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Stage 11 of the Tour de France was a lot like Stage 10. Sure, the route was a bit different, as was the scenery along the way, but at the end of the day, the results were the same, as Mark Cavendish sprinted past everyone else to win his fourth stage of this year's Tour, and reclaim the Green Jersey from Thor Hushovd, who was able to maneuver into position coming down the stretch, but couldn't quite get past the "fastest man in the world."

Today's route rolled through the hills between Vatan and Saint-Fargeau, a distance of 192km (119 miles) that offered little for the climbers to do. The Peloton played it safe most of the day, although there were a few crashes along the route, and a late breakaway had to be reeled back in by Team Columbia-HTC once again. And just like yesterday, George Hincapie and Mark Renshaw delivered Cavendish to the finish line, where he powered his way up hill to claim the stage. Previously, many had said that he hadn't ever won on an uphill finish, but he silenced those critics today, pulling away from the field.

Otherwise, nothing else is changed. Nocentini is in Yellow, six seconds in front of Contador, and eight in front of Lance. Egoi Martinez holds on to the Polka Dot Jersey and Tony Martin is in White. As I've said several times before, nothing will like change in that department until next Tuesday, when the Alps make their first appearance, and they can't come quick enough at this point. These by-the-numbers stages are not very exciting to watch, unless you're into the sprinters and following the Green Jersey points.

Tomorrow, it's on to Vittel by way of Tonnerre. The stage is 211.5km (131 miles) in length and offers a bit more in the way of climbs, although there is still nothing more than a Category 3 to deal with. The only real excitement will be whether or not anyone can challenge Cavendish, either out on the route or at the finish line.

Stage 10 of the 2009 Tour de France was a fairly easy, by the numbers, affair today. In fact, Lance Armstrong called it one of the more relaxed days he had ever experienced on the tour. The course was a 194.5 km (120 mile) ride through the rolling hills between Limoges and Issoudun that offered the climbers few chances to flex their muscles but gave the sprinters some time to shine.

An early breakaway by a group of French riders looking to celebrate Bastille Day provided a bit of intrigue to the proceedings, but the Peloton wasn't ready to grant them their independence just yet, and the break was run down, mostly thanks to some good work from the Columbia-HTC team. At the end of the stage, George Hincapie and Mark Renshaw helped to propel their teammate, Mark Cavendish to yet another stage win (his third this year), with "the Missile" finishing just ahead of Thor Hushovd and promising young sprinter Tyler Farrar.

The standings remained unchanged for the Jersey holders and the top of the GC. Rinaldo Nocentini remained in the Yellow Jersey once again, as expected, with Alberto Contador and Lance Armstrong content to remain seconds off the pace, lurking, and waiting for the Alps next week. Hushovd kept the Green Jersey despite losing out at the line to Cavendish, while Egoi Martinez stayed in the Polka Dot Jersey, with little more than Cat 4 climbs to challenge the climbers today. Tony Martin is still the top newcomer to the race, and as a result, he keeps the White Jersey as well, and if I were willing to bet, I'd say he'll be riding into Paris with White on his back.

Tomorrow, the riders will face a 192km (119 miles) jaunt from Vatan to Saint-Fargeau that will, much like today, favor the sprinters. The terrain will mostly be rolling hills once again, with a few Category 4 climbs mixed in. Don't expect any movement in the General Classification once more, while the top speedsters vie for sprint points to apply to the Green Jersey. For now, all eyes are focused on next Tuesday and the coming of the Alps.

After racing hard for a week an a half, today is the first rest day of the 2009 Tour de France, and after three tough stages in the Pyrenees, the riders are welcoming the reprieve.

The standings remain exactly the same coming out of the weekend, with the top riders shadowing each other over the mountains on Saturday and Sunday. Italian rider Rinaldo Nocentini remains in the Yellow Jersey, and while he looked shaky on Saturday, just one day after he was part of a major breakaway that put him in yellow, on Sunday he rode with more confidence and looked strong. The big guns of the tour are sitting just behind him, with Team Astana's Alberto Contador and Lance Armstrong just six and eight seconds back respectively.

Norway's God of Thunder Thor Hushovd took the Green Jersey off the back of Mark Cavendish on Saturday, and now leads in the points for the sprinters. As a former winner of the Green Jersey, Thor could hang on to the lead for some time, but with several fast, most flat, stages ahead, I expect that this will be very contested in the next few days. Cavendish is the fastest man in the world when it comes to riding a bike, but his Columbia-HTC team has worked hard in the first week of the Tour.

The competition for the Polka Dot Jersey heated up in the Pyrenees with a number of riders going after the title of "King of the Mountain". Spain's Egoi Martinez took the lead in that category over the weekend, with two very strong days in the mountains. He'll likely hang on to the Jersey until next week when the race moves into the Alps, and things get very challenging for the climbers once again.

Finally, the White Jersey is currently on the back of German Tony Martin, who looks to clearly be the top new rider in the Tour this year. He's sitting in seventh place overall in the General Classification, and while he isn't expected to be a threat for the Yellow Jersey this year, he looks like quite a promising rider for years to come.

Looking ahead, I don't expect to see any major changes to the leaderboard until next Tuesday when the race wanders into the Alps. Barring any unforeseen issues or accidents, Nocentini will ride into the next mountain stages with the Yellow Jersey still in place, and while he has proven himself to be a strong climber, I don't think there is any way that he can hold off both Contador and Armstrong, who will have the full strength of Astana helping them out.

Some of the other contenders, such as Cadel Evans and Carlos Sastre looked for opportunities to make moves in the Pyrenees that would put them back into contention, but weren't really able to make up any ground. They will have to try again in the Alps, but it's really looking like this is going to turn into a two man race, with Armstrong and Contador battling it out. How the team dynamics work into this should be interesting to watch, and we'll see if one or the other is forced to take a backseat or if they'll just work it out amongst themselves on the course. Either way, it's going to be fun to watch!

As expected, it was a very exciting day in the Tour de France as the race moved into the mountains for the first time on a 224km (139 miles) stage from Barcalona to Andorra that shook up the leaderboard of the race, and put a new rider in Yellow.

Heading into the day Fabian Cancellara clung to a lead of less than one second over Lance Armstrong, with Alberto Contador lurking 19 seconds back. No one expected Cancellara to hold on to the lead, as while he is an amazingly strong and fast rider, he is not a seasoned climber. The question was, who would end up in Yellow at the end of the day.

The main group of riders stayed fairly close to one another throughout the day, despite a couple of early climbs, including a Category 1, that tested their legs at the mid-way point. With 177km to go, nine riders made a break, leaving the Peloton behind, and moving as far as 11+ minutes ahead of the field. But once the riders hit the beginning of the final climb, a beyond category monster that had the stage finish at the 2240 meter (7349 feet) summit, that gap began to close, as Team Astana led the charge up the mountain.

To his credit Cancellara hung tough as long as he could, but eventually he fell off the pace, with contenders Armstrong, Contador, and Cadel Evans going on the attack. They weren't able to reel back in the breakaway, and at the end of the day the stage was won by French rider Brice Feillu who made a solo dash to the finish that was impressive to watch, and he was soon followed by Rinaldo Nocentini of Italy, who would put on the Yellow Jersey thanks to making up more than 3 minutes on the contenders in his surprising ride as part of the break today.

But Nocentini is not a contender, and his days in Yellow are already numbered. The most impressive ride of the day, in my eyes, came at the end, when Alberto Contador made it clear that he is the strongest rider in the Tour, blasting past Evans, and leaving his teammate Armstrong behind as well. For his part, Lance played the roll of a good teammate and stayed close to Evans, but the end result was that Contador moved past him in the GC standings and is now in second place, six seconds behind Nocetini. Lance is now in third, another two seconds back.

The intrigue in this year's race only continues to grow. At some point, Astana will have to choose a rider to be the one they throw the weight of the team behind, and right now that's either Contator or Armstrong. We have two more mountain stages set for tomorrow and Sunday, and I think it's highly likely that one or the other of these two riders is going to be in the Yellow Jersey when the first rest day arrives on Monday. After that, the positions aren't likely to change much until the Alps, when the tough decisions will have to be made. Or they could just duke it out, mano e mano style. Lance and Alberto for the Yellow Jersey. It's sure going to be fun to watch!

Today was Stage 6 of the 2009 Tour de France, and aside from some solo heroics by Garmin-Slipstream’s David Millar, it was mostly a by-the-numbers affair, at least in how it played out. But it rained much of the way along the course, which caused numerous crashes, and made for cautious riding at time.

The profile for today's stage once again favored the sprinters, although there were a few challenging climbs to break things up a bit, including a a climb to the finish. Millar, a time trial specialist, tried to use that form to propel himself to a solo stage win late in the race, but he was caught by the Peloton, led by Astana, near the end, and the top sprinters went at it with "the God of Thunder" Thor Hushovd of Team Cervélo claiming the win.

In the overall standings, nothing has really changed, with Fabian Cancellara still holding on to the Yellow Jersey, with Lance Armstrong less than a second back and Alberto Contador in third, 19 seconds off the pace. Mark Cavendish kept the the Green Jersey of the top sprinter for another day as well, while french rider Stéphane Auge put on the Polka Dot Jersey as the current King of the Mountain. German Tony Martin of Team Columbia-HTC continues to wear the White Jersey given to the best newcomer to the Tour.

The slick roads, thanks to the rain, made it tough going for the Peloton, especially near the end, when there were a couple of crashes in the last few miles leading up to the finish. The biggest name to go down was Tom Boonen from QuickStep, with this crash just underscoring what has been a disappointing Tour for him so far.

Tomorrow, things get really interesting as the race moves from Barcelona to Andorre Arcalis, a distance of 224km (139 miles). But it's not the distance that will test the riders, as the Tour moves into the mountains for the first time, with a stage set in the dramatic backdrop of the Pyrenees. There will be dramatic climbs throughout the day, but final beyond category climb to the finish will be the one that will cause the most problems. Expect the sprinters to begin dropping, and most likely you'll see Cancellara relinquish the Yellow Jersey. The question will be to whom will he give it to?

Lance is the obvious guy to put it on, since he is just fractions of a second behind, but we will have to see if this is the Lance of old when it comes to the mountains, where he excelled so much in the past. Armstrong's teammate Contador is there to swoop in for the lead should Lance falter.

As for my personal predictions, I think Lance will come out of the Pyrenees in Yellow and we won't see a major showdown with his own teammate until the Alps. But, I wouldn't be shocked to see one of the pre-race contenders make a move tomorrow. Someone like Cadel Evans, who gave up time to the leaders in this first week, but will want to get himself back into contention by making up time in the mountains. Evans is currently in 35th place, nearly three minutes off the lead. If not him, look for last year's winner Carlos Sastre to make a move, he's sitting in the 29th position and 2':44" back.

It has been an exciting Tour to watch so far, in no small part because of the return of Armstrong. But it gets really interesting tomorrow and I can't wait to see how it plays out. High drama on two wheels! :)