As usual, the 2011 Tour will almost certainly be won or lost while in the mountains, and this year’s program features the famed Alpe-d’Huez, which has become missing through the route the earlier two years. That each one crucial summit finish is available in Stage 19, two days prior to the ride into Paris, and will almost certainly establish who stands atop the podium within the Champs Élysées.

On an annual basis, the Tour is probably the most watched events in the world. There’ll be greater than 2000 journalists available to cover the race and it really is broadcast in 188 countries across the world. In addition, an believed 12-15 million fans will line the stages with the race, cheering their favorite riders on towards the finish line.

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Cavendish said after the race it was his best win of the nine stages he has won in the last two years, in only the third Tour de France he has ridden.

The 178km stage 19 from Bourgoin-Jaillieu to Aubenas was always going to be a stage for those who have got very little out of the race to grab their last chance at glory. Cadel Evans, the Australian from the Silence-Lotto team who has finished second in the last two Tours de France but has languished well off the lead, was one of those who jumped out in the first serious breakaway.

The breakaway eventually numbered twenty riders and their lead stretched out to around three minutes. However the peloton was gradually dragged back up to the leaders by Team Rabobank, who did not have a rider in the breakaway.

The breakaway itself broke up under the pressure, and the group was cut down to Popovych, Millar, Arrieta, Gutierrez and Duque.Yaroslav Popovych (Astana), David Millar (Garmin), Jose Luis Arrieta, (AG2R), Jose Ivan Gutierrez (Caisse d’Epargne) and Leonard Duque (Cofidis). THis group lead by as much as 90 seconds, but the peloton wore down even this array of strong riders.

The next jump was by Frenchman Laurent Lefevre of BBOX Bouygues Telecom, and he was joined by Italian Alessandro Ballan of Lampre-NGC, and it was those two who held a lead of about 15 seconds until just before the finish.

Then it was the turn of the sprinters, and despite Cavendish getting the lead at a longer distance than is usually prudent in a bunch sprint, the Briton held on for his fifth stage win of the Tour. Hushovd had kicked even earlier and held on for second, maintaining his points lead in the sprinter competition meaning that he only has to finish somewhere in the top 20 in the final stage on the Champs-Élysées to wear green on the podium.

The race made no difference to the general classification, as expected, with Alberto Contador only having to defend his huge lead on Mont Ventoux tomorrow to seal his overall victory.

Top stage 19 results

1 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Team Columbia – HTC 3:50:35
2 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Cervelo Test Team
3 Gerald Ciolek (Ger) Team Milram
4 Greg Van Avermaet (Bel) Silence – Lotto
5 Oscar Freire Gomez (Spa) Rabobank
6 Jérôme Pineau (Fra) Quick Step
7 Fumiyuki Beppu (Jpn) Skil-Shimano
8 Nicolas Roche (Irl) AG2R La Mondiale
9 Christophe Le Mevel (Fra) Française des Jeux
10 Martijn Maaskant (Ned) Garmin – Slipstream
11 Geoffroy Lequatre (Fra) Agritubel
12 Lance Armstrong (USA) Astana
13 Serguei Ivanov (Rus) Team Katusha 0:04
14 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Garmin – Slipstream
15 Andy Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank
16 Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau (Spa) Euskaltel – Euskadi
17 Tony Martin (Ger) Team Columbia – HTC
18 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Team Katusha
19 Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale
20 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana

General classification

1 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana 77:06:18
2 Andy Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank 4:11 behind
3 Lance Armstrong (USA) Astana 5:21
4 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Garmin – Slipstream 5:36
5 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana 5:38
6 Fränk Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank 5:59
7 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas 7:15
8 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Garmin – Slipstream 10:08
9 Christophe Le Mevel (Fra) Française des Jeux 12:37
10 Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau (Spa) Euskaltel – Euskadi 12:38
11 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Team Katusha 13:36
12 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Liquigas 14:08
13 Sandy Casar (Fra) Française des Jeux 14:37
14 Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale 15:27
15 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Cervelo Test Team 17:23
16 Stéphane Goubert (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 19:47
17 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Silence – Lotto 19:49
18 Alexandre Botcharov (Rus) Team Katusha 24:26
19 Christian Knees (Ger) Team Milram 27:51
20 George Hincapie (USA) Team Columbia – HTC 28:20

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Lance Armstrong lost a bunch of time on the overall lead as he finished 2:18 behind the leaders in stage 17, putting himself 3:55 behind his Astana teammate Contador for the overall lead.

Stage 18 will be an individual time trial over 24.8 miles (40 km) through Annecy.

Most cable providers now carry the Versus channel and stage 18 coverage starts at 8:30 a.m. EST with replays throughout the day.

Still think Lance can win?…poll results may change now with him 3:55 behind…

Tour de France Stage 18 TV Schedule

Versus – 8:30 a.m. EST – 12:00 p.m. EST – Live coverage of Stage 18

If you miss the live coverage Versus has some replays for you at:

12:00 p.m. EST – 2:00 p.m. EST – Replay of Stage 18

2:30 p.m. EST – 4:30 p.m. EST – Replay of Stage 18

5:00 p.m. EST – 7:00 p.m. EST – Replay of Stage 18

8:00 p.m. EST – 11:00 p.m. EST – Extended replay of Stage 18

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2009 Tour de France stage 17 results, Frank Schleck wins AP/Laurent Rebours

The taste of victory is sweet for Frank Schleck (LUX) of Saxo Bank, who won today’s brutal stage 17 of the 2009 Tour de France, finishing the climb up the five difficult mountain passes in 4 hours, 53 minutes, 54 seconds. Frank and brother Andy unfolded their grand strategy as expected; heavily assaulting the mountain passes with their superior alpine climbing skills. Alberto Contador of Astana was second and Andy Schleck was third, with the same time as Frank.

The Schlecks took time from everyone today, but could not shake Alberto Contador, who stayed right with them until the end, vigorously defending the yellow jersey. Contador has a 2:26 lead over Andy Schleck, who has displaced Lance Armstrong for 2nd place overall. Frank Schleck is now 3rd overall, 3:25 behind Contador.

Lance Armstrong protected his team, staying on Bradley Wiggins of Garmin-Slipstream for much of the climbing until finally Wiggins fell back, while Lance sped ahead, gaining back at least 30 seconds during the descent, ultimately placing 5th in the stage. Armstrong has dropped to 4th overall, 3:55 behind his teammate Contador. Wiggins has dropped to 6th overall, 4:53 behind.

Andy Schleck continues to hold onto the white jersey, while Thor Hushovd of Cervelo Test Team and Franco Pellizotti of LIquigas keep the green and polka-dot jerseys, respectively.

Today’s stage shook up the general classification as predicted. There is now a 10-minute spread in the top ten, with Mikel Astarloza in 10th place, 10:50 behind Contador.

The stage 18 individual time trial coming up on Thursday will be a test of who has recovered best from the rigorous climbing during stage 17. The 40.5 km course takes riders around the beautiful lac d’Annecy in the city of Annecy. The course is flat with one category 3 climb.

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The breakaway in the first ten kilometres of the 159km stage 16 from Martigny to Bourg-Saint-Maurice contained more than twenty riders, building a lead around two minutes. Italian Franco Pellizotti of Liquigas and Russian Vladimir Karpets of Team Katusha then jumped the breakaway, cresting the Great Saint Bernard Pass – the first of two huge climbs – 2:03 ahead of the rest of the leading pack and around five minutes ahead of the peloton.

Pellizotti and Karpets were caught by the breakaway group with 60km left to ride and the Little Saint Bernard Pass between them and the finish line. Pellizotti then kicked ahead again with Belgian Jurgen Van Den Broeck of Silence-Lotto, later joined by Frenchman Amael Moinard of Cofidis and Spaniard Mikel Astarloza of Euskaltel-Euskadi, and it was this foursome which eventually contested the stage win, with Astarloza coming out in front.

Meanwhile, back in the peloton the Schleck brothers, Frank and Andy, lead an attack with yellow jersey wearer Alberto Contador joining them, with Lance Armstrong and Cadel Evans among the contenders who didn’t immediately respond.

However, in the biggest move of the day, Armstrong then took it upon himself to bridge the significant gap between the main peloton and the Contador group, bringing back memories of his seven straight Tour de France wins with an impressive riding performance.

Stage 16 results
1 Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau (Spa) Euskaltel – Euskadi 159km in 4.14.20
2 Sandy Casar (Fra) Française des Jeux 6 seconds behind
3 Pierrick Fedrigo (Fra) BBOX Bouygues Telecom
4 Nicolas Roche (Irl) AG2R La Mondiale
5 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Silence – Lotto
6 Amaël Moinard (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit en Ligne

Top 20 of general classification after stage 16
1 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana 67:33:15
2 Lance Armstrong (USA) Astana 1:37
3 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Garmin – Slipstream 1:46
4 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana 2:17
5 Andy Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank 2:26
6 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas 2:51
7 Christophe Le Mevel (Fra) Française des Jeux 3:09
8 Fränk Schleck (Lux) Team Saxo Bank 3:25
9 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Cervelo Test Team 3:52
10 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Garmin – Slipstream 3:59
11 Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau (Spa) Euskaltel – Euskadi 4:38
12 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Liquigas 4:40
13 Kim Kirchen (Lux) Team Columbia – HTC 5:05
14 Rinaldo Nocentini (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale 5:26
15 Sandy Casar (Fra) Française des Jeux 5:40
16 Vladimir Karpets (Rus) Team Katusha 5:56
17 Cadel Evans (Aus) Silence – Lotto 7:23
18 Luis León Sánchez Gil (Spa) Caisse d’Epargne 8:23
19 Stéphane Goubert (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 9:14
20 Brice Feillu (Fra) Agritubel 10:00

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