Armstrong in Yellow

After the hustle and bustle of the opening days, including a great time trial victory for the young swiss rider Fabian Cancellara , who broke down in tears when Armstrong crossed over a second behind; a couple of sprints more notable for the absence on the podium of Alessandro Petacchi; and after the drama of Iban Mayo falling on the cobblestones amid the dust and mayhem usually enjoyed by the Paris-Roubaix...after all of that, we have Lance Armstrong in yellow and some of his rivals a long way off the classification. Really, I forgot this wasn't just any bike race.

The Tour de France Blog is back for another year, with all the news from the race.

BBC Sport providing some beautiful photos - especially of stage 3 on the cobbles.

Graham Watson has been covering the tour since 1977 and takes some amazing photos.