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COL du GALIBIER, France (AFP) - British sprint king Mark Cavendish survived being eliminated from the Tour de France after the epic 18th stage to the Col du Galibier Thursday.

Cork remnants, long-low pros, and what do retired pros ride?

Stage

• 1. Andy Schleck, Team Leopard-Trek, in 6h 07' 56"
• 2. Frank Schleck, Team Leopard-Trek, at 2:07
• 3. Cadel Evans, Bmc Racing Team, at 02:15
• 4. Ivan Basso, Liquigas-Cannondale, at 02:18
• 5. Thomas Voeckler, Team Europcar, at 02:21

• 1. Thomas Voeckler, Team Europcar, in 79h 34' 06"
• 2. Andy Schleck, Team Leopard-Trek, at 00:15
• 3. Frank Schleck, Team Leopard-Trek, at at 01:08
• 4. Cadel Evans, Bmc Racing Team, at at 01:12
• 5. Damiano Cunego, Lampre - Isd, at at 03:46

Andy Schleck rode the stage of his life on Thursday, with a dramatic 60km-plus solo breakaway that put the Leopard-Trek rider into position to win the 2011 Tour de France.

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For 2012 SRAM is offering additional 2X10 gear options.

PINEROLO, Italy (VN) — When you look west from Pinerolo, your eyes are drawn to the Alps, whose majestic peaks received a new dusting of snow this week. It was in this sparkling city of the Piedmont (literally “foot of the mountain”) region where the legendary Italian rider Fausto Coppi scored one of his most famous coups: a 192km solo odyssey over five alpine passes to finish almost 12 minutes ahead of second-place Gino Bartali to clinch his overall victory in the 1949 Giro d’Italia.

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The UCI is requiring organizers of the inaugural USA Pro Cycling Challenge to reshuffle its team lineup to honor a rule prohibiting teams under common ownership from participating in the same event.

Contador's director says he will keep attacking

Andy Schleck says stage 17 finish descent 'not really necessary'

Andrew Hood and Brian Holcombe take apart stage 17

Want to be a better climber? Or maybe a better sprinter?

Singletrack.com's Lennard Zinn shows how to overhaul a P Knuckle derailleur.

Check out the sights and sounds from Gwin's win at Windham.

PINEROLO, Italy (VN) — Jens Voigt strongly defended Leopard-Trek's tactic of riding for both Schleck brothers throughout the Tour de France rather than rally behind one of the brothers as a single leader.

PINEROLO, Italy (VN) — Pedro Delgado says Cadel Evans is in the driver's seat to become the first Australian to win the Tour de France.

PINEROLO, Italy (VN) — Alberto Contador reached across to Samuel Sánchez to shake his hand as the pair crossed the line Thursday after another daring raid that fell short.

PINEROLO, Italy (VN) - Two-time defending champion Alberto Contador has lit a fire at the front of the Tour de France in the final week ahead of the three biggest days in this year’s race. Contador’s Saxo Bank-Sungard manager Bjarne Riis said the Spaniard is recovered from the knee injury that hampered him in the Pyrénées and that he must attack every rider in the race on the road to the Col du Galibier Thursday.

Brian Holcombe checks in with HTC's Bernhard Eisel

Team Sky's Edvald Boasson Hagen won his second stage of the 2011 Tour de France on Wednesday, improving on his second place of the day before and giving Norway two stage wins in a row and its fourth stage of this Tour.

Stage

• 1. Edvald Boasson Hagen, Sky Procycling, in 4h 18' 00"
• 2. Bauke Mollema, Rabobank Cycling Team, at 00:40
• 3. Sandy Casar, Fdj, at 00:50
• 4. Julien El Fares, Cofidis Le Credit En Ligne, at 00:50
• 5. Sylvain Chavanel, Quick Step Cycling Team, at 00:50

• 1. Thomas Voeckler, Team Europcar, in 73h 23' 49"
• 2. Cadel Evans, BMC Racing Team, at 1:18
• 3. Frank Schleck, Team Leopard-Trek, at 01:22
• 4. Andy Schleck, Team Leopard-Trek, at 02:36
• 5. Samuel Sanchez, Euskaltel-Euskadi, at 02:59

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Costa Rica’s Andrey Amador (Movistar) spent Monday in quiet reflection after learning that he is professional cycling’s only rider not rumored to be joining BMC Racing in 2012.

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Check out CyclingTips's author page.

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Check out CyclingTips's author page.

Check out CyclingTips's author page.

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The EA90 XC two-niners tip the scale at 1697 grams and are out-of-the-box UST ready.

Their “no risk” tactics is playing into the hands of Evans and Contador

GAP, France (AFP) - Tour de France leader Thomas Voeckler admitted to being put in trouble Tuesday after a surprise attack by reigning champion Alberto Contador threw the yellow jersey race wide open.

Welshman Geraint Thomas, who wore the Tour's best young rider white jersey during much of the race's opening week, has signed a new three-year deal with Team Sky.

GAP, France (VN) — Jonathan Vaughters (Garmin-Cervelo) says he's encouraged by signs that this Tour de France is a cleaner race.

GAP, France (VN) - Cadel Evans is riding a Tour de France of opportunity and his team sees more chances to take time on the horizon with an unlikely ally in Alberto Contador. Evans (BMC Racing) vaulted off a Contador (Saxo Bank-Sungard) attack late in Tuesday’s 16th stage to take time on his GC rivals at the foot of the Alps.

GAP, France (VN) — Alberto Contador (SaxoBank-Sungard) said he wasn't going to ride all the way to Paris without a fight.

Thomas Voeckler's custom yellow Colnago C59

GAP, France (AFP) — Tour de France officials said Tuesday they were "not worried" by snowfall high up in the Alps a day before the peloton tackles three days in the mountains.

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Stage

• 1. Thor Hushovd, Team Garmin - Cervelo, in 3h 31' 38"
• 2. Boasson Hagen Edvald, Sky Procycling, at s.t.
• 3. Ryder Hesjedal, Team Garmin - Cervelo, at 00:02
• 4. Tony Martin, Htc - Highroad, at 00:38
• 5. Mikhail Ignatyev, Katusha Team, at 00:52

• 1. Thomas Voeckler, Team Europcar, in 69h 00' 56"
• 2. Cadel Evans, Bmc Racing Team, at 01:45
• 3. Frank Schleck, Team Leopard-Trek, at 01:49
• 4. Andy Schleck, Team Leopard-Trek, at 03:03
• 5. Samuel Sanchez, Euskaltel - Euskadi, at 03:26

Garmin Cervelo's world champion Thor Hushovd on Tuesday won his second individual stage of the 2011 Tour de France, a cold, rainy, 162.5km race from Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux to Gap.

GAP, France (VN) - Angelo Zomegnan is out as director of the Giro d'Italia.

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Former American cycling star Lance Armstrong has accused a group of media giants of reporting grand jury information which had allegedly been illegally leaked.

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Christian Vande Velde auditions for VeloNews reporter job

Tom Danielson's excited for the Alps to begin

Singletrack.com's Lennard Zinn talks two-bolt flip-able stems.

Another simple yet tricky thing to change on your bike. Singletrack.com's Lennard Zinn makes sure you know how to install a new tire when that time comes.

SAINT-PAUL-TROIS-CHATEAUX, France (VN) — The UCI and the Tour de France parent company (ASO) rolled out a new agreement Monday to get the debut Tour of Beijing off the ground this October.

VIDEO: Tyler Farrar: "I don't know" if Cavendish took pulls

SAINT-PAUL-TROIS-CHATEAUX, France (VN) — Mark Cavendish's fourth stage win Sunday didn't sit well with some of the other top sprinters who couldn't hold back their frustration that perhaps Cavendish made it through Saturday's brutal climbing stage up Plateau de Beille with something more than his own two legs.

USA Pro Cycling Challenge organizers on Monday unveiled the race jerseys for the inaugural event, set for August 22-28.

PARIS (AFP) - Quick Step's Tom Boonen, who dropped out of the Tour de France on the seventh stage after an earlier crash, is to return to the road in the Tour of Poland, his team announced on Monday.

SAINTE CÉCILE LES VIGNES, France (VN) - Four days in the mountains and a Belgian classics rider lie in the way of Mark Cavendish and his green jersey dreams. As the Tour de France heads for its final week in the Alps, Cavendish (HTC-Highroad) is closer now than ever to taking the maillot vert home, but he’ll have to outdo two rivals and 12 categorized climbs to stand on the podium in Paris in green.

A cold hard rain is forecast for Tuesday's stage 16. John Wilcockson takes a look at how such conditions have turned previous Tours upside down.

Excerpted with permission from: The Tour Is Won on the Alpe by Jean-Paul Vespini, translated by David V. Herlihy

SAINT-PAUL-TRES-CHATEAUX, France (VN) ─ As the dust settled for Monday's rest day in the Tour de France, many inside the peloton were looking at Leopard-Trek with a critical eye.