Chris Froome

LYON, France -- Now, the Tour de France goes sharply uphill, much more sharply than last year. More likely than not, the champion who will be crowned next Sunday in Paris will be the rider who copes best with this last week of vertical torture.

At this Tour de France, it is Marcel Kittel and no longer Mark Cavendish who is looking like the fastest man on two wheels.

Hitting the asphalt at something like 40 miles per hour flayed off a patch of skin from Tom Veelers' right thigh. Blood snaked down his leg from his sliced-up right knee. His white jersey was torn and soiled. In short, Stage 10 was another day at the office for the charging-bull sprinters of the Tour de France.

Left alone and with his teammates far behind, Chris Froome held off repeated attacks to retain the Tour de France lead Sunday as the three-week race left the Pyrenees mountains. Dan Martin of Ireland, a 26-year-old Garmin-Sharp rider, won Stage 9 following a two-man sprint against Denmark's Jakob Fuglsang.

Tour de France favorite Chris Froome overpowered his main rivals on the first tough mountain climb of the race Saturday and won the eighth stage to take the leader's yellow jersey.

At the Tour de France, it really isn't a cliche to say that every second counts. As a former winner, Cadel Evans knows that better than most. The 2011 champion was one of the losers Tuesday in the team time trial. Even riding bikes that cost as much as a good second-hand family saloon car, Evans and his teammates still couldn't keep up with two of his main rivals -- Chris Froome and Alberto Contador.

A funny thing about the Tour de France is that it can give competitors the most fabulous terrain on which to ride, but it cannot force them to race. Instead of being the tricky day full of traps and surprises that Tour teams feared and organizers hoped for, Stage 3 of the 100th edition proved a bit of a dud.

Britain's Chris Froome delivered a message to his Tour de France rivals on Sunday by briefly bursting clear of the pack. Such flair is unusual for the pre-race favorite so early in the three-week event.