Tour de France 2009...

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

Of the 21 riders in the break, Karpets is the highest ranked on GC, but still 5:56 out of first. Large as that is, Astana isn't going to let him get too far down the road. While often troubled with bad luck in grand tours, he has shown flashes of brilliance now and then and his form has been quite good lately.

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

Armstrong said he's now riding for Contador.

 

If you look carefully at the films from Sunday, Armstrong did close the gap back up to Contador, when Frank Schleck initially made an attack and Contador has bridged up. So it was still unclear who was in charge of the team. A couple of minutes later, though, when Contador launched his attack, he showed real explosive acceleration. It seems that top-end is something Armstrong lacks at this point in his career and it's pretty clear - apparently to him as well - which of the two is the better climber.

 

Of course, that could all change with one bad day in the mountains.

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

Pellizotti, Martinez and Karpets have moved ahead of the rest of the group. They have 20 seconds on the other members of the break ... well, except for Maaskant, Geschke and Haussler, who have been dropped.

 

The gap from the three leaders to the peloton is 2:33 at the 21.5km mark.

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

Karpets and Pellizotti have moved ahead of Martinez. At the 24km mark, they have 25 seconds on him. Of course there are still 16km of climbing left.

 

Maaskant and Geschke have rejoined the bulk of the break.

 

Haussler - winner of stage 13 - is trailing.

 

The peloton is at 2:45

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

Pellizotti and Karpets are sharing the load nicely.

 

By the way, it's worth mentioning that Pellizotti is wearing the Polka Dot jersey and has dispensed with the full polka dot kit. Good on 'im we say. Somehow, polka dot shorts just don't do much but make a guy look silly.

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

There's a group of 10 riders trying to get out of the peloton, but the gap is pretty small. The Astana team is simply setting a strong pace at the front. No panicked chase, just a steady motor up the hill.

 

Contador is riding on the wheel of his top domestique, Lance Armstrong.

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

Martinez has slipped back to the main body of the break, which is now composed of 16 riders.

 

Up front Karpets and Pellizotti are at 28km and hold a lead of 1:20 over the rest of the break.

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

The peloton is now 3:00 behind the two leaders with three groups of riders spaced in between.

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

Pellizotti and Karpets now lead the rest of the break by 1:45.

 

After that group of 16, there is a second group of 11, just ahead of the peloton.

 

The gap between the two leaders and the peloton is 3:01.

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

Our two leaders are at 33km, so 7.5km from the summit.

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

The Astana team continues to power up the climb at the front of the peloton

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

Our two leaders are 5km from the summit and 2:30 ahead of the peloton

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

We've seen a merger of the two big chase groups, so we have a group of 27 between the peloton and the two leaders.

 

The gap between the two leaders and the peloton is 2:10.

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

There are no real danger men in that big group of 27.

 

The most dangerous rider on the road is Karpets, who is up front with Pellizotti.

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

The Astana-led peloton is closing in on that big group. The gap to the two leaders is now 1:58 as those two are less than four kilometers from the summit.

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

The peloton is about 30 seconds behind that big chase group. They are just 30 seconds back.

 

Our two leaders are about 2km from the top and 1:55 ahead of the peloton.

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

Stragglers from the break are dropping back into the peloton. Moncoutie has now moved back to the peloton.

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

Astarloza is now charging out of the peloton. He's trying to bridge up to the big group ahead

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

Our two leaders are near the top.

[coupwotcoup]

You watching this?? I am [****!!****] myself just looking.. fans and riders alike...