Tour de France in The Alps
Tuesday July 13, 2010 - Email this article to a friend

Armstrong has admitted that he has no chance of winning after he fell twice and lost around 12 minutes on the crucial 8^th stage.

It is a time he cannot hope to win back.

Much of the crowd were cheering him on, but it was not to be.

"I've had a bad day, a very bad day. At the start, it was going OK, I felt strong," said Armstrong, a 7 times winner of the race.  This is his last Tour.

"And then came the roundabout before the Col de la Ramaz. I clipped a pedal and then my tyre rolled off and the next thing I was rolling along the ground at 60 to 65kph. It's already hard to come back, hard on the body."

Andy Schleck won while Britain's Bradley Wiggins was one minute 45 seconds back.

Cadel Evans is the new race leader, 20 seconds ahead of Schleck.

The defending champion Alberto Contador is still in contention and lies 3^rd overall.

For further detail of the race see this story on BBC Sport.

There is no other race in the world like it.

People who are normally not remotely interested in cycling suddenly become passionate.

For the villages and towns it passes through it is the highlight of the year.

Despite the fact that the cyclists whizz by in a blink of an eye many people wait for hours to secure the best vantage points.

"I live in a sleepy little village in the Jura mountains with just 1,000 inhabitants and this year Le Tourcame to it," one young woman, Lucie Lacroix, told us. She lives in the village of Les Rouses where the race finished on Saturday.

"We have been looking forward to it ever since it was announced and we may never see it gain for a generation."

The day itself was very hot and energy draining for the cyclists as they arrived at the first of the mountain top finishes.

"It was a nice day seeing this event in my little village," Lucie adds.

Carnival atmosphere

The passion of people about Le Tour cannot be underestimated.

This weekend it touched on the Jura on Saturday and then headed into the heart of the Alps on Sunday; the passion was everywhere.

Tens of thousands of people turned out to line the route and cheer their heroes on.

Battling it out

Before the cyclists arrrive a huge procession of sponsors vehicles and floats entertains the corwds, blaring out loud music and chcuking out free samples.

The floats

Morzine fought long and hard to get the Tour to pass through and to get a rest day as well is an enormous bonus as it draws in thousands upon thousands of tourists and brings acres of publicity.

We conducted the interview below with Maude Chavanne, the director of the Morzine Tourist Office at the end of last winter's ski season.

The cyclists have a rest day on Monday, before starting all over again on Tuesday. 

They will pass through a few more ski resorts, as we have reported here, before heading off to The Pyrenees where the race will undoubtedly be won and lost.

We will let you know what happens.

Just a bit to go

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