Another relatively uneventful day in the Tour de France as the peloton moves toward the decisive Alpine stages, the first of which is on Sunday. Heinrich Haussler, a German rider on the Cervélo TestTeam, won the cold, wet, windy stage after being in front of the main pack for all but about three miles of the 124-mile race from Vittel to Colmar.

The biggest news of the day actually came before the stage started as American Levi Leipheimer, who was sitting in fourth place overall, pulled out of the Tour after breaking his wrist yesterday. Leipheimer actually tweeted photos of the surgery to repair his wrist today in real time. We wish Levi, who was having a strong Tour, a speedy recovery.

We’ll be taking a break from covering the Tour for the weekend, but be sure to tune in to Versus‘ telecast of Sunday’s stage, which has a summit finish at the Swiss ski station of Verbier. Expect to see big fireworks as riders like Andy Schleck and Cadel Evans look to make up time to Alberto Contador, Lance Armstrong, and Garmin-Slipstream’s Bradley Wiggins. See you back on Tuesday (after Monday’s rest day) for what promises to be a thrilling final week of the Tour.

Geoff Van Dyke
Geoff Van Dyke
Geoff Van Dyke is the editorial director of 5280 Publishing. Follow him on Twitter @GeoffVanDyke