land speed records this afternoon, I opted for plan B, which was to ride steady while conserving a few matches for the next two days. This race won't be finished until Lance crosses the line in Paris. And we'll be on guard until that very moment. So I, along with my teammates, still need some strength. It's

Best Young Rider Oscar Sevilla pulled out the 177.5mm crankarms for the time trial.

Armstrong: 'It’s important for the maillot jaune to race the final time trial with 100 percent effort, and prove that he’s the best rider in the race.'

Stefano Garzelli is left trying to restore Italian pride at the Tour.

ONCE's Gonzalez de Galdeano

Ullrich: Third for the day, still second overall.

Beloki's ride today -- finishing sixth -- could be the lift he needs to secure a podium spot in Paris.

The first section of today's 60.5km time trial.

Directions for Lance, and little bit of yellow on the flag. Courtesy of Pedro and Peter Azzolini, father and son who realized a life long dream to see the Tour together.

George Hincapie rides past some American fans on the road to St. Amand-Montrond

World No.1 ranked Australian road cyclist Anna Millward has tested positive for a banned local anaesthetic, national women's coach James Victor said in Sydney on July 26 in . Victor said the drug, believed to be found in an insect bite cream, had been detected in the 29-year-old's A sample taken in France two months ago. He would not name the drug but said it was permitted under the Australian Sports Drug Agency and IOC guidelines "but the regulations are worded differently with the (world cycling head body) UCI. We are now awaiting the results of the B sample, we can't say

Julich with the OLN crew.

After the first 20km loop, it appeared Wohlberg was on a winning ride.

Shameless commercial plug: That's VeloNews Editorial Director John Wilcockson chatting with OLN. He's covering his 33rd Tours de France.

Quits cycling. Drinks beer. Puts on weight. Returns to sport -- wins Tour stage. There's hope for us all!

The cafe de Paris does it up right with jerseys.

Piil and Baguet stayed away from some 180km...though the margin was 13 seconds at the end.

Photographers line up at the finish line for the last image of the day. The gray buildings on the right house communication and timing equipment, and are moved every day.

Postal stayed veeeery attentive to keeping the break within reach.

Roadside fans.

Ullrich and Livingston did the same for Telekom.

CSC-Tiscali's Rolf Sorensen broke out the superlight ADA wheels for the race to Sarran. The wheels weigh under one kilogram for the pair, so they should have reduced the Dane's effort to get over the innumerable climbs on the stage.

Sorensen's rear ADA wheel has a superlight alloy freehub body that fits Shimano cogs but engages Campagnolo-style teeth in the end of the hub shell. The engagement system in an ADA freehub is identical to and interchangeable with Campagnolo.

Note the round, Kevlar-wrapped spokes on Sorensen's super-light ADA front wheel.

Crédit Agricole broke out Shimano carbon wheels for the hilly ride to Sarran.

The 2001 Tour de France is over. American Lance Armstrong has made it three-in-a-row, Lampre's Jan Svorada earned one of the Tour's most prestigious stage wins and Erik Zabel took his sixth consecutive points jersey. Read the full story on the VeloNews Tour de France page. We also have complete results, a post stage wrap-up by Bryan Jew, analysis by John Wilcockson, race images from Graham Watson and Casey Gibson and a look at the technology used in this race by Lennard Zinn.

MichaÎl Boogerd and the rest of his Rabobank teammates used Fir carbon wheels to climb the hills to Sarran.

The Tour has bad memories of Brive-la-Gaillarde, where Thursday’s stage 17 begins. It was here in 1998 that the Festina team was excluded from the Tour de France in a late-night announcement by race director Jean-Marie Leblanc. The decision was made after firm evidence came through that the Festina team –- then ranked No. 1 in the world –- had used an organized system of doping, and that the team had intended using the cache of drugs seized from a Festina team car the previous week. This year, there have been no drug scandals, and only one rider has tested positive since the race began. That

Roberto Heras used his standard road bike for the stage.

4:59 p.m. Here are the preliminary top-ten: 1. BAGUET Serge BEL LOT in 4:13:36; 2. PIIL Jakob DEN CST at 00:00; 3. LELLI Massimiliano ITA COF at 00:05; 4. SVORADA Jan SLO LAM at 00:13; 5. NAZON Damien FRA BJR at 00:13; 6. ZABEL Erik GER TEL at 00:13; 7. O'GRADY Stuart AUS C.A at 00:13; 8. VAINSTEINS Romans LAT DFF at 00:13; 9. PETACCHI Alessandro ITA FAS at 00:13; 10. CAPELLE Christophe FRA BIG at 00:13; Stay tuned for a complete post stage wrap-up and results, including details on the ever-tightening green jersey race between Stuart O'Grady and Erik Zabel.4:54 p.m. They MADE IT! With the

Heras does not toe the U.S. Postal line when it comes to seatposts. He uses a Selcof CNC instead of a Shimano post.

Rolf Sorensen clearly must have planned on going for it on the hilly road to Sarran, since he had pulled out his ADA wheels for the task. But the CSC-Tiscali Sorensen who was in the breakaway and ended up fourth was Nicki Sorensen. Rolf’s ADAs look very similar to the Lightweight wheels that Armstrong used in the uphill time trial to Chamrousse and that Jalabert used on some mountain stages, but there are important differences. While both brands have carbon hub shells, the carbon-Kevlar spokes on Lightweights are flat, while those of ADAs are round and made of carbon wrapped in Kevlar

U.S. Postal's Victor Hugo Peña also does not use the team's standard Shimano seatpost. His is a Tandem Titanium Project (TTP).

There is no shortage of great stories in cycling. Today's victor, Serge Baguet from Belgium is one example. He was a professional cyclist for about 7 years when he decided to hang up his bike and head back to Belgium to be a roofer. After three years of that he perhaps realized he left the sport of cycling too soon. Last year he returned to racing and today, he won a stage in the Tour de France. Any of you out there saying, woulda-shoulda-coulda should follow his lead and get back out there. You never know where your passion can take you. The U.S. Postal Service has transformed from

And you thought all riders used padded tape! Euskaltel-Euskadi uses that plastic tape with criss-crossing ribs on it like you used to find on Huffy 10-speeds.

A rolling route on a hot day. A long day on the road.

Now that the mountains are over, riders are more relaxed and start to visit the village before the start. Today's second place finisher Jacob Piil (right) enjoys a coffee.

Postal cowboys: Riding herd on the peloton.

A shot of Hamilton earlier in the week, with his family in the Pyrénées.

Ullrich's frame has smaller-diameter, thinner-walled tubing than his normal bike. The whole thing is claimed to be a kilogram lighter than his normal bike.