4:56 p.m. Hushovd is in the front and Mengin is right on his wheel.

Piil is in third... he pulls his foot out of his pedal!

Hushovd goes... Mengin can't pass him. We have a Norwegian winner of the stage.

4:55 p.m. With one kilometer to go, the three men are still together.

4:54 p.m. The leaders are still cooperating with just over a kilometer to go.

4:53 p.m. The three leaders are now in the final two kilometers of the race.

4:52 p.m. The three are still cooperating with three km to go.... this won't last.

4:51 p.m. With four km to go, the three leaders are still together.

4:50 p.m. The leaders are within 5km of the finish and have upped their lead on the Van Bon/Fagnini group to 47seconds.

4:45 p.m. The three leaders are now 8.5km from the finish.

Loda is now at 2:50 and the peloton is at 11:24.

4:44 p.m. With 10km remaining, the three leaders are up to 34 seconds ahead of the other six.

4:41 p.m. The 3 men at the front, are 27 seconds ahead of the other 6.

There are now 11.5km remaining.

4:39 p.m. With 12km to go, we have three new leaders. Hushovd, Piil and Mengin are 12 seconds ahead of the other six men in the break.

Loda is now at 2:50, the peloton is at 11:00.

4:37 p.m. The nine men are all together at the front. Poor Nicola Loda is now caught in no-man's land 2:20 behind the leaders.

The peloton, meanwhile is at 10:26 behind the leaders. There are now 15.5km remaining.

4:34 p.m. Dekker and Van Bon are leading the chase and have slipped ahead of their other partners.

Now they have caught the three leaders, with 16km to go.

Now all nine men are together.

4:32 p.m. The chasers -- Fagnini, Dekker, Hushovd, Van Bon and Loder -- have pulled the leaders back to within 9 seconds. Jakob Piil is riding behind the chasers, content to let them work, since his teammate, Sorensen, is up the road.

The peloton is now at 10:36.

4:30 p.m. Jakshe, Sorensen and Mengin are now 13 seconds ahead of the Fagnini group. There are just 19km to go to the finish.

4:28 p.m. Mengin is now off the front with Sorensen and Jakshe. They have about 10 seconds on Fagnini, Piil, Hushovd, Van Bon, Dekker and Loder.

Loda, meanwhile, continues to trail about one minute back.

The peloton is still at 9:33.

4:26 p.m. Just as the Dekker group rejoined Jakshe, Dekker attacks.

He was caught, but it has broken things up a little. Van Bon and Fagnini are trailing.

4:24 p.m. The peloton is approaching the top of the final climb of the day. There is one Cat. 3 climb in tomorrow's TT and there are none on Sunday.

Right now the gap is 9:33.

At the front, the lead group is intact, except for Nicola Loda, who is trailing the other 9.

4:20 p.m. As the leaders crest the day's final climb, Loda is definately fading back, but the other men are close to rejoining the small lead group.

Meanwhile, the peloton is 8:46 behind the leaders.

We have 29km to go, with a few un-ranked rollers between here and the finish in Bourg-en-Bresse.

4:16 p.m. The Jakshe group includes Fagnini, Sorensen, Mengin and Loder. They are 13 seconds ahead of Piil, Hushovd, Dekker, and Leon Van Bon.

Loda seems to have been dropped.

4:13 p.m. Jakshe has accelerated and split the group into two. While Jakshe was trying to shed some of the sprinters, he failed to rid himself of the biggest threat, Fagnini, the man who usually leads out for Erik Zabel.

4:12 p.m. With 32km remaining, the leaders still have an advantage of 8:11 as they work up the Cat. 2 Col du Berthiand, 6-percent for 4.7km

4:06 p.m. With 35km to go, the 10 leaders have re-upped their lead to 8:07.

So the race will undoubtedly come down to one of these 10 men:
Gian Matteo Fagnini (I) Telekom
Jörg Jaksche (G) ONCE
Jakob Piil (Dk) CSC-Tiscali
Nicki Sørensen (Dk) CSC-Tiscali
Thor Hushovd (Nor) Crédit Agricole
Leon van Bon (Nl) Domo-Farm Frites
Nicola Loda (I) Fassa Bortolo
Christophe Mengin (F) FDJeux.com
Erik Dekker (Nl) Rabobank
Thierry Loder (F) Ag2R Prevoyance

3:58 p.m. The Postal squad is leading the main field and apparently monitoring the break and doing little more than that.

The leaders are on the short -- 2.8km --Côte de Giriat, a Cat. 4 climb about 39 km from the finish.

3:47 p.m. The leaders are 46km from the finish. Their advantage is down to 7:39. Behind them the entire peloton is intact and cruising at a moderate pace, though not driving a hard chase.

3:45 p.m. The ten leaders have passed the 50km-to-go mark with an advantage still around 7:50.

These are not a brutal 50 kilometers and it looks like this stage may well be won by one of the men in this break.

3:34 p.m. The leaders are now at 119 kilometers and are 7:55 ahead of the field.

3:27 p.m. The peloton is stepping up its pace slightly and beginning to nip away at the advantage of the ten leaders. At 114km, the advantage is now 7:45.

3:21 p.m. American cable and satellite viewers can tune in to Outdoor Life Network's Live coverage starting in about 9 minutes.

3:20 p.m. The ten leaders are now at 110km, 1.5km from the day' second sprint and 2.5km from the start of the Col de la Cheminée - a Cat. 3 climb that averages just 3.3 percent for 3.5km.

The last time check gives them an advantage of 8:00 over the main field.

3:12 p.m. The ten leaders are 4km from today's second sprint. They still have an eight-minute lead on the peloton, which is being led by the U.S. Postal team, which appears to be setting a moderate tempo. They don't seem to worried about bringing these guys back and the other teams -- Bonjour and Jean Delatour in particular -- who missed getting someone in the break, appear to have given up hope of nailing another stage win today and have slipped back into the anonymity of the peloton.

The men in the lead group, by the way, are:
Gian Matteo Fagnini (I) Telekom
Jörg Jaksche (G) ONCE
Jakob Piil (Dk) CSC-Tiscali
Nicki Sørensen (Dk) CSC-Tiscali
Thor Hushovd (Nor) Crédit Agricole
Leon van Bon (Nl) Domo-Farm Frites
Nicola Loda (I) Fassa Bortolo
Christophe Mengin (F) FDJeux.com
Erik Dekker (Nl) Rabobank
Thierry Loder (F) Ag2R Prevoyance

3:08 p.m. The time gap at the top was 8:03 between the lead group of ten and the main field.

3:08 p.m. The leaders are near the bottom of the Col de Richemont and the main field is just now coming up on the top of the climb.

3:05 p.m. Our last time check gives the three leaders an advantage of 8:25 as they work their way down the Col de Richemont.

Coming up at km 111.5 is the sprint at Le Petit Abergement, followed by the Col de la Cheminée, which crests at km 115.

3:00 p.m. And down they go. The ten leaders are now over the Col de Richemont. Ahead they still face a Cat. 3, a Cat 4 and finally a Cat. 2 climb as they head to Bourg-en-Bresse. With what appears to be a healthy lead and some good horsepower in the group, this bunch may well stay off the front.

2:55 p.m. The ten leaders are still together and working their way through the final two kilometers of the climb. This break, by the way, was initiated in the second kilometer of today's stage, just after the crash involving Jerome Pineau and Mikel Pradera. While Pineau has recovered, Pradera has been struggling all day.

2:45 p.m. The leaders are working their way up the Richemont. Their last time gap gave them a lead of 8:33. They are now on the steeper part of the climb as it winds its way through the thick forest on the this, the final major climb of the Tour. At this point, by the way, it is virtually impossible for anyone to take the climber's jersey from Laurent Jalabert, as long as he makes it to Paris on Sunday. The Points battle is, of course, not quite settled yet.

2:37 p.m. The ten leaders are now 8km from the summit of the Col de Richemont. The most recent time check gives them a lead of 9:02 over the main field.

Just as a reminder, the men in the break are
Gian Matteo Fagnini (I) Telekom
Jörg Jaksche (G) ONCE
Jakob Piil (Dk) CSC-Tiscali
Nicki Sørensen (Dk) CSC-Tiscali
Thor Hushovd (Nor) Crédit Agricole
Leon van Bon (Nl) Domo-Farm Frites
Nicola Loda (I) Fassa Bortolo
Christophe Mengin (F) FDJeux.com
Erik Dekker (Nl) Rabobank
Thierry Loder (F) Ag2R Prevoyance

2:29 p.m. The ten leaders are now coming up on the feedzone in Genissiat. The last time check we got gave them an advantage of nearly 8:00.

2:19 p.m. Our time check at the top of the climb gives the ten leaders an advantage of 7:15.

2:17 p.m. So after the false flat at top of the Côte de la Sémine the course continues on to the feed zone at Genissiat (at km 84.5) and then begins the climb up the Cat. 1 Col de Richemont -- 12.8km averaging 5.4 percent.

2:17 p.m. It's already been six minutes and the peloton is still on the climb. Race radio gives the leaders a seven minute advantage now.

By the way, the points at the top of the climb were won by Piil, then followed by Fagnini and Hushovd.

2:13 p.m. The peloton is still working its way up the climb and the leaders are at km 76. It looks as though that time check may have been accurate.

2:10 p.m. Up and over the top and the time gap continues to be reported as 6:00. We have John Wilcockson at the top of the climb, though and will double-check the split.

2:07 p.m. The ten leaders are within a kilometer of the top of the Côte de la Sémine.

The last time check from the Tour gave them a lead of six minutes. We're going to double check that one though.

1:59 p.m. That lead keeps yo-yo-ing back and forth. Right now, the 10 men up front are at km 68 and the latest official time check gives them an advantage of 2:40.

They are now approaching the lower slopes of the Cat. 4 Côte de la Sémine, a 4.1km climb that averages 5.3 percent. 1:52 p.m. The ten men off the front are now at km 62 and are still 2:10 ahead of the Bonjour-driven peloton.

Hey, now this is cool. Along the road, as we are coming off of the Cote de Marlioz, there is a huge industrial crane, with its boom full extended skyward. And hanging from the hook at the very top is a chain of bicycles -- probably 70 or more -- connected wheel-to-wheel all the way down to the ground. People go through a lot of trouble when the Tour comes to town. That's really cool, though. We'll try to get a picture.

1:45 p.m.The ten leaders are atop the Cote de Marlioz and still enjoy an advantage of about 2:15. Bonjour is now leading the peloton.

1:41 p.m. The leaders are now at 54km and will soon start a short climb up the Cote de Marlioz, a Cat. 4 climb about 4km in length, averaging 5.3 percent.

1:37 p.m. At the sprint, Loda was the first to cross the line, followed by Dekker and Van Bon.

The leaders are now at km 50 and have and advantage of 2:20.

Cruising down the hill after the sprint, the road is lined with a beautiful collection of wooden sculptures, each dedicated to a the individual winners of the Tour de France. There's one there for each of the men who have won one or more Tours and one at the very front of the group with a big question mark on it, representing 2002... though at this point, there isn't much of a question, eh?

1:35 p.m. The results of the Cat. 3 Cote des Bois de Serves give the climb to Van Bon, then Loda, Sorensen, Dekker and Loder.

The race covered 40.5km in the first hour.

1:29 p.m. The leaders have now passed through the sprint at Cruseilles.

We should get results of both the sprint and the climb, though neither was hotly contested by the men in the break.

By the way, the men in the lead group are:
Gian Matteo Fagnini (I) Telekom
Jörg Jaksche (G) ONCE
Jakob Piil (Dk) CSC-Tiscali
Nicki Sørensen (Dk) CSC-Tiscali
Thor Hushovd (Nor) Crédit Agricole
Leon van Bon (Nl) Domo-Farm Frites
Nicola Loda (I) Fassa Bortolo
Christophe Mengin (F) FDJeux.com
Erik Dekker (Nl) Rabobank
Thierry Loder (F) Ag2R Prevoyance

1:28 p.m. Up and over the Cote des Bois de Serves the ten men in the lead are on their way to the day's first sprint.

1:27 p.m. The leaders are on the slopes of the day's first rated climb and have a lead over the peloton of 2:30.

1:23 p.m. And at 35km, the lead has grown back up to 2:40. It doesn't seem likely that the sprint mark at 43km will be the scene of a Zabel-McEwen battle.

1:20 p.m.The Lotto-led chase -- with a bit of help from Postal -- has trimmed the leaders' advantage to 2:15 at km 33.

1:17 p.m. As the ten leaders approach the top of this first unrasted climb -- a long haul for something that doesn't even rate a Cat. 4, don't you think? -- their lead is down to 2:25.

1:09 p.m. The ten men off the front are at km 25 and they still have a lead of three minutes according to our last time check. The are about 6km from the top of this unrated climb and will then head over to the Cat. 3 clim at km 41.

None of these men, poses a threat on GC, points or KOM. Of the ten, Sorenson is the highest-placed at 37:41 in 26th place.

1:04 p.m. The leaders are at 24km and have a lead of 3:00.

1:01 p.m. The lead is now up to 3:00 minutes and the Lotto boys are moving up to help out the Jean Delatoru squad as they watch yet another opportunity for Robbie McEwen to solidify his "lead" in the points standings scoot down the road ahead of them.

12:57 p.m.The leaders are now on the slopes of the climb to Le Chaumet. It is unrated, but does rise 450 meters or so over the course of 11km.

After that, the Cat. 3 climb, the Cote des Bois de Serves that peaks out at km 41 and is immediately followed by the day's first sprint at km 43.

12:55 p.m. Yup, the gap is now approaching two minutes, so the power of the Delatour chase is having little or no effect.

Race radio reports that George Hincapie has made a second bike switch, probably just getting his first bike back after mechanic Geoff Brown made the adjustments.

12:54 p.m.Okay, those time checks were indead spotty. With John Wilcockson using the official VeloNews on the road timing system (a.k.a. his wrist watch) we jst got a time gap at 19.5km of 1:48.

12:51 p.m. The leaders are now at km 18 (158km from the finish) and we still are getting spotty and conflicting time checks from the road. Our best guess is that they are still around 40 to 50 seconds ahead of the peloton.

Jean Delatour and Bonjour are still the ones leading the chase, probably in hopes of catching the group and countering, since neither team is much of a GC threat.

12:44 p.m. Okay, now we know who these guys are.

Gian Matteo Fagnini (I) Telekom
Jörg Jaksche (G) ONCE
Jakob Piil (Dk) CSC-Tiscali
Nicki Sørensen (Dk) CSC-Tiscali
Thor Hushovd (Nor) Crédit Agricole
Leon van Bon (Nl) Domo-Farm Frites
Nicola Loda (I) Fassa Bortolo
Christophe Mengin (F) FDJeux.com
Erik Dekker (Nl) Rabobank
Thierry Loder (F) Ag2R Prevoyance

At km 15, they still have an advantage of around 50 seconds, according to our last time check.

12:42 p.m. Still no numbers, but the leaders have 42 seconds on the field.

At 11km, the chase is being lead by Bonjour and Jean Delatour.

12:40 p.m. The lead group with Van Bon has 22 seconds. Still no details other than of the man who initiated the break.

12:33 p.m. ONCE's Mikel Pradera and Jerome Pineau (Bonjour) were involved in the crash. They are both up and riding.

Right after the crash Leon van Bon (Nl) Domo-Farm Frites attacked and nine riders joined him.

We don't have numbers, but the ten are now 23 seconds ahead of the field.

12:28 p.m. There has been a crash in the field in the opening kilometer.

George Hincapie -- we believe in an unrelated event -- has been forced to exchange bikes. He had problems yesterday, too.

12:27 p.m.The official start occurs at 12:27. There are 153 starters today.

12:25 p.m. The weather is quite nice this morning. It is cool with a high cloud cover... almost perfect for what will have to be a fast start.

We may be seeing a serious battle for the points jersey going on and we can certainly predict that there will be attacks among the major players who see this as a chance to move around in the GC.

12:20 p.m. Good morning to our American audience. Welcome to our live coverage of Stage 18 of the 2002 Tour de France.

The peloton is scheduled to leave Cluses any moment and hit the flying start in about seven or eight minutes.

Let's get started with a summary of what we can expect on the road today.

DETAILS OFSTAGE 18: Cluses to Bourg-en-Bresse, 142km.
INTERMEDIATE SPRINTS: Cruseilles (43km) and Le Petit Abergement (111.5km).
CLIMBS: One Cat. 1, the Col de Richemont (from 83km to 96 km);one Cat. 2, Col de Berthiand (147.5km), two Cat 3s at Bois de Serves (41km)and Col de la Cheminée (115km); and three Cat 4s, at Marlioz (57.5km),La Sémine (74km) and Giriat (137km).
WEATHER FORECAST: The day will start with partly cloudy skiesand temperatures in the low-70s. Cloud will clear and finish will be infull sunshine and temperatures in high 70s. Calm conditions at start,with north winds developing between 5 and 15 mph.