Stage 19 start time: Saturday 12:00 CET (3:00 AM PDT); Earliest live video: 14:00 CET (5:00 AM PDT); Approximate finish: 17:40 CET (8:40 AM PDT).

InnerRing: Back in March Bradley Wiggins came to visit the course ahead of riding Paris-Nice. The route has probably been on his mind since October when the route was released. For all the talk of “we’re taking this day by day“, Stage 19 and the road to Chartres has been a fixture. Except today feels like his birthday, a victory parade.

SBS: The Team Sky sprinter benefited from a lead out by team mate and race leader Bradley Wiggins to leave his sprint rivals in his wake.

CycleSport: With Bradley Wiggins’ yellow jersey all but safe, Mark Cavendish was set free to take a stunning sprint win in Brive.

VeloNation: Judith Arndt moves into overall lead with second place in rolling 20.7km test.

PodiumInsight: The Americans simply dominated the double stage day at the Tour de l’Abitibi first with the time trial in the morning where the six riders on the USA National Team finished in the top 7, and then by winning – and taking third – in the short stage in the early evening.

PodiumInsight: With a solo attack in the closing miles of the race, Tyler Wren of Jamis-Sutter Home won the second edition of the Beaver County Travel ‘Crusher in the Tushar.’ In the women’s race, Gretchen Reeves of Tokyo Joe’s won in commanding style and broke the course record set last year by Olympic medalist Clara Hughes.

CyclingNews: Races & Results.
Tour de France - June 30 - July 22 (Stages & Results),
Cascade Cycling Classic - July 17 - 22 (Stages & Results),
Thüringen Rundfahrt der Frauen - July 16 - 22 (Stages & Results),
Tour de Pologne - July 10 - 16 (Stages & Results),
Giro d'Italia Femminile June 29 - July 7 (Stages & Results),
2012 Olympic Games - July 28 - August 12 (Races),
Vuelta a España - August 18 - September 9 (Stages),
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VeloNation: Garmin-Sharp rider previously finished third and fourth in races.

Bicycling: From the right pump to a fully stocked cooler, these often overlooked items separate dialed mountain bikers from the hacks.

CyclingFans:Friday's Tour de France Stage 18 departs Blagnac at 11:05am CET (5:05am U.S. Eastern) and is expected at the finish at Brive-la-Gaillarde at around 4:30pm CET (10:30am U.S. Eastern).  Tour de France live streaming video should get underway at around *2:00pm CET (*8:00am U.S. Eastern).

Coverage News...

InnerRing: Each stage is analyzed, each jersey is explained and once more information is available there will be full list of riders and other content that’ll be updated every day so you can dip in and out during the next few weeks.

Peloton: Rarely in the history of the Tour de France has a rider in the yellow jersey been so candid about his emotions. Not only open, but also able to express his feelings with passion and conviction.

CyclingNews: Fränk Schleck has announced that the counter-analysis of his anti-doping control B-sample has confirmed the presence of Xipamide, a diuretic banned under the World Anti-Doping Agency code.

CyclingNews: Agency claims Armstrong "clearly understood he was subject to the USADA Protocol."

SteveTilford: I wondered what he called his temper level while he was attempting to hit the family?

PEZ: "Over the past 7-10 days, I had my doubts about Mark Cavendish. The World Champion had a great sprint to win Stage 2 of the 2012 Tour de France, but after that he faded out of the limelight as Peter Sagan and Andre Greipel led the sprinters’ brigade."

PodiumCafe: This tour is memorable for serving as the last - either definitively or probably - for several veterans of the sport. Here is a quick look at four veterans likely on their last lap of France.

BikeRadar: Whether sports drinks and supplements work or not is a question that always sparks debate on BikeRadar, so many of you may have watched Thursday night's BBC Panorama investigation with interest.

SteveTilford: One to make you go faster, one to make you more comfy. Well, two of each actually.

BikeRadar verdict: 4.5 out of 5 stars. "Light and nimble, the bike improves upon all of our criticisms of the E5 alloy model."

Mary McConneloug & Mike Broderick: Piling everything into our van/trailer and launching into a "continentally local" three-week race trip felt like coming home for Mary and me. The past months of living out of oversize bike bags had simplified things to a great degree, perhaps near enough to depravity to intensify the desire to equip ourselves with a full range of accessories on this recent New England road trip.

CyclingNews: Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Sharp) had a terrible start to his Tour de France this year, but the American sprinter is slowly healing from his injuries and now hoping that he can return to being competitive on the final day of the race, the legendary run into the Champs-Elysées in Paris.

InnerRing: A hearing awaits in Luxembourg and given the two positive A and B samples he is almost certain to be found guilty of an “anti-doping violation.”

VeloNews: Every time Chris Horner takes a doping control test, he’s nervous. Not because Horner’s a cheat, he says, but because he cannot possibly know what exactly goes into his body. Is that a surprise?

Cyclismas: What is Team Sky’s Chris Froome to do? Clearly on stage 17 he could have ridden away from his team leader Brad Wiggins on the final climb. Quite possibly he could have caught Movistar’s Alejandro Valverde and won the stage for himself. Instead he stayed with his leader and they crossed the finish line in 2nd and 3rd place for the stage at 19 seconds back.

Cyclismas: “I’ve always been someone who wishes to move on to new challenges. Now that I’ve conquered my first Tour de France it’s time to attempt a feat that has only been accomplished three times in the history of the Tour. I want to wear yellow from the prologue all the way to the Champs-Elysées next year,” declared Wiggins.

TwistedSpoke: Not that the old ones were not fantastic, right. Although this edition of Le Grand Shindig was been on the dull side in terms of the GC battle, what we have witnessed is the maturation and even wider talents of Bradley Wiggins and Mark Cavendish of Sky.

CyclingNews: German sprinter may continue pro career in 2013 despite long-term project.

BikeRadar: On Friday in Frankfurt, Germany, Trek launched a wide range of new parts and gear from their Bontrager brand. Highlights include an adjustable saddle, tubeless tires and some ultralight shoes.

Christoph Sauser: "My Leadville 100 focus is on! It is the biggest mountain bike race in America. The course and town area at more-or-less 3000 meters or higher above sea level! That means you definitely want to adapt to the lack of oxygen beforehand."

BikeRadar: If you're looking to step up your cycling training one of the easiest methods you can use is to keep yourself in check is to monitor your heart rate. But before you can start to analyse the numbers, you need a reliable computer to record those beats per minute.

Robert Millar: Looking at Sky's dominance, Voeckler, and the those that called it an easy Tour.