It's Quatorze Juillet, the French national holiday as the Pyrenees are over and the first big shakeout at the 2006 Tour has shown who are the contenders and who are the pretenders. Hilly from the get-go, look for an early break, then a counterattack on the hills after Pailhes with 90km to go. Be certain that French champ Flo Brard will be looking to show off his Maillot Tricouleur on the way to the beautiful walled city of Carcassonne
More about race
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A battle of seconds or a blow-out? Tour Down Under opportunists hedge their bets ahead stage 3 challenge
Georg Zimmermann and Patrick Konrad move into top 5 in GC after fighting for intermediate bonus seconds on stage 2 -
'I knew he was fast but he surprises me' - No throwing in towel for Matthew Brennan as Tour Down Under climbs ramp up
19-year-old from Great Britain has already stepped onto the podium and into the white jersey in his first WorldTour race -
'My legs were screaming' - Patience pays off for Sam Welsford with second consecutive win at Tour Down Under
Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe rider credits new training regime for second stage win at WorldTour race and third victory in a week -
As it happened: Australian sprints to back-to-back win on Tour Down Under stage 2
Don't miss all the action from the hilly circuit race around Tanuda
