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Under a glaring sun and searing summer heat the 92nd Tour de France entered the Pyrénées of southern France Saturday, and though the general classification didn’t quite blow apart, a handful of the race’s central characters certainly melted from the pressure. After the hors-catégorie ascent of the Port de Pailhères, the 220.5km stage ended atop the Cat. 1 climb to the ski resort at Ax-3 Domaines with six-time Tour champion Lance Armstrong (Discovery Channel) holding an even firmer grip on the race leader’s jersey. He’s now 1:41 ahead of Dane Michael Rasmussen (Rabobank),while CSC’s Italian

Stage Results1. Georg Totschnig (A), Gerolsteiner, 5:43:43 at 38.491kmp2. Lance Armstrong (USA), Discovery Channel, 00:563. Ivan Basso (I), CSC, 00:584. Jan Ullrich (G), T-Mobile, 01:165. Levi Leipheimer (USA), Gerolsteiner, 01:316. Floyd Landis (USA), Phonak, 01:317. Francisco Mancebo (Sp), Illes Balears, 01:478. Mickael Rasmussen (Dk), Rabobank, 01:479. Andreas Kloden (G), T-Mobile, 02:0610. Haimar Zubeldia (Sp), Euskaltel-Euskadi, 02:20 11. Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz), T-Mobile, 03:0612. Stefano Garzelli (I), Liquigas-Bianchi, 03:3513. Jorg Jaksche (G), Liberty Seguros, 04:0314. Cadel

Tool bag?Dear Lennard,The other day during stage 9 I noticed a small black box under the saddle on Jens Voigt's Cervelo. Obviously he wasn't carrying a tool kit like us mortals, so what was it? A radio?Brett Dear Brett,I am posting this since I continue to get this question every day, even though I answered it already. For the answer, check out this link. You really ought to check out the daily SRM telemetry, especially in the Pyrenees and the final time trial. There are a lot of riders hooked up with them. The display isonly live during the stage and there is no file to see

Here’s what the main players had to say at Ax-3 Domaines, France, following Saturday’s fireworks in the Pyrenees. Lance Armstrong (Discovery Channel), yellow jersey (second at 52 seconds back, first overall) On comparing to his troubles two years ago: “Yeah, for sure, I kept trying to remember my training day here six weeks ago versus the 2003 Tour, because I felt better then. It’s a similar situation, again with Ivan and Jan, same as 2003. Similar also with the heat, it was incredibly hot.” On the difficulty of Sunday’s stage: “We’re going to have a hard time to recover from today’s

Moments after Sunday’s stage finish at the ski station of Ax-3-Domaines, Gerolsteiner’s Georg Totschnig lay collapsed on the ground, completely exhausted after a breakaway effort of more than 200 kilometers. The only thing the 34-year-old Austrian could do was weep for joy. He had just made a dream come true. “This is unbelievable,“ Totschnig said as he fought to catch his breath. "A few days ago, I didn’t think I would even make it to Paris.” It was not until Gerolsteiner soigneur Klaus Thünemann helped Totschnig to his feet that the man from the Zillertal valley in Tyrol began to grasp

Lance in pink?The image may never make OLN's coverage of the Tour de France, but there are a thousand print journalists who will vouch for it. Lance Armstrong gave his main rival a free plug in his press conference today, swapping his Discovery Channel baseball hat for a T-Mobile cap worn by one journalist. With tongue firmly in cheek (we think), Armstrong asked why the reporter was wearing it and instead of a Discovery Channel hat. Before everyone knew it, the pair had swapped hats and Big Tex was sporting the pink and white of T-Mobile. But not for long, and he did ask for his own hat

Course: On paper, this is the toughest stage of the Tour: six climbs (one Cat. 2, four Cat. 1s and the finish up the hors-cat Pla d’Adet). That’s just over 16,000 feet of climbing in 205.5km, and all ridden on less-than-perfect roads in summer heat or seasonal thundershowers. History: Pla d’Adet has seen the finish of eight Tour stages in the past 30 years, the most decisive being the Tour-winning solo attacks by Lucien Van Impe in 1976 and Armstrong in 2001. Favorites: This will be the final mountaintop finish in Armstrong’s storied career. The American would love to come up with another

Whew - it was another hot one in the hills on Saturday, and T-Mobile tried its best to make a Texas-style barbecue out of Discovery's Lance Armstrong. Alas, it was bratwurst, not brisket, that wound up sizzling on the grill, and our man Casey Gibson was there to savor the aroma.

Hello,Well, I think you saw that as a team we pushed it all the way to the limit, today. To his credit, Lance fended off every single one of the attacks in the manner of a true patron of the peloton. For that, all I can say is congratulations to him and that he has my respect. This morning, the mood at the breakfast table was not quite as relaxed as was the case in the Alps. Hardly anyone said a word… and if they did, the answers were short. It wasn’t a bad sign. More accurately, it was just an indication that everyone was just very, very focused on the task at hand. The one thing we didn’t

After out-climbing his main rivals on Saturday to finish second on the first of two mighty stages in the Pyrénées, Lance Armstrong said it was “incredibly, incredibly hot.” Then he predicted that Sunday’s stage 15 will be “the hardest stage of the Tour.” He then talked to journalists at the Ax-3 Domaines ski resort Saturday night about his preparations for the upcoming stage. “It’s just a question of getting out of here as fast as possible, starting to hydrate, starting to eat, starting to rest and recover,” he said. “We had a very early start to the day once again, an hour-and-a-half in the

Under sunny skies, 80-degree temperatures, and a rising breeze, the seventh annual Alpenrose Velodrome Challenge kicked off Friday in Portland, Oregon. One of the richest track races in North America, the three-day meet is held on one of the continent’s quirkiest velodromes, a 268-meter concrete oval with 42-degree banks situated on the grounds of the Alpenrose Dairy. Friday was for the time trialists with riders competing in the 500 meter time trial, the kilometer time trial, and the pursuit, as well as a points-race qualifier. One of the track’s oldest records, the women’s 3000-meter

One of the most frequent tactical questions I get is “What do you do when one team dominates a race?” Well, for one thing, you have to try harder and take a few risks. On stage 14 from Agde to Ax-3-Domaines, the T-Mobile team finally decided to do something about the dominating control of the Discovery Team. Typically, Discovery has followed the same pattern it did back in the Postal days, namely go to the front and set a pace on the climbs that was suitable for them and slowly burn off the riders in the field. When you control the front of pack, you control the pace. You get to decide

The trouble with mountain-bike racing is that it often takes place in the mountains, where the weather can be, shall we say, less than hospitable. Just ask the 800 or so racers at the NORBA NCS race at Idaho’s Schweitzer Mountain resort, who awakened Saturday to face mucky courses and a start-finish area that was in a complete shambles, thanks to a late-night hailstorm driven by 60-mph winds. Still, the show must go on, and after a Le Mans-style running start, Super-D racers were plummeting from the Schweitzer ski village to the town of Sandpoint, nine miles below. Jennifer Whalen (WTB)

Stage 14 - Agde to Ax-3-Domaines -- 220.5km

Stage 14 - Agde to Ax-3-Domaines -- 220.5km

Totschnig wins his first Tour stage

Whuttup with Bobby and those rings?

Cañada takes a similar approach

Garzelli forces himself to work on his stroke when training.

Ullrich, Basso and Armstrong test each other

Is the battle boiling down to Armstrong versus Basso?

Evans on the ascent Saturday

Stage 15 - Lézat-sur-Lèze to St-Lary Soulan (Pla d’Adet) >205.5km

Stage 15 - Lézat-sur-Lèze to St-Lary Soulan (Pla d’Adet) >205.5km

Um ... think we're in trouble?

Hincapie guts it out toward the finish

Armstrong and Basso take the final corner together

Leipheimer on the climb

Totschnig en route to his first Tour stage win

Vinokourov paid the price today

It's time to either fight or run away

Totschnig is glad he didn't go home

Basso's feeling better than he did in the Alps

Basso felt better in the Pyrenees than in the Alps - but not Ullrich

It's showtime

Armstrong, Basso and Landis marking one another

Rasmussen had a 'semi-bad day'

T-Mobile's attack early on the Port de Pailhères got rid of the entire Discovery team... well, except for that one guy.

A look ahead to Stage 15: Is Armstrong ready for a stage win?

A tough day in the saddle

Armstrong shows his strength, and once again his rivals must look forward to another day

Moreau got his doors blown off

The break

Garzelli and Beneteau

Evans and Kasheschkin

Leipheimer: In good position for the podium?

Craig lights it up early

Killeen on the fire-road climb

The women hit the rock garden

Course: There is only an early cat. 4 climb on this transitionalstage across the Midi between the Alps and Pyrénées, so it’sa rare chance for the sprinters to come to the fore. A choppy 20km finishingcircuit awaits the peloton in the streets of Montpellier, where there’sa short, 200-meter-long finish straight. History: No less than 24 stages have finished in Montpellier.The latest was in 1994, when Dane Rolf Sørensen took the honorsin a two-man break with Aussie Neil Stephens. Favorites: The tight finish should see attacks by the likes ofFlecha and Erik Dekker in a bid to trump the Aussie

Following the expulsion of one rider and the arrest of another, talk of doping at the Tour de France has re-emerged as the doctor of one of France's top teams said the race is still being “contested on two levels.” For Gerard Guillaume, the doctor of the Francaise des Jeux team of Bradley McGee and Baden Cooke, his riders simply can't keep up with a peloton whose speeds have amazed everyone in the first 12 days of the race. The Tour, which American Lance Armstrong is bidding to win for a seventh consecutive time, has so far been raced at a punishing pace, leaving some complaining

If American Chris Horner had hoped to leave an impression on his first Tour de France, he can consider his mission accomplished. The 33-year-old California native, who joined the Spanish squad Saunier Duval-Prodir at the end of the 2004 season after three seasons spent dominating the domestic calendar, came painfully close to winning stage 13 in Montpellier on Friday. But he was caught before the line by a hard-charging peloton. Instead of an amazing victory, Horner could only watch as Aussie Robbie McEwen (Davitamon-Lotto) took his third sprint win of this Tour by edging out Stuart O’Grady

Stage Results1. Robbie McEwen (Aus), Davitamon-Lotto, 3:43:142. Stuart O’Grady (Aus), Cofidis, 00:003. Fred Rodriguez (USA), Davitamon-Lotto, 00:004. Guido Trenti (USA), Quickstep, 00:005. Thor Hushovd (Nor), Credit Agricole, 00:006. Anthony Geslin (F), Bouygues Telecom, 00:007. Forster Robert (G), Gerolsteiner, 00:008. Magnus Backstedt (Swe), Liquigas-Bianchi, 00:009. Gianluca Bortolami (I), Lampre, 00:0010. Christopher Horner (USA), Saunier Duval, 00:00 11. Allan Davis (Aus), Liberty Seguros, 00:0012. Baden Cooke (Aus), Francaise des Jeux, 00:0013. Peter Wrolich (A), Gerolsteiner,

Many people have been asking what those wheels with red hubs like old Mavic Heliums were on David Moncoutie’s bike. The Cofidis rider won stage 12 on the new Mavic Ksyrium ES Dixieme Anniversaire wheels, which indeed are supposed to honor and carry on the tradition of those Heliums, which premiered 10 years ago in the Tour as special climbing wheels, ridden by luminaries like Laurent Jalabert and Richard Virenque, among many others. The front and rear rims of the 10th Anniversary Ksyrium ES are different, with the front being lighter. Mavic says the tubular version weighs 625 grams () and

Levi ready for uphill challengeOn the fight for the podium I feel good. I feel better than I have in the Tour before. I think the GC will continue to sort out a little bit. I’ve been trying to save as much energy as possible because I know what’s coming up. It’s definitely going to be decisive. It’s hot now, tomorrow and the next day are going to be very decisive. The day after tomorrow (Sunday) when we get to the bottom of Pla-d’Adet, it’s going to explode, it’s going to be every man on his own. It’s going to be very painful. On Saturday’s stage to Ax-3 Domaines Follow the best, but there’s

Friday's relatively flat transitional stage almost lived up to that tradition that would have had the day's breakaway succeed. Almost. Our man Casey Gibson captured scenes of the day's stage before, during and after the heart-breaking finish into Montpellier, where Saunier Duval's Chris Horner was caught just meters from the line after being on the attack for more than 160km.

On Sunday, Lance Armstrong will pay tribute to his former teammate at Motorola, Fabio Casartelli, who died in a crash on the descent of Porte d'Aspet a decade ago. Casartelli was the reigning Olympic road race champion in 1992, and joined Armstrong's team soon afterwards for what was supposed to be a promising future - until his fatal crash on the Pyrenean descent. On what should prove an emotional weekend for the American six-time winner of the Tour, remembering Casartelli will be one of the foremost things on the American's mind. "It's going to mean a lot, because it is

The Discovery Channel team will probably try to stop Lance Armstrong’s main rivals from attacking him on Saturday’s stage 14 into the Pyrénées. But that won’t be a simple task on what looks like being a very long, hot day under a blazing sun. In the four to five hours of racing before stage 14 even reaches the two forbidding climbs at the end, there are sure to be many attacks. And should those breaks include some of those riders between five and 10 minutes back on GC — such as Kazakhstan’s Alex Vinokourov (T-Mobile) and Andrey Kashechkin (Crédit Agricole) or Australians Cadel Evans

As the Tour de France soars high into the Pyrénées this weekend, an equally exciting high-country battle will be fought in northern Idaho as the NORBA National mountain-bike series returns to the Schweitzer Mountain resort. The Schweitzer stop is the first this season to feature all six NORBA disciplines: marathon, cross-country, short track, downhill, super-descent and mountain cross. It’s the NORBA series’ third consecutive visit to the resort, and race organizers have spent the past two weeks cutting new single-track, roping off the marathon course and building the four-cross track. They

My hats off to the Americans in this year’s Tour de France. In today’s 173.5 kilometer stage from Miramas to Montpellier, one American in particular rode remarkably for the whole stage but lost the race in the last kilometer. Another American lead out the winner of the stage in the last kilometer and still finished third for the stage. All this while three other American’s hold places in the top 10 on General Classification. We sure have come a long way! 150 kilometers in the lead but 150 meters short at the lineJust 17 kilometers into the race American Chris Horner found himself with

Stage 13 - Miramas to Montpellier >173.5km

Stage 13 - Miramas to Montpellier >173.5km

McEwen rockets out to another stage win

Mavic's Ksyrium ES Dixieme Anniversaire wheels

Yeah, but what's its weight in Belgian ale?

Just plain-vanilla aluminum posts

Horner makes it into a break

Davitamon-Lotto clocks in for McEwen

Horner workin' it

May I have your attention, please?

McEwen praised his team in general and Fast Freddie in particular

Armstrong's next big test comes this weekend

A descent into what is the mosh pit in front of the Discovery bus...

...where grown men and women crush small children up against the barriers to get an autograph or a look at Lance ...or his friend.

Geez, who is she looking for?

Armstrong has a specific rig for the flat stages, too.

Close-up

Horner gets a day out front...

... he's in there somewhere.

Super German photog Giro works out of his office in the back of a van, and transmits photos from the finish line.