Top 10 in the GC after Stage 15

Here is the list of the top ten in the Tour de France after 15 stages...

1. Michael Rasmussen (DEN) RAB - 2,750.4km in 69h52'14" (39.359km/h)
2. Alberto Contador (ESP) DSC at 2'23"
3. Cadel Evans (AUS) PRL at 4'00"
4. Levi Leipheimer (USA) DSC at 5'25"
5. Andreas Kloden (GER) AST at 5'34"
6. Carlos Sastre (ESP) CSC at 6'46"
7. Haimar Zubeldia (ESP) EUS at 7'27"
8. Andrey Kashechkin (KAZ) AST at 7'54"
9. Kim Kirchen (LUX) TMO at 8'24"
10. Mikel Astarloza (EUS) at 9'21"

and here are the standings all the way back to Big George Hincapie (who, by the way, lead Contador down the descent on the other side of the last climb...cementing the Discovery Team rider's place in second)

11 018 VALVERDE, Alejandro ESP GCE 70:02:55.000 00:10:41.000
12 118 POPOVYCH, Yaroslav UKR DSC 70:04:43.000 00:12:29.000
13 011 PEREIRO SIO, Oscar ESP GCE 70:06:44.000 00:14:30.000
14 219 SOLER HERNANDEZ, Juan Mauricio COL BAR 70:07:14.000 00:15:00.000
15 012 ARROYO, David ESP GCE 70:09:25.000 00:17:11.000
16 015 KARPETS, Vladimir RUS GCE 70:10:41.000 00:18:27.000
17 044 HORNER, Christopher USA PRL 70:11:11.000 00:18:57.000
18 207 MAYO, Iban ESP SDV 70:11:14.000 00:19:00.000
19 052 BOOGERD, Michael NED RAB 70:17:22.000 00:25:08.000
20 153 BELTRAN, Manuel ESP LIQ 70:18:16.000 00:26:02.000
21 051 MENCHOV, Denis RUS RAB 70:18:39.000 00:26:25.000
22 036 SCHLECK, Frank LUX CSC 70:19:00.000 00:26:46.000
23 191 VINOKOUROV, Alexandre KAZ AST 70:20:35.000 00:28:21.000
24 088 VALJAVEC, Tadej SLO LAM 70:21:10.000 00:28:56.000
25 174 GARATE, Juan Manuel ESP QSI 70:25:00.000 00:32:46.000
26 218 SIUTSOU, Kanstantsin BLR BAR 70:25:12.000 00:32:58.000
27 204 COBO ACEBO, Juan Jose ESP SDV 70:27:42.000 00:35:28.000
28 078 TXURRUKA, Amets ESP EUS 70:30:31.000 00:38:17.000
29 014 GUTIERREZ, José Ivan ESP GCE 70:31:39.000 00:39:25.000
30 106 FOFONOV, Dmitriy KAZ C.A 70:32:01.000 00:39:47.000
31 114 HINCAPIE, George USA DSC 70:32:31.000 00:40:17.000

Vinokourov!!

Not saying he's won the stage yet, but he's been a maniac attacking the lead groups and keeps jumping off the front.

Here's the flash from Versus.com...

Vinokourov began his move 6km from the top of the final climb. He know leads by:
30" - Zubeldia
35" - Cobo

(NOTE: the misspelling in that flash belonges solely to Versus)

130KM in, Five Riders Escape

At the 130KM mark (in a stage that is 196KM long, five riders have attacked the other leaders and are 00:00:20 ahead. But the disorganized 20 riders look a little winded and the five riders are putting some distance down quickly.

According to Versus, at the 138KM mark, the peloton had a deficit to the five stage leaders of 8'10". This was the same margin that the bunch was at when it passed the site of the 2nd intermediate sprint (at 127km).

Stage 15 - another shake-up?

Who knows what today's stage 15 will bring, but here's a look...

I got up in time to watch the neutral zone roll-out and the early attacks. At one point a group of 25 riders was ahead of the peloton.

At 85KM into the race, the 25 guys in the lead group were more than eight minutes ahead. They were comprised of riders from 17 different teams. Here are the riders...

David Arroyo (ESP) GCE
Kim Kirchen (LUX) TMO
Kurt-Asle Arvesen (NOR) CSC
Christian Vande Velde (USA) CSC
Dens Menchov (RUS) RAB
Ludovic Turpin (FRA) A2R
Haimar Zubeldia (ESP) EUS
Inigo Landaluze (ESP) EUS
Ruben Perez (ESP) EUS
Daniele Bennati (ITA) LAM
Patxi Vila (ESP) LAM
Bernhard Kohl (AUT) GST
Patrice Halgand (FRA) C.A
George Hincapie (USA) DSC
Laurent Lefevre (FRA) BTL
Johann Tschopp (SUI) BTL
Michael Albasini (SUI) LIQ
Benoit Vaugrenard (FRA) FDJ
Juan Manuel Garate (ESP) QSI
Christian Knees (GER) MRM
Alexandre Vinokourov (KAZ) AST
Serguei Ivanov (RUS) AST
Daniel Navarro (ESP) AST
Juan Jose Cobo (ESP) SDV