Road Racing

Delaney and Hood on the pushing and shoving - before, during and after stage 5

CAP FREHEL, France (AFP) - Movistar's Jose Joaquin Rojas lost possession of the Tour de France green jersey after blocking Mark Cavendish on the midway sprint of the race's fifth stage, officials announced on Wednesday.

CAP FREHEL, France (VN) —With 800m to go in Wednesday's crash-filled fifth stage, Rolf Aldag thought that HTC-Highroad had blown another chance at victory.

CAP FREHEL, France (AFP) - Australian Robbie McEwen said he is concerned about what he feels is a recent trend to reduce victory opportunities to sprinters on the world's biggest cycling races.

• 1. Mark Cavendish, Htc - Highroad, in 3h 38' 32"
• 2. Philippe Gilbert, Omega Pharma - Lotto, at s.t
• 3. Joaquin Rojas Jose, Movistar Team, at s.t.
• 4. Tony Gallopin, Cofidis Le Credit En Ligne, at s.t.
• 5. Geraint Thomas, Sky Procycling, at s.t.

Mark Cavendish won Wednesday’s stage 5 of the 2011 Tour de France, a 164.5-kilometer race from Carhaix to Cap Fréhel.

Breakfast with Bernie: Stage 5 of the Tour de France

CAP FREHEL, France (AFP) - Reigning champion Alberto Contador and fellow yellow jersey contenders Bradley Wiggins and Robert Gesink survived crashes to continue the fifth stage of the Tour de France on Wednesday.

July 24 Stage 21: Créteil to Paris (Champs-Élysées), 95km (59 miles)

July 23 Stage 20: Grenoble time trial, 42.5km (26.4 miles)

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Pro bike 'choices,' carbon fork fatigue, fitting tools & more

MUR-DE-BRETAGNE, France (VN) — Americans Tejay Van Garderen and Danny Pate earned hard-fought slots on HTC-Highroad's competitive Tour de France selections, but both came via very different routes.

Beating Contador and Gilbert at Mûr-de-Bretagne are major victories

A look at the jersey competitions and more from stage 4

Tuesday's biggest surprise was Thor Hushovd, whose tenacity and strength kept him in the yellow jersey by one second to Cadel Evans (BMC).

MUR-DE-BRETAGNE, France (AFP) — Tour de France contender Andy Schleck brushed off losing eight seconds to yellow jersey rival Alberto Contador on Tuesday as the Spaniard provided drama on a thrilling finish to stage 4.

The UCI will begin random bike controls at the Tour de France

MUR-DE-BRETAGNE, France (VN) — Alberto Contador isn't one to take setbacks sitting down.

Andrew Hood and Ben Delaney discuss the big rides of stage 4

A look at Cadel Evans' stage-winning BMC teammachine SLR01

Nick Legan looks at how team mechanics prepped bikes for Tuesday's rainy stage

Stage 4

• 1. Cadel Evans, Bmc Racing Team, in 4h 11' 39"
• 2. Alberto Contador, Saxo Bank Sungard, at s.t.
• 3. Alexandre Vinokourov, Pro Team Astana, at 00:00
• 4. Rigoberto Uran, Sky Procycling, at s.t.
• 5. Philippe Gilbert, Omega Pharma - Lotto, at s.t.

Cadel Evans (BMC) won Tuesday's stage 4 of the 2011 Tour de France, a 172.5-kilometer race from Lorient to Mûr-de-Bretagne with a tough uphill finish.

Colombian climber Mauricio Soler remains in intensive care, but is no longer in a medically-induced coma nearly three weeks after his high-speed crash at the Tour de Suisse.

Arm wrestling, stolen wallets and a bad-joke competition

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A region that spored Tour winners Hinault, Bobet and Robic

REDON, France (AFP) - Mark Cavendish warned his Tour de France sprint rivals not to write him off after the Briton was forced to play second fiddle to American Tyler Farrar on the race's third stage Monday.

AleJet’s Wilier Triestina Cento 1 — long, low stem and short cranks

REDON, France (VN) — Omega Pharma-Lotto made it clear from the first few kilometers of the 2011 Tour de France that the Belgian squad is here to race. With one stage win already in the bag, Omega is looking for more victories, plus a stint in the green jersey and a podium spot in Paris.

Facts and figures from stage 3

Editor in chief Ben Delaney and European correspondent Andrew Hood pick apart stage 3

Dan Wuori is one of the funniest Twitter bards in the cycling world (follow him at @dwuori). This month, he will be expanding a bit beyond 140 characters to share periodic journals during the Tour de France. Today's is the fourth.

REDON, France, July 4, 2011 (AFP) - Tour de France organizers punished Mark Cavendish and Thor Hushovd for a mid-stage tussle by stripping the pair of the points they won at the intermediate sprint on the race's third stage Monday.

• 1. Tyler Farrar, Team Garmin - Cervelo, in 4h 40' 21"
• 2. Romain Feillu, Vacansoleil-Dcm, at s.t.
• 3. Joaquin Rojas Jose, Movistar Team, at s.t.
• 4. Sébastien Hinault, Ag2r La Mondiale, at s.t.
• 5. Mark Cavendish, HTC - Highroad, at s.t.

A look at Omega Pharma's Canyon bikes

VIDEO: Breakfast with Bernie Eisel, stage 3

REDON, France (VN) — Garmin-Cervélo was still buzzing following the team's dramatic victory in the team time trial, which delivered the team its first Tour de France win and put Thor Hushovd into the yellow jersey.

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Nick Legan feasts his eyes (and lens) at the stage-2 team time trial of the 2011 Tour de France.

VeloNews polls the players after the stage-2 team time trial in the 2011 Tour de France.

VeloNews.com's Andrew Hood and Ben Delaney break down the team time trial.

North Americans young and old are turning in fine performances early on in the 2011 Tour de France.

LES ESSARTS, France (VN) - Alberto Contador tried to put a positive spin after a second consecutive day of time losses to his rivals at the 2011 Tour de France.

This time the UCI is making sure that saddles are "horizontal."

Jonathan Vaughters says Garmin-Cervélo's victory in Sunday's team time trial is confirmation that cycling is cleaning up its act.

Graham Watson captures Garmin-Cervélo's maiden stage win in the team time trial at the 2011 Tour de France.

Dan Wuori is one of the funniest Twitter bards in the cycling world (follow him at @dwuori. This month, he will be expanding a bit beyond 140 characters to share periodic journals during the Tour de France. Today's is the third.

Stage Result

• 1. TEAM GARMIN-CERVELO, in 24:48
• 2. BMC RACING TEAM, in 24:52
• 3. SKY PROCYCLING, in 24:52, at 00:04
• 4. TEAM LEOPARD-TREK, in 24:52, at 00:04
• 5. HTC-HIGHROAD, in 24:53, at 00:05

Garmin-Cervélo finally won its first stage in a Tour de France on Sunday, claiming victory in the stage-2 team time trial and putting world champion Thor Hushovd into the race leader's yellow jersey.

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Stage 1 of the 2011 Tour de France proved yet again that contenders for the final overall victory need to keep themselves up front and out of trouble.

Alberto Contador's rivals for the overall got a gift on Saturday as the defending Tour de France champ lost more than a minute on the first stage.

Inside the sprawling 3,430km Tour de France, stage 2 is a mere 23km; however, the team time trial could well be decisive for the overall.

RadioShack pushed its four riders through the mayhem in Saturday's opening stage of the 2011 Tour de France, but team boss Johan Bruyneel shot down suggestions that the Shack was driving the bunch when Alberto Contador was caught behind the main pack with a crash in the closing kilometers.

Casey B. Gibson has dragged his camera bag across the pond yet again to help VeloNews.com cover the 2011 Tour de France.

Philippe Gilbert admitted he could not have wished for more as his dream season continued with a maiden Tour de France stage win, and the yellow jersey, on Saturday.

Andrew Hood's notebook will once again be a regular feature during Velonews.com's coverage of the 2011 Tour de France.

Johan Bruyneel talks about RadioShack's post-crash tactics on stage 1 of the Tour de France.

Philippe Gilbert's spare Canyon Aeroad CF is sexy enough to be anyone's main machine.

Breakfast with Bernie, stage 1: "We're always fighting on the bus"

Nick Legan sends a few snaps from the start of the 2011 Tour de France.

Dan Wuori is one of the funniest Twitter bards in the cycling world (follow him at @dwuori. This month, he will be expanding a bit beyond 140 characters to share periodic journals during the Tour de France. Today's is the second.

How does the '3km rule' impact Saturday's stage? Quite a bit, as it turns out.

• 1. Philippe Gilbert, Omega Pharma - Lotto, in 4h 41' 31"
• 2. Cadel Evans, Bmc Racing Team, at 00:03
• 3. Thor Hushovd, Team Garmin - Cervelo, at 00:06
• 4. Joaquin Rojas Jose, Movistar Team, at 00:06
• 5. Broeck Jurgen Van Den, Omega Pharma - Lotto, at 00:06

Philippe Gilbert (Omega Pharma-Lotto) won a crash-filled kickoff to the 2011 Tour de France on Saturday, while defending champion Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank-Sungard) found himself nearly a minute and a half in the hole after getting caught behind a massive pileup with 8km to race.