Tour de France 2009...

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

On the base of the climb, the three leaders' advantage is now up to 9:00.

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

The peloton is approaching the base of the climb. Armstrong is working his way back to the peloton after dropping back to the team car to chat with Bruyneel

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

That peloton is in the feedzone. The leaders are well into the climb, now 9:10 ahead of the peloton.

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

Carlos Barredo (Quick Step) is trying to get away from the peloton on the climb.

 

Our three leaders are still more than nine minutes ahead of the peloton.

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

There is a nice group of riders now forming off the front of the peloton.

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

There are 13 rriders in this large group.

Some of the riders we see:

Egoi Martinez (Euskaltel)

Amets Txurruka (Euskaltel)

Franco Pellizotti (Liquigas)

Fabian Cancellara (Saxo)

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

Egoi Martinez (Euskaltel)

Amets Txurruka (Euskaltel)

Franco Pellizotti (Liquigas)

Fabian Cancellara (Saxo)

Sergio Paulhino (Astana)

Maxime Monfort (Columbia)

Christophe Kern (Cofidis)

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

Our three leaders crested the climb a couple of minutes ago.... about 6:10 ahead of this big chase group.

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

It looks like Brice Feillu has moved out of the chase group. He won a stage the other day and is showing some real class in his first Tour.

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

It looks like the chase group has been pulled back. Monfort, for one, would have made any GC contender nervous about that one.

 

So, right now, everyone is over the climb and on the way down the Col de la Schucht.

 

Our three leaders are now 5:50 ahead of the peloton and they are 86 kilometers from the finish.

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

KOM Results from the Col de la Schucht.

1. Perez Moreno (Euskaltel) 10 points

2. Sylvain Chavanel (Quick Step), 9 pts

3. Heinrich Haussler (Cervelo) 8pts

4. Egoi Martinez (Euskaltel), 7pts

5. Franco Pellizotti (Liquigas), 6pts

6. Gorka Verdugo (Euskaltel), 5pts

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

Our leaders are moving toward the bottom of the climb.

 

They are about 79km from the finish. They lead the peloton by about 5:45.

 

Linus Gerdemann is a few seconds ahead of the peloton. It's hard to ID riders, though, given that it's rain jacket weather.

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

Our three leaders are now about 5:40 ahead of the field. They are 74km from the finish.

 

Linus Gerdemann (Milram) is out in no-man's-land, about 20 seconds ahead of the peloton... he's trying to get a little bit of a jump heading into the big Cat. 1 ahead.

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

Our three leaders are on the Col du Platzerwasel, a Cat. 1 that averages 7.6 percent.

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

Gerdemann is now 1:07 ahead of the field. He trails our three leaders by 5:30

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

There is also a grupetto of about 12 riders who got shelled on the Cat. 2. Boonen's in there, but Hushovd and Cavendish are still with the peloton.

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

As the peloton hits the base of the climb, the Astana team is setting tempo at the front of the field.

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

Our three leaders are working their way up the climb. The gap is now about 7:30 again. Our three leaders:

 

Heinrich Haussler (Cervelo)

Ruben Perez Moreno (Euskaltel)

Sylvain Chavanel (Quick Step)

Gerdemann is out there about 1:30 ahead of the peloton.

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

Christophe Kern is attacking on the base of the climb. He's hoping to snag some KOM points.

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

The peloton is still 7:30 behind the leaders. Gerdemann is 1:40 ahead of the peloton. We still need an update on Kern's position.