Road Racing

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.

Davis Phinney is perhaps America's winningest road racer ever.

The UCI is taking a second look at the 6.8kg (14.99lb) weight limit currently inflicted on race bikes.

LES HERBIERS, France (AFP) - Cadel Evans believes Alberto Contador remains the man to beat at this year's Tour de France despite the Spaniard's recent efforts in winning the Giro d'Italia.

Last year, he could use the white jersey as a back up. This year, it's all about yellow.

There’s a feeling in the air this month that this could be the Tour of upsets.

Quick Step's Tom Boonen says he'll treat the Tour stages like one-day races.

LES HERBIERS, France (AFP) - American George Hincapie has found himself in familar territory at the Tour de France helping Australian Cadel Evans in his bid for an elusive yellow jersey.

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 first.

From winning stages at Tirreno-Adriatico and the Ster ZLM Tour to burying his best friend following a fatal accident at the Giro d’Italia, it would be a terrible understatement to call the first half of 2011 a rollercoaster for Garmin-Cervélo’s Tyler Farrar.

LES HERBIERS, France (AFP) - Quick Step sporting director Wilfried Peeters said Friday his team had nothing to worry about despite their bus being given a thorough search by police on the eve of the Tour de France.

The HTC sprinter says fans and media don't understand how hard it is to win a stage.

A look at Ivan Basso's Cannondale Super Six Evo, and Basso's adjustable-on-the-fly seatpost

LES HERBIERS, France (VN) — Two sprinters in one team might mean trouble, but Garmin-Cervélo promises that there will be no discord between world champion Thor Hushovd and Tyler Farrar when it comes to mass gallops over the next three weeks.

LES HERBIERS, France (VN) — Andy Schleck says he's locked and loaded to take on the challenge of winning the Tour de France.

LES HERBIERS, France (VN) — With everyone talking about Andy Schleck and Alberto Contador, Robert Gesink is just fine hanging on the edges of the limelight.

World champion Thor Hushovd, in his rainbow stripes, may have stolen the show at Thursday’s Tour de France team presentation by donning a wig and brandishing a hammer as the Norse god of thunder; but also sharing the spotlight were the riders in distinctively colored national championship jerseys who won their respective title races last weekend.

Team Garmin-Cervelo at a pre-Tour de France news conference

Riis says Contador has every right to race this Tour

Less pressure on Wiggins should lead to better results

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