Cycling Live

Tour de France - Val-d'Isère - Briançon

Live Comments

  1. 15:50 - The top ten is completed by Contador, Mayo, Rasmussen and Leipheimer @ :42, Kirchen @ 46, Kloden and Sastre @ 47. Vinokourov's group is 3:25 behind the winner.

  2. 15:50 - A great day for Colombia as Barloworld's Juan Mauricio Soler Hernandez takes the victory. Valverde nips away to take second place, 38 seconds behind, and the 12 seconds bonus. Evans is third and gets 8 seconds bonus.

  3. 1km - Soler is in the bottom gear as the road begins to climb towards the finish.

  4. 3km - Evans' group has now regained contact so there are 14 chasing Soler.

  5. 5km - The two Discovery riders have been caught by Rasmussen, Valverde, Astarloza, Gutierrez and Kirchen.

  6. 10km - The yellow jersey group has split with Rasmussen, Valverde, Astarloza, Gutierrez and Kirchen in the front group and the riders behind having a slanging match amongst themselves.

  7. 15km - Contador and Popovych trail Soler by 1:20, they have only gained 45 seconds in the last 25km of the descent. Rasmussen's dozen - Valverde, Gutierrez, Cobo, Mayo, Evans, Astarloza, Kirchen, Kloden, Leipheimer, Moreau, Sastre - is now at 1:55.

  8. 20km - Soler's advantage is down to 1:38 with the yellow jersey group (which has absorbed Evans on the descent) at 2:21 and Vinokourov's group at 4:07.

  9. 25km - Soler is 2:50 ahead of Contador and Popovych.

  10. 30km - Rasmussen crossed the climb in seventh place and is now just 19 points ahead of Soler in the KOM category.

  11. 35km - Contador is eighth on GC at 3:10 so Rasmussen's yellow jersey is safe. He could move into the top three however.

  12. 38km - Vino crosses 1:45 behind Rasmussen.

  13. 38km - Popovych reaches the top of the Col du Galibier 2:05 behind with Contador a few metres back. Evans is a further 25 seconds adrift with the yellow jersey group of ten having lost around 65 seconds on Contador. It's now all downhill to the finish.

  14. 38km - Soler reaches the summit and Moreau regains contact with the yellow jersey group.

  15. 39km - Evans made contact with Contador but the young Spaniard, winner of Paris-Nice, has left him again. Rasmussen, Cobo, Gusev, Leipheimer, Kirchen, Kloden, Sastre and Kashechkin are in the group behind.

  16. 40km - Alberto CONTADOR sprints away from the yellow jersey group with an explosive burst. Evans is in pursuit and Rasmussen is in a bunch of nine riders behind.

  17. 41km - Vinokourov is in pain and way down the hill. His overall chances seem to have gone.

  18. 42km - Valverde goes again!!! Moreau and Mayo are struggling to stay the pace. Menchov and Kasheckin lose touch.

  19. 43km - Andrey KASHECHKIN is suffering on the back of an elite group of about 15 that has formed. Michael RASMUSSEN, Andreas KLODEN, Cadel EVANS, Denis MENCHOV, Carlos SASTRE, Vladimir KARPETS and Christophe MOREAU are amongst those that have followed Valverde.

  20. 44km - An attack from the peloton and it's Alejandro VALVERDE !!!

  21. 45km - Now Popo has snapped. Soler, the Colombian climber for the wild card team, is setting a fierce pace.

  22. 47km - Only Popovych can stay with Soler....and there is over 8km left to the summit yet. Rabobank continue to lead the peloton.

  23. 48km - Soler has jumped across to the leaders and that has caused carnage with Clement and Gusev losing ground.

  24. 50km - Juan Miguel MERCADO (Agritubel) jumps out of the peloton as Clement regains contact with the leaders.

  25. 52km - Clement is dropped so there are now four leaders with Michael Boogerd of Rabobank on the front of the main pack which is still large in numbers.

  26. 55km - The Galibier is a 17.5km climb with an average gradient of 6.9%. The summit is with 37.5km remaining.

  27. 55km - Gusev, Popovych, Clements and Gutierrez have caught Astarloza near the base of the Col du Galibier.

  28. 60km - Astarloza reaches the summit. Popovych, Gusev, Gutierrez and Clement are 20 seconds behind. The peloton is at 3:10. Soler, Vaugrenard and Christophe Le Mevel are sandwiched inbetween.

  29. 61km - Alexandre VINOKOUROV (Astana) calls for the medical car.

  30. 63km - Juan Mauricio SOLER (Barloworld) attacks the peloton as Millar drops off the peloton allowing another Saunier rider to set the pace.

  31. 64km - And if you have a question for Eurosport commentator David Harmon, click on Tour de France here: http://uk.messages.eurosport.yahoo.com/yahoo/Cycling/Competitions/index.html

  32. 65km - Remember you can follow the stage via GPS: http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/cy/tdf/gps/index.html

  33. 66km - Gusev, Popovych and Gutierrez are 35 seconds behind Astarloza with 5.5km of the climb remaining.

  34. 69km - Astarloza attacks his fellow escapees and goes clear.

  35. 69km - David Millar is at the front of the peloton, setting the pace for Saunier Duval team-mate Iban Mayo.

  36. 70km - 2:50 is the deficit as the peloton begin the Col du Télégraphe. Thor Hushovd drops out of the main group immediately.

  37. 85km - 3:30 is the gap with 12.5km before the start of the Col du Télégraphe.

  38. 95km - The positions of the escapees on GC - Mikel Astarloza (21st @ 5:14), Yaroslav Popovych (28th @ 7:32), Vladimir Gusev (31st @ 9:23), Jose Ivan Gutierrez (34th @ 12:43), Benoit Vaugrenard (86th @ 41:44), Stef Clement (97th @ 47:34).

  39. 100km - Rabobank have eased the pace and the lead has jumped out to nearly three minutes for the leading six. Astarloza is ahead of Gusev and Gutierrez at the final intermediate sprint in Bramans.

  40. 110km - Marcus Burghardt has hit the deck after colliding with a labrador that strayed on to the road. Both the T-Mobile and canine seem ok.

  41. 120km - Popovych has been caught by the chase group. They have 70 seconds on the Rabobank-led peloton.

  42. 126km - 27-year-old Popovych takes the points at the first intermediate sprint at Le Villaron. The quintet of chasers are 29 second back, led by Gutierrez and Clement, with the peloton at 1:07.

  43. 130km - A group of five has formed on the descent and they trail Popo by 40 seconds and are 30 seconds ahead of the peloton. They are José Ivan GUTIERREZ (Caisse d'Epargne), Mikel ASTARLOZA (Euskaltel), Vladimir GUSEV (Discovery), Stef CLEMENT (Bouygues) and Benoît VAUGRENARD (Fdj).

  44. 140km - The rest of the top ten at the peak of the Iseran are Anthony Charteau, Mikel Astarloza, Vladimir Gusev, Francisco Sanchez, Christophe Moreau, Stef Clement and Denis Menchov. Expect a big regroupment on the long, long descent into the valley.

  45. 144km - At the summit, Popovych leads from Laurent LEFEVRE (Bouygues) and Juan Mauricio SOLER (Barloworld).

  46. 145km - 1km to the summit and Popovych leads by a minute from an active, and dwindling in numbers, peloton.

  47. 148km - Arrieta is caught by a counter-attack led by Barloworld's Félix CARDENAS.

  48. 149km - Popovych has dropped Arrieta. He is 28th on GC at 7:32.

  49. 150km - The polka dot jersey Sylvain CHAVANEL attempts to join the escapees.

  50. 154km - One minute is Arrieta's advantage and he is now joined by Yaroslav POPOVYCH (Discovery). An interesting move from the rider from the Ukraine.

  51. 157km - An attack from Jose Luis ARRIETA (AG2R) early on the Hors category of Col de l'Iseran. It's a 15km climb with an average gradient of 6%.

  52. 11:35 - The flag has gone down and we are off. For all the key information on today's stage visit the "Today at the Tour" story on the home page.

  53. 11:25 - The peloton take on the legendary climbs of the Télégraphe and Galibier on their third and final day in the Alps. 172 riders are about to enter the 2.5km neutral zone.