If you watched the battle up to the decisive finish atop the Tourmalet at the Tour de France today, you saw an epic mano-a-mano duel between Andy Schleck and Alberto Contador.

Andy set the pace all the way up the climb, and closely covered any attacks by Alberto. At the line, Andy got the win, in what looked like a gentleman's agreement between the two best riders in the Tour. 

Alberto still holds the lead and the yellow jersey, and barring some kind of unforeseen circumstances, he should roll into Paris and claim his third Tour title on Sunday,

But look closer at the photo, just to the left of Contador. Yes, that's Santa Claus, atop the Tourmalet today. And all this time, we thought he lived at the North Pole. 

Apparently not.

There's never been anything like this for the non-pro rider.

August 4-8, RadioShack star Levi Leipheimer and legendary cycling guru Dr. Max Testa will give 12 riders an opportunity to train, test and team-up with them for a five-day training camp near Levi's NorCal home.

The Massimo Fondo is your chance to get the absolute maximum out of your training...and hang with Levi at the same time. Participants will all go through extensive physiological testing and bike fitting sessions at the direction of Dr. Testa. Everyone will ride the roads of Sonoma County, the same roads Levi trains on, and the roads of  Levi's King Ridge Gran Fondo. You'll also dine with Levi and his pals at their all-time favorite local restaurant, the legendary Riviera Ristorante. 

For all the info and details on the Massimo Fondo, go here.

We talked to BMC pro Scott Nydam about the Massimo Fondo...what it is, who'll be there, and what you can learn from Levi and Max Testa, in the following CycleTo video.

This morning, a press release was sent out to one and all, saying, "The Bahati Foundation Pro Cycling Team will cease operations effective immediately. The decision was based on financial considerations."

But that was then...this is now.

Just a few hours after this first statement...made on Bahati Foundation letterhead...Rahsaan Bahati himself sent out his own release, and it's vastly different from this morning's announcement. Apparently the first statememt came from the company that managed the Bahati team. The latest info comes direct from Rahsaan himself.

See it all for yourself, and draw your own conclusions. Here's the full statement made by Rahsaan Bahati, below.

Wow...we sure didn't expect this.

When race leader Andy Schleck dropped his chain on the final climb of Stage 15 today, race protocol dictated that no one should attack while the Maillot Jaune had a mechanical problem.

But Alberto Contador did attack, gapping Schleck and taking the race lead at the end of the day.

In a post-race interview, Andy was pissed-off, big time. He told Versus, "My stomach is full of anger, and I want to take my revenge."

But believe it or not, Alberto has apologized. In a personal video posted late today, Contador says he made a mistake, and he's sorry. Say what you will about his character, but this was a first-class move from a guy who had shown little of this kind of maturity in the past.

Want to see all of Alberto's apology? Take a look for youself, in the following CycleTo video.

We all know how to ride a bike, right? But do we all know how to "Ride Right"?

Regardless of your own skill level and experience, everyone can use a refresher course when it comes to the rules of the road.

In Marin County, CA, the biggest cycling event of the year...the Marin Century...is set for August 7th. Thousands of eager bike riders will take to the roads of the county, and the Marin Cyclists and the Marin County Bicycle Coalition want to remind everyone of  the basics of safe cycling,

We're all in this together.  Whether you live in Marin, or anywhere else on the planet, bike safety can make your own rides more enjoyable, and maybe help diffuse some of the animosity that's been built up between cars, trucks and bikes.

Check out the following CycleTo video, and see what it means to "Ride Right."

In honor of Alexandre Vinokourov's impressive effort to win Stage 13 of the Tour de France, we're re-posting this classic photo of Vino climbing in the Dolomites at this year's Giro d'Italia.

People have asked if they can purchase prints of this picture, and the answer is yes! We've made it easy for you to buy your own copy of this all-time fan-favorite photo. A variety of sizes, all the way up to 13 x 22 inches, can be ordered here.

By now, you've probably heard that Mark Renshaw, the lead-out man for HTC-Columbia sprinter Mark Cavendish, has been kicked out of the Tour de France for his actions in the closing kilometer of today's Stage 11 sprint into Bourg-les-Valence.

Cav got the win, but Renshaw paid the price. The jury ruled that his head-butt into Garmin-Transitions rider Julian Dean, and then a move to the left that damn near put Dean's teammate Tyler Farrar into the fence, are against the rules of the sport.

According to Tour de France official Jean-Francois Pescheux, "Renshaw was declassified immediately but we have decided to also throw him off the race. We've only seen the pictures once, but his actions are plain for all to see. This is a bike race, not a gladiator's arena. This is cycling, not fighting. Everybody could have ended up on their backs."

What do you think? See how it all went down, in the following CycleTo video.

Former US Pro champ Rahsaan Bahati came to NorCal's San Rafael Twilight criterium with a new 'do, but he left with a strikingly similar result in the race.

A couple of days before the San Rafael crit, Bahati decided that he'd had enough of the huge mass of hair that he used to tuck up into his helmet (on the left, above).

He says his new close-cropped mop makes him look younger, but hair or no hair, he was second...again...to Team Type 1's Ken Hanson in the San Rafael Pro-1-2 men's race.

For more photos from the San Rafael Twilight's feature race, go here. And to listen to Rahsaan talk about his second place finish...and his new 'do...check out the following CycleTo video.

We now know why BMC's Cadel Evans lost eight minutes on the road during Stage 9 of the Tour de France. Evans was racing all day with a broken elbow.

Evans broke his left elbow near the start of Stage 8 on Sunday, but he gutted it out and still took the race lead, and wore the yellow jersey at the end of that day's racing.

Even his BMC teammates didn't know how seriously Evans had been injured. "We decided not to tell anybody about it and try and fake it through the race," BMC Racing Team President Jim Ochowicz said. "We didn't want to let our competitors know and have them attacking him during the race on the early climbs. We weren't sure what the outcome was going to be. He doesn't have full mobility in his elbow, so he had difficulty staying with the group. At the end, the injury just overwhelmed him."

According to BMC team doctor Max Testa, "It's a stable fracture. Small, but very painful. Cadel is a super tough guy so he managed very well. He did as much as any human could do."

That, folks, is a hard man. And that's what it means to race in the Tour de France.