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The Pyrénées, with its three stages and two finishes at altitude, will be ideal terrain to settle the rivalry between American Lance Armstrong and German Jan Ullrich in the race for Tour de France victory. Coming after two weeks of riding in intense heat, the stages to Bonascre, Loudenvielle-Le Louron and Luz Ardiden could be punishing. Many believed Armstrong, who leads Ullrich by 34 seconds before the 13th stage to the Plateau de Bonascre on Saturday, had been bluffing in the Alps by simply controlling his rivals instead of demolishing them. But his intriguing defeat by Ullrich in

What an absolute stinking hot hole Cap’Découverte is. I have never seen such a big hole. In fact, you will probably not find a bigger hole in Europe. And that’s a fact. Why? The simple reason is that today’s stage 12 time trial finished on the edge of a 750-foot-deep hole in the ground. In fact, the hole is a converted opencast coalmine and was once the largest of its kind in Europe. And at 35 degrees Celsius (91 degrees Fahrenheit) with a temperature of 61 degrees C (142 degrees) on the road, it was a stinking hot place to be watching the Tour. But in all seriousness, on the centennial of

Dear Bob;I was reading an article about a race in which I participated. In the article a fellow competitor made a few comments about me that are untrue. I am not the litigious by nature and plan to do nothing about his lies, but could I sue him for lying about me?AnonymousDear A;In order to succeed with a defamation claim (the legal term which includes both slander - spoken and libel - written) you must prove the following elements.First, you must prove that someone made, either spoken a written, untrue statement of fact about you. If the statement is true, no matter how horrible, there is no

If you’re thinking that this Tour de France can’t serve up any more drama then just wait for Saturday’s finale in the first of four stages in the Pyrenees. It’s going to be hot again, and a Tour peloton wearied by a heat wave and super-sonic race speeds now has to tackle the most difficult phase of the race. Following Friday’s time trial and the shocking defeat of race leader Lance Armstrong by Jan Ullrich, speculation of the four-time champion riding to defeat is rampant. But there is so much climbing ahead that any speculation is meaningless until at least the end of Saturday’s

Jan Ullrich was downright super today in the Stage 12 individual time trial. We knew coming into the Tour that he was in great shape and anticipated he would be strong in the time trials, and we were right. Today’s results make one thing very clear: Lance Armstrong is going to have to attack in the Pyrenees to win the 2003 Tour de France. Lance Armstrong has an advantage over Jan Ullrich in the mountains, and he needs to exploit that advantage over the next four days to build more of a lead than Ullrich can take back in the final individual time trial on Stage 19. In the mountains,

Today's individual time trial was pretty brutal. The route was difficult with a lot of uphills, false flats and a headwind. I guess you could say today was a warm-up for the four tough days that lay ahead. The heat was also a huge factor this afternoon. It was nearly 100 degrees out there. I finished exhausted and dehydrated. I think I was half delirious on the bus ride back to Toulouse. Jan Ullrich waxed everyone with one incredible ride. Anyone who doubted him before the Tour started probably changed their thinking after today. He definitely came to France ready to ride. I think we're

To see how Stage 12 of the Tour unfolded live, just go to our Live Update window and follow the action all the way to the finish.

All good things come to an end, and my days of Tour tech coverage are now but a pleasant memory. I just got back to VeloNews headquarters this morning and had to follow today's time trial the way everyone else does – via www.velonews.com and OLN. I’ve received a ton of questions regarding the time-trial bikes used this year. While access was tight (but possible) with the "daily driver" bikes of the peloton, team mechanics were downright militant about refusing to show their riders' TT bikes. Perhaps the teams didn't want to lose any last-minute tech advantage to the competition, or maybe

If there is such a thing as mountain biking heaven, it may well be Whistler, British Columbia. Weather you’re a full-on freerider looking to huck the day away, a cross-country specialist in search of endless technical singletrack, a downhiller, a four-crosser or whatever other incarnations exist out there, this place pretty much has you covered. The mountain bike park, with its 30-plus trails and high-speed quad to get you to the top, is by most accounts the best there is. Unlike some resorts back the States — read Beaver Creek and Steamboat Springs — Whistler has embraced the two-wheeled

Ullrich flew

Who is that mysterous mullet-man?

Euskatel rider Zubeldia rides to take the fourth place

Vinokourov rides to take third place

Tyler Hamilton

Ullrich celebrates

Beloki smiles as he is pushed on his wheelchair

Armstrong fought hard

Speechless

'Harder than I anticipated'

Vinokourov slips to third

Uwe Peschel set the day's early standard

One of the most unusual fans to date....

Michael Rogers

Adam Craig getting ready to (free) ride.

Men's XC favorite Hesjedal sporting a new look.

Saint derailleur.

Saint cranks.

The VN Saint testing machine.

After a rest day in Narbonne, the Tour continues with this shortest road stage of the race. Most will be glad of its brevity because it will be followed by the first long time trial and three tough stages in the Pyrénées. The Cat. 3 climb in the middle of the stage is long, but not particularly steep, while the roads are fairly narrow until the final few kilometers into the heart of Toulouse. 7/17/2003 Start Time: 1:34:00pm7/17/2003 Estimated Finish Time: 5:24:00pm HISTORYToulouse was one of the original six stage towns, and there have been 23 finishes here, but only two have ended in the

This 47km time trial probably rates a 5-out-of-10 on the degree of technical difficulty scale. The road surfaces are good. There is an early climb out of Gaillac to a plateau, followed by a sharp downhill and some technical turns through the town of Cordes (24km), and then comes a snaking 12km section up the Cérou valley to Monesties (39km). From here, the main climb rises 364 feet in about a mile, and the finish is into a park converted from an opencast coal mine, once the biggest in Europe. 7/18/2003 Start Time: 10:20:00am7/18/2003 Estimated Finish Time: 5:17:00pm HISTORYThe Tour’s first

Juan Antonio Flecha blazed like an arrow across the finish line on an airport runway to claim victory in Thursday's 153.5km stage 11 from Narbonne to Toulouse. Flecha, which means arrow in Spanish, escaped the clutches of an eight-man breakaway with 15km to go in this relatively easy transition stage that carried the 90th Tour closer to the Pyrénées. Coming across the line four seconds ahead of Rabobank's Bram De Groot, Flecha, 25, reached behind his back to grab an imaginary arrow and shot it toward the heavens. The Spanish ibanesto.com rider was right on target. "I haven't won a race in

Individual Results Stage 111. Flecha Juan Antonio (Sp), iBanesto.com, 3:29:332. Bram De Groot (Nl), Rabobank, 00:043. Isidro Nozal (Sp), ONCE - Eroski, 00:044. Inigo Cuesta (Sp), Cofidis, 00:155. Carlos Da Cruz (F), FDJeux.com, 00:236. Stuart O'Grady (Aus), Credit Agricole, 00:237. Nicolas Portal (F), Ag2R Prevoyance, 00:238. Michael Rogers (Aus), Quick Step-Davitamon, 00:239. Robbie Mc Ewen (Aus), Lotto-Domo, 00:4210. Baden Cooke (Aus), FDJeux.com, 00:4211. Fabrizio Guidi (I), Bianchi, 00:4212. Erik Zabel (G), Telekom, 00:4213. Thor Hushovd (Nor), Credit Agricole, 00:4214. Luca Paolini (I),

To see how Stage 11 of the Tour unfolded live, just go to our Live Update window and follow the action all the way to the finish.

Lance Armstrong's bid to win more time over his main rivals for the Tour de France leader's yellow jersey could be undone by the ambitions of some of the race's climbers. The 12th stage of the Tour de France on Saturday is the first of four days in the Pyrenees and depending on how Armstrong has fared in the previous day's time trial will decide whether the American needs to up the pace or not. Armstrong is only 21sec ahead of Telekom rider Alexandre Vinokourov and barely a minute in front of Euskaltel's Iban Mayo - both of whom have shown their climbing abilities on a regular basis this

The Tour de France is buzzing with excitement and anticipation for what may be the most crucial 47 kilometers of the entire race. Jan Ullrich and Lance Armstrong haven’t faced each other in a long time trial since 2001, but the German’s abilities against the clock are proven and formidable. The most exciting Tour de France in recent memory is about to get downright ferocious. There is a lot riding on the Stage 12 individual time trial. Lance’s lead in the Tour is smaller than usual and he wants to enter the Pyrénées with a more comfortable advantage over his rivals. Ullrich, on the other

When it comes to negative racing, the performances of two French riders alongside me in the winning eight man break really takes the cake. All Carlos Da Cruz (fdjeux.com) and Nicolas Portal (Ag2R) were worried about was marking me. I couldn’t scratch my arse without them bloody getting on my wheel. When you have two guys like them, who ride as if their lives depend on chasing you back, it’s not easy to get away. How they raced today was a disgrace. And what did they gain from it? Fifth and seventh place! I tried to make something of it, right up until the end when Spaniard Juan Antonio

With nine riders still within four minutes of race leader Lance Armstrong, the Texan has never had such a strong challenge to win the Tour. Of these nine, Jan Ullrich, Tyler Hamilton, Alex Vinokourov, Iban Mayo and Haimar Zubeldia all have a chance Friday to stay in close touch, even though stage 12 is Armstrong’s favorite event: the individual time trial. “It’s the most important time trial in the past five years because the GC is so close,” Armstrong said Thursday in Toulouse. “[The time trial] is not easy, nor very hard, with the wind and the heat. It’s a good course.” Armstrong’s

The biggest letdown of the Tour de France so far was today’s first public sighting of the Terminator, Arnold Schwarzenegger, at Narbonne before the start of stage 11. If you’re thinking about backing big Arnie for the governorship of California, here’s some advice I’ll offer for free: Don’t base your vote on what you see on film. Hey, don’t say you wouldn’t think of voting for him. After all, Ronald Reagan didn’t do too badly in public office for all the B-grade acting in his career, did he? First myth to blow about big Arnie though is that he isn’t. Big, that is. Certainly not as big as

Dear VeloNews crew;It seems as if Joseba Beloki's crash was caused in part by the tubular rolling off the rim. Would he have suffered the same kind of crash if he'd been riding a clincher?Jay Dear Jay;You know that question has come up over the past few days and we’ve even had some folks write in and suggest that tubulars should be banned. We weren’t right there on the spot (though that AFP photographer sure was!), but we have watched the film like everyone else and have to conclude from seeing it over and over again that Beloki’s crash probably would have happened, no matter what sort

Tomorrow's TT is going to be the turning point in this year’s Tour de France, folks. We will get to see if the race will continue to be a tight, well-fought battle all through the Pyrénées, or if Lance Armstrong will dominate. The rolling TT on small roads and a typically pesky wind should favor the truly strong riders as opposed to TT riders. Also, this type of parcours will cause time gaps larger than normal, so look for that. Lance doesn't have to win the TT in order to show that he'll blow everyone out of the water in the Pyrénées, but he will have to take big time out of Mayo and the

Another break succeeds

The Arnold meets Lance

Narbonne

2 generations watch the start of the Tour in Narbonne

TV bike and transmitter gets some pre race work

IMAX camera films sign in

Tour merchandise

Hamilton at the start

Lance drops the TV crews that dog his every moment at the start

Juan Flecha shows the emotion of winning a stage

Lance takes up arm wrestling with Arnold

The Posties and Arnold

Lance at the finish line

Flecha's well-timed move