Lawrence Dallaglio, the former England rugby captain, has completed the fourth leg of his charity bike ride round the Six Nations countries.

Former Wasps star Dallaglio said celebrity cyclists David Walliams and Fearne Cotton, who are completing a separate charity ride, will have a far easier time.

The ex-England captain is cycling round Europe visiting every country in the Six Nations championship for Sport Relief and his own charity, joined by other prominent sportsmen.

He said the celebrity bike ride from John O’Groats to Lands End, which includes Little Britain star Walliams, Radio One DJ Cotton and Big Brother presenter Davina McCall and is also for Sport Relief, is ”not a huge physical challenge” compared to his 3,000km journey.

Dallaglio set off from Rome in the snow on February 12 and cycled to Paris before moving on to Twickenham in England.

He has now arrived at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff with Ashes hero Andrew Flintoff and former England cricket captain Michael Vaughan.

The group is due to set off for Fishguard tomorrow to travel to Croke Park in Ireland before continuing on to Edinburgh with other charity cyclists in an attempt to raise £1 million for Sport Relief and the Dallaglio Foundation.

The World Cup winner said: ”It is not a huge physical challenge what they are up to.

”They are doing a relay so they are taking it in turns but it is an amazing thing that they are doing.

”We’ve billed it as Little Britain versus Big Europe, ours is more of an endurance.

”It has been very tough, there’s no doubt about it, 27 days of cycling.

”Theirs is obviously over quickly, very short and sharp, but still raising money for a fantastic cause.”

Flintoff, who had major knee surgery last year, said: ”I started off in Lawrence’s group but I can’t keep up, because of the surgery I’ve not done a great deal and my legs have just wasted away.

”I’ve found a group I’m more comfortable with today so I’m going to stick with them.”

Dallaglio added he hoped Welsh rugby star Andy Powell, who was today disqualified from driving for 15 months and ordered to pay £1,100 after driving a golf buggy down a motorway, would soon be back on the Wales squad.

He said: ”I think he’s a fantastic player on the pitch, but in terms of his own private life that’s down to him.

”I’m sure Warren Gatland and Shaun Edwards will judge him on his rugby ability and hopefully it won’t be too long before he’s back in the squad.”
Sourced via telegraph.co.uk

Popularity: 1% [?]

Cycling South Africa (CSA) has confirmed that top sprinter, Nolan Hoffman, has been handed an 18-month suspension from racing by an Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel that convened in Bloemfontein on February 3.

CSA said in a statement that Hoffman returned a positive test for unacceptably high levels of the hormone Testosterone, following the scrutiny of a sample taken from him on October 18 last year.

The sentence for this type of contravention of UCI and CSA anti-doping code normally carries a two-year ban, but Hoffman admitted guilt, showed remorse for his actions and gave the hearing panel his full co-operation. They subsequently reduced the suspension by six months dating back to the date of sample collection.

“CSA has entered a new era which includes raising the standard of our riders so that they are able to have a realistic chance at challenging for international titles. Our riders need to take responsibility for their own actions and Nolan Hoffman’s case confirms our intentions to clean up professional cycling in line with the relentless global moves in that direction,” explained Greg Till, CSA President.

Hoffman, 24, is one of the country’s biggest development success stories, having gone from a promising youngster to one of the top riders in the country in just a few years.

He is a former South African under-23 road race champion and has held multiple national track titles.

He is a regular podium finisher at most of the country’s leading road races and has in recent years finished on podiums at international stage races, including victory in the opening stage of the 2009 Tour de Korea.

Hoffman was racing for the Neotel professional team at the time of his positive test and was immediately dismissed from the team. Neotel then withdrew its sponsorship from professional road cycling in early 2010, but has maintained its support of the Neotel Development Academy.

“CSA has been working alongside Drug Free Sport South Africa for the past couple of years in an effort to clean up cycling. We have a zero-tolerance policy on the use of banned performance-enhancing methods and will continue to ensure an increased number of tests are conducted among all the cycle racing disciplines in 2010,” added Till.
Sourced via timeslive.co.za

Popularity: 1% [?]

British team continue their successful start with another one-two finish

Team Sky concluded their hugely successful first week in the international peloton exactly as they had started it – with another top two places in a bunch sprint, this time in the final stage of the Tour Down Under (TDU) in Adelaide yesterday.

The win went to the Australian sprinter Chris Sutton, and second across the line was New Zealander and team-mate Greg Henderson, the former track world champion who had opened up Sky’s victory account exactly a week before in the Cancer Council Helpline Classic one-day race.

Just to add to Sky’s good fortune, Henderson’s second place in the TDU’s final sprint earned him enough bonus seconds to propel him into third spot overall behind the HTC-Columbia sprinter Andre Greipel and Spaniard Luis Leon Sanchez.

For a new team like Sky to have such a major impact in their first races is by no means unprecedented – just last year the Russian squad Katusha won two of their three initial events. What makes Sky’s achievements exceptional, though, is that unlike Katusha the British success has come in a high-profile race of the calibre of the Tour Down Under, which is the first event in cycling’s top league, the ProTour. This year, the TDU has also had an exceptionally high-quality field, including riders such as the seven-times Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong and reigning world champion Cadel Evans.

“We came here with the objective of a stage win, but to do that and take a third place overall exceeds my expectations,” said the team principal, Dave Brailsford. “We’ve done a lot of practising, training specifically for the bunch sprints, talking through the finales and watching them on video every evening during the race, too, and that back-room work by everybody paid off very well.”

The team’s next two races will be in the backlands of southern France early next month, when bad weather and poorly surfaced roads will make for far harsher racing conditions than in balmy Australia. But while Brailsford acknowledges the European events could be tougher, he also believes more sophisticated team infrastructure available closer to home – such as Sky’s state-of-the-art team bus, vital for rider recovery and not available in Australia – could help Sky prevail again. “We’ve been working out of the back of a mini-van and with one team car here. That’s not been easy, particularly when we’ve had days when it’s been 40 degrees plus. Things like knowing exactly how dehydrated the riders are, which is really important, have been much harder to calculate because we don’t have the same equipment that we’ll have in Europe.

“What really gets your results, though, is team morale and working well together. And what we’ve got from here is a really solid foundation for the rest of the year.”
sourced via independent.co.uk

Popularity: 1% [?]

THE 2009 edition of the Momentum 94.7 Cycle Challenge race saw a female winner take the trophy in her first attempt at the race, and a male winner create history with his win.

The 94.7km race, organised by broadcaster Primedia, took place in and around Johannesburg, starting in Midrand and travelling through various city suburbs.

Joanna van der Winkel, racing for Cycle Lab, claimed her first major cycling medal, in just under a year since she took up the sport.

“I used to ride with my husband not so long ago, and I had very little confidence in my ability, but it’s now just really overwhelming to win a race of such magnitude,” said Van der Winkel, who is an amateur rock climber.

She was joined on the podium by Anli Pretorius from team Nashua, and Lylani Lourens from team MTN, who came second and third respectively.

And men’s race winner Aaron Brown became the first South African to complete a “cycling grand slam”, having already won the Cape Argus in March and Durban’s Amashovashova race last month.

The first place finish completed a glittering year for Brown and his Medscheme team.

“As a racer, this is what you want to win – one of the biggest races in our racing calender. Personally, it’s great to see all the hard work during the year paying off so sweetly here,” Brown said.

He was followed by team-mate Malcolm Lange, while third place went to Christoff van Heerden.

Spokeswoman Natasha Wadvalla said the race had run smoothly, and the response from participants had been ”mainly positive”.
Sourced via timeslive.co.za

Popularity: 1% [?]

Australian cycling star Stuart O’Grady is in hospital after collapsing at the Valencia MotoGP in Spain.

O’Grady collapsed during a corporate event on Sunday, just after taking a hot lap around the circuit with Australian MotoGP rider Casey Stoner.

Cycling South Australia executive manager Max Stevens said the Saxo Bank rider collapsed while being introduced to other MotoGP riders on the race grid by Stoner.

‘‘Casey Stoner started to interview Stuart and introduce him to these people,’’ Stevens said.

‘‘Stuart couldn’t answer the questions and then he collapsed.’’

Stevens said O’Grady had been admitted to hospital by doctors and was currently undergoing tests to determine the cause of the incident.

‘‘We’ll know more in the next couple of days,’’ he said.

The winner of two Tour de France stages and the Paris-Roubaix one-day classic, O’Grady has had to deal with health-related issues in the past. In 2002, he had surgery to remove a blockage in an artery which had caused a power imbalance in his legs.

While earlier in his career he had problems with an abnormally fast heartbeat.
Sourced via theage.com.au

Popularity: 1% [?]

Tour de France champion Alberto Contador finished the official cycling season as the top ranked rider in the International Cycling Union (UCI) world calendar released on Monday.

In an all-Spanish podium Contador, who rides for Astana, finished top on 527 points, ahead of second placed Alejandro Valverde (483) and Olympic road race champion Samuel Sanchez (357).

In the teams world ranking Astana ended the season on 1,100 points, with Valverde’s Caisse d’Epargne second on 1048 and American outfit Team Columbia third on 957.

Spain also topped the nations world ranking on 1,756 points with Italy (984) in second and Australia (960) third.

The Tour of Lombardy, won by Belgium’s Philippe Gilbert of Silence, brought the curtain down on the official 2009 cycling season on Saturday.
Sourced via afp

Popularity: 2% [?]

French anti-doping authorities say retests of blood samples from 17 riders at the 2008 Tour de France have all come back clean.

Pierre Bordry, head of the anti-doping agency, known as AFLD, “rejoiced” that the tests came back negative. He declined to name the cyclists involved.

Bordry also said he was surprised at the lack of positive tests at this year’s Tour, but reiterated his earlier criticism of cycling’s world governing body, the International Cycling Union, for not acting in accordance with World Anti-Doping Agency rules.

Meanwhile, a day after it was revealed that Italian cyclist Gabriele Bosisio had failed a dope test, his countryman Francesco De Bonis has also been flagged as an EPO user.
Sourced via AFP

Popularity: 2% [?]

We are looking for your nominations for the best looking sport babes in the world. The nominations can include sport babes from around the globe, from any country, from any sporting code-the more the merrier.

Nominations close on 30 September 2009.

Send your nominations to to us by filling out the form below. You may nominate up to 3 athletes per time.

Popularity: 45% [?]

Juan Manuel Garate’s stage victory was the only surprise on a horror-climb that left it “as you were” at the top of the general classification

Good afternoon. With serious illness, a bad accident or some other unforeseen disaster being all that separate Spain’s Alberto Contador from winning this year’s Tour, today’s stage is all about the race to see who’ll join him on the podium in Paris tomorrow afternoon.

The climb to hell that is Mont Ventoux will be sorting out the men from the boys this afternoon, prior to tomorrow’s celebratory procession to Paris, where the sprinters will be left to duke it out on the cobbles of the Champs-Élysées to see who gets to finish runner-up behind Mark Cavendish in the final stage.

But on general classification, where it really matters, Andy Schleck has second place all but sewn up. Seven-times winner of this race, Lance Armstrong is currently sitting pretty in the bronze medal position, but will be keeping his eyes peeled for the UK rider Bradley Wiggins, the climbing revelation of this year’s Tour who is 15 seconds behind in fourth. While Wiggins has no choice but to attack Armstrong today, he’ll also need to be wary of the American’s Astana team-mate Andreas Kloeden, who is only two seconds behind him. Another 21 seconds behind, Andy Schleck’s older brother, Frank is the only other rider entertaining realistic hope of nailing a top-three finish on GC.

Expect to see attack after attack today as (a) Astana do everything within their power to ensure Contador, Armstrong and Kloeden make it a 1-2-3 in Paris, (b) Saxo Bank try to get Schleck the Elder on to the podium alongside his younger brother and (c) Garmin try to improve the position of their man Wiggins.

I’ll be back to begin coverage of the stage at 12.15pm, but in the meantime, here’s some other stuff you might like.

• Richard Williams on the conspicuous absence of drug scandals in this year’s Tour … so far.

• Bradley Wiggins on Twitter (note decidedly unsubtle dig at Mark Cavendish on 9.05am on 22 July).

• Lance Armstrong on Twitter

• Our all-singing, all-dancing Tour De France 2009 special report

• The official Tour website

General Classification

1. Alberto Contador (Spain/Astana) 77hr 06min 18sec
2. Andy Schleck (Luxembourg/Saxo Bank) +4:11
3. Lance Armstrong (U.S./Astana) +5:21
4. Bradley Wiggins (Britain/Garmin) +5:36
5. Andreas Kloeden (Germany/Astana) +5:38
6. Frank Schleck (Luxembourg/Saxo Bank) +5:59
7. Vincenzo Nibali (Italy/Liquigas) +7:15
8. Christian Vande Velde (US/ Garmin) +10:08
9. Christophe Le Mevel (France/Francaise des Jeux) +12:37
10. Mikel Astarloza (Spain/Euskaltel) +12:38

Today’s fashions

Yellow jersey: Alberto Contador (Spa/Astana)
Green jersey: Thor Hushovd (Nor/Cervelo)
Polka dot jersey: Franco Pellizotti (Ita/Liquigas)
White jersey: Andy Schleck (Lux/Saxo Bank)

Montelimar to Mont Ventoux

It’s probably no exaggeration to say that many of the riders on this year’s Tour – non-climber Mark Cavendish foremost among them – will have had recurring nightmares about the ordeal facing them today: a 167km stage that culminates in a nightmarish 1,800m climb up the desolate face of Mont Ventoux, the highest point in Provence.

Seven-times a stage finish in its 95 million year existence, Mont Ventoux boasts a Mediterranean forest at its base, much Alpine flora at its summit and – on a sunny Saturday afternoon in July at least – nothing but scorching hot rock in between. Literally and metaphorically, there’s nowhere to hide.

With no shelter to protect them from the elements, the remaining 156 riders in this year’s Tour will have to contend with searing heat beating down on their necks from above (and up into their faces from the baking road below) as they try to pedal their way up an often vertical looking mountainside most sane folk wouldn’t attempt to negotiate in a small car.

Expect the field to finish strung out like Tuesday’s washing, while the winner of today’s stage will almost certainly come from the top five on GC. I don’t know about you, but the sadist in me can’t wait to spend the afternoon watching them suffer. Alberto Contador will probably cross the line first, but in the quest for value, my (very small amount of) money is on Lance Armstrong to conquer Mont Ventoux for the first time.

Today’s stage so far … With 64km behind them, a 16-man breakaway containing nobody of any consequence as far as GC is concerned has opened up a 9min 10sec lead on the peloton, with the Astana and Garmion teams leading the chase. Bradley Wiggins has already had to drop out of the peloton twice with mechanical problems but his team-mates have helped him back on both occasions.

The race for the green jersey: Thor Hushovd is currently swaddled in the points jersey and is almost certain to hold on to it, as his only rival, Mark Cavendish is extremely unlikely to be contesting any of the 53 remaining points that are up for grabs in today’s stage.

12.34pm The 16-man breakaway has just crossed the Col d’Ey, a third category climb that peaked at the 65.5km mark of today’s stage. Franco Pellizotti, who is not in this group, need only finish the race tomorrow to guarantee himself the polka-dot King of the Mountains jersey.

Weather report: It’s 23 degrees celsius on the road, but that howling sound you can hear is a strong wind with gusts of over 110mph up at the summit of Ventoux, which could make things very interesting indeed.

Some footage of Lance Armstrong and the late Marco Pantani tackling the summit of Mont Ventoux in 2002, just to give you a feel for what it’s like.

12.45pm: The gap between the 16-man breakaway and the peloton is down to 8min 48sec. William Bonnet, Maxime Bouet, Cyril Lemoine, Albert Timmer and Tony Martin are among the 16, as is Aleksandr Kuschnyinski, who has just rejoined them after stoping for a wee. There are three different routes up Mont Ventoux on a bicycle, all of them unpleasant, but according to Eurosport co-commentator Sean Kelly, today’s is the worst by a considerable margin.

Your emails are flooding in: So far I’ve had one, from Alan Brooks … correcting a spelling. Bah!

Your emails are flooding in II: Sorry, Allan Brooks. Double bah!

12.50pm: Astana are no longer leading the peloton, having made way for the Saxo Bank team of the Schleck brothers. There’s currently 8min 25sec between the main bunch and the breakaway, which contains Juan Manuel Garate and Christophe Riblon among its notables (notables being cyclists I’ve heard of).

12.53pm: The gap between the breakaway and the peloton has increased to 10min 19sec. I’m going to have to switch over to ITV4’s coverage when it begins at 1pm, as something’s gone wrong with the Eurosport in our office, meaning I’m working off sound alone at the moment. This is devastating news for those of us were looking forward to passing off the erudite musings of former Irish cyclist Sean Kelly as our own for the rest of the afternoon.

Stat attack: The leaders covered 39.1km in the second hour of the race, making their average speed for the first two hours 41.2km per hour.

1.06pm: The stage leaders have just crossed the third climb of the day, the Col de Fontaube.

1.16pm: With 70km to go, Saxo-Bank are dragging the peloton along, trying to bridge the 9min 15sec gap that separates them from the 16-man breakaway.

1.25pm: The Garmin Slipstream team of Bradley Wiggins has moved to the front of the peloton and the gap between them and the breakaway is down to 9min 02sec. Alberto Contador, the Schleck brothers, Wiggins, Andreas Kloeden and Lance Armstrong are all sitting pretty towards the front of the main bunch, where they’ll no doubt stay until reaching the foot of the ascent to Monteux, at which point all hell should break loose once they begin ramping up the steep first 9km.

1.29km: Apparently there’s a forest fire at the foot of Mont Ventoux about 15km from the finish line of today’s stage. With 500,000 spectators reported to be lining the route up the mountain, it could have been started by a rogue cigarette butt, somebody passing the time until the cyclists arrive by murdering ants with a magnifying glass and the sun, or with a jerrycan of petrol and a Zippo lighter. I’m not sure how bad it is, but there is a airplane used for firefighting flying overhead.

1.35pm: Approaching the Col des Abeilles (the Climb of the Honeybees) the breakaway group still has a lead of 8min 22sec, while the fire looks to be raging some distance from where the riders will be passing. The aforementioned airplane is dropping a mixture of water and chemicals on it, so hopefully there won’t be any smoke blowing across the faces of the competitors when they beging their ascent of Ventoux. It’ll be difficult enough for them to get up the damned thing without having to contend with the acrid stench of thick smoke choking their airways.

1.39pm: I was at a wedding in the east of France last week and had a couple of days in Paris, during which time I got to see assorted workmen erecting temporasry seating on the both sides of the Champs-Élysées for tomorrow’s finale. For the benefit of anyone who’s never been lucky enough to visit this particular Parisienne thoroughfare before, I can tell you it’s very long, very wide and very cobbled.

Having been making the pace at the front of the peloton for some time now, Saxo Bank rider Stuart O’Grady, stands up on his pedals, has a bit of a stretch and then moves to one side to let somebody else do the donkey-work for a while. With 53km to go, the gap between the peloton and the breakaway is 8min 26sec.

1.45pm: The breakway group are on their way up the fourth climb of the day, the Col des Abeilles, after which they’ll descend to the foot of Mont Ventoux, then begin their hellish 1,912m ascent to the finish line.

1.51pm: On the subject of my recent picture-change, Oliver James writes: “Perhaps the ladies in the audience prefer the rear view of a fit male cyclist,” he says. “The Guardian should be more able to laugh at itself. Maybe I was enjoying it too much.” Sorry about that Oliver, here’s a little reminder of what you’re missing.

1.56pm: Considering the numbers who turned out to watch Lance compared to the unnamed woman, it seems that Oliver James is wrong: the entire audience prefers the rear view of a fit male cyclist.

2pm: “Speaking as a lady cyclist, I think that picture is very funny,” writes Catherine Otey. “That said, my husband is very upset that there’s a photograph of me on your minute-by-minute report.”

2.01pm: The breakaway group pedal over the summit of the Col des Abeilles and begin their descent into Mormoiron. After that it’s uphill all the way. The gap to the peloton is 8min 31sec. I did Stuart O’Grady a grave injustice earlier – he’s still doing mighty work dragging the peloton along behind him. Last year’s Tour champion, Carlos Sastre, can be spotted up near the front of the peloton. He’s a great climber who’s had a fairly mediocre Tour this year, but he’s made no secret of his desire to win this stage.

2.07pm: Freewheeling down towards the summit to Mont Ventoux, the breakaway group passes a fleet of fire engines screaming past them in the opposite direction. They’re obviously en route to the forest fire that needs to be tackled.

2.13pm: His sterling afternoon’s work done, Stuart O’Grady has slipped back into the bunch and left it to the Astana boys to make the pace at the front of the peloton as they descend the Col des Abeilles to the foot of Mont Venteux. Bradley Wiggins’ Garmin team-mates are next in the queue, making sure their man gets a good position for the beginning of the climb. The gap between the peloton and the main bunch is 7min 53sec and dropping fast, as the breakaway group slow down in the hope that, if they take their time beginning the ascent to Mont Ventoux, it might go away.

2.17pm: “I assume the lady in your photograph is the race leader, as there’s nobody in front of her. I wonder why,” sniggers Ben Foskett, impressing nobody with his crass, laddish, juvenile end-of-pier humour.

2.20pm: Race on! With 27km to go and five to the beginning of the main climb, team Astana have taken advantage of some crosswinds to put the hammer down and split the main field, but Bradley Wiggins and both Schleck brothers were well positioned to go with them.

2.24pm: The big guns on General Classification – Alberto Contador, Andy Schleck, Lance Armstrong, Bradley Wiggins, Andreas Kloeden and Frank Schleck – are all positioned in a group of 41 riders that’s rolling towards the beginning of the ascent to Mont Ventoux, 6min 15sec behind the breakaway group of 16 riders.

2.27pm: Time trial specialist Fabian Cancellara is gritting his teeth and pedalling furiously into a headwind as he drags the yellow jersey group onwards. His Saxo Bank team-mates are strung out behind him, followed by Alberto Contador’s Astana team.

2.30pm: There’s a furious wind blowing as Astana take to the front of the yellow jersey group. Everyone in the top 10 on General Classification is in that particular group and it’s from this point that the loose ends of this year’s Tour will be tied up. Fabian Cancellera tries to organise the riders into an echelon (pace line) to protect themselves from the wind as they approach the beginning of the climb to Ventoux.

2.35pm: Bradley Wiggins’ Garmin Slipstream team are taking their turn at the front of the yellow jersey group, with assorted domestiques putting the hammer down and doing their bit to try and crack Astana’s riders before running out of puff and dropping back to finish the climb in their own time.

2.36pm: The yellow jersey group, comprised of 24 riders almost exclusively from the Saxo-Bank, Garmin-Slipstream and Astana teams is strung out along the road, with Garmin rider David Millar making a furious pace at the front. It’s shit-or-get-off-the-pot time for anyone who wants to finish on the podium in Paris tomorrow and they’re only just beginning the 1,912m climb to the finish line. This is going to be brutal.

2.40pm: “You have me wrong,” writes Ben Foskett (2.17pm). “I was just wondering how she was managing to stay ahead on what looks like a mountain bike.” Well, it is a mountain she’s ascending.

2.45pm: As things stand, the early breakaway group has been reduced to three men, who are 32 seconds ahead of the first-class train with all the main contenders on board. The peloton are a further 2min 50sec behind them, while the “bus” full of sprinters, the knackered and assorted other non-climbers who we need not concern ourselves with here, is another 1min 40sec behind them.

2.47pm: At the moment, the riders are cycling along a tree- and people-lined road. Soon the trees will be gone and only people will remain, affording little protection from the bufffeting winds.

2.50pm: Disregarding the breakaway they’re reeling in, the one-two-three on general classification – Alberto Contador, Andy Schleck and Lance Armstrong – are in that order in the yellow jersey group on the road as their team-mates drop like flies. Frank Schleck attacks but is immediately covered by Lance Armstrong, who is looking very comfortable.

2.55pm: With their lieutenants and helpers going backwards, the top six in the Tour on GC are all that remain in the only group that matters.

2.55pm: Andy Schleck attacks and is immediately covered by Alberto Contador, who takes up residence on his back wheel. They’ve opened a 10-metre gap on the rest of the heavyweights as they continue passing assorted bits of detritus from the original 16-man breakaway.

2.32pm: Up, up, up they go, with Frank Schleck attacking from the front, only to look over his shoulder and see Lance Armstrong on his wheel. Andreas Kloeden has been dropped by the yellow jersey group, but is slowly clawing his way back.

Quick reminder: The two stage leaders on the road today are Tony Martin and Juan Manuel Garate, who have a 2min 15sec lead on the yellow jersey group, where the battle to win the Tou is being enacted. There’s only 10km to go, but it’s a steep 10k that’ll take them the business end of 30 minutes to ride.

3pm: The yellow jersey group is now comprised of: Andy and Frank Schleck, Nibalo, Armstrong, Contador, Wiggins and … barely … Kloeden. Andy Schleck keeps trying to attack from the front in a bid to launch his brother up the mountain and on to the podium in Paris, but Lance Armstrong is watching Frank Schleck like a hawk.

3.05pm: Andy Schleck and Contador attack and are let go. Nibali makes a break to try and bridge the gap. He needs to make up over two minutes on Armstrong to get third place overall.

3.07pm: Andy Schleck, Contador and Nibali are 1min 46sec behind Martin and Garate, the stage leaders on the road. Schlkeck keeps looking over his shoulder trying to see where he’s brother is, wondering how he can help him. He’s 16 seconds behind in a group with Armstrong, Wiggins and Kloeden.

3.10pm: It looks like Contador and Andy Schleck will soon catch Garate and Martin and be the one-two on the road as well as on general classification. Andy is continuously looking over his shoulder, wondering where his brother is, and seems bewildered by the fact that he’s not in sight.

3.12pm: Andy Schleck, Contador and Nibali have slowed right down, with Schleck unsure what to do as he’s unable to shake off Contador and improve his own position on GC, but also unable to help his brother overtake Lance Armstrong because he’s 10 seconds down the road. He decides to sit up and wait: brotherly love … isn’t that sweet?

3.15pm: It’s must be like like cycling through the queue for a proviincial nightclub, with the roads lined five or six deep with jabbering drunken idiots as the riders grit their teeth and continue their ascent. Only five kilometres to the summit.

3.19pm: In the betting in-running, Tony Martin and Juan Manuel Garate are joint favourites to win the stage, as polka dot jersey occupant Franco Pellizotti thunders towards them. Where the devil did he come from?

3.20pm: In the yellow jersey group, Andy Schleck attacks again, taking brother Frank with him. Armstrong, Contadore and Wiggins immediately get on their wheels and the look on Frank Schleck’s face when he looks over his shoulder and sees Armstrong on his wheel is priceless. Kloeden has dropped out the back of the yellow jersey group.

3.21pm: Bradley Wiggins looks to have cracked. He’s been unhitched from the yellow jersey train and is struggling to stay in touch.

3.23pm: In the yellow jersey group, Andy Schleck continues shovelling coal on to the furnace, while Bradley Wiggins continues losing touch at the back. He’ll lose fourth place if he finishes 24 or more seconds behind Frank Schleck.

3.25pm: Brilliant riding from Bradley Wiggins, who drags himself back into the yellow jersey group. Up the road, King of the Mountains Franco Pellizotti’s face is a picture of agony as he attempts to bridge the gap between himself and stage leaders Tony Martin and Juan Manuel Garate.

3.26pm: Andy Schleck attacks from the front of the yellow jersey group, taking Contador and Armstrong with him, but leaving brother Frank behind. At the back of the group, Wiggins and Nibali are slipping out the back door.

3.30pm: A kilometre from the summit, Juan Manuel Garate has gone for glory, but been pegged back by Tony Martin – if either of them takes the stage win, it’ll be a sensational victory. Franco Pellizotti is 38 seconds behind them and the yellow jersey group is a further 10 seconds behind him,

3.31pm:Juan Manuel Garate has led from start to finish of this stage and crosses the line triumphantly, just ahead of Tony Martin. Andy Schleck, Alberto Contador and – in no particular order – Lance Armstrong, Frank Schleck, Vincenzo Nibali and Pelizotti are next over … but where’s Bradley Wiggins?

3.33pm: Wiggins pedals over the finish line looking absolutely exhausted. The commentators on ITV seem to think he’s done enough to hold on to fourth place on general classification, but aren’t quite sure and will let us know after a commercial break.

Good news for Bradley Wiggins After a brave ride, it turns out he only lost 20 seconds on Frank Schleck, which means he’ll keep his fourth spot on general classification going into tomorrow’s final stage.

The stage result

1. Juan Manuel Garate (Spain/Rabobank) 4hr 39min 21sec
2. Tony Martin (Ger/THR) +3sec
3. Andy Schleck (Lux/Saxo-Bank) + 38sec
4. Alberto Contador (Spa/Astana) +38sec
5. Lance Armstrong (USA/Astana) + 41sec
6. Frank Schleck (Lux/Saxo-Bank) +43
7. Roman Kreuziger (Cze/Liquigas) +46
8. Franco Pellizotti (Ita/Liquigas) +56
9. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita/Liquigas) +58
10. Bradley Wiggins (GBR/Garmin-Slipstream)

The top five overall with one stage to go

1. Alberto Contador
2. Andy Schleck +4min 11sec
3. Lance Armstrong +5min 24sec
4. Bradley Wiggins +6min 01sec
5. Frank Schleck +6min 04sec

Yellow jersey: Alberto Contador (Spa/Astana)
Green jersey: Thor Hushovd (Nor/Cervelo)
Polka dot jersey: Franco Pellizotti (Ita/Liquigas)
White jersey: Andy Schleck (Lux/Saxo Bank)
Sourced via guardian.co.uk

Popularity: 18% [?]

PARIS — Newly-crowned Tour de France champion Alberto Contador showed more than impressive climbing and time trialling skills on his way to victory in this year’s race. The 26-year-old Spaniard belied his unassuming nature to show nerves of steel in the face of a formidable teammate, Lance Armstrong, whose reputation struck fear into rivals during his seven-year reign on the race.

Racing for the same team, Astana, the collaboration of the Texan and the Spanish young gun who has won all three major Tours was always going to create sparks. “It wasn’t really a compatible situation,” Contador admitted on Saturday. “I knew he was coming here to win, but so was I.” After months of speculation that Astana was composed of two rival camps, it took only until the race’s third stage for the first shots to be fired. When Armstrong used his head and his legs in testing wind conditions to join an echelon created by the Columbia team – which ultimately left many of his rivals, including Contador, 41secs behind – the Spaniard knew what he was up against.

Armstrong was unrepentant, claiming that Contador should have known to be at the front of the peloton before the split. “I won the Tour de France seven times, so it makes no sense not to be at the front,” said Armstrong, who at La Grande Motte moved up to third overall at 40sec behind Swiss Fabian Cancellara. Although hard to prove, for some Armstrong’s move was pre-meditated. On the next day’s team time trial over 39km Astana blew away their rivals and Armstrong missed replacing Cancellara as the yellow jersey wearer by just 0.22secs. Astana team boss Johan Bruyneel would only say after the stage: “After three years of retirement to be back in the yellow jersey would have been quite a statement.”

Once in the Pyrenees, Contador struck the first of three blows which put Armstrong firmly in his place. On the first summit finish to Arcalis on stage seven where French race debutant Brice Feillu scored a memorable victory Contador attacked a small group containing all the main favourites inside the final two kilometres. Andy Schleck, Cadel Evans and Carlos Sastre dropped further behind Contador, who leapfrogged Armstrong into second place, six seconds behind new yellow jersey holder, Italian Rinaldo Nocentini of AG2R. Despite Astana having four riders in the top six, Contador’s performance appeared to vex Bruyneel, a close friend and mentor of Armstrong. “No one had specific instructions to attack,” admitted Bruyneel.

With opportunities rare, there followed a long truce in the battle for the yellow jersey. But when Nocentini’s lead did come under threat, it was Armstrong who helped – and it wasn’t Contador, but the American’s former teammate George Hincapie, now of the Columbia team, who almost benefited. In the end AG2R were helped by Columbia’s rivals Garmin to keep Hincapie down in second place by just five seconds. “No one, and I mean no one, wanted George in yellow more than me,” said Armstrong. Hincapie must have felt honoured, because Armstrong never said as much about Contador. But on the race’s second summit finish the next day, Contador put the record straight when he capped a superb solo attack with victory in Verbier, Switzerland to take command of the race. Armstrong finished 1:35 behind and, for the first time, showed signs of giving up. “There is no point messing around. I gave everything I had and I wasn’t the best. Alberto showed he is the best rider in the race,” said the American. The next day Bruyneel announed his imminent departure from Astana.

After the race the Belgian conceded that “tensions existed” within the team, adding it was not until “Verbier that we realised Alberto was the strongest.” Contador remained focused, and again defied team orders on stage 17 to Le Grand Bornand when he raced away from teammate Andreas Kloden with the Schleck brothers Andy and Frank. While dropping Kloden off the podium Contador’s attack helped put Andy Schleck second at 2:26, while Armstong dropped from being second at 1:37 to fourth at 3:55 Again, Bruyneel railed that Contador’s move was against his advice. “We could have been first, second and third today in general classification, but now we are first, fourth and fifth,” said the Belgian. On stage 18’s individual time trial there were no tactics to follow. Contador simply made a sign of the cross several times before setting off on a 39km trip around Lake Annecy which proved, beyond all doubt, that he was a worthy winner. Beating Cancellara by 3sec, Contador left Armstrong trailing in 16th place while Schleck, at 1:45, did enough to virtually secure second.

Sourced from AFP

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