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Last day! Floyd Landis is in the Yellow Jersey.

Welcome To The Live Coverage Of Stage 19...

Daily coverage of the Tour de France.

Stage 17: St. Jean de Maurienne to Morzine-Avoriaz -200.5km Course: This is almost identical to the stage in 2000 when Marco Pantani attacked on the first climb (the 15km, 6.4-percent Saisies) and forced Armstrong's U.S. Postal squad to chase for 100km over the Aravis, Colombière and Châtillon climbs to the foot of the day's main obstacle: the mighty Col de Joux-Plane (11.7km at 8.7 percent). It was partway up the Joux-Plane that Armstrong bonked and could only watch as Ullrich and others rode away from him, and he conceded almost two minutes by the finish in Morzine. History: Morzine has...

Stage 16: Bourg d'Oisans to La Toussuire -182km Course: If L'Alpe d'Huez does not decide the Tour's likely outcome, then this even tougher day in the Alps should do the job. The survivors first ride the 34km back to the top of the Lautaret, where a left turn takes them another 8.6km at 6.7 percent to the top of the Galibier - the Tour's highest point at 8681 feet above sea level. After the 35km descent of the Galibier and intermediate Col du Télégraphe, the next 23km is down the Maurienne Valley. Of the remaining 79km, some 47km are uphill,...

Stage 15: Gap to L'Alpe d'Huez - 187km Course: There's no more spectacular finish than the 21-turn, 14km climb to L'Alpe d'Huez. This year it comes at the end of an already demanding 187km stage that climbs the hors-cat Col d'Izoard (14km at 7 percent) at 86km and Cat. 2 Col du Lautaret (12km at 4.4 percent) at 134km. Then comes more than 30km of mainly descending roads, which will likely see the race come back together before the assault on the Alpe (14km at almost 8 percent). History: This is the 25th time a Tour stage has finished at...

Tales from the (not-to-be-taken-seriously*) peloton, July 17, 2006Levi Leipheimer Calls 'Mulligan' on 2006 Tour de FranceParis, July 14 (Fat Cyclist Fake News Service) - Following a closed-doors meeting with Tour de France Officials, Team Gerolsteiner held a press conference today, wherein team Leader-and former GC contender-Levi Leipheimer made the following announcement: "Based on the fact that until yesterday everyone-especially me-has been having a totally sucky tour, I have requested that we call "Mulligan" on this year's Tour de France to this point, start over with the prologue tomorrow, and try to get it right this time." "I hold in my...

Stage 14: Montélimar to Gap - 180.5km Course: With a rest day coming up in Gap, followed by the Alps, this gives the lesser known riders one of their last chances of glory. The intricate 180.5km stage through hilly terrain north of Mont Ventoux offers two Cat. 3 climbs in the first half and two Cat. 2s in the second half. The narrow back roads and constant ups-and-downs will make it a hard stage for everyone and encourage breakaways. The last of the climbs, the Sentinelle, is less than 10km from the finish and offers a great chance for a...

Stage 13: Béziers to Montélimar - 230km Course: At 230km, this is the longest stage of the race, and together with the likely fast pace and baking hot weather, it could be one of the most grueling, too. It starts at Béziers on the Mediterranean seaboard before cutting across the southeast corner of the Massif Central on winding back roads that are constantly dipping and climbing through the foothills. The critical part of the stage comes with 60km to go, from where the race twists through the spectacular canyons of the Ardèche and Ibie rivers and crests two Cat. 4...

Stage 12: Luchon to Carcassonne - 211.5km Course: There are no major climbs on this first of three transitional stages between the Pyrénées and Alps, but that doesn't mean it will be an easy day. Stages like this often give rise to long breakaways that succeed, especially when the weather in this southern part of France is hot and sticky. Any break that develops in the hilly opening two-thirds of the stage will need to get at least a 10-minute lead if it has any chance of holding off the pack on the straighter roads and flatter terrain of the...

Stage 11: Tarbes to Val d'Aran/Pla-de-Beret - 206.5kmCourse: Any Pyrenean stage that goes over the mighty mountain passes of Tourmalet, Aspin, Peyresourde and Portillon merits the greatest attention from the race favorites - even though this one then continues into Spain for another 40km to finish on the long, but gently graded climb to the Pla-de-Beret summit. If this Tour is going to be a free-for-all, then climbers who want to shoot for the polkadot jersey or a high GC placing must attack on this challenging day. So look for likely KOM candidates to infiltrate the breaks that are bound...

Stage 1 - Sunday, July 2: Strasbourg - Strasbourg, 183 km Sunday's Stage 1 flat sprinters' stage starts and finishes in Strasbourg, with a 30km incursion into Germany midway through the stage. It will be a tight, tense day with plenty of crashes and a big battle between Boonen's Quick.Step, McEwen's Davitamon-Lotto and Zabel's Milram teams to win the first en ligne stage at Le Tour 2006.

Stage 10: Cambo-les-Bains to Pau - 190.5km Course: This is a much easier introduction to the mountains than in recent years. Instead of a mountaintop finish, the last of three climbs on this 190.5km stage across the Basque part of the Pyrénées is 42.5km from the finish in Pau. That means that riders dropped on the Col de Marie-Blanque will have a chance to chase back to the peloton. Breakaways will inevitably go clear on the rolling roads that precede the day's major obstacle, the Col de Soudet, that climbs for almost 15km at over 7 percent, with some much...

Stage 9: Bordeaux to Dax - 169.5km Course: After a long transfer and rest day in Bordeaux, the race continues with the last stage likely to have a mass finish until the Tour is two days out from Paris. The sprinters won't waste the opportunity, especially on a completely flat stage like this one. It barrels southwest through the pine forest of the Landes almost to the Atlantic coast before turning south. Any breakaways are likely to be swept up after the route turns southeast for the final 35km - where winds off the ocean could split the peloton into...

Stage 8: St-Méen-le-Grand to Lorient - 181kmCourse: Huge crowds are expected on this hilly run through cycling-mad Brittany. The stage starts at the birthplace of three-time Tour champion Louison Bobet, who worked in the family bakery at St. Méen-le-Grand before becoming a cyclist. The biggest crowds will be on the Cat. 3 Mûr-de-Bretagne and on the sprint line in Plouay - where Hincapie won the ProTour classic last year. The final 20km is on wide highways with a fast run-in to Lorient, where the finish is on the slightly curving and flat Avenue Jean Jaurès. History: Lorient last saw a...

Course: With a week of racing in their legs, the GC contenders finally get their day in the sun with this critical 52km time trial. The counterclockwise circuit has two distinct halves: narrow, hilly back roads at first and long, straight flat highways at the end. The final 15km are likely to be very fast with a tail wind. History: A total of 13 Tour stages have finished in Rennes, the unofficial capital of the Brittany region, the most recent in 1994 when a massive 270km stage from Cherbourg was taken by Italian Gianluca Bortolami from a seven-man break that...

Course: There's some initial fun with a visit to Camembert cheese country and a Cat. 3 hill at Vimoutiers that has a 13-percent pitch, but then the shorter (189km) stage settles into a series of long, straight, sometimes hilly highways across the open farmland of Normandy. Rolling hills precede the entry into Vitré, where the course loops around and through town to reach a slightly uphill finishing straight almost 2km long. History: There have been three stage finishes at Vitré, all won by sprinters: Belgian Rudy Matthijs in 1985, Italian Mario Cipollini in 1995 and German Marcel Wüst in 2000....

Stage 5: Beauvais to Caen 225km Course: The fourth long stage in a row, this one (225km) starts on the open, windswept roads of Picardy, tackles a series of short climbs across the Seine Valley, and concludes with more undulations across Normandy. It's likely that only seconds will separate the race leaders on GC going into this stage, and the yellow jersey could change hands with time bonuses at the intermediate sprints, the last of which is at Pont l'Evêque with 50km to go. A fast, tricky run-in to sprawling Caen, population 113,000, will make it hard for a sprinter's...

Stage 4 - Wednesday, July 5: Huy (Belgium) - Saint-Quentin, 215 kmCourse: This stage, which starts in the Belgian city of Huy on the right bank of the Meuse River at the foot of the infamous Mur de Huy, brings the Tour back to France. It traces some of the roads of the Mur's classic, the Flèche Wallonne, climbing a couple of Ardennes hills in the opening 60km; but then it heads southeast on a flat-to-rolling route, mainly on wide, straight roads till it reaches the French border. The final two hours will be hectic, first on 80km of twisting,...

Stage 3 - Tuesday, July 4: Esch-sur-Alzette - Valkenburg (Netherlands), 216 km Stage 3 will be like a classics cross between Liege-Bastogne-Liege and Amstel Gold as it winds north through the Belgian Ardennes and into the hilly southeast corner of the Netherlands to finish atop the Cauberg climb as in the Amstel Gold classics. If it comes down to a front group, look for names like DiLuca, Dutch champ Boogerd, Valverde and Italian champ Bettini to take the honors.