stage19

Caley Fretz goes long on machinery for the race of truth

Matthew Beaudin and Gregor Brown on Bradley Wiggins' performance and their picks for the finale in Paris

The Londoner came back from injury determined to see his dream come true

Brian Robinson predicts great things for British cycling

Jonathan Cantwell

Casey B. Gibson nails it with his Nikons during stage 19 of the 2012 Tour de France

Graham Watson is on the scene as Sky goes 1-2 once more in an individual time trial

Tejay van Garderen has made great strides, but management says there's still work to be done

The race leader and top domestique Chris Froome go one-two in the final race against the clock

Bernard Eisel supplies his insights from the 2012 Tour de France

BILBAO, Spain (VN) - Igor Antón delivered a dream-come-true victory in Friday's emotional return to the Basque Country after a three-decade absence with an impressive solo victory.

Stage

• 1. Igor ANTON HERNANDEZ, (ESP) Euskaltel-Euskadi, in 3:53:34
• 2. Marzio BRUSEGHIN, (ITA) Movistar, at 41
• 3. Dominik NERZ, (GER) Liquigas-Cannondale, at 1:30
• 4. Haimar ZUBELDIA AGIRRE, (ESP) Team RadioShack, at 1:30
• 5. Chris SÖRENSEN, (DEN) Saxobank-Sungard, at 1:31

GC

• 1. Juan Jose COBO ACEBO, (Spain) Geox-Tmc, in 77:59:12
• 2. Christopher FROOME, (Great Britain) Team Sky, at 13
• 3. Bradley Wiggins, (Great Britain) Team Sky, at 1:41
• 4. Bauke MOLLEMA, (Netherlands) Rabobank Cycling Team, at 2:03
• 5. Denis MENCHOV, (Russia) Geox-Tmc, at 3:48

BILBAO, Spain (AFP) — Basque rider Igor Anton (Euskaltel) on Friday won the 19th stage of the Tour of Spain, a 158.5km ride from Noja to Bilbao in his native Basque country.

BILBAO, Spain (AFP) — When the Vuelta a España reaches Bilbao on Friday, the cycling-mad Basques will finally get to see the Vuelta in their own land after 33 years' absence.

GRENOBLE, France (VN) — “There’s a car, a car … il y a une voiture!” You could hear the panic in the voice of a television technician who was being pinned back against the trunk of a race official’s red Skoda by a solid mass of media crews. The mob was moving en masse like a giant bubble around the rider wearing a yellow skinsuit, Andy Schleck, who’d just thrown every last ounce of energy into defending (unsuccessfully) his Tour de France lead against Cadel Evans.

Brian Holcombe and Andrew Hood from the Alpe d'Huez finish line

ALPE d'HUEZ, France (VN) — Tom Danielson realizes he has one more hard effort before he can enjoy what's been a highly successful Tour de France debut.

L’ALPE D’HUEZ, France (VN) — On a day when all French eyes were on L’Alpe d’Huez as the pride of the country Thomas Voeckler carried the maillot jaune toward the final weekend of the Tour de France, it was his teammate Pierre Rolland who stole the show. Rolland (Europcar), long pegged as the 25-years-later successor to Bernard Hinault, silenced his doubters when he won alone atop the biggest climb in the sport.

ALPE D'HUEZ, France (AFP) - Tour de France leader Andy Schleck believes he still has enough juice in his legs to defy Australian Cadel Evans to secure his maiden yellow jersey on Saturday.

L'ALPE d'HUEZ, France (VN) —Alberto Contador was too proud to finish a frustrating and injury-plagued Tour de France lying down.

France finally scored a stage win in this Tour as Europcar's young Pierre Rolland won atop l'Alpe d'Huez, grabbing the white jersey for best young rider on the day his teammate Thomas Voeckler finally gave up the yellow jersey.

Stage

• 1 Pierre Rolland (Fra) Team Europcar 3:13:25
• 2 Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0:00:14
• 3 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Saxo Bank Sungard 0:00:23
• 4 Peter Velits (Svk) HTC-Highroad 0:00:57
• 5 Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team

• 1 Andy Schleck (Lux) Leopard Trek
• 2 Fränk Schleck (Lux) Leopard Trek 0:00:53
• 3 Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team 0:00:57
• 4 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Team Europcar 0:02:10
• 5 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre - ISD 0:03:31

July 22 Stage 19: Modane to L’Alpe d’Huez, 109.5km (68 miles)