versus tour de france

In fact, the organizers found the climb up the Col du Tourmalet so nice that they've scheduled it twice, once on the way to Pau in Stage 16 and then as the finish on Stage 17.

The grand tour begins with a 5-mile prologue in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The remaining 20 stages are comprised of six mountain stages (three finish on summits), four medium mountain stages, nine flat stages and one individual time trial, a 36.6-mile race against the clock on the next to last day.

Announced in Paris on Wednesday, the immediate reaction was a mixed bag. Defending champion Alberto Contador liked it better than the 2009 route, but was worried about the cobblestones in Belgium. Green jersey winner Thor Hushovd .....

He dropped out of pro cycing for 3 1/2 years and had turned 38 years old. He might have been a little beyond his prime.

But Armstrong has proven the past three weeks that he still has the stamina and guts to compete at the elite level. Remarkably, he never fell out of the Top 10 and spent most of the race in either 2nd or 3rd place.

A podium finish in Paris is damn good. We can only wonder at the result if he had a team working for him instead of sharing loyalties with the eventual champion, Alberto Contador.

Unless something happens on the way to Paris on the final stage on Sunday, here's how he reached the podium:

Stage 1: 10th place, 40 seconds behind -- Armstrong holds the best time in the individual time trial for much of the day in Monaco. Fabian Cancellara won the stage. ...

While Cavendish celebrated his sixth stage win at this year's Tour -- the 10th in two years --  Astana's Alberto Contador was celebrating his second Tour de France championship.

Lance Armstrong also finished in the peloton, cementing a third-place finish at the Tour behind Saxo Bank's Andy Schleck. Armstrong plans to return next year for one more Tour at the head of his own team, sponsored by Radio Shack.

The only two US-based teams in this year's race battled at the head of the peloton in the closing lap....

Juan Garate (Rabobank) won Stage 20 when he attacked Tony Martin (Columbia) about 40 seconds ahead of the yellow jersey group. They were the last two survivors of a 16-man breakaway that at one point had 10 minutes on the peloton.

After the race, Armstrong told Versus that he was pleased with his efforts:

"I can't complain... For an old fart coming in here and getting on the podium with these young guys [that's] not so bad ....

The win makes 24-year-old the winningest Brit in Tour de France history with nine stage victories.

Although the top 8 overall remained in order behind yellow jersey Alberto Contador, Lance Armstrong gained 4 seconds in his overall third position by staying with the lead group as a split developed further back to the others in the peloton.

While the 110-mile stage from Bourgoin-Jallieu to Aubenas was considered to be an intermediate stage that might see a breakaway group finish first, that breakaway was reeled in early. ...

Here are the big winners from the 25-mile Stage 18 time trial at Annecy:

Alberto Contador -- The Astana cyclist solidified his position in the yellow jersey by winning the stage and earning more respect for his efforts. His 48:30 was 3 seconds faster than Fabian Cancellara, whose time was the one to shoot for most of the day.

Lance Armstrong -- Finished 16th on the stage but moved up to 3rd overall in the General Classification. He finished 1:30 behind Contador, but ahead of a whole host of other rivals for a podium position in Paris. ...

On the eve of announcing a new team that he'll lead, Armstrong was put in the unusual position of working to protect an Astana teammate's position at the Tour as his own standing slipped.

But the most unusual sight along much of the 106-mile stage from Bourg Saint Maurice to Le Grand Bornand had to be Thor Hushovd, the sprinter, who took a solo breakaway over two mountain climbs to ensure he'd get the intermediate sprint points in his bid for the green jersey ...

The Schleck brothers tried a one-two punch to knock Alberto Contador out of the yellow jersey on Tuesday as Stage 16 of the Tour de France continued through the Alps.

The effort didn't phase the Spanish cyclist on Team Astana, but it briefly put Lance Armstrong on the mat. He valiantly battled back, however, and regained the yellow jersey group to hold onto second place in the overall standings.

Spain's Mikel Astarloza, above, survived in an ever-dwindling breakaway over the two cols -- Grand Saint Bernard and Petit Saint Bernard -- to win his first-ever Tour de France stage and propel himself into 11th place overall ....