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On a day all the GC favorites watched each other, waiting for a move that never came, four men decided to play their own game of chance up the 3792-meter-high, hors catégorie Daban mountain. The way things have turned out the past few days during the Tour of Qinghai Lake, they didn't really stand much hope. But in cycling, hope, however small it may be, is enough to drive someone to success — and on Friday in Menyuan, success became a reality for 24-year-old Martin Mares. "Every time I hoped," said the Czech rider from PSK Whirlpool, who was in fact the overall winner from 2005. "It was

A former amateur mountain-bike racer alleged Thursday that Tour de France yellow-jersey holder Michael Rasmussen (Rabobank) attempted to trick him into carrying illegal doping products to Europe in 2002. Whitney Richards, 38, a one-time Colorado-based cross-country racer, told VeloNews that in March of 2002, Rasmussen asked him to transport a box containing cycling shoes. But the shoebox, according to Richards, actually contained bags of an American-made human blood substitute. None of the information Richards provided VeloNews involves allegations of current doping. Asked by VeloNews

Everyone loves a parade — so Casey Gibson obliged us with a few snaps of the wacky Tour caravan today. Enjoy

Weather: Sunny but cooler in morning, brewing clouds and cooler temperatures at finish, highs in the low 70s, brisk headwinds. Stage winner: Tom Boonen (QuickStep-Innergetic) won after a textbook perfect lead-out from his train ahead of Erik Zabel (Milram) and Robbie Hunter (Barloworld). A two-man breakaway was caught with just over 1km to go to set up the sprint in the final sprint-friendly stage until next Thursday. Race leader: Michael Rasmussen (Rabobank) retained the yellow jersey after finishing 47th with the front pack. There were no major changes in the GC as the peloton seemed

If having a good night’s sleep is key to doing well in Saturday’s stage 13 time trial of the Tour de France, then the advantage is with the Discovery Channel riders Alberto Contador and Levi Leipheimer over the other yellow-jersey contenders. The Disco boys are lodged this weekend at a country hotel in the foothills of the Black Mountains about 45 minutes south of the Albi TT start, while their rivals are staying at chain hotels with small bedrooms or in plusher digs in the busy center of Albi. The ones staying at the budget hotels are race leader Michael Rasmussen of Rabobank and Astana’s

After a rough and tumble first half of the Tour de France, Astana is hoping things will go their way in Saturday’s decisive time trial. Team captains Andréas Klöden and Alexander Vinokourov were battered and bruised and nearly abandoned the Tour, but the team is hoping the pair will be able to finally shake off the effects of a nasty crash in stage 5 to assume what everyone thought would be their position atop the Tour peloton. “We had a crisis physically. We never gave up,” Astana manager Marc Biver told VeloNews. “We never had tensions or a bad mood on the team. We always had a good

Mary McConneloug (Seven-Kenda) took her third-career national cross-country title on Friday, outlasting defending U.S. champ Georgia Gould (Luna) and Subaru-Gary Fisher rider Willow Koerber at Mount Snow resort in West Dover, Vermont. McConneloug took an early lead in the three-lap race and never looked back. The 36-year-old, who took the one-day national championship win in 2005 and earned the title in 2003 by finishing as the top-ranked American in the NORBA series, finished nearly 1:30 up on Gould. “I perform better when I’m not chasing, but when I’m on my own head finding the perfect

Stage 13 - Albi, Individual time trial (54km)

Stage 13 - Albi, Individual time trial (54km)

Boonen blasts across the line

SK Whirlpool's Martin Mares comes home a winner in Menyuan

Congrats to race leader Gabriele Massaglia

The early break of 16 hit the lower slopes of Daban mountain

Rasmussen took over the jersey on Sunday.

Ongarato hit the deck

Verdugo and Fedrigo off the front

Liquigas chasing

Boonen gets it

Rasmussen stays in yellow

A horny fan

Popovych, Hincapie and Gusev working it

The small road is the rabbit's-warren path where we had to park, and drive through to reach the course

Montepellier, with caravan

That's what we call some big news

Bonjour from Caisse d'Epargne

We have no idea what's going on here, but we paid for it and by gum we're gonna use it

A desperate Disco fan

No word on how one of former Attorney General John Ashcroft's people got into the plaza to drape the statues

The stage in front of the Montpellier Opera House

All together now (all together now)

If you are going to have a press conference about the yellow jersey, you need a bigger tent

Bob Stapleton talks to VeloNews European correspondent Andy Hood about the German TV network

Oh, yeah, the bike race — these guys got caught

Crunch time: A preview of the Albi time trial

Crunch time: A preview of the Albi time trial

No. 3 for Mary McConneloug

Sometimes walking is just faster

The 11th stage of the 2007 Tour de France dealt a cruel blow to one GC contender and welcomed a new country into its hall of champions on Thursday. The newcomer was South Africa and top sprinting star Robbie Hunter, who won a mad dash to the line that concluded the pan-flat, 182.5km ride from Marseille to Montpellier.

COURSE: This stage is similar to the one from Narbonne to Toulouse in 2003 that went to the Spanish racer Juan AntonioFlecha, who made a late attack from a breakaway group. Look for a repeat on this similar course that heads through the hills on the southern edge of the Massif Central. The Cat. 2 Montée de la Jeante climbs to over 3000 feet and is followed by 40km of winding back roads before the fast 8km run-in to Castres. HISTORY: Just one Tour stage has finished at Castres, in 1991, when Italian Bruno Cenghialta won stage 14 from St. Gaudens out of a seven-man break that fi nished a

Welcome To VeloNews.com's coverage of the 2007 Tour de France. Sit back and enjoy the most spectacular bike race in the world with the most comprehensive online coverage presented by VeloNews: The Journal of Competitive Cycling.All Tour de France content is FREE and accessible via the special VeloNews.com Tour de France Web site.Visit the Tour 2007 site now Programming Schedule: ItemDescriptionFrequencySchedule

Results-Stage 111. Robert Hunter (Rsa), Barloworld, 3:47:502. Fabian Cancellara (Swi), CSC, s.t.3. Murilo Fischer (Brz), Liquigas, s.t.4. Filippo Pozzato (I), Liquigas, s.t.5. Alessandro Ballan (I), Lampre-Fondital, s.t.6. Paolo Bossoni (I), Lampre-Fondital, s.t.7. Claudio Corioni (I), Lampre-Fondital, s.t.8. Philippe Gilbert (B), Francaise Des Jeux, s.t.9. William Bonnet (F), Credit Agricole, s.t.10. Kim Kirchen (Lux), T-Mobile, s.t. 11. Markus Fothen (G), Gerolsteiner, s.t.12. Enrico Poitschke (G), Milram, s.t.13. Peter Wrolich (A), Gerolsteiner, s.t.14. Andrey Kashechkin (Kz), Astana,

A continent away, as drugs and scandal appear to be perennially linked to the Tour de France, we hope - perhaps now even pray - that what we are seeing at China’s Tour of Qinghai Lake is the real deal. Allan Davis' name was linked to Operación Puerto, but he was cleared to race late last year. Despite taking an unprecedented fourth stage win in Xining Thursday ahead of the Ukraine's Yuriu Metlushenko and Wiesenhof's André Schulze, it's hardly what one would call inhuman: the Discovery rider lost the lead three days ago because he wasn't climbing well enough, but stuck to

Comeback kid Saul Raisin has the green light to return to competition. Raisin received medical clearance this week after undergoing a battery of tests at a hospital in Bordeaux to resume racing some 15 months after he nearly died in a crash at the Circuit de la Sarthe in April, 2007. His comeback race will be the U.S. national time trial championships in September. “I have clearance to race the time trial championships, and depending on how that goes, I might be able to race the road race, too,” Raisin told VeloNews ahead of the start of Thursday’s 11th stage at the Tour de

CSC's Jens Voigt was among several German riders who blasted a decision by their country’s two major television channels to stop live coverage of the Tour de France because of news of a positive doping test. ARD and ZDF, two of Germany's leading channels, stopped their live broadcast of the 10th stage from Tallard to Marseille after hearing that T-Mobile rider Patrik Sinkewitz had tested positive for testosterone. According to the German cycling federation (BDR), Sinkewitz, who is home recovering after colliding with a spectator on Sunday's stage, had abnormal levels of the male

Although the trio of alpine stages did not determine who will win the Tour de France, the combination did decide who most likely will not. CSC’s Fränk Schleck came to the race to ride support for team captain Carlos Sastre, but also to test his own fate in the high mountains. Schleck see-sawed in high climbing performances, but remains confident in his abilities going into the Pyrenees. After finishing ahead of Sastre on stage 8 in Tignes and moved into fifth overall, the Luxembourger crossed the line on stage 9 in Briançon minutes behind Sastre for a general classification placement of

Robert Hunter said he hopes his history making win at the Tour de France on Thursday will result in greater professional opportunities for young riders from South Africa. Hunter became the first African rider to win a stage at the Tour de France when he launched a long, ambitious drive for the finish line which beat Switzerland's Fabian Cancellara and Brazilian Murilo Fischer on the 11th stage. The win was also his Barloworld team’s second victory of this Tour. It was Hunter's biggest career win and comes less than a week after he had come a close second to Norwegian Thor Hushovd in

No one expected Barloworld to be in the Tour de France, let alone win a mountain stage in the Alps and field a contender for the points jersey. Indeed, the continental pro team’s season goal was merely to be invited to cycling’s biggest show. But when it found out it was the last team invited, its goals evolved. Riders and management alike promised to be on the attack everyday, until they won a stage. Now the team has won two. “The goal originally was to get into the Tour,” said Gary Blem, a mechanic with three years tenure at Barloworld and the first South African to spin wrenches for a

American Dave Zabriskie crossed the finish line in Montpelier alone, 31:26 behind the field. The CSC rider missed the time cut and abandoned the race. Zabriskie has been struggling with knee pain since the Tour began, attributing it to a team-mandated decision to switch shoes during the Giro d’Italia in May. “The pain is in my left knee, the one that was damaged in a car accident [in May 2003],” Zabriskie said. “The screws in there are just too sensitive to change.” Zabriskie had hoped to recover during the flat stages between the Alps and the Pyrenees, but found the pace too

Weather: Sunny, not so hot with highs in the upper 80s, brisk cross/tailwinds. Stage winner: Robbie Hunter survived a mid-race echelon and late-race crash to bolt to his first career Tour stage victory ahead of Fabian Cancellara (CSC). The win is wild-card Barloworld’s second in three days and the first by a South African. Race leader: Michael Rasmussen (Rabobank) retained the yellow jersey after finishing 46th with the front pack. Despite splits among the front pack due to a crash in the final two kilometers, all the leading 80 riders were awarded the same time as the winner. Christophe

With wounds weeping through the stitches on both knees and an elbow, Astana captain Alexandre Vinokourov walks like an injured penguin. Having lost more than 8 minutes on race-leader Michael Rasmussen (Rabobank), Vinokourov sits in 19th place, well outside what many would consider a chance of a podium finish. But has he given up? Hardly. On a hot and blustery stage 11, Vinokourov gave his troops their marching orders when the peloton entered a strong crosswind section about 105km into the 183km stage from Marseille to Montpellier. About 3km after the peloton rolled through the feed zone,

You might think our man Casey Gibson felt a bit peckish today, what with all the pictures from the feed zone. Not so, says the man behind the camera: "They gave us the wrong exit for the bypass, and there were a hundred or so Tour vehicles driving around looking for the race. Maddening at first, but then it got funny as at every intersection, there were three or four cars going every which way. None of us found it, but I did manage to get stuck in the traffic jam leaving." Lucky you — you get to see what Casey saw, but without the traffic jam.

For the second time in this Tour de France Fred Rodriguez ended a stage flat on his back, writhing in pain. And both times, in Ghent 10 days ago and in Montpellier Thursday, the Predictor-Lotto sprinter was critical of the race organization. “They do it every time. They don’t care,” said an angry Rodriguez. “It’s the Tour de France and they think they own this race. They have no respect for the riders. I’m sick of it.” The crash happened 700 meters from the line at the end of a chicane that was not shown on the map in the official road book. The chicane followed a fast run down a narrow

Tour de France leader Michael Rasmussen has been axed from the Danish national team following a disagreement over drug testing, it was announced on Thursday. The director of the Danish Cycling Union (DCU) Jesper Worre told DR1 television station that Rasmussen had received a number of warnings over failing to inform doping authorities over his training whereabouts. "We consider this case with great seriousness and the executive of the DCU decided that Michael will no longer be part of the national team and he was informed of this on June 26," said Worre. The decision means that Rasmussen

Stage 12 - Montpellier - Castres (178.5km)

Stage 12 - Montpellier - Castres (178.5km)

Hunter takes the win for South Africa and Barloworld

Despite the rain, large crowds were a constant throughout the 208km route.

Well, if you call another 80km not far, then...

All too easy for Discovery's Allan Davis.

Don't get the girl! New race leader Gabriele Massaglia (Selle Italia) lets loose with the champers.

Astana caught Moreau off guard and he paid dearly for it

Schleck is ready to work for Sastre, but doesn't wanted to be counted out as GC player.

Astana puts the hammer down

Ho, hum, just another day at the office

Voigt and Bennatti working it

The Bennatti escape

Nice horsie

Hincapie doing a job of work

Another day in yellow for Rasmussen

Hunter hopes his win will spark an uptick in South African cycling

Hunter’s new Super Six

Barloworld relies on an aluminum FSA cockpit; Hunter uses an OS-115 stem and RD-200 bar.

The front Mavic R-SYS is built with 4mm tubular carbon spokes.

The rear uses Zicral spokes on the drive side and carbon on the non-drive side.

Cannondale was the first major manufacturer to take system integration seriously.

Vittoria provides the team with some special tires.

Liquigas rider, Pozzato’s Lightweight wheel equipped Super Six.

Mavic’s Cosmic Carbone Ultimate.

Linus Gerdemann provided a bright moment for T-Mobile

Vino' saw an opportunity and took it, sending Astana on the attack in a stiff crosswind