After 16 days of racing, the Tour de France riders are through the Pyrenees and well on their way across the Alps. As expected, Lance Armstrong won the first two mountain stages and shot back into the overall lead. But it hasn't been easy. At one point Lance was as far back as eighth place. Take a stage-by-stage look at how the U.S. rider not only moved back to first, but continues to pull away from the competition.
STAGE 7
COURSE: 109.4 mile point-to-point including two Category 4 climbs, three designated sprints and one feed zone.
WINNER: Bradley McGee won the final sprint into Avranches, France. The Australian covered the distance in 4:10:56 and at an average speed of 26.2 mph.
YELLOW JERSEY: Spanish rider Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano's 23rd place finish in the main pack kept the Once rider in the overall lead. Lance Armstrong barely escaped what could have been a disastrous day. Just over one mile shy of the finish, Lance was slowed by one of the many pileups and lost 26 seconds working through the melee. Lance now sits in eighth overall at 34 seconds behind Galdeano.
WHO WAS TOP AMERICAN?: Fred Rodriguez finished on the leader's time in ninth place.
WHAT ABOUT LI'L MIG?: France's Miguel Martinez also finished on the leader's time and in 43th place. Martinez has now moved up to 83rd in the overall, GC standings.
STAGE 8
COURSE: 135.2 miles with three designated sprints, three Category 4 climbs and one feed zone.
WINNER: Along with six other riders, Netherlands' Karsten Kroon formed a successful, mid-race break. Kroon used the other riders in the break and took the race with an average speed of 29.3 mph.
LANCE AND MIGUEL: Lance Armstrong finished in the main group that was 1:55 behind the break. He crossed the line in 35th and just three places ahead of Miguel Martinez's 38th. Fred Rodriguez was top American again with a 13th place finish.
STAGE 9 - INDIVIDUAL TIME TRIAL
COURSE: 32.3 mile, moderately hilly, loop circuit with a feed zone.
WINNER: Colombian Santiago Botero won in a time of 1:02:18 and an average speed of 31.1 mph.
WHAT ABOUT ARMSTRONG?: Lance had an "average" day with a second place finish that was 11 seconds slower than time trial specialist Botero. The finish was good enough to propel Lance into second overall, 26 seconds behind Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano in the yellow jersey. Former mountain bike Olympian Miguel Martinez finished 6:48 back in 130th place and proved again that small guys don't make the best time trialists.
REST DAY
After the first real test of the Tour -- Stage 9's Individual Time Trial -- racers flew 193 miles down to the mountainous, southern region of France and are given a day off.
STAGE 10
COURSE: 91.3 miles with three Category 4 climbs and three designated sprints.
WINNER: France's Patrice Halgand took his break with just over four miles to go all the way to the finish. He averaged 30.4 mph.
ARMSTRONG AND MARTINEZ: Lance finished 3:57 back in the main group and in 40th place. Also in the main group was Miguel Martinez in 115th. Fred Rodriguez's 17th made him top American.
YELLOW JERSEY: Galdeano is still in the leader's jersey with Lance Armstrong 26 seconds back. The Tour is almost half over and heads up the Pyrenees during tomorrow's stage. Armstrong's three Tour de France wins have come by him always being at the front through mountains.
STAGE 11
COURSE: 98.2 miles with one feed zone, two sprints and one Category 4, one Category 1 and one above category, Hors Categorie, climbs.
WINNER: As expected, Lance Armstrong's average of 22.5 mph won the race and moved him back into the yellow jersey. Lance not only moved into the lead, but padded it by 1:12.
MARTINEZ: Miguel finished 20:19 behind Lance and in 85th place.
STAGE 12
COURSE: 123 miles with two sprints, two Category 2 climbs, two Category 1 climbs and one Hors Categorie climb at the finish.
WINNER: Armstrong 20.6 mph average confirmed that is the strongest man in the mountains. More importantly, Lance has extended his lead to 2:28.
MARTINEZ: Miguel finished 67th at 18:10. Lil' Mig is now in 72nd place overall, 49:35 behind Lance Armstrong.
STAGE 13
COURSE: 106.3 miles with two Category 3 climbs, one Category 4 climb, two sprints and one feed zone.
WINNER: Great Britain's David Millar formed a breakaway group and won the five man sprint finish. His 25.7 mph average brought him to the finish in 4:08:16.
THE AMERICAN AND THE MOUNTAIN BIKER: Miguel Martinez earned his best Tour finish by placing an impressive eight on a course that favored sprinters. He finished at 1:06 behind Millar. At 1:08 behind and in tenth, Bobby Julich gave America the top finish. Lance Armstrong finished in the main peloton at 9:56 and in 30th.
STAGE 14
COURSE: 137.3 miles with two sprints, a feed zone and a gnarly Hors Categorie climb to the finish.
WINNER: France's Richard Virenque averaged 24 mph to win in a time of 5:43:25. At 1:58 back, Russian rider Alexandre Botcharov placed second. It was a heroic win for Virenque, as he broke away with Botcharov just 12 miles into the race and maintained the gap to the finish.
AMERICA ON ITS WAY: Armstrong, who earlier said that the final raise up to Mont Ventoux was the toughest climb of this year's Tour, made an impressive advance up the 7.6 percent grade. He crossed the line in third, just 0:22 behind second place Botcharov. At 12:21, Miguel Martinez finished 47th.
TOUR SUMMARY AFTER 16 DAYS
There are only seven more days left! So far the riders have ridden 1465 miles, climbed 31 mountains and have survived 29 designated sprints. If you want to get a feel for how tough the distance is, ride your bike as fast as you can from San Diego, up and over Big Bear and on to the top of Mammoth Mountain. Now go back and forth twice as fast as you can in 16 days with 188 other cyclists.
IS ARMSTRONG GOING TO WIN?: Ever since Armstrong hit the mountains he has been in the yellow. Lance isn't riding to win stages, but is mostly concentrating on extending his overall lead. In every mountain stage since Stage 11 Lance has tenaciously padded his advantage over second place rider Joseba Beloki of Spain. Armstrong currently leads by 04:21. He has pedaled a bicycle 1465 miles in 56:51:39.
WHERE'S MARTINEZ?: Miguel is now in 54th, 50:52 behind Armstrong.
WHAT ABOUT THE OTHER AMERICANS: Levy Leipheimer is in ninth at 12:54. Sitting 18:59 back is up-and-comer Tyler Hamilton. Bobby Julich is 30th at 26:10, Kevin Livingston 43rd at 31:49, Floyd Landis 52nd at 48:48, George Hincapie 59th at 59:08 and Fred Rodriguez 134th at 1:48:18. Jonathan Vaughters crashed during Stage 11 and has pulled out of the Tour. At the time he was in 165th overall at 27:10.
HOW MANY RIDERS ARE LEFT?: Twenty-six riders have pulled out of the Tour. That leaves the total remaining rider count at 163.
POLKA-DOT, BEST CLIMBER JERSEY: With 167 climb points, 5' 9.3", 149.9 lb. Laurent Jalabert from France has been at the front over the tops of mountains more than any other rider in the Tour. Lance Armstrong is in second with 114 points. Lance is 5' 9.7', 165.4 lbs.
GREEN, QUICKEST RIDER JERSEY: Australian Robbie McEwen has been in the lead the most often during the Tour's sprint competitions. He has earned 229 sprint points. McEwen is 5' 7.3", 145.5 lbs.
WHITE JERSEY: The best under 25-year old rider is Italian Ivan Basso. Ivan will turn 25 in November.
MOST AGGRESSIVE RIDER: It took consistent attacks and clean riding to earn polka-dot jersey wearing Laurent Jalabert the Most Aggressive Rider accolades.
BEST TEAM: Spain's Once-Eroski team leads with a total team time of 170:56:59. (Early Tour leader Galdeano is on the Once team.) Lance Armstrong's U.S. Postal Service team sits second at 7:56.
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