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

Stage 10

Another day of the Tour de France, another shake up. I'm writing this at 9:44AM local time (France) and am just stunned at the flip-flopping of riders, absence of a strong team and a cloudy outcome to the race.

Above all, I'm thrilled. This is how the Tour is supposed to shake out.

Better still, Stage 10 was won by a Frenchman!!

Just after the 73KM mark, there was a breakaway with ten riders in it. They were chasing two other riders and finally caught them at the 81KM mark. Then, the core of this 10-rider group stayed away to the finish.

In the lead group of 11 riders at 81KM were Burghardt (TMO), Voigt (CSC), Flecha (RAB), Bossoni (LAM), Halgand (C.A), Scheirlinckx (COF), Albasini and Kuschynski (LIQ), Casar (FDJ), Vasseur (QSI) and Grivko (MRM).

The group that broke off of this group was made up of Voigt, Casar, Halgand, Vasseur and Albasini.

They stayed away with around 18KM left in the race to give France a win by 3CM - that's right, three centimeters. Vasseur took the stage with the rest of the five riders zipping home right on his wheel.

Here's the top five list for Stage 10.

1. Cedric Vasseur (QSI) 229.5km in 5h20'24" (42.977km/h)
2. Sandy Casar (FDJ)
3. Michael Albasini (LIQ)
4. Patrice Halgand (C.A)
5. Jens Voigt (CSC)

An amazing stage

I'm still watching the broadcast of Stage 8 and they've got about 37KM to go and it's a ride that's being controlled by Rasmussen. One large climb left - Montee d'Haughterville - and Rasmussen is 00:04:16 ahead.

Sorry for today's delay in posting - got caught up in packing and finishing work for Grampys while watching the greatest show on two wheels.

Rest day tomorrow. Hooray - we can recap on all our info and see what the next 10 days will bring before we get toward the final few stages of the Tour de France.