Second stage of Tour de France gets underway

July 24th, 2009 Contador leads as 19th stage of Tour beginsBOURGOIN-JALLIEU, France — Alberto Contador looks poised for overall victory as Tour de France riders have set off on a relatively flat 19th stage. Lance Armstrong has a tenuous hold on third overall, though he isn't expected to lose ground during Friday's 110.6-mile trek from Bourgoin-Jallieu to Aubenas in eastern France.

July 22nd, 2009 Beware cyclists, the Tour de France is not just a simple pleasure ride it can also sucks blood, Jens Voigt a German cyclist of team Saxo Bank is out of the race after having  a dabgerous bloody crash, Veteran rider Jens Voigt who was temporarily unconscious for three to four minutes had to be rushed for a hospital and forcefully withdrawn from Tour de France stage 16. While making a second toughest decent from the Col du Petit-Saint-Bernard Voigt lost the control and had the nastiest crash that heat the head first.

July 21st, 2009 Contador in yellow as 16th stage of Tour startsMARTIGNY, Switzerland — Tour de France leader Alberto Contador and second-place teammate Lance Armstrong have started on the 16th stage of the race, which goes into the Swiss Alps. The pack is heading on a 98.8-mile ride from Martigny to Bourg-Saint-Maurice, France, via Italy and up the Grand-Saint-Bernard and Petit-Saint-Bernard passes.

July 19th, 2009 PONTARLIER - The 15th stage of the 2009 Tour de France got underway Sunday in the city of Pontarlier, as the race began its decisive phase in the Alps with a minute of silence. The brief ceremony was held in memory of the 61-year-old woman who was struck by a police motorcycle and killed as she was trying to cross the road during Saturday's 14th stage.

July 19th, 2009 15th stage of Tour de France under wayPONTARLIER, France — Seven-time champion Lance Armstrong is facing a tough test as the first Alpine stage of the Tour de France has gotten under way between Pontarlier and the Swiss ski resort of Verbier. Fourth-placed Armstrong was 8 seconds behind overall leader Rinaldo Nocentini as riders set out Sunday on the 128.9-mile 15th stage.

July 16th, 2009 Tonnerre,FRANCE - The 12th stage of the 2009 Tour de France got underway Thursday with sprinters looking at one of their last chances for a stage win before the race heads into the Alps. The 211.5-km course includes six modest climbs, the most difficult of which is rated Category 3 and comes 40 km from the finish line in the spa resort of Vittel.

July 15th, 2009 VATAN, France — Rinaldo Nocentini of Italy was wearing the yellow jersey as riders headed out on the 11th stage of the Tour de France, a largely flat route again favoring sprinters. Nocentini held a lead of six seconds over Alberto Contador and was eight seconds clear of seven-time Tour champion Lance Armstrong at the start of Wednesday's 119.3-mile trek from Vatan to Saint-Fargeau.

July 15th, 2009 Cavendish wins 11th Tour stage, Armstrong in 3rdSAINT-FARGEAU, France — Mark Cavendish has won the 11th stage of the Tour de France and Lance Armstrong remains in third place overall. Cavendish sealed his second straight stage win and fourth of the Tour on Wednesday.

July 15th, 2009 Vatan,FRANCE - The 11th stage of the 2009 Tour de France got underway Wednesday in the town of Vatan with riders and their team managers able again to communicate via radio. The ride over the flat 192km course to Saint-Fargeau is expected to be more rapid than Tuesday's stage, during which the riders staged a slowdown to protest the experimental ban of the use of the radios during the stage.

July 14th, 2009 The tenth leg of Tour de France 2009 witnessed an enthralling victory of Britains very own, Mark Cavendish, as the cyclist marked his third stage win as the race rolled over the undulating hills between Limoges and Issoudun. Mark Cavendish, the winner of the tenth stage, broke away from his team mates with around 750 m still to cover, as the former managed to defy the challenges put against him by Norway's Thor Hushovd, who after putting up a brave fight finished second and the all American, Tyler Farrar, who finished third.

July 12th, 2009 Saint-Gaudens,FRANCE - The ninth stage of the 2009 Tour de France got underway Sunday in the Pyrenean city of Saint-Gaudens with Italian Rinaldo Nocentini still the surprise leader of the race. The 160.5km course to Tarbes, the last of three stages in the Pyrenees Mountains, will take the 172 riders left in the race over two formidable climbs.

July 11th, 2009 ANDORRA LA VELLA - The eighth stage of the 2009 Tour de France got underway Saturday in the city of Andorra la Vella, in Andorra, with Italian Tour novice Rinaldo Nocentini wearing the race leader's yellow jersey. The 176.5km course to Saint-Girons in France takes the 176 riders left in the race over three mountains, two of them rated category 1 in difficulty, and is ideal for a long breakaway by riders with little hope of winning the Tour but eager to grab a stage victory.

July 9th, 2009 GERONA, Spain — Tour de France riders have set off on the sixth stage as cycling's premiere race dips into Spain for two days. The 177 riders are heading southwest along the Mediterranean on a 112.8-mile course along plains, the coast and a few small hills from Gerona to Barcelona.

July 8th, 2009 Armstrong just off lead as Tour's 5th stage beginsCAP D'AGDE, France — Lance Armstrong was trailing race leader Fabian Cancellara by a fraction of a second as Tour de France riders left for the fifth stage along the Mediterranean coast. Breakaway riders are expected to shine in Wednesday's 122-mile ride from Le Cap d'Agde to Perpignan, though the finale could also involve a sprint.

July 6th, 2009 Breakaway riders attack in 3rd Tour stageMARSEILLE, France — The third stage of the Tour de France is under way, with breakaway riders attacking right from the start of the ride from Marseille to La Grande Motte. The riders can expect hot and breezy conditions during the 122.1-mile course along the Mediterranean.