Tour de France 2025

Brian Holcombe and Andrew Hood from the Alpe d'Huez finish line

ALPE d'HUEZ, France (VN) — Tom Danielson realizes he has one more hard effort before he can enjoy what's been a highly successful Tour de France debut.

ALPE D'HUEZ, France (AFP) - Tour de France leader Andy Schleck believes he still has enough juice in his legs to defy Australian Cadel Evans to secure his maiden yellow jersey on Saturday.

A look at Johnny Hoogerland's team Vacansoleil Ridley Helium

France finally scored a stage win in this Tour as Europcar's young Pierre Rolland won atop l'Alpe d'Huez, grabbing the white jersey for best young rider on the day his teammate Thomas Voeckler finally gave up the yellow jersey.

Stage 1 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Team Europcar 3:13:25 2 Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:00:14 3 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Saxo Bank Sungard 0:00:23 4 Peter Velits (Svk) HTC-Highroad 0:00:57 5 Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team GC 1 Andy Schleck (Lux) Leopard Trek 2 Fränk Schleck (Lux) Leopard Trek 0:00:53 3 Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:00:57 4 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Team Europcar 0:02:10 5 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre - ISD 0:03:31

COL DU GALIBIER, France (VN) — Thursday’s gigantic stage 18 at the Tour de France was all about survival, whether that was simply to stay in the race and fight a more strategic battle to remain in the race for the yellow jersey.

PUY SAINT PIERRE, France (VN) - As teams whose top-five GC hopes have faded often do, Garmin-Cervélo is chasing the teams classification at the Tour de France. But with four stage wins, a week in the maillot jaune and an American rookie fighting for the top-10, Garmin’s Tour has been their best ever and Tom Danielson leads the squad in a run at the final podium in the final three days of the race.

After two weeks of watching and waiting, a bike race broke out Thursday as Andy Schleck took the most important stage of his career.

COL DU GALIBIER, France (VN) — Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) collapsed on his handlebars after defending the yellow jersey by 15 seconds in Thursday's epic stage over the Alps.

Cadel Evans talks to reporters after stage 18

Brian Holcombe chats with HTC's Bernhard Eisel

OL DU GALIBIER, France (VN) ─ Moments after crossing the finish line demoralized and exhausted, Alberto Contador admitted the obvious and said his hopes of winning the 2011 Tour de France are over.

PUYS SAINT PIERRE, France (VN) — Cadel Evans was a man on an island high above Briançon Wednesday as he pursued an audacious Andy Schleck to the summit of the Col du Galibier. After the finish Evans and his BMC Racing team management said they rode to win and were critical of the tactics of the other top GC riders.

COL DU GALIBIER, France (VN) — For days, fans, media and the peloton have been openly criticizing and questioning how Leopard-Trek was racing the 2011 Tour de France.

COL du GALIBIER, France (AFP) - British sprint king Mark Cavendish survived being eliminated from the Tour de France after the epic 18th stage to the Col du Galibier Thursday.

Stage 1. Andy Schleck, Team Leopard-Trek, in 6h 07' 56" 2. Frank Schleck, Team Leopard-Trek, at 2:07 3. Cadel Evans, Bmc Racing Team, at 02:15 4. Ivan Basso, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 02:18 5. Thomas Voeckler, Team Europcar, at 02:21 GC 1. Thomas Voeckler, Team Europcar, in 79h 34' 06" 2. Andy Schleck, Team Leopard-Trek, at 00:15 3. Frank Schleck, Team Leopard-Trek, at at 01:08 4. Cadel Evans, Bmc Racing Team, at at 01:12 5. Damiano Cunego, Lampre - Isd, at at 03:46

Andy Schleck rode the stage of his life on Thursday, with a dramatic 60km-plus solo breakaway that put the Leopard-Trek rider into position to win the 2011 Tour de France.

PINEROLO, Italy (VN) — When you look west from Pinerolo, your eyes are drawn to the Alps, whose majestic peaks received a new dusting of snow this week. It was in this sparkling city of the Piedmont (literally “foot of the mountain”) region where the legendary Italian rider Fausto Coppi scored one of his most famous coups: a 192km solo odyssey over five alpine passes to finish almost 12 minutes ahead of second-place Gino Bartali to clinch his overall victory in the 1949 Giro d’Italia.

Contador's director says he will keep attacking

Andy Schleck says stage 17 finish descent 'not really necessary'

Andrew Hood and Brian Holcombe take apart stage 17

PINEROLO, Italy (VN) — Jens Voigt strongly defended Leopard-Trek's tactic of riding for both Schleck brothers throughout the Tour de France rather than rally behind one of the brothers as a single leader.

PINEROLO, Italy (VN) — Alberto Contador reached across to Samuel Sánchez to shake his hand as the pair crossed the line Thursday after another daring raid that fell short.

PINEROLO, Italy (VN) - Two-time defending champion Alberto Contador has lit a fire at the front of the Tour de France in the final week ahead of the three biggest days in this year’s race. Contador’s Saxo Bank-Sungard manager Bjarne Riis said the Spaniard is recovered from the knee injury that hampered him in the Pyrénées and that he must attack every rider in the race on the road to the Col du Galibier Thursday.

Brian Holcombe checks in with HTC's Bernhard Eisel

Team Sky's Edvald Boasson Hagen won his second stage of the 2011 Tour de France on Wednesday, improving on his second place of the day before and giving Norway two stage wins in a row and its fourth stage of this Tour.

Stage 1. Edvald Boasson Hagen, Sky Procycling, in 4h 18' 00" 2. Bauke Mollema, Rabobank Cycling Team, at 00:40 3. Sandy Casar, Fdj, at 00:50 4. Julien El Fares, Cofidis Le Credit En Ligne, at 00:50 5. Sylvain Chavanel, Quick Step Cycling Team, at 00:50 GC 1. Thomas Voeckler, Team Europcar, in 73h 23' 49" 2. Cadel Evans, BMC Racing Team, at 1:18 3. Frank Schleck, Team Leopard-Trek, at 01:22 4. Andy Schleck, Team Leopard-Trek, at 02:36 5. Samuel Sanchez, Euskaltel-Euskadi, at 02:59

Costa Rica’s Andrey Amador (Movistar) spent Monday in quiet reflection after learning that he is professional cycling’s only rider not rumored to be joining BMC Racing in 2012.

GAP, France (AFP) - Tour de France leader Thomas Voeckler admitted to being put in trouble Tuesday after a surprise attack by reigning champion Alberto Contador threw the yellow jersey race wide open.

Welshman Geraint Thomas, who wore the Tour's best young rider white jersey during much of the race's opening week, has signed a new three-year deal with Team Sky.

GAP, France (VN) — Jonathan Vaughters (Garmin-Cervelo) says he's encouraged by signs that this Tour de France is a cleaner race.

GAP, France (VN) — Alberto Contador (SaxoBank-Sungard) said he wasn't going to ride all the way to Paris without a fight.

GAP, France (AFP) — Tour de France officials said Tuesday they were "not worried" by snowfall high up in the Alps a day before the peloton tackles three days in the mountains.

Stage 1. Thor Hushovd, Team Garmin - Cervelo, in 3h 31' 38" 2. Boasson Hagen Edvald, Sky Procycling, at s.t. 3. Ryder Hesjedal, Team Garmin - Cervelo, at 00:02 4. Tony Martin, Htc - Highroad, at 00:38 5. Mikhail Ignatyev, Katusha Team, at 00:52 GC 1. Thomas Voeckler, Team Europcar, in 69h 00' 56" 2. Cadel Evans, Bmc Racing Team, at 01:45 3. Frank Schleck, Team Leopard-Trek, at 01:49 4. Andy Schleck, Team Leopard-Trek, at 03:03 5. Samuel Sanchez, Euskaltel - Euskadi, at 03:26

Garmin Cervelo's world champion Thor Hushovd on Tuesday won his second individual stage of the 2011 Tour de France, a cold, rainy, 162.5km race from Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux to Gap.

Tom Danielson's excited for the Alps to begin

VIDEO: Tyler Farrar: "I don't know" if Cavendish took pulls

SAINT-PAUL-TROIS-CHATEAUX, France (VN) — Mark Cavendish's fourth stage win Sunday didn't sit well with some of the other top sprinters who couldn't hold back their frustration that perhaps Cavendish made it through Saturday's brutal climbing stage up Plateau de Beille with something more than his own two legs.

SAINTE CÉCILE LES VIGNES, France (VN) - Four days in the mountains and a Belgian classics rider lie in the way of Mark Cavendish and his green jersey dreams. As the Tour de France heads for its final week in the Alps, Cavendish (HTC-Highroad) is closer now than ever to taking the maillot vert home, but he’ll have to outdo two rivals and 12 categorized climbs to stand on the podium in Paris in green.

A cold hard rain is forecast for Tuesday's stage 16. John Wilcockson takes a look at how such conditions have turned previous Tours upside down.

SAINT-PAUL-TRES-CHATEAUX, France (VN) ─ As the dust settled for Monday's rest day in the Tour de France, many inside the peloton were looking at Leopard-Trek with a critical eye.

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 15th.

BMC's Cadel Evans wonders whether the big names are underestimating Thomas Voeckler.

Tyler Farrar finds it frustrating to get nipped by a resurgent Mark Cavendish.

Tejay Van Garderen is still stoked to be racing the Tour and hopes to take home his own stage win.

Andrew Hood and Brian Holcombe break down stage 15.

Jérôme Coppel's Time RXRS UL Team.

if other teams don't want to ride for a sprint, what's the point of bringing a sprinter here?” asks Mark Cavendish. "If I was in a team that didn't want to ride for a sprint, it would be a bit of a knock to my ego. A sprinter is a bit of an egotistical person, you know."

Casey B. Gibson captures stage 15 of the 2011 Tour de France.

No French rider has won the Tour de France since Bernard Hinault in 1985. A French rider hasn't reached the final podium since Richard Virenque in 1997. That's a long time to wait and French fans and media are fanning the fires of Voeckler fever.

Breakfast with Bernie: a tough day in the gruppetto

HTC's Bob Stapleton says he sees "reasons for optimism," and that's about all he will say — for now.

1. Mark Cavendish, Htc - Highroad, 4h 20' 24" 2. Tyler Farrar, Team Garmin - Cervelo, s.t. 3. Alessandro Petacchi, Lampre - Isd, s.t. 4. Daniel Oss, Liquigas-Cannondale, s.t. 5. Joaquin Rojas Jose, Movistar Team, s.t.

Tyler Farrar is riding pressure-free going into the third week of the Tour de France.

HTC-Highroad sprint adviser Erik Zabel and VN's Brian Holcombe discuss the new intermediate-sprint structure and how it affects team strategy.

Andrew Hood and Brian Holcombe recap stag 14 of the 2011 Tour de France.

For the sprinters, stage 14 is all about hanging on.

A RadioShack team car driven by Johan Bruyneel was pulled over during Tursday’s stage 12 — apparently on suspicion of drunk driving.

The top-ranked American in the Tour de France, Tom Danielson, found himself in trouble Saturday on the final climb in the Pyrenees of this year's race. Garmin-Cervélo's surprise GC leader held tough, though, losing almost a minute but moving up the leaderboard heading into the final week of the Tour.