Eventually, the teams all reached Paris together, and the Astana Team lined up at the front to introduce their Champion Alberto Contador to the huge crowds. All had reached the Capital without incidents – except for Schleck having gear problems and requiring a quick change of bike – and the climax was an 8 lap race around the Champs-Elysees. Rather unluckily, right at the beginning of the real action, Hincapie (BMC) got a puncture and needed a wheel change, and a serious turn of pace to fight his way back into the fold.

None of the sprint teams bothered to try and gain points during the two intermediate sprints, with the current Green Jersey watching the progress of Hushovd and Cavendish very closely. As it turned out, as breakaway group attacked and neutralised any intent the chasersfor Green might have had – which suited Petacchi just fine.

As the kilometers counted down, a more serious group of escapees formed, consisting of eleven riders: Casar (FDJ), Hondo (LAM), Knees (MRM), Kroon (BMC), Martin (HTC), Pauriol (COF), Perez Arrieta (FOT), Perez Lezaun (EUS), Riblon (ALM), Roux (FDJ) and Sorensen (SAX). Together they chiseled out a maximum lead of 25 seconds, but kept the peloton at bay effectively for a worrying length of time, threatening to ruin the day for the sprinters. At one point there was news that Cavendish had radioed his team car to get them to pull Martin back out of the leading group to help him close the gap.

Lampre were happy to sit on things as their man Petacchi was safe in the Green Jersey if no sprint happened and the breakaway escaped successfully. So it was up to HTC-Columbia to do the lion’s share of the work chasing down the leaders. Team Sky and Katusha also chipped in with useful contributions upping the pace of the chasers, and they began to make rapid progress. As they began the last lap of the Champs-Elysees, the gap fell away rapidly to zero and the field became grupo compacto, a single peloton once more.

Now it was time for the sprinters to ply their trade, and Sky began to lead out with a trio of riders from 1500 meters out. Other teams began to pile on the pressure, as first Lampre and then Cervelo Test Team bringing lead out teams to the fore. Hushovd was in a great position to sprint at the last corner. He hesitated and sat on the wheel of his team mate, watching Petacchi zoom past him on the left. Hushovd then reacted, ducking out from behind his lead out man and accelerating. As they charged for the line, the Manx Missile, Mark Cavendish burnt past them both with a burst of speed that killed off Hushovd, who subsequently came in seventh. Cavendish achieved his goal of winning five stages, and repeating last year’s Paris stage win, and although gaining maximum points could only climb to second place in the Points Classification for the Green Jersey. It would have needed Petacchi to come in sixth or worse for Cav to grab the Green at the death of the Tour.

So sadly, that concludes the action on the Tour de France for another year, and here is today’s result along with the final General Classification Standings, which did not change from yesterday:

So it’s been one of the most exciting Tours for years, and the competition seems to be set for future years now with a healthy rivalry between Contador and Schleck. There are still a few “what ifs” from this year’s race, which of course it is too late to change. What if Contador had hung on and let Schleck fix his technical difficulty in the Pyrenees? That 39 seconds lost back then is the same as the winning margin that Contador built up by the end! Then there is the Green Jersey competition; back in Stage 4, when Cavendish realised he wouldn’t win the stage, he sat up, and rolled in in twelfth place, instead of hammering it to the line for the points. This might have made all the difference today. But it is what it is, and that’s the end of the competition. The winners for 2010 are:

General Classification Winner – Yellow
Alberto Contador – Astana

Points Classification Winner – Green
Alessandro Petacchi – Lampre

King of the Mountains Classification Winner – Polka Dot
Anthony Charteau – BBOX Bouygues Telecom

Young Rider Classification Winner – White
Andy Schleck – Saxo Bank

(Photo of Alberto Contador by Haggisnl. Reproduced under Creative Commons licence.)

So it was Grabsch (THR) who kicked things off, and there was virtually no wind in the early part of the day’s racing. His team mate, Martin had his turn later on, and easily beat the opposition to that point, with an average speed over the trial of over 50 km/h. When the 39th rider started, conditions were still favorable, and this was Cancellara, an ace time trialler who won the Prologue at the very beginning of the Tour. He completed the 52 km in just over 60 minutes. This put him well and truly in the lead, with the nearby Atlantic Ocean beginning to drive strong winds at the following participants. The task became gradually harder and harder as the day progressed with strong headwinds and side gusts slowing the riders down and breaking their rhythm.

As the time trial continued it became obvious the high winds were playing havoc, with superb TT competitors reduced to appallingly bad times, and some of them were finishing only in the top hundred, when ordinarily they would have been top 25 contenders or better! Armstrong came in over 7 minutes behind Cancellara’s time – and Armstrong has won 9 individual time trials in past Tours. Others did not fare any better. However, the story of the worsening weather and it effect on the relative timings of the field was not the main event today.

(Photo of Alberto Contador, by Josh Hallett. Reproduced under Creative Commons licence.)

The last two riders out were Andy Schleck, who started 8 seconds down on the last man out Alberto Contador. There had been something about Schleck over the last week; he exuded confidence and didn’t seem at all fazed by the prospect of the time trial, even though the smart money was on Contador to make gains of several minutes. Perhaps none of the usual cycling commentators gave Schleck much of a chance, but he had a shock up his sleeve. Evidently, he has worked very hard on trialling in his training, and at the first time check today, Schleck led Contador by 2 seconds. The deficit was now 6 seconds overall, and people were starting to pay attention! By the 30 km stage, the young Luxembourger had gained 5 seconds on his rival, desperate to pick up another 4 seconds to gain him the Yellow Jersey. Meanwhile, Contador struggled to get into any kind of rhythm as all the last riders fought against the headwinds.

Unfortunately for Schleck, the 5 second advantage on the road, quickly began to dissipate in the breeze, as the smaller and more experienced Spaniard folded himself into a perfectly aerodynamic shape and finally found a good metronomic rhythm, beating out over a hundred cycles per minute on the pedals. However, it wasn’t until 7 km to go that it became clear Contador had gained the upper hand and was making steady progress against Schleck, extending his time advantage in a fiercely strong drive in the latter half of the Stage. Full credit must go to Schleck though; this was indeed his best ever performance in a time trial, and he should be glowing with pride and confidence after that effort today.

In the event, Contador amassed a total of 39 seconds lead over Schleck, with only the final steady ride Paris left, which is normally not much of a contest – except for the sprinters. And for those people in the conspiracy theory camp, yes, 39 seconds is exactly what Contador managed to steal quite controversially from Schleck to gain the Yellow Jersey in the mountains, when Schleck’s chain came off. If the unwritten protocol had been conserved back then, the two riders could still be locked on exactly the same time after today! As it turned out, 39 seconds still represents the fifth closest first and second placings in Tour history. All in all an amazing day today on the tour. The expected slugging match between Sanchez and Menchov fizzled out quickly and was a non-event with Menchov easily overcoming the Spaniard.

Here’s the results of the time trial in Stage 19 and how the General Classification looks tonight, which will probably be the final Standings at the end of the Tour:

So the final showdown did end up as most people expected today, with Contador keeping the Yellow Jersey and almost certainly keeping it unless he crashes out tomorrow in the final stage to Paris. Schleck put on a great show, and came so close, but had to settle for a third White Jersey in the Tour, this being the last year he will be allowed to contest it, as he will be too old next year to qualify.

Tomorrow sees the grand finale, the final stage of the Tour de France 2010, from Longjumeau to Paris Champs-Élysées. This will be a stage for the sprinters and the end of the road for the Green Jersey competition. In the running are the current holder Petacchi, chased by Hushovd, who blames losing the Maillot Vert on the sprint that never was in Stage 2, and the dark horse, Cavendish. It remains to be seen whether the rider from the Isle of Man will throw caution to the wind tomorrow and go for some points in one of the intermediate sprints before running for the finish and a fifth stage win for the year.

As the race got under way, the pace was high, as riders scoped each other out for weaknesses accrued during the four day slog through the Pyrenees. At the 11 km there was a four man attack off the front of the peloton, the first proper attack of the day. The four escapees were Matti Breschel (SAX), Daniel Oss (LIQ), Jerome Pineau (QST) and Benoit Vaugrenard (FDJ). As their lead increased, riders from HTC-Columbia, Garmin and Lampre took up positions at the front of the chasing group, swapping positions to lift the pace and maintain the gap at no more that three and a half minutes. During the middle part of the race, and the lead up to the finale, Garmin had dropped back into the middle of the pack, leaving HTC and Lampre doing turns of pace, before Team Milram came to the fore in the last 45 km, to put in a pace setting contribution of their own.

At one point during the middle section of the race, second place man in the General Classification Andy Schleck appeared to be in trouble, dropping to the back of the peloton and riding alongside the race doctor for a while, but was soon back into the main bunch, side by side with Contador. These two needed to be near the front to ensure no splits in the peloton due to mishaps, which would have an impact on their critically close overall times.

Milram, HTC and Lampre raised the pace significantly in the last 45 km, stretching out the field, many of whom were just wanting to get home today, still with tired legs from what has been a very hot Tour de France so far. The gap to the breakaway men gradually diminished, and by 15 km out, was only 30 seconds. At this point, Pineau decided to stamp his authority on the front group with an attack, which was countered very rapidly by the other three men. Oss decided to fly away immediately the four man group was reestablished, but this time, the others did not have either the legs or the will to chase. Soon afterwards they were caught by the peloton, now in full chase mode.

Oss bravely continued, trying to get something of a shock result today, and for 10 km he held off the pursuing pack. Or as it turned out, they were holding Oss exactly where they wanted him, ready to pounce at will. And their will was done with 4 km to go, just as they all veered left onto the final run into Bordeaux, with a strong headwind against them. Oss was finished by the headwinds and the other teams tried to organise their lead outs.

(Photo of Mark Cavendish, by Elyobelyob. Reproduced under Creative Commons licence.)

The best set team for most of the run into town was Sky, with a perfect train hoping to catapult Boasson Hagen to a stage victory. Unfortunately for them, the whole peloton crushed to the right side of the road and left Sky and in particular Boasson Hagen trapped. The organisation disappeared and chaos took over as Cavendish sought riders to lead him to victory, with his team mates now left behind. The Green Jersey Hushovd fought his way to fourth position, and Cavendish locked onto his back wheel, biding his time for a perfect attack. However, Petacchi moved first, kicking up the pace and overtaking Cav on the left. Cav responded immediately, leaving Hushovd and most of the other riders in his wake. After a very brief moment slipstreaming Petacchi, Cavendish flicked the turbo button and was gone, leaving Petacchi trailing.

So it turned into yet another stage victory for Mark Cavendish, his fourth of this year’s Tour de France, and today’s was a very intelligently worked one, flitting from one team to another to sit in their slipstreams before making an explosive move right at the death.

Here is the rest of the placings from Stage 18, with the General Classification Standings, which were unchanged today:

Stage 18 was all about the Green Jersey, and Cavendish proved he is by far the best sprinter in the Tour this year, but after a bad start in the early stages, he still lies in third place. His points from today however, bring him to within touching distance of the two front runners, Petacchi and Hushovd. Petacchi had enough riders between himself and Hushovd today to once again wrangle the Green Jersey off the Norwegian’s shoulders. So Petacchi rides in green tomorrow. It makes for a great race to Paris on Sunday’s final stage of 2010.

Meanwhile, tomorrow we see Stage 19, the individual time trials, and it is back to the minutes and seconds rather than points, for the General Classification and the Yellow Jersey. The expectation is that Contador will ace the stage, hoping for a first stage win to justify winning the overal Maillot Jaune. Schleck has been very calm about the whole thing though, and is either playing mind games, or he thinks he has improved enough to mount a serious challenge in the time trial and cause a massive shock. There is also an opportunity for Sky rider Bradley Wiggins to shine tomorrow, as he is an excellent exponent of these types of stages. All in all, the overall Tour de France could well be settled by the time the riders get into Pauillac tomorrow evening.

The next climb was another category 1, the Col d’Aspin, and precipitated another flurry of attacks and counterattacks. Lloyd fell out the back of the leading group, and waited to be caught by Van den Broeck, and they assisted each other to the crest. Omega Pharma riders, marked closely by Astana led the peloton, keeping the escapees within 30 seconds reach. In several cases, less able climbers were dropped on the ascent only to regain entry into their respective chase groups during the subsequent descent down the other side. Cunego attacked the main group just before the summit, and caught the breakaway, while Casar extricated himself from this leading group with a burst of pace, and gained a 20 second gap.

(Photo of Pierrick Fedrigo by Gsl. Reproduced under Creative Commons licence.)

As the leaders approached the first major challenge of the day, an HC climb called the Col du Tourmalet (a climb so famed you can even buy tourmalet shirts to commemorate it!), a large bunch dropped back to get reabsorbed into the peloton. Armstrong eventually chased down Casar on the climb, and the small group behind, Fedrigo, Cunego, Moreau and van de Walle organised themselves to get back into contention at the front. In the event, Armstrong led, but was caught by Fedrigo and Cunego with the peloton lagging behind by over 2 minutes. This front group was quickly joined by Horner, Plaza and Barredo, and then 4 km from the top, Konovalovas also joined in the breakaway. Astana took over the pace making of the peloton, hoping to close the gap to the 10 man escape team.

No sooner had the riders triumphed over one hors categorie climb, when they were confronted by another one, looming over them, the Col d’Aubisque. The leading group of 10 – Armstrong, Barredo, Casar, Cunego, Fedrigo, Horner, Konovalovas, Moreau, Plaza and Van de Walle – amassed a hefty lead on the ascent of 7 minutes 30. In his last Tour de France, Armstrong was desperate to get another stage win, and attacked the leading group, splitting it in two, and taking only Barredo, Cunego, Fedrigo and Plaza with him. Others returned, to this front splinter group, and Armstrong attacked again, but could not pull away from his rivals. Barredo also failed to get free of the pack, and eight riders reached the summit together, with Moreau taking maximum points at the top. The road to the finishing line was still some way away, and the rest of the field was stretched out, with Casar reaching the summit in 9th place and Konovalovas 10th. The peloton lay some 10 minutes behind, led by Astana’s Tiralongo.

With 47 km to go Casar caught up with the front runners, just in time for further skirmishes. With 44 km left, Barredo mounted a brave and perfectly timed escape attempt. At that distance out, the other riders failed to respond, and Spanish rider put some serious time between himself and his pursuers. He amassed 40 seconds before the following group finally tried to organise themselves to catch him. The expectation was that another attack would have been needed to inject serious pace into the proceedings, but as it turned out, and rather disappointingly, they simply shared the pace making to gather in Barredo by the 1 km to go point. It was a pity he wasn’t to gain more from his heroic 44 km last ditch attempt to claim a stage win for himself.

As it turned out, the experience of the chasing riders was the thing that held them back from their pursuit, as they all knew that as soon as Barredo was captured, the real competition for the stage victory would begin, and this small group flew; they all knew they were far enough ahead of the main peloton. The Caisse d’Epargne riders took control at the front, and it was Armstrong who threw everything he had into an attack for the line, starting from second to last position in the group. Fedrigo spotted it and put his foot down; the rest would be chasing for second place. So Fedrigo won hs third ever Stage of the Tour de France, with Casar rolling in second. Another famous victory for the French in their home tournament. That takes the tally up to six French riders winning stages this year, an achievement last seen back in 1992.

The other riders fighting for the General Classification were happy to amble home later on, and that left the cycling shirt situation completely unchanged after today’s racing, as far as the Yellow Jersey competition is concerned.

Here are the results for Stage 16 and the Overall GC Standings:

The notable result of today’s stage, apart from another French victory to add to the collection, is the rather surprising name at number 10 in the Stage Standings: Thor Hushovd. A sprint specialist who managed to cling to a fast group over some killer mountain climbs, and come in to get more than a handful of points, which saw him poach the Green Jersey back from Petacchi. The Green Jersey competition is anybody’s game now between those two.

Mercifully for the riders, tomorrow is the second Rest Day of the Tour, and then they are back in the saddle for another Pyrenees stage on Thursday, the last mountain stage, and the final Polka Dot Jersey will be assigned after that. Then the riders will be within touching distance of Paris and the spoils of victory.

On another hot day in the Pyrenees, nobody was able to get away from the peloton despite constant attacks right from the off. After 25 km Astana had a go at breaking free but only managed a gap of 10 seconds before Saxo Bank reeled eventually reeled them back in. Sprints off the front were allowed for the riders desperate to add to their points tallies, with both Green Jersey combatants Hushovd and Petacchi topping up at the summit of the first climb. However, the main group would not entertain anything but brief bursts of speed, and kept all escapes on a piece of elastic, dragging them all back in in short shrift. Finally, just before reaching the 100 km point, a bunch of seven managed to launch themselves off the front and escape, soon after getting joined by another three and they steadily built up a lead. The ten leaders were: Ballan (BMC), Ivanov (KAT), Mondory (ALM), Perez Arrieta (FOT), Reda (QST), Roberts (MRM), Turgot (BTL), Vandborg (LIQ), Van Summeren (GRM) and Voeckler (BTL).

The second climb saw the stage leaders 4 mins 30 ahead at the foot, extending to over 7 minutes by the summit, with the chasing peloton led by O’Grady (SAX), McEwen (KAT) and Gutierrez (GCE). Saxo Bank led the main group over the third climb, and the maximum gap attained by the leaders was 10 mins 45.

At the beginning of the ascent of the monstrous Port de Bales there was a minor crash involving Geslin (FDJ), Lancaster (CTT) and Mayoz (FOT); for a moment the Footon-Servetto rider looked to be badly hurt, lying on the ground and holding his right hip, but after a change of bike was able to continue. By the foot of the Port de Bales O’Grady had already lifted the pace and the peloton were beginning to claw back time on the escapees.

(Photo of Thomas Voeckler by Jesus Roncero. Reproduced under Creative Commons licence.)

As the leaders mounted the HC climbs and the pace notched up, riders began popping out of the back of the group and this prompted French National Champion Thomas Voeckler to flick the turbo button and attempt an audacious escape from the others. This turned out to be a perfectly timed attack which left his fellow leaders eating his dust. He got free and by the summit was on his own and began the terrifying descent. He rode well and despite a near disaster when he nearly lost control of his back wheel on a small chicane section, proudly took the stage home for France; the fifth Frenchman to win a stage this year, and on the centenary day of the inclusion of the Pyrenees stages in the Tour. Good for him!

However, this magnificent achievement became a mere sideshow to what was unfolding behind him. Team Saxo Bank had fought hard all day, and burnt out all of their front riders pacing Schleck up the Port de Bales, before 3 km away from the summit, he noticed that his arch rival Contador was snoozing (looking over his wrong shoulder for Schleck who was tailing him at that point). Schleck made his move and accelerated away up the challenging finale of the last climb. Contador kicked to try and get back into contention, and appeared to be struggling. Then disaster for Schleck, off his saddle and pumping the pedals and his chain flew off stopping him dead. Contador was right behind and decided to take advantage of the dire misfortune, hotly pursued by Samuel Sanchez and Menchov, seeing their chance to grab some time back from Schleck.

Sanchez and Menchov are both great descenders and took Contador with them as they flew, with Schleck having lost over 30 seconds fixing his bike – and without any team members in support – valiantly chasing to make up time. He scythed through the field as if they were all out on a leisurely Sunday afternoon jaunt, but stood no chance catching up to the descent experts who were all tearing down the mountain to muscle Schleck down the Yellow Jersey rankings. By the time Schleck reached the finishing line, Contador had been home for 39 seconds, having cancelled out the Luxembourger’s 31 second pre-stage advantage, and gained both an 8 second lead of his own plus the coveted Yellow Jersey. Schleck was not best pleased as one of the unwritten rules of Tour de France racing is that the other contenders shouldn’t take advantage of mechanical failures, but what happened happened and cannot be undone. Contador claimed afterwards he didn’t know of Schleck’s chain problem.

So in a day that could so easily have seen Schleck finally break down Contador and add some extra time advantage before the time trial later in the week, we were instead treated to the shock of the Tour, which may have sealed Contador’s third overall Tour de France victory. How narrow the margins separating success from failure!

After Stage 15, the state of play looks like this:

That odd result today rather puts a cat amongst the pigeons in the General Classification, and will leave all sorts of questions about “fair play” in the Tour, at least for the remainder of this year’s competition. Contador, fair play or not, dissolved away Schleck’s 31 second lead, relieving him of the Yellow Jersey for tomorrow. Schleck has to content himself with the Young rider’s White Jersey. The Green Jersey remains with Petacchi for another day, and Charteau retains the Polka Dot Jersey as the current King of the Mountains.

Tomorrow takes the Tour from Bagnères-de-Luchon to Pau, before the second rest day of this year’s campaign. The Tour is now at boiling point, and if Andy Schleck is going to get that Yellow Jersey back he simply has to make a concerted move in the mountains of Stage 16, where the riders must grind their way up two category 1 climbs and two HC climbs. It is now or never for Schleck.

A very rapid start saw an attack inside the first kilometer, led by Knees (MRM) followed by 11 others, but this initial escape barely lasted 10 km before the majority of the riders fell back into the main group. This left Brutt (KAT), Gutierrez (GCE), Moinard (COF), Thomas (SKY) and Zabriskie (GRM) up front and hoping to build up a nice big lead before the HC climb looming ahead of them. With RadioShack leading the peloton’s chase, Gutierrez eventually slid backwards and was absorbed. No further progress was made until a new attack peeled off the front of the peloton, and by the 25 km mark they – Auge (COF), Rolland (BTL), Riblon (ALM), Van de Walle (QST) and Vaugrenard (FDJ) – captured the front four to make a nine man leading group. They made swift progress to open up a gap of over 9 minutes at Mirepoix but Astana took on a single-handed pursuit, leading the peloton for endless kilometers until, by the time they reach the Port de Pailhères, the gap was just over 4 minutes.

(Photo of Christophe Riblon, by Cah1. Reproduced under Creative Commons licence.)

The huge climb was an open invitation for attacks from the front of the chasing group and Valls Ferri was first to try his luck. Meanwhile, rider in the leading group dropped like flies as Riblon, Moinard and Van de Walle injected some pace into the proceedings. Similarly, the front of the peloton was beginning to fragment, with multiple attacks stretching out the group. At the top of the climb, Riblon had escaped from his little trio, leaving Moinard on his own in second, Van de Walle further behind and also on his own. A new trio were next in the standings at this point consisting of Valls Ferri, Sastre and Kiryienka; followed by a new attacker in the form of Charteau, looking to gain a few more points to consolidate his King of the Mountains title and keep the Polka Dot Jersey on his shoulders for another day. Cunego followed on behind, ahead of Moreau and Garate before the main peloton. Cadel Evans had been popped out the back of the peloton, but is carrying a minor, but nevertheless agonisingly painful, cracked elbow, so was hoping simply to survive these horrific Pyrenees stages.

On the white knuckle ride down the other side of the mountain, Riblon led Moinard, and the following five congealed into a single chasing group. Despite the fact that there was another nasty category 1 climb ahead, but with only 10 km to go, Riblon had suddenly found a second wind, and the belief that maybe he could actually win this stage. He fought his way up the final climb, and was assisted by in-fighting between Schleck and Contador who were less intent on upping the pace, and more concerned about marking each other against sudden attacks. This slight misjudgement perhaps, led other contenders in the General Classification race to steam ahead – notably Sammi Sanchez, Menchov, Gesink and Rodriguez.

By the latter stages of the final ascent, Contador was the lone Astana team member, his team mates having worked hard to burn up the road and destroy the legs of the other elite riders. It was not enough however, as Schleck was still there, and after a couple of failed attacks by Contador, marked closely by Schleck, Menchov fired his turbo and took off, pursued by Sanchez. Contador and Schleck called time after this and settled into a small group with other rivals to ride home with the same time. Sanchez and Menchov gained 14 seconds on the Yellow Jersey, but the day belonged to Frenchman Christophe Riblon, who won his first Tour de France Stage at a very early stage in his career. Interviewed afterwards he joked that yesterday, he would not have bet a euro on himself to win the stage! Well done to him.

The results for Stage 14 and the current GC look like this as the Tour finished its first day in the Pyrenees:

The awarded cycle shirts remain exactly the same as yesterday, with Charteau gaining extra points today and keeping his King of the Mountains Polka Dot Jersey; Petacchi keeps the Green Jersey; and Schleck holds onto the Yellow Jersey for now, warding off Contador’s attempts to attack today, but letting the gap for third and fourth shrink somewhat. That is something to beware of in the next few stages and something the top two riders’ teams will probably put right before Stage 15.

Tomorrow and it’s Stage 15, a 187.5 km journey from Pamiers to Bagnères-de-Luchon. Another HC climb will beckon the riders before the end, but rather than finishing at the summit, this time the riders will finish at the end of a hair raising descent.

As in all the other stages, an attack was instigated almost from the off, as 4 km into the race a trio of experienced riders set themselves up to escape the group. Chavanel (QST), Fedrigo (BTL) and Flecha (SKY) grabbed the bull by the horns and built up a lead of 6 minutes by the time they ascended the first climb (category 4). This was their maximum time gap, as soon afterwards, Lampre burst to the front of the peloton to begin the task of pulling the trio back into the fold. Estonian rider Taaramae of Cofidis pulled out of the Tour after the descending the first climb.

The chasing pack worked well together, cooperating to reduce the deficit to under 3 minutes by the time they were 136 km into the stage, led by Lampre, HTC-Columbia and Milram Teams. Through gritted teeth, the three escapees dug deep to try and hold their advantage, but as they got closer to the finish, the sprint teams were already organising themselves, and it was obvious that they would become a single group sooner or later. The coming together happened at 10 km from the line, although the blistering pace of the front men of the peloton had stretched out the main group, which had begun to fragment in the strong sidewinds.

(Photo of Alexander Vinokourov, by Diane Krauss. Reproduced under Creative Commons licence.)

Inside 10 km to go, there was the not so trivial matter of a category 3 climb to ascend before the sprint proper could begin to get underway. It was at this point that Astana rider Vinokourov – the most aggressive rider in Stage 12 yesterday – attacked powerfully. It was Ballan of Team BMC that kicked things off, catapulting himself up the final hill, with “Vino” in pursuit mode, in a group with Roche (ALM), Barredo (QST), Cunego (LAM) and LL. Sanchez (GCE). Ballan got to the summit first and collected some points, but his legs were finished, and he fell back right through the peloton. In contrast, Vinokourov attacked hard, pumping himself through the pain barrier, and ammasing a 20 second with only 1 km to go; an insurmountable lead. So thrilled to win his first stage since 2005, having served a ban for blood doping to enhance his performance in 2007, and also having been pipped to the post yesterday by team mate Contador, he dropped a few seconds celebrating as he approached the line. He crossed 13 seconds ahead of the explosive group sprint.

The sprint went ahead for second place, as the Green Jersey was still to be played for. Cavendish for HTC was in sixth place as they got to wihtin 250 meters of the line, and he glanced Petacchi break left of him, spurring him into a stunning burst of his own, which left the field standing. Cavendish took second place and precious points for the Green Jersey, lifting him into third place in the Points Classification. However Petacchi came in a close third place, with Hushovd trailing back in eighth. This led to yet another swap of Green Jersey, the third swap in as many days, as Petacchi and Hushovd slug it out for the honor.

The Stage 13 Results and GC Standings are now like this:

So the General Classification stands exactly how it stood yesterday, with Andy Schleck keeping his hands on the Yellow Jersey for another day; Petacchi grabs the Green Jersey from Hushovd; no change in the Polka Dot Jersey which rests with Charteau.

Stage 14 tomorrow is not one for the faint hearted, not one for the sprinters, as the Tour moves into the Pyrenees. The sprinters will have to wait for a few more days for their chances.

Onto Stage 12, from Bourg-de-Péage to Mende, a deceptive and incredibly challenging stage of 210.5 km. Not a flat stage by any means, with two category 2 climbs, the second of them the steepest climb of the Tour at 13% gradient, right before the finish. Today’s stage very nearly became a case of “All Change” with those colored cycling shirts. As it happened, Yellow clung on, and Green and Polka Dot swapped hands again for the second time in 24 hours.

The first quarter of the race featured several attempted escapes, none of which made the most of it, and were reeled back into the chasing group. The Polka Dot Jersey Pineau was involved in a crash during the first climb, but was fine and rejoined the peloton. In general the escape groups managed to rack up no more than half a minute over the hunting pack of the peloton before being recaptured.

The second climb of the stage saw a splinter group of 18 riders amass a lead of over 20 seconds over the others by the time they reached the summit. This allowed them to breakaway. The important riders in this group with regard to the General Classification were Hesjedal in 12th place and Vinokourov in 14th. Also part of this group was Charteau who wanted his King of the Mountains jersey back and Hushovd, who was fighting to re-acquire the Green Jersey. Hushovd came second in the first of the two intermediate sprints of the stage, which put him on level pegging with Petacchi.

(Photo of Joaquim Rodriguez, by Haggisnl. Reproduced under Creative Commons licence.)

It was Saxo Bank and Lampre doing the pace making in the peloton to reduce the time deficit as they finished the fourth climb. Then with the second intermediate sprint won by Hushovd, who punched the air, delighted to have got his Green Jersey back, a break was initiated from the front of the leading pack. This was led by Klöden, who was immediately marked by Hesjedal, Kiryienka and Vinokourov. The race was now in three sections: the leading four man group, followed by the remnants of the initial 18 man breakaway, who were pursued by the peloton. Cervelo, Liquigas and Saxo Bank all pulled together to drag the leaders back, and made ground on them as the race continued into its final stages. With 25 km left to go, the cumulative strain that Farrar had put on his body – riding with a broken wrist – finally led him to exit the Tour, and get into his team car for a lift to the end. An irony as it was Farrar and his lead-out man that were involved in the fracas leading to Renshaw’s ejection from the tournament!

The remaining fragments of the original escape group were caught in Mende about 6 km from the finish, and then the stretched out peloton began mounting the final category climb; not a very long one, but extremely steep. Vinokourov attack his small group of leading rider and got away, whilst back in the peloton, Rodriguez (KAT) made his move rather unexpectedly. Schleck had a minor moment of loss of concentration and reacted late when he saw Contador take off after Rodriguez. Schleck – the Yellow Jersey – kept his calm, realised that he was too late to get onto Contador’s wheel, and sat back.

The finish was to be contested by Vinokourov, his team mate Contador and Rodriguez; to Vino’s displeasure, the other two overtook him, and onto the final straight played cat and mouse. This was an unusual move for Contador, who was constantly looking back for Rodriguez’s move. At this stage the result was very predictable as Rodriguez is the superior sprinter, and so he eased past Contador and took his first ever Stage victory in his first Tour de France. Vinokourov came in third after Contador, who had probably wasted a few seconds worrying about a stage victory, but who nevertheless gained 10 seconds in his GC chase to catch Schleck. Schleck rolled in in fifth spot in a group of five riders. So Stage 12 produced another dramatic day, with two of the prize jersey swapping hands again, Contador gaining on the Yellow Jersey, and the retirement from the race of Tyler Farrar.

The Stage 12 Results and GC Standings are as follows:

So after Stage 12, the Yellow Jersey was retained by Schleck; the Green Jersey was returned to Hushovd from Petacchi; the Polka Dot Jersey switched back to Charteau from Pineau; and Gesink wears the White Jersey.

Stage 13 is 196 km with 7 categorised hills, none of which individually is overly challenging, but the route will be undulating as they are all fairly close together. It might be another day for the sprinters.

The one escape of the stage took place right from the start, with Stephane Auge (COF) taking off immediately with Jose Benitez (FOT) and Anthony Geslin (FDJ) in pursuit, and they formed a leading trio for most of the race, the peloton happy to just keep them in their sights until near the end. As is becoming customary in the sprint stages, Lampre and HTC-Columbia provided the pace for the trailing group. At the summit of the col de Cabre, Benitez took maximum points, and meanwhile there was a chase for fourth place between Pineau and Charteau, with Pineau crossing the line first to secure his Polka Dot Jersey for another day.

The peloton seemed content just to track the leading trio, while making good pace with some of the Lampre riders, along with Grabsch for HTC and Zabriskie of Garmin. They held the trio within 2 minutes of them, until a sneaky attack by Perget (GCE) which lifted the pace, as he was snapped up by the pack, but with the time deficit reduced to 40 seconds.

When they were 30 km from the finish (and probably for most of the race) the front runners were resigned to the fact that they were going to be caught, but Benitez launched an attack nevertheless, which didn’t take hold, as the other two pegged him back. Soon afterwards, a last gasp attack by Geslin was marked by his fellow escapees, and as they caught and passed him, he capitulated and waited to be absorbed into the peloton, which was less than 20 seconds behind at that point.

Soon afterwards, there was one group reestablished and the sprint teams were beginning to jostle for position in what was about to become a staggering and controversial conclusion. First RadioShack had a go at the front, who were quickly replaced by FDJ, who in turn were taken over by Saxo Bank in an unusual move for a team not usually known as sprint experts; in fact they took up a front position to protect their man in the Yellow Jersey, Andy Schleck. The savvy riders had checked out the course and knew there was a very tricky chicane – a tight right turn followed immediately by a left-hander – just before the final kilometer, and they did not want the Maillot Jaune to get separated from the front by a crash, and lose precious time.

The injection of pace by Saxo Bank began to split the peloton, with riders dropping off the back. Chavanel put in a spurt around 8 km from the end, and was marked by Popovych. A kilometer later, the HTC boys caught up and led the peloton, but Lampre and Cervelo began to take control of the group as they made progress towards the flamme rouge.

(Photo of Mark Renshaw, by YellowMonkey/Blnguyen. Reproduced under Creative Commons licence.)

The negotiation of the chicane was uneventful in that there were no crashes, and HTC were now in command, as the final kilometer became packed with drama. HTC lead-out dissolved into the usual suspects, Mark Cavendish and his frontman Mark Renshaw blazing the trail for him. As they went into full acceleration, they were challenged by Garmin sprinter Farrar and his lead-out man Dean. Dean decided to try and block the HTC pair by swerving across to lean into Renshaw, with elbow raised to smash them into the left barricades. As hands are not to be lifted from the handlebars in the sprint, Renshaw used track tactics, using his head to push Dean back to his racing line; three headbutts later, and Cavendish, who had been a mere spectator to the melee in front of him, decided to attack and take on the sprint from 375 meters out (far further out than preferred for Cav). Meanwhile Farrar ducked in to try and get on Cavendish’s slipstream, but Renshaw cut left to block – an illegal action. This slowed down Farrar, who in fairness would probably never have caught a flying Cavendish anyway.

Cavendish wins his third stage of the Tour de France and gets some valuable points for the Green Jersey, although winning it looks like a long shot now. However, there was more high drama, as the race officials looked closely at the actions involving Mark Renshaw during the sprint. They decided that he had committed a double infringement; one for headbutting against Dean, and then switching his racing line dangerously to impede Farrar. He was removed from the Stage listings for Stage 11, and more shockingly, was expelled from the rest of the Tour de France 2010. HTC-Columbia, his team, are appealing the decision. One thing is certain, Renshaw is a fantastic lead-out man for Cavendish, and so with Renshaw’s exit from the competition, it remains to be seen what that means for Cav’s chances in the remainder of the race.

The Stage 11 Results and GC Standings are as follows:

So for Cavendish that’s three stage wins this year so far, and 13 overall in Tours de France. The General Classification is unchanged after today’s stage. So that means Andy Schleck keeps the Yellow Jersey for tomorrow. Pineau retains the Polka Dot Jersey. The only swap of cycling shirts today was the Green Jersey, as Petacchi amassed enough points to topple Hushovd from his perch at the top of the Points Classification.

Tomorrow will be an interesting stage not least because we get to find out whether HTC’s appeals to reinstate Renshaw will fall on deaf ears or not. Stage 12 is a long 210.5 km stretch from Bourg-de-Péage to Mende with some challenging category 2 climbs thrown into the mix.

On the flat early stages, multiple attacks were attempted, but all were pulled back, and with the first intermediate sprint points for Green Jersey prior to the 20 km mark, the specialists put their heads down and went for it; Petacchi took maximum points followed by Hushovd and McEwen. By the time the race had reached 37 km in, four riders had managed to escape: Aerts (OLO), Devenyns (QST), Kiryienka (GCE) and Paulinho (RSH). The peloton seemed to have very little interest in chasing them down, with Saxo Bank and RadioShack taking lead positions in the group and preventing further attacks.

(Photo of Sergio Paulinho, by Fanny Schertzer. Reproduced under Creative Commons licence.)

However, on Bastille Day, two French riders were determined to fly the flag, and broke free. The two Frenchmen, Bouet (ALM) and Rolland (BTL) tugged at the leading group for 20 km, before finally catching the four outriders at 63 km, with the peloton, led by Saxo Bank, now almost 9 minutes behind them.

The only outwardly aggressive move of the day saw Pineau fight Charteau for climbing points on the first hill, a fight that he won, and which gave him enough points to strip Charteau of the Polka Dot Jersey, and wear it himself for tomorrow’s Stage. Over the middle part of the stage, Saxo Bank led the peloton at a positively leisurely pace in temperatures which had soared to 40 celsius. It was at a point approaching the summit of the final climb that the next attack came; Moreau (GCE) put his foot down and took off, hunted by Popovych, who kept up and they formed a breakaway duo sandwiched between the leaders and the peloton.

The stage was then set for the sprint finish between the leading group riders, who by this stage knew there was no chance they were going to get caught by the peloton. It turned out to be a battle royale, when with 15 km to go, Aerts attacked the front group but could not get away and was chased down by Devenyns, who then launched off the front. He quickly broke down and was overtaken by Kiryienka and Paulinho, the duo pulling off a perfect escape to leave the other three riders 45 seconds behind by the 10 km to go stage. Both slugged it out, swapping to take on the pace making to ensure the following three were finished. Kiryienka was desperate to be the first Belorussian to win a stage of the Tour de France, and Paulinho was equally desperate to win back some pride for the RadioShack Team, after supreme bad luck in the tournament to date all but ended Armstrong’s Tour this year.

The Belorussian led in the last 1.5 km before Paulinho mounted a final decisive attack with 400 meters to go. Kiryienka reacted late to the sudden burst of speed and despite hurling himself at the line, was unable to grab the victory from the Portuguese rider, who won by half a wheel diameter!

The Stage 10 Results and GC Standings are as follows:

The day saw one change of cycling shirts, with the Polka Dot transferring from Charteau to Pineau in the climbers classification. Tomorrow sees in Stage 11 from Sisteron to Bourg-lès-Valence, a ride of 184.5 km, which hails in flatter territory, with a solitary category 3 climb followed by a couple of cat. 5s.