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They might not have the same slick clothes, top salaries, fast cars or attract the same amount of female attention as the cyclists riding the Tour de France. But a closer look at the men who spend hours slogging over the peloton's bikes - average price 5000 euros apiece - shows that they are really among the unsung heroes of the sport. Mechanics, like soigneurs, team managers and osteopaths, have a huge role to play in any cycling team. But while they are crucial to their teams, it's far from being a glamorous job. "It's a great job - if you love cycling," Milram’s head

Results - Stage 2 (Dunkirk to Ghent)1. Gert Steegmans (B), Quick Step-Innergetic 168.5km in 3:48:22 (44.27kph),2. Tom Boonen (B), Quick Step-Innergetic3. Filippo Pozzato (I), Liquigas4. Robert Hunter (RSA), Barloworld5. Romain Feillu (F), Agritubel6. Robbie McEwen (Aus), Predictor-Lotto7. Erik Zabel (G), Milram8. Heinrich Haussler (G), Gerolsteiner9. Oscar Freire Gomez (Sp), Rabobank10. Sebastien Chavanel (F), Française des Jeux 11. William Bonnet (F), Credit Agricole12. Bernhard Eisel (A), T-Mobile13. Sebastien Hinault (F), Credit Agricole14. Philippe Gilbert (B), Française des Jeux15.

The UCI on Monday called on team managers, doctors and other support staff to follow the example set by riders and sign a landmark anti-doping pledge. UCI President Pat McQuaid made the appeal in a letter sent to ProTour cycling team managers, calling on them to sign up by August 1, the federation said in a statement. Team staff would pledge never to encourage their riders to use illicit substances or to close their eyes on doping cases within their team, the UCI said. Under the team charter, they would also agree to take measures to avoid doping cases and if necessary to cooperate with

Whether or not Gert Steegmans was on the receiving end of an early Christmas present from QuickStep-Innergetic team captain seemed insignificant Monday evening for the big burly Belgian. Steegmans is usually ahead of team captain Tom Boonen in the finishing straight only to give sway to the Belgian superstar in the final 200 meters. On Monday, the tables were turned as it was Steegmans charging across the line as the pair switched the pecking order - at least for one day. Steegmans, 26, won Monday’s wild uphill sprint that saw most of the peloton caught up behind one of the most spectacular

When showers drenched the start town of Dunkirk hours before stage 2 of the 2007 Tour de France began, riders’ thoughts immediately turned to the possibility of a crash on what was likely to be a second field sprint in two days. However, once the rain subsided in the hour leading into the stage, everyone’s nerves settled down for the start. “It looked like it was going to come down to a Belgian classic,” said American Chris Horner of Predictor-Lotto. “I thought for sure three or four GC guys were going to lose any chance of winning the Tour on a day like today.” Instead, a break of three

American Fred Rodriguez was one of the worst victims of Monday's mayhem in Ghent. The 33-year-old rider from Predictor-Lotto finished last in the stage gingerly holding his shoulder as he crossed the line alone. Team doctor Daniel De Neve told VeloNews that Rodriguez was transported to a local Ghent hospital where exams are still ongoing. "We don't know what happened yet. The exam is still ongoing," De Neve said. "We will know in a few hours whether he will be able to continue or not." Rodriguez sounded optimistic when VeloNews caught up him before the start of Monday's stage.

Weather: Partly cloudy to cloudy, intermittent rain, cool temperaturesin the mid to low 60s, brisk westerly winds Stage winner: Loyal lead-out man Gert Steegmans took his firstcareer Tour stage win ahead of team captain Tom Boonen as QuickStep-Innergeticfinished one-two at the end of the crash-marred finale. Filippo Pozzato(Liquigas) was third. Race leader: Prologue winner Fabian Cancellara (CSC) retainedthe yellow jersey despite falling hard in the day’s major pileup with abouttwo kilometers to go. Cancellara didn’t lose any time despite limping acrossthe line nursing a banged-up

The Tour de France arrived in France on Monday and promptly left 17 kilometers later, for a brief one-day foray into Belgium.Belgian fans had their favorites and were able to celebrate a one-two Quick Step victory in Ghent. Our man Casey Gibson was there to record it all for history.

Competing in her first season as an elite, 19-year-old Tracey Hannah (Orange) claimed the first downhill World Cup victory of her career on July 7, winning the fourth World Cup of 2007 in Schladming, Austria. Hannah, who is the younger sister of gravity great Mick Hannah and the reigning junior world champion, bested reigning elite world champ Sabrina Jonnier (Monster-Iron Horse) by nearly two seconds. In 2006, her first season racing outside of Australia, Hannah won the National Mountain Bike Series overall title before taking the junior downhill crown in Rotorua, New Zealand. Canadian

Day two is over and done with and apart from four of us hitting the deck thus far, all is well. Stuey went down in the prologue, Kurt went down trying to protect Carlos' wheel, Frank went down in the rain while trying to navigate through a roundabout and then Fabian went down in the big crash near the finish. We were talking at breakfast this morning and commiserating for the poor guys who he landed on. Fabian went over the top like Walter Payton into the end zone, landing his big 86-kilo Swiss cheese ass on top of all of those tiny little men. The Swiss bear was down but not out; he

Canada’s elite and espoir categories began their national road championships on Monday with the individual time trial, and the elites saw two new faces on the top step of the podium — though both are longtime top performers, surprisingly neither has won an elite national title. Anne Samplonius (Expresscopy.com), took the women's title over an “unretired” Lyne Bessette (Equipe du Québec) at St-Georges de Beauce, Québec, while Ryder Hesjedal (Health Net-Maxxis), finally beat Svein Tuft (Symmetrics), for the men's title. David Veilleux (Jittery Joe's), repeated for the men's

Stage 3 - Waregem to Compiègne (236.5km)

Stage 3 - Waregem to Compiègne (236.5km)

Steegmans wins

Cancellara looks grim at the finish

Fred Rodriguez got caught in the pileup, as did George Hincapie

Discovery's Vaitkus was another victim

The break

A winning team

Welcome to Belgium

Hincapie was among the unfortunates caught in the stage-2 pileup

Rodriguez had an uncomfortable ride to the finish.

We must be near Belgium, judging by the thousands of Boonen fans that suddenly appeared.

A family of Boonen fans.

The start in Dunkerque.

Fans who stay with the sport, no matter what.

Fans in Ghent get a little carried away at the finish line.

But will go to any height to get a good photo.

Laurel and Hardy on course.

The Yellow jersey and CSC lead the peloton back on the continent.

Wind power is everywhere, including powering this guy's TV and trailer.

Big win for Steegmans.

The man himself, pulls on the coveted green jersey.

All smiles for Christian and CSC after stage 3

Samplonius

Bessette

Hesjedal

Tuft

Judging by his incredible acceleration away from the rest of the world’s best sprinters, you would never know that just a few kilometers before, Robbie McEwen (Predictor-Lotto) had been off the back, chasing with an injured wrist after a crash. Nonetheless, the Aussie handily won stage 1 of the 2007 Tour de France from London to Canterbury, collecting his 12th career stage victory in the world’s greatest race. CSC’s Fabian Cancellara finished safely in the bunch to retain the overall lead.

COURSE: Stage 1 begins at the prologue finish line on The Mall with a processional opening that crisscrosses the River Thames on its way past St. Paul’s Cathedral and the Tower of London, before heading east out of the metropolis. The start will be given at exactly 11 a.m. (noon in France) at the prime meridian in Greenwich. The rolling course passes the 1000-year-old Rochester Castle and loops through the county of Kent via Tunbridge Wells to Canterbury, where the finish is on a wide highway within sight of the historic cathedral. HISTORY: The last time the race was in England, in 1994,

COURSE: Thisstage into Belgium makes a giant “S” across the flat plains of Flanderspassing through the hometowns of past champions Freddy Maertens, JohanMuseeuw, Roger De Vlaeminck and Walter Godefroot. It's likely to be veryfast, similar to the one from Calais to Antwerp won by homeboy Marc Wautersin 2002. The wind will be a factor, like it is in the Ghent-Wevelgem springclassic, so the pack might split and could favor the development of a fast-moving breakaway. HISTORY: Amazingly, it has beenalmost a half-century since a Tour stage finished in Ghent, which is oneof the centers of

After 38 grueling laps through the streets of West Chester, Pennslvania, Priority Health rider Emile Abraham parlayed a bid for a standard race prime into a 22-lap kamikaze effort that brought him first place in this year’s Iron Hill Twilight Criterium. “After winning a few primes, I went for an attack and got a gap. I didn’t think it would stay away but I kept rolling,” he said.

Paris and the Tour de France podium may still be a long way off, but the yellow-jersey mind games are beginning to take shape. Kazakhstan's Alexandre Vinokourov is the leading favorite to succeed American Floyd Landis as the race champion, but on Saturday his German teammate Andreas Klöden also threw his hat into the ring in commanding fashion. Klöden, runner-up in 2004 and third last year, is scheduled to be Vinokourov's main support man in the mountains alongside Italian Paolo Savoldelli and Andrey Kashechkin. However, the German's second-place finish in the prologue, 13

Results - Stage 11. Robbie Mc Ewen (Aus), Predictor-Lotto, 4:39:012. Thor Hushovd (N), Credit Agricole, 00:00:003. Tom Boonen (B), Quick Step-Innergetic, 00:00:004. Sébastien Chavanel (F), Francise des Jeux, 00:00:005. Romain Feillu (F), Agributel, 00:00:006. Robert Förster (G), Gerolsteiner, 00:00:007. Oscar Freire (Sp), Rabobank, 00:00:008. Marcus Burghardt (G), T-Mobile, 00:00:009. Francisco Ventoso (Sp), Saunier Duval-Prodir, 00:00:0010. Tomas Vaitkus (Ltu), Discovery Channel, 00:00:0011. Bernhard Eisel (G), T-Mobile, 00:00:0012. Murilo Fischer (Brz), Liquigas, 00:00:0013. Erik Zabel (G),

It takes more than a crash with 20km remaining to stop Predictor-Lotto’s Robbie McEwen. In what was nearly guaranteed to be a field sprint, the Aussie sprinter was taken down in a pileup as the nervous peloton approached Canterbury in the final moments of stage 1. For a moment it looked as though McEwen’s hopes of pleasing his Belgian team management by wearing the green points jersey into Ghent, Belgium, on Monday had been dashed. McEwen landed hard on his right wrist, and in the chaos that ensued, he briefly thought of abandoning the Tour. Instead, McEwen’s teammates rallied around the

David Millar has picked up more prestigious jerseys on the Tour de France. But the big Scot was still delighted after Sunday's second stage, won in commanding fashion by Australian Robbie McEwen, after the rare experience of pulling on the polka-dot jersey for the race's best climber. Millar may be a talented rider, but he is the first to admit his climbing skills are, comparatively, just above average. And it was with a wry smile that he appeared from the Saunier Duval team bus to explain what made him go out and race like he did on the second of two days in England. "I was in a

Former Tour de France sprint king Erik Zabel admitted his glory days on the race could be on the wane as one of his biggest rivals took a share in one of his records. Australian Robbie McEwen shrugged off a crash to dominate a bunch sprint and win the first stage of the race held over 203km from London to here on Sunday. McEwen now has 12 stage victories from the Tour, meaning he has equaled a long-held achievement of Zabel, who until Sunday held the record of having the most stage wins on the Tour for an active rider. Zabel, who celebrated his 37th birthday during Saturday's prologue,

Weather: Sunny to partly sunny all day, highs in high 70, moderate westerly winds Stage winner: Robbie McEwen (Predictor-Lotto) uncorked a perfect sprint in the final 100 meters to surprise everyone in a chaotic finale that saw riders surging from all sides. The veteran Aussie crashed with about 20km to go after being caught in a pileup but regained contact with the peloton with less than 10km to go. It’s McEwen’s 12th career Tour stage victory. Thor Hushovd (Credit Agricole) finished second to climb into eighth overall at 29 seconds back with Tom Boonen (QuickStep-Innergetic) third.

Many have covered the well-travelled road from London to Canterbury over the centuries. Today, our man Casey Gibson was there to offer us the Photographer's Tale.

Cancellara yellow run could have legsFabian Cancellara’s run in the yellow jersey could last several days. At least that’s what Team CSC is quietly hoping for following the big Swiss time machine’s dominant prologue victory. “I am taking it day-to-day, but the team will work to keep me in yellow as long as possible,” Cancellara said after finishing safely in the bunch at 22nd. “I have a nice gap to the sprinters. We don’t want to let a breakaway stay away.” Cancellara’s 13-second winning margin over Andreas Klöden was the third largest in Tour history, but more importantly, he opened up

Stage 1 - London to Canterbury (203km)

Stage 1 - London to Canterbury (203km)

Stage 2 - Dunkirk to Ghent (168.5km)

Stage 2 - Dunkirk to Ghent (168.5km)

McEwen wins

The men's podium

The women's podium

Quick Step in the driver's seat

The Aussie pocket rocket scores his 12th win on the Tour

The Millar-Auge escape

Saunier Duval working for Millar

Big Ben

Horner kickin' it under the Tower Bridge

Leipheimer finished safely in mid-bunch

McEwen in green

And Cancellara in yellow

A few of Sunday's million plus English fans.

Two Englishmen trying to be French, albeit badly.

The Bobbie has almost everyone back from the road, except the little one.

Pre-riders head out from the start and under the Marble Arch Trafalgar Square.

To heck with podium girls, we had dancers in the village this morning.

Passing by Big Ben on the way to Canterbury

Millar attacked early on. He soon got company, but all were eventually caught.

The CSC boys had to do most of the chase work... at least until the sprinters' teams got antsy.

Lots of fans waiting in Canterbury

McEwen earns what he described as his best Tour win. He's got 12 now, so this one was special.

TV Techs contemplate how to wrap up the cables after the race, and set up the same for tomorrow.

The Tour de France no longer employs a small army of officials with stopwatches to time the riders. Instead, each rider has a transponder on his bike that sends information to official race computers to record his time when he crosses the finish line. The transponder also makes it possible to time each rider between intermediate points along the race route, wherever timing check stations are set up. During time trials, viewers can see how each rider stacks up at each intermediate checkpoint and know who is leading on the road, even though the riders have a staggered start. And we can know

While some team mechanics were scrambling to deal with the UCI’s clarification of equipment regulations, others were still building special bikes for the prologue late Friday afternoon. With dinnertime rapidly approaching Aussie Michael Rogers of T-Mobile was seen in conference with his team’s mechanics. They were speaking in front of a half-built aluminum time-trial bike. Across the parking lot, Saunier-Duval Prodir mechanics were busying themselves with tidying up the team truck. All of the bikes were snugly packed and ready for tomorrow’s ride into the heart of London. The common bond

Many riders finished their 7.9km prologue effort with an all-out sprint;world time-trial champion Fabian Cancellara began his winning ridewith a furious sprint, and maintained that blazing pace throughout thewinding course among London's historic sites to take the first yellow jerseyof the 94th Tour de France. Before the race, Cancellara said he wanted to show the world why he wore theworld-champion skinsuit for the time trial. And indeed he did.