Tour de France

After five grueling hours of riding, as he strained and sweated to victory in an eye-popping Tour de France stage with crowds that turned cycling's most famous climb into a huge and raucous high-mountain party, Christophe Riblon didn't want it to stop.

Even when he expects to lose, Tour de France champion-in-the-making Chris Froome cannot help but win. He's that strong and he's making it look easy. On a day when the British rider was planning to save some energy for upcoming mountains, Froome still brushed aside the field and took his third stage win of this 100th Tour.

Hurtling too fast for comfort down a twisty, turning foothill of the Alps, Tour de France leader Chris Froome faced a high-speed choice between risk and reward.

British rider Chris Froome showed why he remains the overwhelming Tour de France favorite by winning Sunday's grueling 15th stage up to Mont Ventoux to extend his lead over main rival Alberto Contador.

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.

Veteran American rider Christian Vande Velde withdrew from his last major race Friday after his second crash in three days at the Tour de France.