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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

Ullrich celebrates

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,

Beloki smiles as he is pushed on his wheelchair

Armstrong fought hard

This is the type of stage you could call a “sleeper.” It comes the day after the first long time trial, and the day before a classic Pyrenean stage across six mountain passes. But this stage could be more destructive because it has a summit finish that is immediately preceded by what should prove one of the toughest, if not the toughest climb in the Pyrénées. It’s hard to figure why the organizers gave it only a Cat. 1 ranking and not hors-categorie — the Port de Pailhères is longer and steeper than the renowned Col du Tourmalet. It climbs for 25km, with the final 15km on an extremely

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

Speechless

None of the six climbs on this classic 191.5km mountain stage is particularly long or high, but six hours of racing in potentially adverse weather will be a challenge. The three climbs in the last 70km, all Cat. 1, are the most difficult, particularly the narrow, winding Col de Menté, which averages 8.2 percent for 7km. This will soften up the field for the 8.3km Portillon (that comes during a brief foray into Spain) and the 13km Peyresourde, from which the race plunges to the finish in Loudenvielle. 7/20/2003 Start Time: 11:15:00am7/20/2003 Estimated Finish Time: 5:26:00pm HISTORY All

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.

'Harder than I anticipated'

Friday's stage of the 2003 Tour de France delivered yet more shocks in what has been a Tour of full of drama. The shock of the day was Jan Ullrich turning 47 kilometers of French asphalt into a personal road to redemption, by scoring his first Tour stage victory since 1998 and pushing his longtime rival Lance Armstrong to an unfamiliar second place in a Tour time trial. Armstrong said he ran out of water and suffered with the heat, which again shot into the humid-90s. Armstrong was dealt his worst Tour time trial defeat since his 1999 comeback to the race after overcoming cancer. Indeed,

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

Adam Craig getting ready to (free) ride.

Things have certainly changed for the Italian Fassa Bortolo team on the Tour de France - and its experienced manager Giancarlo Ferretti admits he’s feeling rather short-handed. Ferretti, who was on cloud nine in the first week of the Tour as 29-year-old sprinter Alessandro Petacchi added four impressive stage wins to the six he won in the Tour of Italy, has fallen back to earth after a virus decimated his team. Fassa Bortolo have been operating with only three of their nine riders for the past six days - a peculiar but worrying situation which has left plenty of room on the team bus but

Ullrich flew

Men's XC favorite Hesjedal sporting a new look.

1. Jan Ullrich (G), Bianchi, at 58:322. Lance Armstrong (USA), U.S. Postal Service, at 01:363. Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz), Telekom, at 02:064. Haimar Zubeldia (Sp), Euskaltel-Euskadi, at 02:405. Tyler Hamilton (USA), CSC, at 02:436. Uwe Peschel (G), Gerolsteiner, at 03:267. David Millar (GB), Cofidis, at 03:558. Inigo Chaurreau (Sp), Ag2R Prevoyance, at 04:019. David Plaza (Sp), Bianchi, at 04:3710. Santiago Botero (Col), Telekom, at 05:0011. Francisco Mancebo (Sp), iBanesto.com, at 05:0012. Iban Mayo (Sp), Euskaltel-Euskadi, at 05:0313. Georg Totschnig (A), Gerolsteiner, at 05:0614. Denis

Who is that mysterous mullet-man?

Saint derailleur.

In a recent Sports Illustrated column, Rick Reilly says to his daughter that besides spending two hours writing his weekly column, what he does the rest of the time is “worry about those two hours.” Well, here at bike-geek central, none of us has the luxury of being a full-time, once-a-week columnist, seeing as how our staff is about the size of the Fassa Bortolo squad after a week at the Tour. That being the case, we generally leave it a little late when it comes to our weekly Web columns, which can make for some, um, interesting topics. This week, for example, Neal Rogers found it in

Euskatel rider Zubeldia rides to take the fourth place

Vinokourov slips to third

Saint cranks.

Lance Armstrong said blistering temperatures and not drinking enough fluids gave him a challenging day in the saddle during the Tour de France’s 12th-stage time trial, won by German rival Jan Ullrich here on Friday. Ullrich ended a five-year famine to win his first Tour stage since 1998, another time trial, after posting the winning time of 58:32 over the 47km race against the clock between Gaillac and here. Armstrong, who admitted that at one point he felt he was going backwards, finished second at a massive 1:36 behind the 29-year-old German to see his lead in the race

Vinokourov rides to take third place

The VN Saint testing machine.

Tyler Hamilton

Uwe Peschel set the day's early standard

The Lithuanian cycling federation has imposed a one-year ban on controversial Lithuanian rider Raimondas Rumsas, who tested positive for the banned drug EPO during the Tour of Italy, the federation said Friday. The federation also fined 31-year-old Rumsas 2,000 Swiss francs (1,300 euros). "The federation offered a six-month suspension for Rumsas, but the international cycling federation (the Union Cycliste Internationale) did not agree with this and recommended a four-year ban," said Valentinas Rutkauskas, the secretary general of the Lithuanian cycling federation. The federation had sent

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

Britain's David Millar said he was battling with breathing difficulties as he finished a disappointing seventh in the Tour de France time trial on Friday. The Cofidis rider, who had predicted he would finish in the top two in the 47 km sprint from Gaillac to Cap Decouverte, ended up nearly four minutes adrift of Germany's stage winner Jan Ullrich (Bianchi). "I've been sick since the (Wednesday) rest day and just couldn't breathe during the time trial," Millar said. "I set off good, but after 20 kilometers my plans all went up in smoke. It was very hot today, but to be honest it was the

Another break succeeds

Lance at the finish line

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

The Arnold meets Lance

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

Narbonne

Flecha's well-timed move

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

2 generations watch the start of the Tour in Narbonne

An easy day protecting the jersey

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),

TV bike and transmitter gets some pre race work

July in France: Heat, bikes and sunflowers

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.

IMAX camera films sign in

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

Tour merchandise

Hamilton at the start

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

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

Juan Flecha shows the emotion of winning a stage

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

Lance takes up arm wrestling with Arnold

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

The Posties and Arnold

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