Cycling Live

Tour de France - Mazamet - Plateau de Beille

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  1. 16:15 - The top ten: Mauricio Soler at 37; Levi Leipheimer at 40; Carlos Sastre 53; Andreas Kloden 1:52; Cadel Evans 1:52; Antonio Colom at 2:23; Andrey Kashechkin 2:23: Yaroslav Popovych at 3:06.

  2. 16:15 - With 150m to go, Contador jumps out ahead of Rasmussen to take a sensational victory.

  3. 1km - The leading two have a heated discussion about who should be doing the work. Rasmussen then attacks, Contador sticks to his wheel and refuses to go to the front. Soler attacks Sastre and Leipheimer behind and he should catch Colom.

  4. 2km - Colom can't handle the pace. Remember 20 seconds bonus to the winner and that could be crucial with Rasmussen holding a 2:31 lead on GC over Contador. Thousands of fans are on the climb as Kloden and Kashechkin catch Evans behind.

  5. 3km - Colom manages to tag onto the back of Rasmussen and Contador on a slightly easier section. Evans has lost 45 seconds, Kloden 1:13, Valverde 2:45.

  6. 4km - Colom is now just ten seconds ahead of Rasmussen and Contador. Leipheimer, Soler and Sastre are 20 seconds further back.

  7. 5km - Contador goes off the front with a sudden burst. Rasmussen works his way up to the young Spaniard but Evans is suffering. Leipheimer, Sastre and Soler are just behind the Australian. Colom is 30 seconds ahead.

  8. 6km - Soler attacks and these constant bursts have caused damage with Kasheckin, like Astana team-mate Kloden, now distanced. Colom's advantage is down to one minute.

  9. 7km - Popovych has done his job then a brief dig from Discovery team-mate Leipheimer before Rasmussen and Contador go off the front. Evans is in pursuit and closes the duo down.

  10. 8km - Popovych is driving hard and Kloden is having real problems keeping in touch, he is around 20m behind. Colom's lead is down to 1:40.

  11. 9km - Valverde has David Arroyo and Oscar Pereiro with him but is now 30 seconds back.

  12. 10km - Colom has a two minute lead on the big 9 as Boogerd's efforts for team-mate Rasmussen come to an end. Valverde has lost already lost 25 seconds.

  13. 11km - The yellow jersey group is down to 10 as Denis Menchov peels off having done his job for Rasmussen. The group includes the top 7 on GC: RASMUSSEN, EVANS, CONTADOR, KLÖDEN, LEIPHEIMER, KASHECHKIN, SASTRE plus BOOGERD, POPOVYCH and SOLER.

  14. 12km - Mayo has blown so has Haimar Zubeldia and now Alejandro Valverde!!

  15. 13km - Colom has left Gutierrez and Txurruka at the front as Kim Kirchen of T-Mobile, 10th on GC, is the latest casualty as Yaroslav Popovych now sets the pace.

  16. 14km - Barredo has gone off the back again as Dekker continues to cause havoc on the front as Savoldelli loses contact with the main bunch.

  17. 15km - Perez has been blown out of the front group on the 9% start to the climb. Barredo lasts only a few metres more but manages to claw his way back to his compatriots.

  18. 16km - George Hincapie is riding at the front for Alberto Contador as the lead group commence the daunting final climb.

  19. 20km - Barredo has regained contact with his compariots at the front. They are now three minutes ahead.

  20. 25km - Gutierrez-Colom-Perez-Txurruka are now 3:30 ahead.

  21. 30km - There has been a little regrouping on the descent as the big names prepare for the 16km final climb which has an average gradient of 7.8%, peaking at 10%.

  22. 35km - The four leaders still have a three minute lead on this lightning quick descent.

  23. 50km - Vino crosses the summit, nearly five and a half minutes behind the main bunch.

  24. 50km - Mayo has now lost contact! Soler bursts out of the bunch to take fifth at the summit and the lead in the mountains classification. He crosses 2:35 behind Perez and 12 seconds ahead of the main group.

  25. 51km - Thomas Dekker doing a great job for Rasmussen, cutting the deficit of the leading four down to three minutes while Vino has now lost nearly four minutes - his GC Hopes are dead.

  26. 52km - 24 riders left in the main pack with Rasmussen still being supported by three of his team-mates.

  27. 53km - Millar has done his work and now Rabobank take over the pace setting with Vino having already lost 1:43 with another 2km to the summit.

  28. 55km - And now Frank Schleck has been distanced.

  29. 56km - Alexandre Vinokourov is off the back of the peloton !!

  30. 58km - David Millar now at the front for Saunier Duval as Linus Gerdemann, 13th on GC, feels the pressure and loses contact.

  31. 60km - Vladimir Gusev is amongst the latest riders to drop off the peloton. Txurruka, Perez and Colom have dropped fellow escapees Barredo and Gutierrez at the front.

  32. 62km - Saunier Duval still have four men on the front, driving the pace. 5:30 is their deficit to the Spanish quintet.

  33. 64km - Moreau has also slipped out of the ever dwindling peloton.

  34. 65km - Christophe Rinero, Thor Hushovd and Sandy Casar amongst those to drop off the back of the bunch early on the climb. Kuschynski has been distanced by the Spanish armada at the front.

  35. 67km - The main pack have reached the bottom of today's first Hors category climb, 6:30 behind.

  36. 70km - The Saunier Duval team of Iban Mayo are now riding hard on the front of the peloton as the main bunch charge towards the bottom of the Port de Pailhères. The escapees have seen their advantage cut to 7:30 as a result.

  37. 80km - Moreau is back in the bunch after a bike change at the feedzone. The real climbing begins with 67km remaining - the current game is 9:30.

  38. 90km - Christophe Moreau has had a torrid time over the past few days and is now off the back of the peloton.

  39. 95km - The gap has been constant for sometime now, it reached a maximum of 11:20 but is now hovering around ten minutes and change.

  40. 105km - Barredo claimed the points ahead of Kuschynski and Gutierrez at the second intermediate sprint at Campagnge-sur-Aude.

  41. 130km - The average speed for the first two hours of racing was 42.7km/h.

  42. 140km - A full rundown on the breakaway which contains five Spaniards and a man from Belarus: Amets Txurruka (Euskaltel) 36th @ 27:25.000; Carlos Barredo (Quickstep) 39th @ 31:37; Antonio Colom (Astana) 60th @ 54:47; Ruben Perez (Euskaltel) 89th @ 1:13:07; Aleksandr Kuschynski (Liquigas) 162nd @1:55:09.

  43. 145km - The gap is now ten minutes. "Today at the Tour" predicted someone between 20th and 30th on GC would go down the road and so it has proved with Caisse d'Epargne's José Ivan Gutierrez in 28th, 15:21 behind Rasmussen.

  44. 150km - Belarus' Kuschynski, who has been in two other significant breaks in this Tour, was first at the intermediate sprint in Carcassonne ahead of Perez and Gutierrez. The gap is now 7:30.

  45. 155km - The Euskaltel pair of Perez and Txurruka plus Gutierrez, Kuschynski, Barredo and Colom counter-attacked as the main group closed in and have been allowed their head, gaining a four minute lead in quicktime.

  46. 165km - Rasmussen's group has been caught by a worried peloton.

  47. 170km - There are five Euskaltel riders in the lead group. Zubeldia, Azanza, Perez, Txurruka and Verdugo plus Gutierrez, Arroyo and Portal (GCE), Colom and Navarro (AST), Siutsiu and Soler (BAR), Paulinho and Popovych (DSC), Fedrigo and Lefevre (BTL), Barredo and Garate (QSI), Rasmussen (RAB), Kirchen (TMO), De La Fuente (SDV), Voigt (CSC), Gadret (A2R), Le Mevel (CA), Mercado (AGR), Kuschynski (LIQ), Vaugrenard (FDJ).

  48. 170km - Rasmussen's group consists of 27 and has a 40 second lead on the peloton which is unsurprisingly being led by the Predictor-Lotto team of Cadel Evans who is second on GC.

  49. 180km - There was an attack on the descent and the yellow jersey of Michael Rasmussen has bridged the gap !!

  50. 188km - De La Fuente reached the summit first with Mauricio Soler jumping out of the pack to claim second place to move level with Michael Rasmussen in the mountains classification.

  51. 189km - That attack came to nothing but De La Fuente has persisted and has been joined by his Spanish compatriots Txurruka and Verdugo (EUS), Barredo (QSI) and Colom (AST) on the Côte de Saint-Sarraille.

  52. 194km - Gutierrez (GCE), Botcharov (C.A), Martinez (DSC), Perez (EUS), Schumacher (GST), Barredo (QSI), De La Fuente (SDV) and Cardenas (BAR) launch an early attack.

  53. 197km - The stage is underway! Saunier Duval sprinter Francisco Ventoso has not started.

  54. 10:45 - "The finish at Loudenvielle is at the end of a descent but it will be exactly like a summit finish as the gaps built up in the ascent will not be reduced."

  55. 10:40 - Charly Mottet (fourth on GC in 1987 & 1991): "The ascent of the Port de Pailheres is extremely hard with a high average gradient. And the descent is all but easy. The weather can play an important part, especially on the descent."

  56. 10:35 - 41.7km of climbing in store today with two Hors category ascents. The summit of the Port de Pailhères, which has an average graident of 7.2%, is with 50.5km to go before the 7.9% Plateau-de-Beille.

  57. 10:30 - 166 riders are ready to start as the Tour de France heads into the Pyrenees, the 14th stage is a 197km trek from Mazamet to a summit finish at Plateau-de-Beille.