It's late so I'll keep it short Drama on the TDF today. The big climb figured in and all the top five contenders were there but no one guessed the mechanical trouble. Thomas Voeckler ran off and left the field today on one of the toughest climbs in the race to win today. As with yesterday the drama behind the leader was even better. Andy Schleck lost a chain as he was attacking and ended up being down 8 seconds to Alberto Contador. Crashes, flats, mechanical faliure, fatigue, weather...it all counts. This one is just too close for anyone to get too comfortable right now.
Yellow: Alberto Contador accepted the gift of Andy Schleck's chain problems and took an 8 second lead in the general classification today. Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez is now 2:00 back in 3rd, Denis Menchov is 4th only 2:13 back and Jurgen Van Den Broeck is 5th 3:39 behind the leader. Everyone else is 5+ minutes behind. Levi Leipheimer is still 7th but now 5:25 back. Carlos Sastre is 13th 9:02 back and Lance is still racing but is 31st 40:31 behind the yellow jersey. Oh how the mountains can even things up. Look for Alberto to just keep Andy in sight and wait until the time trail on Saturday. Andy on the other hand must pic a time to attack and go for it. He will need is whole team if this is to come off for him. Do not look past Sanchez, Menchov or Broek. All are very capable of taking the lead if Andy and Alberto forget to watch them too. This one goes to the wire. Green: no change and most likely won't be any until Friday when we finally get out of the mountains. Having said that this is where Thor won it last year while no one was watching. Alessandro Petacchi is first 187 pts, Thor Hushovd is 2nd 185 pts and Mark Cavendish is 3rd 162. Cavendish needs to make up some ground and will need the help of his team to get him in position. This one two appears to be headed to the wire with the sprint points in Paris on the last day possibly deciding the winner. Polka Dot: No changes here either, Anthony Charteau leads with 115 pts, Jerome Pineau is 2nd with 92 pts, Thomas Voeckler is third with 82 points. Andy Schleck is 4th with 76 pts. This jersay is over after Friday for all practical purposes. This one is do or die now. Young rider, White: Andy Schleck is the man here. He has a 4:53 lead over Robert Gesink. He has this one unless he just falls apart, but it it not is focus to be sure. Team: Radioshack is back in the yellow race numbers with a 4:27 lead over Caisse d'Espargne. The nex team, Rabobank is 17:23 back. It has been dissapointing for Radioshack but as a team they will be very hard to beat now barring some accident. Tomorrow: 199.5 km, Bagneres De Luchon to Pau. Mountains again. Big mean climbs, tough day with 2 sprints at the end too. Things could be very interesting. We shall see...... -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "CyclistsOfWilson-COWs" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cyclistsofwilson-cows?hl=en.
