Tour de France 2025

Horner: ‘I will be Lance’s guardian angel’

Former Tour de France King of the Mountains Mauricio Soler is in doubt for next month's race because of a knee problem, his Caisse d'Epargne team said Thursday.

Danny Pate has gone to the Tour de France for the past two years, but he’s not sure if he’s going back for a third.

Cervelo TestTeam directors have released a 12-man pre-selection roster for the Tour de France. The team will make the final nine-man selection before the July 3 Tour start in Rotterdam.

Team Milram on Wednesday, announced six of the nine riders it will bring to the Tour de France next month. The remaining three will be chosen based on their performances at the Criterium du Dauphine, the Tour de Suisse and the riders' respective national championships.

Cervélo TestTeam has ended speculation about Carlos Sastre's inclusion in this year's Tour de France by telling the former champion to get ready for the July 3-25 event.

Contador: 'Tour prep, not Dauphine win, is crucial'

Some teams like to wait as long as possible before selecting their Tour de France squads — but not Rabobank, which announced its lineup Thursday.

The Astana captain completed a four-day reconnaissance of the decisive climbing stages in the mountains along the French-Spanish border and came away convinced that’s where the 2010 Tour will be decided.

Cervélo TestTeam was one of the revelations of last year’s Tour de France, but the team is patiently waiting word whether top stars Carlos Sastre and Thor Hushovd will be lining up July 3 in Rotterdam.

Olympic champion Samuel Sánchez turns his attention to the Tour de France.

"The sniper," Katusha's Alexandr Kolobnev, is taking aim at the Tour — and the worlds.

Alberto Contador might not be racing much between Sunday’s conclusion of Liège-Bastogne-Liège and July’s Tour de France, but that doesn’t mean he won’t be busy.

A reader asks about this year's Tour de France invitations.

The Amaury Sport Organisation has released its list 22 teams invited to participate in this year's edition of the Tour de France.

A reader asks about those riders who have won in their first appearance at the Tour de France.

Jet lag is a word that obviously isn’t part of Lance Armstrong’s vocabulary. While Europe has been gripped by its worst winter in decades, Armstrong’s road to the Tour de France this year has been full of sunny climes that would turn any jet-setting royal blue with envy.

The 2010 Tour won't be a two-man race between Lance Armstrong and Alberto Contador, says José Azevedo.

Can world road champ Cadel Evans (BMC) win the Giro d’Italia or Tour de France before it’s too late? He thinks so.

The team time trial will be back for the 2011 Tour de France along with the infamous submerged causeway at Passage du Gois as details of the opening weekend for next year’s race were revealed Tuesday.

Olympic champion Samuel Sánchez is the latest big name to announce he will make an all-out push for the podium at the Tour de France this summer.

Skil-Shimano is hoping to repeat its Tour de France sweepstakes this season as it prepares for an important season to confirm itself among the top ranks of the peloton. Strong performances in the 2008 and 2009 Paris-Nice helped earn Skil-Shimano one of the three wild-card invitations to the 2009 Tour. The team lived up to its end of the bargain in animating the race, putting riders into breakaways, capped by a third-place in stage 3 with Cyril Lemoine.

Team Astana’s Alexander Vinokourov said Friday that winning the Tour de France was a dream for him, but it’s not any longer.

Haimar Zubeldia concedes it will be difficult to beat ex-teammate Alberto Contador in this year’s Tour de France.

This holiday season, VeloNews is bringing you three galleries of some of photographer Graham Watson's best shots from the 2009 Grand Tours. Last week we brought you Watson's Vuelta a Espana gallery and earlier this week we presented his Giro d'Italia gallery. Today you can unwrap a gallery from the Tour de France. Enjoy.

AFP rates the return of Lance Armstrong and his often-tense relationship with teammate Alberto Contador as the top story of the year.

Mark Cavendish says his goals next year will be much as they were this year: win and win a lot.

Euskaltel's Egoi Martínez vows to gain the success at the Tour de France that has so far eluded him.

After weeks of hinting he might skip the Tour de France, Carlos Sastre has confirmed that he will be at the start line in Rotterdam for the 2010 edition.

The brother of Alberto Contador says the two-time winner will likely stay with Astana in 2010, but no longer.

Running from Saturday July 3rd to Sunday July 25th 2010, the 97th Tour de France will be made up of 1 prologue and 20 stages and will cover a total distance of 3,600 km.

American Floyd Landis, who was stripped of his 2006 Tour de France victory after a positive doping test and a public battle to prove his innocence, has told a New Zealand newspaper that he may never compete again in cycling's most important race. Landis, now 34, told the Herald on Sunday newspaper that infighting between cycling's biggest movers and shakers will likely mean he will not be returning to the Tour.

Response of the UCI to a report from AFLD relating to anti- doping activities at the 2009 Tour de France PART 1: GENERAL COMMENTS The concept of partnership

The UCI is striking back at the French anti-doping agency AFLD, which earlier this month accused the UCI of giving Astana special treatment at the Tour de France.

The managers of the Tour de France arrived in Ajaccio, the capital city of Corsica Wednesday to kick off three days of meetings to explore the possibility of starting the race on the autonomous French Island in 2013. "This is the first step of a process to see if the Tour de France can be successfully held on Corsica,” said Tour director, Christian Prudhomme. During a press conference at the Corsican Assembly, Prudhomme said the meetings mark the first of "several trips” that will be necessary to rate the island’s ability to host the 2013 Grand Départ.

Related: Interactive Google Map of the 2010 Tour route

Carlos Sastre, the 2008 Tour de France champion, says he won’t commit to racing the 2010 Tour until he’s studied the routes of all three grand tours. After getting a glimpse of what’s a harder, more climber-friendly Tour in Wednesday’s roll-out of the 2010 route, Sastre’s comments over doubts of a possible Tour start come as a surprise.

Related: Interactive Google Map of the 2010 Tour route For the dedicated number-crunchers in the crowd, the annual Tour de France route announcement provides ample opportunity to quantify critical elements of the big race ahead. Although just a journalism major, European correspondent Andrew Hood took a stab at analyzing the 2010 Tour de France by the numbers:

Here are some reactions from the main players during Wednesday’s Tour de France presentation: Alberto Contador – 1st overall: “My authentic rival is Andy Schleck. Looking at the time trial, it’s better for me than last year. This Tour is better for me than last year, especially with a stage finish atop a climb so difficult as the Tourmalet.

When the lights dimmed in the Congrés de Palais in Paris for the presentation of the 2010 Tour de France, the unexpected was the plat du jour. Surprises are always part of the Tour presentation, and 2010 certainly didn’t disappoint. Hard days in the Pyrénées and a long, penultimate-day time trial in Bordeaux set the stage for a final week clash that should keep fans on the edge of their seats.

Prosecutors in Paris said Tuesday that they have launched an investigation into doping at this year's Tour de France after the discovery of suspicious medical equipment, including "syringes and drips," disposed of by teams in July. According to French daily Le Monde, the investigation involves a number of teams including the Astana squad of Tour winner Alberto Contador and his soon-to-be-former teammate Lance Armstrong. Prosecutors, however, noted they are reviewing materials from several teams and have not targeted individual riders or specific teams thus far.

The UCI has rejected charges that its doping testers showed preferential treatment to the Astana team at this year's Tour de France. The governing body's response was in reaction to published reports that the team of Tour de France winner Alberto Contador and third placed Lance Armstrong were given an easy ride during dope tests at the 2009 event.

Thor Hushovd wants to make it loud and clear: he’s intending on racing the 2010 Tour de France and defending his green jersey. There were some conflicting reports that the Norwegian winner of the 2009 sprinter’s jersey might skip the Tour, but the Cervélo TestTeam rider confirmed that next July will be much like this year.

What's that little red thing on Tour de France bikes' chainstays?

This week the Danish newspaper / Web site Ekstra Bladetran published an article in which physiologist Jakob Mørkeberg examined Lance Armstrong's Tour de France blood samples and said they might indicate a blood doping program.

UCI president Pat McQuaid told Reuters on Sunday that there were no positive tests at this year’s Tour de France. Based on controls taken so far, McQuaid said he is optimistic about the future of the sport. "At this point in time I haven't heard of any positive tests at this year's Tour de France or that we're checking samples to confirm positives,” McQuaid told Reuters’ Stephen Farrand. "It's looking like the Tour de France will not have any positive tests for a number of years.” McQuaid spoke to reporters Sunday during the final stage of the Tour of Ireland.

The 2009 Tour de France isn’t scandal-free anymore. Mikel Astarloza – the Basque climber from the Euskaltel-Euskadi team who won stage 16 in this year’s Tour – has been provisionally suspended after testing positive for EPO, the UCI reported Friday. The news comes as a blow to the Tour, which seemed to be leaving three years of scandal in the rear-view mirror with what appeared to be a dope-free Tour in 2009.

Bradley Wiggins, the Garmin-Slipstream rider who has made a spectacularly successful transition from the velodrome to the road, has released his blood profile data for the past year-and-a-half. The 29-year-old Wiggins equaled the best Tour de France finish by a Briton with fourth place in this year’s race and has said he wants to improve on that feat by 2011. The reigning individual pursuit Olympic champion and member of the gold-medal winning team pursuit squad in Beijing said he is fully committed to racing on the road, at least through 2012.

British rider Bradley Wiggins will focus his attention solely on the Tour de France for the next two years in an effort to win cycling's most daunting race. Wiggins equaled the best Tour finish by a Briton with fourth place at this year's event and wants to surpass that feat by 2011.

American Tour de France veteran George Hincapie said Tuesday that the collarbone injury he suffered in the 17th stage of this year’s Tour was indeed a fracture. Hincapie told VeloNews that he opted not to have the injury examined by doctors until after the Tour because “I really wanted to finish.” After a doctor’s visit, Hincapie announced the diagnosis on his Twitter page Tuesday morning. “Got some bad news this am,” Hincapie wrote. ”X ray confirmed my collar bone is broken.”

It seems some people don’t want to believe that the 2009 Tour de France was as pure as spring water. Pierre Bordry, the head of the French Anti-Doping Agency (AFLD), is telling the French daily Le Monde that he thinks as many as two new doping products as well as auto-blood transfusions could have been used during the 96th edition. “There’s a likelihood of blood transfusions and two new products that have been used during the Tour, but are not yet on the market,” Bordry told Le Monde in its Tuesday edition.

This updated story corrects an earlier mistranslation of a key quote. - Editor Tour de France winner Alberto Contador on Monday launched a stinging attack on teammate Lance Armstrong, saying relations between the two were tense throughout the race. "My relationship with Lance is zero. He is a great champion and has done a great Tour, but on a personal level I have never had a great admiration for him and I never will," the Spaniard told a news conference in Madrid.

Tour de France chief Christian Prudhomme credited Lance Armstrong for adding an interesting element to this year's race after the American came out of retirement to finish a commendable third overall. Armstrong finished more than five minutes behind Astana teammate Alberto Contador, who proved unbeatable over three weeks of tough racing on his way to his second victory since his maiden win in 2007. However, on more than one occasion, the 37-year-old seven-time champion showed that his sense for racing is still up there with the best.

The Spanish press hailed Alberto Contador as a "king" on Monday after the 26-year-old won the Tour de France for the second time after an intense rivalry with his Astana teammate Lance Armstrong. "The new king of the Tour is called Contador," top-selling daily El Pais wrote on its front page below a picture of a smiling Contador receiving his trophy on Sunday as Armstrong looked on beside him on the podium. "This is the second Tour of the fittest," the newspaper added.

Tour de France chief Christian Prudhomme was cautiously optimistic in celebrating a scandal-free 96th edition on Sunday. For the first time in recent history the world's biggest bike race avoided being dragged through the mire by drugs cheats. On this year's race only the sublime performances of Contador in the grueling mountain stages prompted some experts to raise eyebrows. However Contador, who won with a comfortable lead over his rivals, insists he is a clean Tour champion.

Ace shooter Casey B. Gibson finally got to drop that massive camera bag in Paris, but he sent along a few final pix before grabbing some downtime.

During the stage-winning celebrations at the Columbia-HTC team bus in Paris Sunday evening, directeur sportif Allan Peiper pointed out that Mark Cavendish scored his record six field-sprint wins at this Tour in very different ways. The 24-year-old Brit not only packs a kick that is fast enough to out-accelerate most of his rivals but he can also improvise in way that few sprinters have ever been able to do.

Britain's Mark Cavendish called his sixth stage win in this year's Tour de France "beautiful" after powering to a stunning victory on the Champs-Élysées on Sunday. A superb lead-out from Columbia-HTC teammate Mark Renshaw gave Cavendish a clear run to the line as he surged away from green jersey Thor Hushovd (Cervélo TestTeam) and Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Slipstream). "The Champs-Élysées is a dream for every sprinter in the world; to cross the finish line in view of the Arc de Triomphe with your arms in the air," Cavendish said.

Lance Armstrong admitted on Sunday that he did not join his teammates in celebrating Alberto Contador's Tour de France triumph on Saturday night, preferring instead to go for drinks with the backers of his future outfit, Team RadioShack. "To be honest, I went out for dinner with the RadioShack guys and I had a few extra glasses of wine than I would have normally done," said Armstrong.

Past winners of the Tour de France

Alberto Contador took Spain's tally to 12 wins in 96 editions of the Tour de France when he wrapped up his second victory of the Tour here on Sunday. Reputed climber Federico Bahamontes, nicknamed the 'Eagle of Toledo,' broke new ground for his countrymen by winning the race in 1959 after years of domination by the French, the Italians and Belgians. Following in Bahamontes' trail, albeit 14 years later, was the great Luis Ocana, who claimed his only win in 1973 in an era dominated by Belgian great Eddy Merckx.

The Tour de France took the unusual step of hitting the Giant of Provence - Mont Ventoux - on the penultimate day of the race. Casey Gibson was there to catch the action.

The Tour de France organizers’ experiment of making the peloton race up Mont Ventoux the day before the finish had mixed results. It was a thrill for the estimated 500,000 fans who lined the 21km length of the infamous climb. It was a burden for most of the 156 men who have survived the rigors of another rugged race out of the 198 starters. And it showcased the still-obvious strength of Lance Armstrong to finish ahead of the riders who threatened his third place on the final podium in Paris.

Alberto Contador is less than a day away from winning his second Tour de France – and fourth grand tour – in three years. During the past three weeks, the Spanish climber has withstood intrigue within the Astana camp, attacks from the Schleck brothers and hints that his victory was something a little bit too extraordinary. Through it all, Contador remained tranquilo. VeloNews listened in on the post-stage press conference with the winner apparent. Here’s what Contador had to say: Question: Was the tension within the team a major factor?

Last year’s top two at the 2008 Tour de France are having a hard time dealing with the fallout of their less-than-expected rides in this year’s edition and are directing their frustration at the media. Defending champion Carlos Sastre, who blasted the media in a rest-day press conference, publicly apologized for his comments while last year’s runner-up Cadel Evans is still broiling at piques from the press. Sastre released a lengthy communiqué Friday “recognizing my own mistakes.”

Spaniard Juan Manuel Garate dedicated his maiden victory on the Tour de France to his Rabobank team. Rabobank came to the race hoping to challenge for the yellow jersey but their team leader Denis Menchov, the Tour of Italy champion, went from bad to worse on a campaign littered with crashes and mediocre performances. Having also lost riders through injury, the Dutch outfit were set to go home empty-handed and had been looking to Spanish sprinter Oscar Freire to lift morale on the ride to the Champs Elysees on Sunday.

Maybe Lance Armstrong will like Mont Ventoux a little more now. Armstrong hung tough on the mountain that’s always given him trouble to fend off attacks from the Schleck brothers and secure a podium spot with third place going into Sunday’s finale at the 2009 Tour de France. “I cannot complain for an old fart coming here,” Armstrong said after the stage. “Getting third on these young guys is not so bad.”

Columbia's Mark Cavendish says he never focuses on his rivals, but on Sunday's final stage of the Tour de France the Columbia rider would do well to keep a close eye on Thor Hushovd. Despite going one better than he did in 2008 by winning five stages at the race so far this year Cavendish has unfinished business - challenging for the points competition's green jersey. Going into Sunday's 164km ride from Montereau-Fault-Yonne to the Champs Elysees in Paris Hushovd has a significant lead of 25 points on Cavendish.

Friday's tough day of racing at the Tour de France was contested with Saturday's big stage to the Ventoux at the back of most riders' minds. Photographer Casey Gibson spent much of the day on a motorcyle crossing this part of France with the peloton.

Alberto Contador (Astana) all but has the 2009 Tour de France in the bag. The same goes for second-place Andy Schleck (Saxo Bank). At 4:11 back, the younger Schleck probably won’t be passing the Spanish climber, yet if his climbing legs click back into gear, he won’t have to worry too much about anyone else bouncing ahead of him on the podium. That leaves a real dogfight for the final podium spot, with four riders separated by just 38 seconds.

Second-placed Andy Schleck says only a disaster on Mount Ventoux for yellow yersey holder Alberto Contador will give him any chance of winning the Tour de France. With just two stages left, 24-year-old Schleck is 4:11 behind Contador, with his teammate Lance Armstrong in third and determined to finish second behind Spain's 2007 Tour winner. But Saxo Bank leader Schleck says he will do everything he can to take time off Contador on Saturday's penultimate stage from Montelimar, which finishes after the fierce 21.1km climb up Mont Ventoux.

Lance Armstrong ruffled some feathers when he called the 2008 Tour de France a “joke” in the months ahead of his celebrated comeback. The seven-time Tour winner has since apologized for making those remarks, but the top stars from last year’s Tour are not having much luck in the 2009 edition. Of last year’s top 10, only two – Frank Schleck and Christian Vande Velde – are hanging among the leaders this year. Four – Bernhard Kohl, Samuel Sánchez, Alejandro Valverde and Tadej Valjavec – aren’t even in the race.

Garmin chief Jonathan Vaughters said Friday that while Tour de France leader Alberto Contador is a "fantastic rider," he would not confirm rumors his team was hoping to hire the Tour de France leader. Contador, of Astana, has a virtually unassailable lead of 4min 11sec over second-placed Luxembourger Andy Schleck ahead of Saturday's 20th and penultimate stage to the summit of Mont Ventoux. Two days before the end of the race a huge question mark is hanging over the future of the Astana team, whose leaders are Contador and seven-time champion Lance Armstrong.

Lance Armstrong said Friday he is already looking at potential riders for his new team at next year's Tour de France. Armstrong will lead Team Radioshack in the 2010 race and while no riders have yet been signed, he is looking at several options. "We haven't signed anybody yet, but there are still a lot of guys on the radar," said Armstrong. "Obviously there are a few guys I have already been working with like Levi Leipheimer, Chris Horner and Andreas Kloden. "We have a good bunch of guys here and we want to keep them together.

Editor's Note: The following excerpt, photos and map are taken with permission from Graham Watson's Tour de France Travel Guide. The book, published this spring, is available from VeloPress This excerpt was originally published on VeloNews.com on June 29, but we thought readers would enjoy another look before Saturday's stage. Enjoy. Graham Watson Mont Ventoux panoramic photo Mont Ventoux

Stage 17 of the Tour de France was bound to be a make-or=break affair for those aiming at a podium position in Paris. Saxo Bank's Andy Schleck predicted stage 17 would be important during Monday's rest day press conference, “We will see a lot of damage in stage 17 with the Col de Romme and the other four climbs."

Skil-Shimano is the only team in this year’s Tour de France with a component manufacturer as a co-title sponsor. Naturally with Shimano making such investment into this Continental Professional team from the Netherlands, it made sure to outfit it with its latest and greatest components.