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

Hincapie WAY BACK

George Hincapie, who I thought was doing some serious work at the front of the peloton late in the race, has yet to cross the line and we're 00:04:45 back right now.

Mini attacks all day

Stage 11 saw a handful of attacks all day, but none were of any consequence. It's interesting because the stage was all downhill (if you follow my earlier logic) and I assumed that someone would blow the field apart by jumping from the start.

In fact I had hoped someone like big George Hincapie or similar would just put the hammer down and gobble back some time. Didn't happen my friends. More results coming up.

SPOILER - TOP 45 OVERALL

Tomorrow is a rest day. I'll use it to complain about Versus and to cross my fingers for George and Levi.

I'll also be hopping on a plane to Paris so the next posts you read will probably go up online at 8 or 9PM Paris time.

Enjoy Stage 9 without my yammering. I will comment on the results of that stage but probably won't do play by play.

Here are the top 45 as promised. *The last place rider is at 01:17:14. David Zabriskie is second to last at 01:14:40 back. Yikes.

1 058 RASMUSSEN, Michael DEN RAB 39:37:42.000 00:00:00.000
2 025 GERDEMANN, Linus GER TMO 39:38:25.000 00:00:43.000
3 207 MAYO, Iban ESP SDV 39:40:21.000 00:02:39.000
4 018 VALVERDE, Alejandro ESP GCE 39:40:33.000 00:02:51.000
5 195 KASHECHKIN, Andrey KAZ AST 39:40:34.000 00:02:52.000
6 041 EVANS, Cadel AUS PRL 39:40:35.000 00:02:53.000
7 061 MOREAU, Christophe FRA A2R 39:40:48.000 00:03:06.000
8 112 CONTADOR, Alberto ESP DSC 39:40:52.000 00:03:10.000
9 036 SCHLECK, Frank LUX CSC 39:40:56.000 00:03:14.000
10 051 MENCHOV, Denis RUS RAB 39:41:01.000 00:03:19.000
11 031 SASTRE, Carlos ESP CSC 39:41:17.000 00:03:35.000
12 196 KLÖDEN, Andréas GER AST 39:41:28.000 00:03:46.000
13 111 LEIPHEIMER, Levi USA DSC 39:41:35.000 00:03:53.000
14 011 PEREIRO SIO, Oscar ESP GCE 39:41:36.000 00:03:54.000
15 071 ZUBELDIA, Haimar ESP EUS 39:41:42.000 00:04:00.000
16 153 BELTRAN, Manuel ESP LIQ 39:42:01.000 00:04:19.000
17 174 GARATE, Juan Manuel ESP QSI 39:42:04.000 00:04:22.000
18 012 ARROYO, David ESP GCE 39:42:33.000 00:04:51.000
19 027 KIRCHEN, Kim LUX TMO 39:42:44.000 00:05:02.000
20 088 VALJAVEC, Tadej SLO LAM 39:42:45.000 00:05:03.000
21 073 ASTARLOZA, Mikel ESP EUS 39:42:56.000 00:05:14.000
22 191 VINOKOUROV, Alexandre KAZ AST 39:43:05.000 00:05:23.000
23 015 KARPETS, Vladimir RUS GCE 39:43:51.000 00:06:09.000
24 218 SIUTSOU, Kanstantsin BLR BAR 39:44:00.000 00:06:18.000
25 044 HORNER, Christopher USA PRL 39:44:11.000 00:06:29.000
26 052 BOOGERD, Michael NED RAB 39:44:20.000 00:06:38.000
27 219 SOLER HERNANDEZ, Juan Mauricio COL BAR 39:45:13.000 00:07:31.000
28 118 POPOVYCH, Yaroslav UKR DSC 39:45:14.000 00:07:32.000
29 103 BOTCHAROV, Alexandre RUS C.A 39:46:15.000 00:08:33.000
30 204 COBO ACEBO, Juan Jose ESP SDV 39:46:33.000 00:08:51.000
31 113 GUSEV, Vladimir RUS DSC 39:47:05.000 00:09:23.000
32 093 FOTHEN, Markus GER GST 39:47:34.000 00:09:52.000
33 141 CHAVANEL, Sylvain FRA COF 39:48:32.000 00:10:50.000
34 014 GUTIERREZ, José Ivan ESP GCE 39:50:25.000 00:12:43.000
35 177 TANKINK, Bram NED QSI 39:50:48.000 00:13:06.000
36 078 TXURRUKA, Amets ESP EUS 39:51:03.000 00:13:21.000
37 038 VOIGT, Jens GER CSC 39:52:50.000 00:15:08.000
38 098 WEGMANN, Fabian GER GST 39:53:06.000 00:15:24.000
39 109 LE MEVEL, Christophe FRA C.A 39:53:53.000 00:16:11.000
40 076 LANDALUZE, Inigo ESP EUS 39:54:01.000 00:16:19.000
41 185 KNEES, Christian GER MRM 39:55:24.000 00:17:42.000
42 054 DEKKER, Thomas NED RAB 39:56:34.000 00:18:52.000
43 172 BARREDO, Carlos ESP QSI 39:56:46.000 00:19:04.000
44 089 VILA ERRANDONEA, Patxi ESP LAM 39:57:39.000 00:19:57.000
45 114 HINCAPIE, George USA DSC 39:58:01.000 00:20:19.000

SPOILER - Rogers, Rasmussen and Hincapie

Rasmussen is up the road at 00:04:30 with only one rider with him. The second group is about a minute and a half back.

Michael Rogers was leading the Tour on the road and then slammed into a road barrier and injured his wrist (this is what I have assumed from the video at this point - it could be something totally different when we get the final news tonight).

Hincapie is in the chasing group and looks really good.

33.9KM to go.

Field has been shattered

Peloton of favorties shows up at the finish of Stage 7 almost four minutes back.

In a post-ride interview, Levi Leipheimer said that today went as expected and "Tomorrow's a hard day."

Stage 8 comes up in less than 24 hours.

Gerdemann is in the lead by 00:01:24.

Kloden is back 00:03:39.

Leipheimer is back 00:04:06

Hincapie is back (after being dropped on the final climb) 00:07:15

WOW.

Top 25 Riders After 6 Stages

Here are the top 25 riders in the 2007 Tour de France, through six stages.

CANCELLARA, Fabian
KLÖDEN, Andréas
POZZATO, Filippo
MILLAR, David
FREIRE, Oscar
HINCAPIE, George
GUSEV, Vladimir
KARPETS, Vladimir
ZABEL, Erik
ASTARLOZA, Mikel
DEKKER, Thomas
VAUGRENARD, Benoît
GUTIERREZ, José Ivan
CONTADOR, Alberto
KASHECHKIN, Andrey
EVANS, Cadel
PEREZ, Ruben
ROGERS, Michael
PEREIRO SIO, Oscar
GERDEMANN, Linus
FLECHA, Juan Antonio
LEIPHEIMER, Levi
MENCHOV, Denis
FOTHEN, Markus
VALVERDE, Alejandro

WOWSA, Cadel Evans has snuck quietly into the mix at 16th overall. Hincapie is still in there and Levi Leipheimer is sitting nicely at 22nd.

Poor Wiggins is now nine minutes and four seconds back of the leader and the last-place rider is a full 25 minutes and 19 seconds back.

Happy Bastille Day tomorrow.

Results of Stage 5 - SPOILER!!

I may have to reevaluate my choice for the Tour overall champion. Please notice that George Hincapie is again in the top 10 at the finish line. He's hanging tight and doesn't look like he's even suffering at all.

I'll let you know if I swap Levi for George.

Here are the top 10 finishers today...

1. Filippo Pozzato (LIQ) 182.5km in 4h39'01" (39.244km/h)
2. Oscar Freire (RAB)
3. Daniel Bennati (LAM)
4. Kim Kirchen (TMO)
5. Erik Zabel (MRM)
6. George Hincapie (DSC)
7. Cristian Moreni (COF)
8. Stefan Schumacher (GST)
9. Bram Tankink (QSI)
10. Jerome Pineau (BTL)