Santiago Botero timed his breakaway to perfection, producing an awesome display of mountain riding to take stage 15 of the Tour de France.

He was part of the leading group of seven since they broke from the peloton with 82km gone.

Then he broke from the leaders with 10km to go and simply used pure stamina and determination to haul himself up an incessant final climb to Les Deux-Alpes.

Christophe Moreau - fourth overall in the Tour just two years ago - crashed out after picking up an injury in an accident caused when Dave Bruylands fell.

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1530 Joseba Beloki attacks Lance Armstrong as the peloton reaches the finish. But although he beats him to the line, he gains mere seconds on the American.

1525 Belgian Mario Aerts finishes second almost two minutes behind the winning time of 5hr 55min 16secs. Another Belgian, Axel Merckx, finishes third shortly afterwards.

1523 Santiago Botero crosses the finish line after nearly six hours of riding to claim victory in Stage 15 of the Tour. The look of relief on his face is palpable.

1522 Santiago Botero is just one kilometre away from an impressive stage win.

1521 The ONCE team are piling the pressure on to Lance Armstrong in the peloton, although the American is sticking at the front.

1520 Santiago Botero is now 90 seconds ahead of Axel Merckx with just two kilometres still to go.

1517 Axel Merckx looks to have secured second place - Santiago Botero should be too far ahead to be caught. Unless, of course, he seizes up.

1515 Santiago Botero appears to be getting stronger and stronger as the end of the stage moves ever closer. Axel Merckx has dropped back among the remainder of the chasing group.

1506 Santiago Botero has opened up an 18-second lead over Axel Merckz as he reaches the steepest part of the final climb.

1501 The pink jerseys of the ONCE team - punctuated by the yellow of Lance Armstrong - are dominating the peloton, as Santiago Botero finally hits the front.

1458 Axel Merckx gets in front of Botero and is holding the lead at the moment. The leading pack is beginning to fragment.

1454 Santiago Botero has made a break from the leading pack as the race moves ever closer to its conclusion.

1446 Javier Pascual Rodriguez of the iBanesto.com team becomes the latest rider to suffer a fall, although no other riders appear to be involved.

1439 Emmanuele Magnien takes the second intermediate sprint of the day in Bourg d'Oisans. Casar and Aerts follow him over the line.

1437 US Postal are back on the front of the peloton as they descend. Yellow jersey holder Lance Armstrong is not with his team-mates but is sitting comfortably a little further back in the field.

1433 The leaders are now heading for the intermediate sprint in Bourg d'Oisans, but their lead is down to 8min 40secs with 21km to go.

1429 Richard Virenque and Laurent Jalabert stage a private duel to lead the main group over the summit to add a few more points to his King of the Mountains total. The US Postal riders have disappeared from the the front of the group and an unexpected swerve from one of their number causes Bonjour rider Chavanel to crash. He is unhurt and quickly back on his bike.

1425The seven leaders are flying down the long descent from the summit of the Col d'Orsan towards Bourg d'Oisans. Their lead is down to 9mins 04secs.

1422: Axel Merckx is again first over the top of the climb of the day, taking another 20 points to move his day's tally on to 70. Kelme's Santiago Botero and Lotto rider Mario Aerts follow him across the summit.

1420 More and more riders are slipping off the back of the peloton as the main bunch tackles the Col d'Orsan, having cut the leaders' advantage by 15 seconds. Nico Mattan looks in trouble with a bandaged thigh and Hushovd, McGee, Hondo and Ekimov are also struggling.

1417 Axel Merckx has won every climb since joining the breakaway 100km ago and is again prominent as the leaders enter the last kilometre of the second-catergory climb.

1412 The leading group led by Botero are now 40km from the finish and 3.5km from the top of the Col d'Ornon, with their lead still 10 minutes.

1408 The seven leaders are now halfway up the 10km climb of the Col d'Ornon and continuing to work together to preserve their lead. But the combination of the gradient and the driving force of the US postal team on the front of the peloton behind has cut the advantage to 10 minutes.

1400 The peloton passes the 175km mark still 10min 36secs behind the leading group of seven, who will now be starting to believe that they can stay away to the finish.

1354 The leading riders are now 50km from the finish of the stage, although there are still two more climbs to come, the category two Col d'Ornon and the nasty final category one climb up to Les Deux-Alpes.

1348 The peloton has slowed again, and the lead of the escapees is back up to 10 minutes. The US Postal team - which leads the peloton - may be allowing the leaders their moment of glory, and make short they track those riders most likely to threaten Lance Armstrong's overall lead.

1335 The peloton continues to eat away at the lead of the breakaway group. The leaders are now eight minutes and 45 seconds ahead - that is two minutes down on where it was 40 minutes ago.

1332 Stage one winner Rubens Bertogliati and stage seven winner Brad McGee both appear to be struggling, as they drop off the back of the peloton.

1327 Alex Merckx is producing a ride of which father Eddy would have been proud. He has taken maximum points at each of the five intermediate stages so far.

1323 The leading pack have seen their lead drop as they head towards the fifth summit of the stage. They are now nine minutes and 50 seconds ahead of the US Postal-led peloton.

1316 Today's cyclists will have a sweat on when they finish as the temperature will be around 30C at the end of the stage.

1306 Santiago Botero, who endured a disastrous 14th stage and slipped back from 5th to 18th, has plenty to gain if the current breakaway group can maintain their form. He could move as high as fourth.

1256 The leading group are now 85km from the finish of the 15th stage, and they have again increased their lead over the peloton - now they are 10 minutes 50 seconds ahead. The biggest lead by a pack of escapees so far in the Tour was 12 minutes and two seconds during stage 14.

1248 As the seven-strong leading pack approach the next climb of the stage, the category three Col du Banchet, their lead over the peloton breaks 10 minutes for the first time.

1239 Axel Merckx has taken the leading group past the category three Col de la Croix-Haute summit, and the peloton is now exactly nine minutes behind.

1233 Axel Merckx won the sprint to the top of Col de Grimone, followed closely by Emmanuele Maginen. Laurent Jalabert currently leads the peloton, who have steadied their position behind the leaders, and are now eight minutes and 45 seconds behind.

1216 As the leading group of Botero, Aerts, Merckx, Magnien, Casar, Garcia-Acosta and Hvastija reaches Col de Grimone, the second climb of the stage, their lead increases again. It is now just shy of nine minutes.

1200 The leading group continues to build its lead over the chasing peloton. There are 11km to go until the next climb, and the seven leaders are now eight minutes ahead of the peloton.

1154 The peloton passes the 100km mark of today's stage - but is now seven minutes behind the leading group.

1139 The breakaway group of seven has steadily increased its lead over the peloton, and is now more than five minutes ahead.

1124 Christophe Moreau - fourth overall in the Tour just two years ago - has abandoned the race. The injury he picked up in the accident in today's stage has proved too much for the Frenchman. He was in 41st place overall in the Tour.

1122 Botero, Aerts, Merckx, Magnien, Casar, Garcia-Acosta and Hvastija are now in one group at the front, and lead the peloton by two minutes and 50 seconds.

1117 Christophe Moreau of Credit Agricole was also injured in the recent fall, and appears to have bitten his lip. He is off the back of the peloton and is receiving treatment from the race doctor.

1115 Lance Armstrong is now at the front of the peloton.

1112 There has been a fall in the peloton. The rider is Dave Bruylands of the Domo-Farm-Frites team, although he remounts his bike and begins racing again towards the back of the peloton.

1103 As the riders hit the first climb, Sorensen drops out of the leading pack, leaving Botero and Aerts in front. The ONCE team of Joseba Beloki leads the peloton.

1100 Botero, Sorensen and Aerts are the only riders left in front of the peloton as the race moves to within 1km of the first climb, Col de Premol.

1051 Botero, Aerts and Sorensen have made a break and lead Kivilev, Gustov, Boogerd, Baranowski and Gotti by 15 seconds. The peloton is 32 seconds behind.

1040 The US Postal team is controlling the peloton and ensuring there is no escape, such as the one in the 14th stage.

1033 The attempted breakaway by Santiago Botero and Serge Baguet is short-lived as the pack catches up with them.

1030 Santiago Botero and Serge Baguet make a move on the rest of the field at the 48km mark, 20km away from the first climb of the stage, the category three Col de Premol.

1020 Several riders have made an early attempt to break clear of the peloton, but none have succeeded, and the pack remains bunched together.

0938 The 15th stage begins in earnest, with 163 riders taking to the road.

0920 The race gets underway in beautiful, sunny conditions with a 2.6km neutral zone. Temperatures are high - at the start in Vaison la Romaine it is 26C.