Tour De France - Live!
Cycling: The Astana team are gone, but we're still here. Follow today's brutal mountain stage from noon.
The story of today's stage so far
With the Astana team on their way home after being asked to leave in the wake of Alexandr Vinokourov's blood transfusion on Saturday (needless to say, he's been protesting his innocence), today's stage began with race leader Michael Rasmussen being jeered by spectators on the back of recent allegations that he failed to inform drug-testers of his whereabouts on four separate occasions.
There was further controversy when the six French and two German teams staged a protest over ongoing cheating in the sport by blocking the start of the stage and forcing cyclists from those teams who were not part of the protest to go around them. Having made their statement, the riders from Agritubel, Credit Agricole, Francaise des Jeux, Bouygues Telecom, AG2r, Gerolsteiner, Cofidis and T-Mobile set off a couple of minutes later. In total, 151 riders started today's stage.
Out on the road, Cofidis rider Stephane Auge of Cofidis launched the first attack, before being joined by Caisse d'Epargne's Vincente Garcia-Acosta, Saunier Duval's Christophe Rinero and Euskaltel's Gorka Verdugo. They quickly opened a gap of over 3min 30sec.
Current standings, for what their worth
Yellow jersey: Michael Rasmussen (RAB)Green jersey: Tom Boonen (QSI)Polka dot jersey: Michael Rasmussen (Rab)White jersey: Alberto Contador
With the Astana team on their way home after being asked to leave in the wake of Alexandr Vinokourov's blood transfusion on Saturday (needless to say, he's been protesting his innocence), today's stage began with race leader Michael Rasmussen being jeered by spectators on the back of recent allegations that he failed to inform drug-testers of his whereabouts on four separate occasions.
There was further controversy when the six French and two German teams staged a protest over ongoing cheating in the sport by blocking the start of the stage and forcing cyclists from those teams who were not part of the protest to go around them. Having made their statement, the riders from Agritubel, Credit Agricole, Francaise des Jeux, Bouygues Telecom, AG2r, Gerolsteiner, Cofidis and T-Mobile set off a couple of minutes later. In total, 151 riders started today's stage.
Out on the road, Cofidis rider Stephane Auge of Cofidis launched the first attack, before being joined by Caisse d'Epargne's Vincente Garcia-Acosta, Saunier Duval's Christophe Rinero and Euskaltel's Gorka Verdugo. They quickly opened a gap of over 3min 30sec.
Current standings, for what their worth
Yellow jersey: Michael Rasmussen (RAB)Green jersey: Tom Boonen (QSI)Polka dot jersey: Michael Rasmussen (Rab)White jersey: Alberto Contador
Use the feedback form below to submit your comments.
Use the form below to email this article to your friends.
- Tour De France Live
- Tour De France Live. Stage 12: Montpelier to Castres - 178.5km/111 Miles
- Tour Welcome Their Top 20 As Contador's Astana Miss Out
- Tour Pledges Return to London
- British Cycling Vows to Control New Team at Tour De France
- British Cycling Vows to Control New Team at Tour De France
- Hype and Cliche on Sports Channels? No, It's the News
- Tour Diary
- I Considered Quitting Cycling, Admits Wiggins
- Stage 17 - As It Happened
- Stage 17 - Live!
- Rasmussen Reigns in the Pyrenees to Extend Overall Lead
- Stage 16 - As It Happens
- Tour De France - Stage 15 Live!
- Tom Boonen Won Stage 12 of the Tour De France
- Tour De France: Hunter Makes History
- Vasseur Holds Firm for Stage Win
- Tour De France: Stage 6 Semur-en-auxois - Bourg-en-bresse
- Tour De France - Stage 5 As It Happens
- Tour de France
- Landis: Likely to Be Lost, Banned, Dropped
- Tour de France Winner Lance Armstrong Planning His Retirement