Here is a scene from today’s stage of the Tour de France, won by Sandy Casar. The French rider averaged 25.09 miles per hour on the 131.1-mile course. Here is the story. Here is the New York Times report. Here is tomorrow’s stage.

Addendum: Tomorrow’s penultimate stage—an individual time trial of 34.4 miles—will determine the winner of the Tour, unless, of course, only seconds separate the first two or more riders, in which case the bonus points on Sunday’s ultimate stage into Paris will be determinative. I know you’ve been waiting with bated breath for my prediction, so here goes. After today’s 18th stage, Spaniard Alberto Contador leads Australian Cadel Evans by 1:50 and American Levi Leipheimer by 2:49. Here is how things will stand after tomorrow’s time trial:

Leipheimer
Evans, two seconds behind
Contador, 28 seconds behind

That’s right. Leipheimer will do the time trial of his life and take the lead, but only by two seconds. This means that the bonus points on Sunday will determine the overall winner. The winner of tomorrow’s time trial will be . . . David Millar of Scotland.