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The sorting continues in the Alps with only 2 riders left within 2 3/4 minutes of the lead. Andy Schleck and Alberto Contador shattered the rest of the contenders on the final climb of the day. Though they did not sprint for the stage win, the two caught the breakaway within a kilometer of the finish, leaving all the other contenders spread across the mountain. Cadell Evan’s, who started the day in yellow, lost over 8 minutes, not only ending his hope for a victory, but probably ending all hope for a podium finish.

Today was a sad day in the history of the Tour de France. Bad luck and age caught up with Lance Armstrong today to leave him 13′26″ off the lead. Compounding his trouble on the cobbles in stage 3, Lance fell 3 times today and at age 38, he just didn’t have the gas to rejoin the leaders. Regardless of the falls, Lance really didn’t have what it took to keep pace on the climb as teams Sky and Astana held a fast tempo up the high mountains. The other contenders, Contador, Evans, Schleck and Menchov were able to stay together. Notably, Lance’s teammate Levi Leipheimer was able to stay with the leaders, and leave team Radio Shack with a shot at the podium.

The 2010 Tour de France had a rough and tumble couple of stages. Stage 2 wasn’t expected to be much trouble, but the slick descents caused Andy Schleck and Christian Vandevelde to fall and lose ground on the other GC contenders. In response, Andy’s teammate Fabian Cancellera slowed down the entire peloton and prevented the bunch sprint as a kind of protest against the tour organizers, and allowing Andy to rejoin the group. Christian was out a a result of broken ribs suffered on the fall.

YELL FOR CADEL goes behind the scenes at the Tour de France to reveal how a world class cyclist – Australian Cadel Evans, the recent winner of the World Championships – prepares for the world’s toughest bike race.

The Hokies simply have got to run better to go deeper in the bowl season. Frank Beamer has done it with defense, ranking in the Top Ten for the last 5 years garnering two ACC titles and 31 wins. Darren Evans, Tyrod Taylor and redshirt freshman Ryan Williams hope to provide some much needed offensive punch.

The 2009 Tour de France is far from over. Today’s stage 16 didn’t play out as you would expect. Saxo Bank tried to attack Alberto Contador with no success. In the biggest surprise of the day, Lance Armstrong was able to bridge the 30+ second gap Saxo Bank opened on the weaker riders.

In a tour that has been defined by the hundredth of a second, Alberto Contador took the overall lead by 1:37 over his teammate Lance Armstrong in Stage 15 of the 2009 Tour de France. In the first stage to finish on a mountaintop since Stage 7, Contador showed why he is called the best climber on the professional tour.

On a team with more than one strong rider, the team must work together to fend off the other teams, but if the strong riders start competing, the whole team loses. In the case of Astana, it is pretty clear that the team director had told the team to work together to get the yellow jersey from Cancellara, and have it naturally fall to the highest place Astana rider, Lance Armstrong. However, the best laid plans go awry when a team member goes out for himself.