Spanish puncheur Joaquín Rodríguez (Caisse d’Epargne) knew he had a good shot at stage victory when he saw the short but steep third-category finish-line approach in Thursday’s second stage at the Vuelta a Burgos in northern Spain. Known for explosive ability that’s helped him win, among other victories, the hilltop stage at Tirreno-Adriatico to Monte Lupone two years in a row, Rodríguez turned on the gas Thursday to win the 153km second stage and take the leader’s jersey at the five-day Burgos tour.

World champion Allesandro Ballan (Lampre) won a sprint finish for the fifth stage of the Tour of Poland under the rain on Thursday. Ballan's success on the 163km stage from Strzyzow to Krynica Zdroj also gave him possession of the race leader's yellow jersey. Ballan finished ahead of Spaniard Daniel Moreno and Dutch rider Pieter Weening, who are second and third in the overall standings respectively. "I promised to fight in the Tour of Poland and I kept my word," said Ballan after crossing the finish line in a bunched sprint.

What a week it’s been for Euskaltel-Euskadi. First, its captain and Tour de France stage-winner, Mikel Astrarloza, pops positive for EPO in a pre-Tour doping control, some nasty business that raises questions about the team’s future, not to mention its ethical integrity. Then Igor Antón wins Sunday’s Urkiola climbing race in the heart of Basque Country to remind everyone that the “orange tide” isn’t going down without a fight.

Norwegian ace Edvald Boasson Hagen (Columbia-HTC) won the fourth stage of the Tour of Poland on Wednesday after outshining teammate André Greipel in a sprint finish. Greipel, wearing the race leader's jersey, finished second on the 239.7-kilometer stage from Naleczow to Rzeszow but was later relegated by race officials after impeding the sprint of Australia's Allan Davis.

Time is still marching on
Dear Explainer, I was happy to see that the Tour de France reintroduced the team time trial to this year’s race. It raised a question that has bothered me for a long time, though. While I understand that teams are assigned the finishing times of the fifth rider to cross the line, what happens to those riders who finish behind the fifth rider? More importantly, what happens to teams that, for whatever reason, have to start the TTT with fewer than five riders? Jonathan Bergner Washington, D.C.

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Carbon mid- and deep-section wheels are all the rage in road racing, and for good reason. A deep aerodynamic profile helps slice through the wind, and using carbon as the rim material helps keep weight to a minimum. Most high-end deep section carbon wheels have that perfect blend of light weight and improved aerodynamics.

Organizers promise some surprises in the third edition of the all-new Tour of Missouri, which kicks off on Labor Day in St. Louis and concludes a week later in Kansas City. Christian Vande Velde (Garmin) won last year’s edition, while George Hincapie (Discovery) triumphed in the inaugural event, and race director Jim Birrell says it will take a strong man to win the 2009 tour, too.

Italian Angelo Furlan (Lampre-N.G.C.) dominated a sprint finish to win the second stage of the Tour of Poland Monday. Furlan beat Belgian Jurgen Roelandts (Silence-Lotto) and Argentina's Juan Jose Haedo (Saxo Bank) to take the victory in the 219km stage between Serock and Bialystok. Borut Bozic (Vacansoleil), the winner of stage was, retained the overall lead despite a tie on time with Furlan, whose teammate David Loosli sits third overall at one second back. Tuesday’s stage 3 is a 225,1km leg from Bielsk Podlaski to Lublin.

The promoters of the Tour of Elk Grove call it the "richest stage race in the world." And with more than $150,000 on the line for a 7.7km time trial, a 150km road race and a 110km criterium, the dollars-per-kilometer average is quite astronomical.

Borut Bozic (Vacansoleil) sprinted to victory in the first stage of the 66th Tour of Poland on Sunday. David Loosli (Lampre-N.G.C) and Blazej Janiczak (Polska-BGZ) broke away early in the 96km circuit race in Warsaw and built a lead of some five minutes before the peloton finally retrieved them on the final lap. Columbia-HTC tried to get its train rolling for sprinter Andre Greipel, but Bozic showed him a clean pair of heels with Francesco Gavazzi (Lampre-N.G.C.) third. "It's my first victory in the ProTour, I was waiting for so long,” Bozic said.

Rising Danish prospect Jakob Fuglsang wrapped up overall victory at the Tour of Denmark on Sunday after finishing safely in the main bunch to successfully defend his crown in his national tour. Fuglsang, who won last year racing for the Designa Kokka team, and joined Saxo Bank as a stagiaire after returning from the Beijing Summer Olympic Games, where he competed in mountain biking. Racing full-time on the road this year with Saxo Bank, Fuglsang won stage 3 to take the lead and then rode to fifth in the time trial in stage 5 to defend.

Carlos Barredo (Quick Step) won a wet Clásica San Sebastián in Spain's northern Basque region on Saturday. Barredo beat Czech rider Roman Kreuziger of Liquigas in a sprint to the line at the end of the 237-kilometer mountainous course that begins and ends in the city. The two were seven seconds ahead of a group led by Frenchman Mikael Delage. Canadian Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Slipstream) finished fifth.

Meredith Miller (Team Tibco) attacked out of a break to solo across the line for her first stars- and-stripes jersey on Saturday in the women’s elite road race at USA Cycling’s Junior, U23, Elite and Paralympic National Championships in Bend, Oregon.

Jens in his own words

It wasn't this way for all of us, but for race leader Jeremiah Bishop, the 65km second stage of the Intermontane Challenge in Kamloops, British Columbia, unfolded in much the same formula as stage 1: a neutral rollout through town, followed by roughly an hour of dusty desert riding, an hour in the forest above town, and a third, final hour weaving through sagebrush on the way to the finish line back in town.

None of last year’s top three are expected to be back, but the 2009 Vuelta a España will see a strong field for the season’s final grand tour. Last year’s winner Alberto Contador – still celebrating his Tour de France victory – has confirmed he will not defend his Vuelta title. Runner-up Levi Leipheimer, recovering from his crash at the Tour, and third-place Carlos Sastre, exhausted after racing four consecutive grand tours, are both steering clear of the Spanish tour. That leaves a huge vacuum that several top names will be jostling to fill.

It wasn't this way for all of us, but for race leader Jeremiah Bishop, the 65km second stage of the Intermontane Challenge in Kamloops, British Columbia, unfolded in much the same formula as stage 1: a neutral rollout through town, followed by roughly an hour of dusty desert riding, an hour in the forest above town, and a third, final hour weaving through sagebrush on the way to the finish line back in town.

Road bikes are nothing new to Gary Fisher. He began racing on the road as a junior decades ago. His original goals were to make it as a professional road cyclist but those plans were derailed when he began his mountain bike business. Fisher thanks his experience as a roadie for his obsession with the perfectly fitting mountain bike. For a complete new road line, Fisher aimed to build bikes that stiffer and lighter plus a few extras that should improve the ride quality.

New Technology

The International Cycling Classic, the 17-day race series held in and around Milwaukee and Chicago that is better known as Superweek, concluded on Sunday in Whitefish Bay, just north of Milwaukee. Fly V Australia's Bernard Sulzberger was corned as the overall series champion — a position he defended the entire series since winning the opening race July 10. In fitting fashion, the final race was won by Sulzberger's Fly V Australia teammate, fellow Aussie and last year's series winner Jonathan Cantwell.

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With Sunday's Chicago Criterium dishing out $2,800 in primes, Brad Huff (Jelly Belly) said it felt like a field sprint on every lap, but the Midwestern sprinter saved himself for when it counted, successfully launching a flier from more than a kilometer out to take victory and a $5,000 pay day. "Guys are jockeying for position, guys are being aggressive. I was like, 'Good lord, can everyone just calm down? We still have 30 laps!'"

Anthony Colby (Colavita-Sutter Home p/b Cooking Light) attacked a nine-man break that had been out since the third of five laps in Sunday’s final stage, and soloed across the line for the biggest NRC win of his career. He was followed seconds later by fellow breakaway partners Taylor Shelden and Alex Howes, both of Felt-Holowesko Partners-Garmin. Oscar Sevilla (Rock Racing) held onto the yellow jersey and also succeeded in helping teammate Francisco Mancebo gain enough time to jump ahead of Jeff Louder (BMC) on GC for second.

There’s more to racing than the Tour de France and there’s no rest for the weary as the cycling circus keeps on truckin’. The Tour of Denmark and the Clásica San Sebastian are the main events this week as the cycling calendar switches gears after the most important stage race of the year. The women’s World Cup also clicks back into gear, with two events in Sweden this weekend. 19th Tour of Denmark

Tour de France chief Christian Prudhomme credited Lance Armstrong for adding an interesting element to this year's race after the American came out of retirement to finish a commendable third overall. Armstrong finished more than five minutes behind Astana teammate Alberto Contador, who proved unbeatable over three weeks of tough racing on his way to his second victory since his maiden win in 2007. However, on more than one occasion, the 37-year-old seven-time champion showed that his sense for racing is still up there with the best.

During the stage-winning celebrations at the Columbia-HTC team bus in Paris Sunday evening, directeur sportif Allan Peiper pointed out that Mark Cavendish scored his record six field-sprint wins at this Tour in very different ways. The 24-year-old Brit not only packs a kick that is fast enough to out-accelerate most of his rivals but he can also improvise in way that few sprinters have ever been able to do.

Not to be outdone by the Trek Project One paint jobs over in the Astana camp, and the custom yellow Specialized Tarmac SL3 for Saxo Bank’s Fabian Cancellara, Scott Bicycles and the Columbia-HTC team produced a special bike for their star sprinter Mark Cavendish.

Alberto Contador collected the final yellow jersey of the 2009 Tour de France on Sunday as Mark Cavendish won the 21st and final stage on the Champs-Élysées. "The Tour is the hardest race in the world, but this year it was particularly difficult. That's why I am so happy," said the Astana captain after finishing the 96th Tour with 4:11 over Andy Schleck (Saxo Bank) and 5:24 over teammate Lance Armstrong. The runner-up credited his brother for his success.

Though she’s only 16 years old and still racing junior gears (52x14 top gear), Coryn Rivera (Proman Hit Squad) emerged from a bunch sprint just ahead of Tina Pic (Colavita-Sutter Home) and Kirsty Broun (Team Lip Smacker) to take the stage 5 criterium in downtown Bend Saturday night. There was no change in GC, as Evelyn Stevens (Webcor Builders) still has the lead, followed by Amber Rais (Team Tibco) and Alison Powers (Team Type 1).

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The Tour de France organizers’ experiment of making the peloton race up Mont Ventoux the day before the finish had mixed results. It was a thrill for the estimated 500,000 fans who lined the 21km length of the infamous climb. It was a burden for most of the 156 men who have survived the rigors of another rugged race out of the 198 starters. And it showcased the still-obvious strength of Lance Armstrong to finish ahead of the riders who threatened his third place on the final podium in Paris.

Columbia's Mark Cavendish says he never focuses on his rivals, but on Sunday's final stage of the Tour de France the Columbia rider would do well to keep a close eye on Thor Hushovd. Despite going one better than he did in 2008 by winning five stages at the race so far this year Cavendish has unfinished business - challenging for the points competition's green jersey. Going into Sunday's 164km ride from Montereau-Fault-Yonne to the Champs Elysees in Paris Hushovd has a significant lead of 25 points on Cavendish.

Rabobank finally got a victory in the 2009 Tour de France as Juan Manuel Garate joined an early break on Saturday and stayed away to win the penultimate stage atop the forbidding summit of Mont Ventoux. Saxo Bank's Andy Schleck did all he could do to upset the top of the GC — his team powered the peloton much of the day and Schleck led the yellow jersey group for much of the climb, attacking alone and with his brother Frank.

Moises Aldape (Team Type 1) must have experienced a little déjà vu as he crossed the finish line of the Cascade Lakes Road Race by himself in stage 4 on Friday – he won this same stage last year. Phil Zajicek (Fly V Australia p/b Successful Living) won a bunch sprint to take second place 13 seconds later, while Francisco Mancebo (Rock Racing) took third. The top of the GC remained unchanged with Oscar Sevilla (Rock Racing) retaining his lead, Jeff Louder (BMC) in second at 40 seconds back, and Mancebo in third at 1:00 back.

Columbia's Mark Cavendish won 19th stage of the Tour on Friday, a hilly stage tucked between the Annecy time trial and the penultimate Mont Ventoux stage. All the GC favorites and race leader Alberto Contador finished safely in the front group, setting up a battle for the Parisian podium on the slopes of Mont Ventoux Saturday. Lance Armstrong (Astana) was the only GC favorite on the right side of a four-second split at the end, picking up a small edge going into the final two days.

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Thor Hushovd (Cervélo TestTeam) heard the comments from arch-rival Mark Cavendish about how the big Viking needed to DQ the British sprinter to have any chance to win the green jersey. The tension was ratcheting up even since the stage to Besançon when Cavendish was relegated for irregular sprinting in the bunch sprint for 13th place. That UCI jury decision essentially gifted Hushovd the green jersey. But the Cervélo sprinter was too proud to take it that way.

Following their strong performance on the 17th stage of the Tour de France, Saxo Bank’s Fränk and Andy Schleck met with the press. By finishing first and third in what is widely regarded as the toughest stage of the Tour thus far, the brothers have moved up into the top three of the overall standings, trailing only race leader Alberto Contador (Astana), who finished second on the day. Andy Schleck now occupies second place, 2:26 behind Contador, while Fränk is in third at 3:25. VeloNews’Neal Rogers attended the press conference and provides these highlights.

Saxo Bank’s Andy and Frank Schleck climbed their way up in the general classification on stage 17, with only race leader Alberto Contador (Astana) able to follow the Luxembourg riders over the day’s final climb and down to the finish. But Astana continued to show its might, with Lance Armstrong and Andreas Klöden riding strongly to finish fifth and sixth on the day and shedding the other GC contenders. Bradley Wiggins (Garmin-Slipstream) rode with the select Armstrong group towards the end, but lost the wheel on the final climb up the Col de la Colombiere to finish 3:10 down.

Under a blazing high desert sun in Central Oregon, the 30th Bend Memorial Clinic Cascade Cycling Classic opened Tuesday with the 71-mile Smith Rock Road Race. This season's breakout woman, 26-year-old amateur Evelyn Stevens (Webcor Builders), took the bunch sprint ahead of Tina Pic (Colavita-Sutter Home) and Chrissy Ruiter (ValueAct Capital). In the men's race, Ben Jacques-Maynes (Bissell) soloed away from a break to cross the line 10 seconds before Jeff Louder (BMC) and Francisco Mancebo (Rock Racing) in second and third.

For the men, eventually, a successful break

Editor's Note: Michael Barry is a member of the Columbia-HTC team. Pedaling up the climb without a car in sight, the sun beating down, my open jersey fluttering in the breeze and my legs turning fluidly, my mind started wandering. The road was one I had ridden countless times, alone, with teammates, rivals and friends. I know every meter of road after nearly 10 years of riding in Girona — it now feels like home. Daily, we meet for rides, forming a group that contains many of the best professional cyclists in the world.

With two alpine stages done and the most difficult one coming up on Wednesday, the 96th Tour de France is fast revealing its harshest features. The double St. Bernard stage Tuesday saw longtime race leader Rinaldo Nocentini (AG2R-La Mondiale) and former white jersey Tony Martin (Columbia-HTC) fall out of the top 10, while Cadel Evans (Silence-Lotto) had his worst day ever at the Tour and dropped to 17th overall, 7:23 behind yellow jersey Alberto Contador.

Mikel Astarloza (Euskaltel-Euskadi) used a daring last-minute break to win the 16th stage of the 2009 Tour de France, a short, tough ride from Martigny in Switzerland, to Bourg-Saint-Maurice in France. The Spaniard claimed his first Tour stage victory by attacking a four-man break in the final 2km, just as it was about to be joined by a second four-man group, and held his advantage to win by just six seconds ahead of Sandy Casar (Française des Jeux) with Pierrick Fedrigo (Bbox Bouygues Telecom) third.

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Less Badger!

“Contador was the strongest today,” Saxo Bank’s Fränk Schleck said shortly after Sunday’s intense stage 15 to Verbier. “And now it will be very difficult for us to win the Tour de France. But we will try again.” Saxo Bank surprised many on Sunday by being the team that took charge of the race on the initial slopes of the 8km climb to the finish. “We launched the attack like we planned,” said team boss Bjarne Riis. “And we are very pleased with … the results of our efforts to create the race.”

Astana’s Alberto Contador won the day and the maillot jaune on Sunday, riding away from a small group of favorites on the final climb in stage 15 of the Tour de France. Contador used the Category 1 climb to Verbier to settle accounts with teammate Lance Armstrong and the rest of his rivals for the overall victory, rocketing away to win by more than 40 seconds over Saxo Bank’s Andy Schleck, who collected the white jersey for the best young rider in the process. Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas) finished third.

Belgian rider Tom Boonen has withdrawn from the Tour de France ahead of the 15th stage because of sickness,his Quick Step team said on Sunday. The Paris-Roubaix champion vomited during the night and had a fever, according to the team. The 28-year-old Belgian sprint specialist was controversially re-admitted to the Tour at the last minute after being initially sidelined by organizers because of a second positive test for cocaine. After Saturday's 14th stage, he was sitting in 148th place in the overall standings, 1:38:42 behind yellow jersey holder Rinaldo Nocentini.

Five seconds separated George Hincapie (Columbia-HTC) from the yellow jersey in Saturday’s hilly stage across eastern France. How those five seconds are dissected will be the source for debate throughout the remainder of the 2009 Tour de France. At the finish line Besancon, Hincapie seemed poised to move into the maillot jauneafter riding into the day’s winning 12-man breakaway on the hilly 199km 14th stage from Colmar to Besancon. The American started the stage 28th at 5:25 back and was the best-placed rider in the move.

Thor Hushovd (Cervélo) might seem like a polite gentleman off the bike, but they don’t call him the “Bear from Grimstad” for nothing. For the second day in a row, Hushovd’s emotions got the most of him at the finish line and he was screaming just moments after coming across the line in the intense battle for the green jersey. Yesterday, after battling through the cold and snow to Colmar to regain the green jersey, Hushovd roared at Peter Velits (Milram) for pipping him at the line.

Katusha's Sergei Ivanov won Saturday's stage 14, a mostly flat transition stage from Friday's day in the mountainous Verges region and Sunday's first day in the Alps. Ivanov attacked his 11 breakaway companions in the final 11 kilometers and used his time trial skills to roll away to an impressive win. His breakaway companion George Hincapie almost snagged the yellow jersey from Rinaldo Nocentini, finishing just five seconds too late to take the lead.[nid:95377]

Cav' in early break?

American Tyler Farrar is targeting the Tour de France 14th stage as he bids to beat British sprint king Mark Cavendish in a 'fair and square' speed battle. Cavendish has been the undisputed speed king with four wins so far but Farrar is one of the few riders to have beaten him this year when he won the third stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico in March. With the Tour de France moving into the Alps on Sunday, Saturday's rolling route from Colmar to Besancon could, if the sprinters' teams decide to chase down anticipated breakaways, end in a bunch finish.

Colin Cares and Amy Dombroski required fresh, clean stars-and-stripes jerseys Friday after taking the U23 crowns at the 2009 USA Cycling national mountain bike championships, held at SolVista resort in Granby, Colorado. Both riders crossed the line coated in layers of dirt and trail grime after suffering mid-race crashes. Cares even had a sizable rock wedged between the vents of his helmet. “I went down on the last lap — I just washed out on a loose corner,” said Cares, who hails from Boulder, Colorado. “The adrenaline kicked in. I got right back on my bike.”

All week long, people watching the Tour de France on TV have been saying, “This Tour looks too easy. When are they gonna start racing?” Memories are short, and appearances are deceptive. A week ago, everyone was saying that the opening stages of this 96th Tour de France were the hardest in recent memory, and that the excitement level had been ratcheted up several notches by the return of Lance Armstrong. And speculation was high on how the upcoming fight for control of the Astana team between the Texan and his Spanish teammate Alberto Contador would pan out.

Katie Compton has the legs. Heather Irmiger has the lungs. Mary McConneloug owns the technical skills and Georgia Gould has the speed.   Each of these four racers brings a unique set of skills into this weekend’s USA Cycling national cross-country championships, held at Sol Vista resort in Granby, Colorado. The four sit atop the list of favorites to win Saturday’s cross-country race, which awards one year of bragging rights to the victor.  So who is the absolute favorite to win? 

The overall classification for the top 10 in the Tour de France has not changed since last weekend’s stages in the Pyrenees. Monday was a rest day and stage 10 and 11 have been won in field sprints by Team Columbia-HTC’s Mark Cavendish. Team Saxo Bank’s Chris Anker Sorensen continues to ride well within his first Tour de France. He is recovering quickly and has been well within his comfort zone the last two stages. However, many others have been, as well, so we should expect some real fireworks as the Tour enters the Alpes in a few days.

Stage 10

Mark Cavendish’s victory in the uphill finish Wednesday at Saint-Fargeaux proved that the British sprinter’s isn’t a one-trick pony limited to the flats. Just like his surprise victory at Milan-San Remo revealed this spring, a leaner and stronger Cavendish revealed he can get over the hills and win when the stage goes uphill.

Levi Leipheimer is banged up after a late-stage crash in Thursday’s wild ride to Vittel, but he’s thankful that he wasn’t seriously injured ahead of the potentially explosive stage across the Vosges on Friday. The Astana rider – poised for the Tour podium in fourth place at 39 seconds back – crashed on a left-hander as the main pack swept into the finish line sprint nearly six minutes behind solo winner Nicki Sorensen (Saxo Bank).

Katie Compton has the legs. Heather Irmiger has the lungs. Mary McConneloug owns the technical skills and Georgia Gould has the speed.

Saxo Bank's Nicki Sorensen emerged from a seven-man break to take a classic solo win on a perfect summer day in France Thursday. Sorensen was part of the group that formed about 70km into the 212km 12th stage from Tonnerre to Vittel, the last relatively flat day before the Tour returns to the mountains Friday. Sorensen attacked the breakaway with Agritubel's Sylvain Calzati with about 20k to go, and then attacked Calzati with 5k to go to cross the line with a 37-second gap over the rest of the break. [nid:95239]

Close calls Well, two more sprint stages in the books and two more near misses. One second- and a third-place are certainly nice, but not quite the win we have been looking for. We're definitely getting our timing dialed for the bunch kicks, though. Julian has been amazing the last couple of days! It's going to click one of these days. The only bummer today was that both Christian and Ryder crashed. This was the third time Ryder has hit the deck! They say bad things come in threes though, so I guess he's gotten them all out of the way now.

While Mark Cavendish is getting all the glory of stage win after stage win at this 96th Tour de France, he always compliments his Columbia-HTC teammates, notably his lead-out man Mark Renshaw. But the Manxman, who looks like he’s on his way to at least six stage victories this year, also knows that he would never get the opportunity to use his explosive sprint if it weren’t for his less-heralded colleagues Bernhard Eisel of Austria and Bert Grabsch of Germany.

With Columbia-HTC’s Mark Cavendish having won four of this year’s nine road stages, it would be easy to assume his sprint victories have come as easily as he makes it appear. However looks can be deceiving. On Wednesday the 24-year-old from the Isle of Man equaled his tally of Tour stage wins from last year’s Tour, and in doing so matched the record number of stage wins by a British rider; he also took back the green jersey from Cervélo’s Thor Hushovd.

They said stage 11’s uphill finish would certainly shed Mark Cavendish, opening the door for someone else to win. They were wrong. With his trusty leadout Columbia-HTC train of George Hincapie and then Mark Renshaw setting him up at the front of the peloton, Cavendish jumped on the uphill sprint finish of stage 11 to take the win ahead of Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Slipstream) and Thor Hushovd (Cervélo TestTeam). The bunch finish came at the end of Wednesday’s flat 192km stage from Vatan to Saint-Fargeau, following an all-day two-man breakaway that was caught with 5km to go.

Behind every great sprinter — or perhaps in front of — is a great lead-out man. Mario Cipollini had Giovanni Lombardi, Alessandro Petacchi had Marco Velo. Mark Cavendish, who is quickly establishing himself as the man to beat in the high-speed sprints, has found his man. Mark Renshaw, a 27-year-old Australian who joined the Columbia-HTC team this season, is the rider who delivers Cavendish to the line. Cavendish is quick to point out that the success is thanks to a team effort, but singled out Renshaw as the best in the business.

Editor's note: The Tour de France recently honored John Wilcockson for his remarkable 40 years of reporting. VeloNews.tv took the opportunity to salute him.

The chance of a stage win is likely to tempt more than one of the peloton's more agile sprinters in the 11th stage of the Tour de France on Wednesday. However, the likes of Oscar Freire (Rabobank) and Thor Hushovd Cervélo TestTeam) would do well to study the profile of the undulating 192km ride from Vatan to Saint Fargeau, which gets tricky inside the last 50km before ending on a slight incline. With only two Category 4 climbs the stage should, in theory, finish in a bunch sprint — although only those who can finish fast on a slight incline, including Hushovd and Freire, need apply.

Mark Cavendish (Columbia-HTC) won a leisurely, radio-free 10th stage of Tour de France on Tuesday. It was Bastille Day, and a breakaway full of Frenchmen declared independence early on, but the home crowd would have no reason to celebrate the finale — with a little help from George Hincapie and Mark Renshaw, Cavendish won yet another drag race to the line ahead of green jersey Thor Hushovd (Cervélo TestTeam) and Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Slipstream).

On July 5, 2009, Evelyn Stevens won the four-day, Fitchburg Longsjo Classic in Massachusetts, winning the NRC event ahead of seasoned vets like Jeannie Longo, who placed third, and Tina Pic, who won two stages. An amateur riding as a guest with the Lip Smacker pro team, Stevens, 26, moved into first on the second day’s hilly circuit race, gained more time with a second place in the tough stage 3 road race, and cinched the win after fending off crushing attacks in the final stage criterium.

As the son of one of cycling's greats, Nicolas Roche knows he has plenty to live up to. And after a tough first nine stages of racing on his Tour de France debut, the France-born Irish national road race champion is not expecting the race to get any easier. Roche, the son of former Tour de France and Giro d'Italia champion Stephen, has spent the past few days in the unexpected position of battling to keep teammate Rinaldo Nocentini in the race's yellow jersey.

I love rest days! Nothing feels quite as luxurious as spending an entire day lying around doing nothing after nine days of racing. I have been trying to make the most (or maybe I should say the least) of my day off. A little spin in the morning to loosen up the legs and then a lot of time getting acquainted with my bed. I'm sure it's going to be game on from kilometer zero again tomorrow, so I need all the recovery I can get!

As the Tour de France wraps up its first week of racing on the lower slopes of the Pyrénées, it seems the racing action among the general classification favorites has been put on hold for a while. Stages 8 and 9 had similar scripts — allow a lead break of non-GC contenders to escape, race the major Category 1 climbs at a cautious pace, and limit all losses.