to VeloNews.com's Live Coverage of the ninth stage of the Tour de Suisse, a 168-kilometer race from Altdorf to Bern.

Today's features rolling terrain, with two Category 4 climbs, the first above the village of Hueb at 142.8km and a climb to Aargauerstalden, at 159.9km. The peloton rolled out of Altdorf - the start of yesterday's hillclimb - about an hour ago.

Right now, we have a break of five riders nearing the 50km mark, with a lead of 2:30 on the main field of 125 riders.

do not pose a threat to the overall lead of Roman Kreuziger, with the highest ranked in the group being Maarten Tjallingi (Silence-Lotto). The others in the break are Francisco Perez Sanches (Caisse d'Epargne), Herve Duclos Lasalle (Cofidis), Darren Lill (BMC), and Rene Weissinger (Volksbank).

The gap has not ever gotten particularly large and is now down to 2:15.

is in the village of Buonas, under beautifully sunny skies. It's another beautiful day in Switzerland and the weather is expected to hold all the way to the finish in Bern.

Yesterday's stage winner, and now race leader, is safely tucked in the field with his Liquigas squad intent on delivering him to Bern with his overall advantage - 49 seconds on Andreas Kloden - secure.

Kreuziger isn't resting on his laurels and intends to remain vigilant until he crosses the line. He told reporters last night that he is particularly concerned about the realitively hilly finish to today's stage, which may give Kloden and others a shot at doing some damage. That removes one of our least favorite aspects of major stage races, namely the "parade" aspect of some tours, when leaders are so secure in their hold on the jersey that they can get away with sipping Champagne on the last stage.

are heading to the village of Root, which is at 54.3km. The latest time check gives them an advantage of 2:43.

if you have a concern, a comment or question. Just hit the Contact our editors below the live update window. We'll try to answer as many as we can and even post a few during today's coverage.

Our leading five have extended their advantage to 3:30. The gang is getting down to work.

He's just 22 and a lot of us haven't heard much about the Czech rider.

As we mentioned, he was the 2004 world junior road champion, but it's worth mentioning he also won the world time trial and cyclocross titles that year, as well. He's heading to the Tour this year and he may well be a dark horse contender for a podium spot in Paris.

He's originally from Moravska Trebova in the Czech Republic and turned pro in 2006. At 6-feet and 140 pounds, he has a nearly perfect physique to be a solid stage racer, tall enough to be a formidable time trialist and, as demonstrated yesterday, thin enough to be a helluva climber, even beating the little Venuzualan Jose Rojas on the 25km uphill TT.

The world women's cross-country mountain bike championship just finished in Val di Sole, Italy, and Margarita Fullana of Spain took top honors. We'll have a full report and photos coming up in a while.

are in Inwil and have bumped their advantage to 3:50.

the leaders are on the unrated climb to Eschenbach. It's not to long or steep, but it does mark the beginning of the day's hilly portions.

of the climb to Eschenbach. The leading five are at 70km and their lead is back down to 3:30.

the leaders' advantage has been trimmed to 2:56.

we won't be seeing one of the big sprinters out there. Robbie McEwen didn't do yesterday's uphill TT.

Our five leaders - Maarten Tjallingi (Silence-Lotto), Francisco Perez Sanches (Caisse d'Epargne), Herve Duclos Lasalle (Cofidis), Darren Lill (BMC), and Rene Weissinger (Volksbank) - are 2:30 ahead of the main field.

Kreuziger looks relaxed and happy out there. It's a nice day to spend on a bike in the yellow jersey in one of the world's finer stage races.

and are between the villages of Schenkon and Sursee.

the leading quintet has reached the feedzone at Mauensee.

the feedzone, the gap has grown to 3:08.

We got a note from our wandering tech geek.

Yesterday I rode up the Klausen Pass from the start in Altdorf, so I topped out above Glarus & Braunwald. Incredible views. It was the time trial course the racers were doing later that afternoon. It was sooo hard! It was 25 kilometers of solid, hard climbing. My Garmin said it was over a mile of elevation gain. I was going as fast as I could, and it took me 1:45; the winning time was one hour flat! Amazing. But 20th place was 4 minutes back; time gaps like that at least show I wasn't dreaming when I thought it was super hard. After riding it I expected Kirchen to get his ticket punched, and he did; he dropped from 1st to 7th.

Incredibly beautiful up there.

Just arrived in Biel.

the peloton got back to work and trimmed the lead to 2:40.

the peloton is 2:18 behind the five leaders.

The road is on a gradual climb that will ultimately take the field over the high point of today's stage, the 799 meter summit at Affoltern (116.4km). That climb is not rated, but the two Cat. 4 climbs later on may be why the gap isn't really developing into anything larger.

Maxim Iglinsky and David Loosli are tied on KOM points at 42 points each. Iglinsky is not inclined to chase, he leads on a tie-breaker, but the Lampre squad will have to put Loosli over the top ahead of Iglinski somewhere along the line and those Cat. 4s only offer 3,2 and 1 points, which would be gobbled up by the break if they stay out there.

Our leaders are at 100km and their advantage is now 2:11.

the leaders are now 2:24 ahead of the main field. The terrain is still reasonably moderate and it's a pleasant ride in the country for most of the men in the peloton, a welcome break from nine days of fairly hard racing. We can still expect the tempo to pick up over the final stretch, mostly because of that KOM battle, rather than a fight for GC.

our five leaders - Maarten Tjallingi (Silence-Lotto), Francisco Perez Sanches (Caisse d'Epargne), Herve Duclos Lasalle (Cofidis), Darren Lill (BMC), and Rene Weissinger (Volksbank) - are on the slopes of the climb to Affoltern. The gap is around 2:20 and holding steady.

tour five leaders have crested the high point of today's stage and have 25 kilometers of descent and moderate terrains to cover before the day's first ranked KOM.

The peloton is just two minutes behind, so the climb may well be the scene of a Loosli/Iglinsky battle for points.

the gap is down to 1:52. We see the Lampre and Milram teams working at the front of the field.

the five leaders are 1:50 ahead of the field.

Loosli and his team appear intent upon cutting the gap before the climbs. As we said, he is tied with Astana's Iglinski on KOM points, at 42 each. Iglinski is higher on GC, the tie-breaker, so the Astana rider has the jersey.

We're seeing the remaining Silence-Lotto boys cruising at the back of the field today. They apparenly just want to finish, since they don't have Robbie - the mouth... errrr... rocket - McEwen to take to the line in Bern.

the gap has ectended a bit. The five leaders are 2:20 ahead of the field now.

to go... the gap is up to 2:30. Has Loosli given up hopes of snagging the jersey?

that counts in the KOM contest comes up in 13km. The gap is now 2:32.

and the gap is 2:28. It doesn't look like Lampre is putting in an effort to pull the break back in time for that first climb. There are 18 very hilly kilometers between the day's two climbs.

the gap is coming down again. It's 2:00. The Lampre team only has one rider at the front of the peloton. Quick Step is moving riders up and they're doing the bulk of the chase work now.

the climb tops out with 25.6km remaining. The gap is now 1:55

the five leaders are heading up the day's first rated climb. With 28km remaining, the gap is still 1:54.

the top. The peloton is now just 1:33 back, with 24km remaining.

If Loosli has the legs to snag points on the next climb, he may be counting on the sprinters' teams to do some of the chase work.

is moving a few more riders up front. Quick Step, Milram and Lampre are now driving the chase. 23km to go, 1:28.

takes the sprint at Ittigen, crossing ahead of Duclos-Lassalle. It disrupted the rhythm a little. With 20km to go, the gap is 1:22.

the peloton is now 1:15 behind our leaders, with 18km to go.

the peloton comes through the finish line and beginning the closing circuit. The gap is now 56 seconds.

Man, it's a narrow finishing straight today. Not twisty, but there isn't a lot of room to maneuver in there.

With 17km to go the gap is coming down. The final shot at KOM points comes with 8.5km to go.

so to speak, has been lit. The gap is down to 40 seconds, with 16km to go.

15km to go.

With 14km to go, Duclos-Lassalle takes the second sprint.

Back in the peloton, Astana's Rast crashed into a barrier.

The gap is coming down, with 13km remaining.

are driving the chase and the gap is down to 20 seconds.

the gap is 19 seconds. There are 3.5km to go to the summit of the climb.

11km to go. Loosli and Iglinsky are moving up to the front of the peloton.

and the gap is 16 seconds. The five leaders are not giving up, though. No glances over the shoulder.

the climb is coming up soon, and the gap is 12 seconds.

the gap is five seconds.

charges out of the break.

Loosli and Iglinsky are charging out of the field. There are three riders up front still.

fades as the Astana man charges past him Iglinsky gets the jersey.

is off on his own. He made the effort and is now driving hard with 7km to go. He made the effort at the KOM, so he might as well go for it.

Cancellara is trying to catch... but everyone jumped on his wheel.

Iglinski has a small five-second gap.

to go and the chase is having an effect. Iglinski is caught by Caisse d"Epargne's Guitterez

there are three riders off the front with 4km to go.

Wait, Iglinski is caught.

the two leaders are caught.

is attacking out of the field. Quick Step is chasing.

with 1km to go... we're going to see a big charge to the line.

the peloton is driving hard. .... Big attack with Phillipe Gilbert

He may get him

Cancellara catches Gilbert with 100 meters to go and passes the FDJ rider. Cancellara gets his second stage win.

Cancellara had to sit down on the side of the road after that one. He's smiling... but breathing heavily. Gilbert lost the thing with about 20 meters to go.

The overall! Yes, Roman Kreuziger wins the overall title. There is no change in the top ten:


Top 10 Final Standings
1. Roman Kreuziger, (Cz), Liquigas
2. Andreas Kloden, (G), Astana, at 49
5. Igor Anton, (Sp), Euskaltel-Euskadi, at 1:55
4. Damiano Cunego, (I), Lampre, at 2:11
5. Thomas Lovkvist, (S), Team High Road, at 2:37
6. Andy Schleck, (Lux), CSC, at s.t.
7. Kim Kirchen, (Lux), Team High Road, at 2:58
8. Markus Fothen, (G), Gerolsteiner, at 4:08
9. Christian Knees, (G), Milram, at 4:18
10. Laurens Tendam, (Nl), Rabobank, at 4:26

Fabian Cancellara scores another win in front of a happy, happy home crowd. The guy is an amazing rider.

"I'm speechless," he said. "I tried to go with five kilometers left, but it just didn't happen. I didn't see this happening, but when Phillipe Gilbert went with one kilometer to go, I took a chance. It was perfect."

Kreuziger is celebrating a big, big overall win, too.

It's been a great nine days. We're glad we followed this race as closely as we did. It's been fun.

We'll back with live wire-to-wire coverage of the Tour de France, so we look forward to hearing from you during that, the biggest event in the sport of competitive cycling.

See you on July 5.