Today at the Tour

Stage 7: Luneville to Karlsruhe (Germany), 142 miles.

What to expect: After a couple of small climbs, the race descends into the Rhine Valley and crosses the border into what should be a roadside mob scene of German fans waiting to greet their heroes, first and foremost Jan Ullrich. Another German rider, CSC's Jens Voigt, would like to make a move if he can shake Discovery Channel's George Hincapie, who has been assigned to shadow him.

Yesterday's Stage 6: Troyes to Nancy, 123.7 miles.

Stage 6 winner: Lorenzo Bernucci (Italy), Fassa Bortolo, in 4 hours 12 minutes 52 seconds.

How he did it: On a raw, rainy afternoon, France's Christophe Mengin tried to please the home crowd by taking off solo about 8 miles from the finish. A hard-driving group that included several sprinters and T-Mobile's Alexander Vinokourov was gaining on him when he crashed hard trying to negotiate the final, sharp righthand turn a half-mile from the line. Vinokourov unclipped from his pedal and managed to avoid Mengin but lost his rhythm, allowing Bernucci to take his first professional victory.

Overall leader: Lance Armstrong (US), Discovery Channel, by 55 seconds over Hincapie.

Inside the peloton: Vinokourov missed out on a surprising sprint win, but picked up 19 seconds on Armstrong with his seven-second gap on the pack, and a 12-second bonus for placing second in the stage. The Kazakh rider is in third place, 1:02 behind Armstrong.