Tour de France 2008

Complete Live Report

Live commentary by:

Cycling News

1. 12:46:00 CEST

   Welcome to stage 14 of this year's Tour, a 194.5 kilometre run from N

2. 12:50:00 CEST

   Today's stage is more likely to see a large break go clear, due to that profile.

3. 12:51:00 CEST

   There are two intermediate sprints en route to the finish, at Saint R

4. 12:52:00 CEST

   These are:
   
   Km 128,5: C

5. 13:01:00 CEST

   The skies are blue and clear today, with air temperatures of 30 degrees Celsius. It's a beautiful day for a bike race. 158 riders lined out with no non-starters.
   
   The action so far: Just over ten minutes after the drop of the flag, a group of 21 riders got clear and built a strong lead. The group comprises Stijn Devolder (Quick Step), Stuart O

6. 13:09:00 CEST

   Twenty kilometres into the stage, the gap was 1'05".
   
   Some readers have been wondering what will happen to the KOM points earned by Riccardo Ricc
7. 41km remaining from 194.5km

   13:13:00 CEST

   The leaders recently fought it out for the first intermediate sprint. Devolder got it ahead of Frischkorn and Eisel.
   
   The peloton was just 40" behind at that point. Three teams missed out on the move - Cofidis, Barloworld and Silence Lotto.

8. 13:19:00 CEST

   With the peloton gradually closing in, Gutierrez, Bonnet, Tankink and Casar scooted away from the break. The others were caught.

9. 13:21:00 CEST

   Apologies, to clarify: some of those who were in the break have gone back to the bunch. Right now, Oroz, Quinziato, Riblon, Haussler, Lelay, Sprick and Voeckler persist, as well as the four leaders.
   
10. 50km remaining from 194.5km

    13:22:00 CEST

    The four leaders have a lead of 40 seconds.

11. 13:24:00 CEST

    Gregor Brown spoke to two from the Barloworld team at the start, namely manager Claudio Corti and Robert Hunter.
    
    "I don't think that it will arrive in a sprint today," said Corti. "We will try for an escape with Robert Hunter and with Giampaolo Cheula

12. 13:29:00 CEST

    Barloworld has announced that it will withdraw its sponsorship from the team as a result of what happened at the race. Moises Due

13. 13:30:00 CEST

    Oroz is an unusual classics man for an Euskaltel rider. Cyclingnews checked out Oroz to see what drives the man to do all the monuments in cycling.

14. 13:31:00 CEST

    At the 50 kilometre point, the leaders - Casar, Gutierrez, Bonnet and Tankink - had a 15 seconds lead over the seven chasers, and a further 15 seconds over the peloton.
    
    The chasers were caught soon afterwards, and now there's plenty of jumping around as other riders try to get across to the lead quartet.

15. 13:34:00 CEST

    Correction: the seven chasers were joined by another group, not the peloton. However the main bunch soon got up to them. At Cavaillon, 56 kilometres after the start, the front quartet were approximately 25 seconds clear.
16. 70km remaining from 194.5km

    13:47:00 CEST

    Once those chasers were recaptured, the peloton sat up. Gutierrez, Bonnet, Tankink and Casar have pulled clear again, and are now 3'35 ahead.
17. 75km remaining from 194.5km

    13:56:00 CEST

    The peloton is 3'40 back.
    
    Don't be surprised if teams such as CSC thrown the hammer down towards the end of today's stage. They may not wish to take the yellow jersey just yet, but putting pressure on Cadel Evans' Silence Lotto team is of interest to them. Of course, if it materialises that they can gain good time over Evans, they may opt to take the chance.

18. 14:02:00 CEST

    Robert Hunter has been doing an online diary on his website, www.robbiehunter.net. He wasn't too happy earlier this week, and is likely to use even stronger words when he learns that the team sponsors are pulling out.
    
    "This whole situation sucks," he wrote. "Some people have obviously not learned that possible jail time is a good enough reason not to dope.. how stupid are these people..
    
    "My own team mate got caught with stuff in his bag besides going positive.. even more dumb. Once again it puts so many families at risk if the whole team closes.. My team mate was the quiet one and never really spoke to anybody so nobody can say too much about him.
    
    "Then you get this idiot Ricc
19. 81km remaining from 194.5km

    14:04:00 CEST

    Current gap for the break: four minutes and ten seconds. They are in the feed zone.

20. 14:09:00 CEST

    The fans are getting more creative here in southern France. They have built a tractor out of straw bales.
    
    The break swings by, but doesn't look over to admire the construct. Oh well.

21. 14:11:00 CEST

    As a reward for not checking out the country side, which is what the peloton currently doing, the gap has gone up to almost six minutes.