Tour de France 2009...

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

Pellizotti has won both climbs today, adding 50 KOM points to his tally.

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

Voigt is still setting tempo in the Contador group. Hard as he's working, they are about to be joined by Sastre and a few others... including Vande Velde.

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

Contador group is over the top, at 2:12.

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

Up front, Pellizotti is top-notch descender, he can drop these guys on long descent to finish. There's a very narrow and dangerous traffic circle with 1km to go that's been halved with race barriers to make a chicane that could be very dangerous.

 

There's also a sharp left-hander with 250m to go, all downhill before a short rise to the line, but nothing steep. It's fast all the way to the line.

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

the hardest working man of the day has to be Jens Voigt. He busted his ... uhhh... tail ... in the break all day and then dropped back to set tempo for his teammates on the toughest part of the climb. He now has a chance to catch his breath and refuel a bit.

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

It's impressive. Wiggins is with that Contador group. Who'da thunk it two weeks ago.

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

Voigt has crashed.

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

Man, that looked like it hurt. He hit a bump.... a transition of pavement it looks like. He hit the deck hard.

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

Our four leaders - Pellizotti, Astarloza, Van den Broucke and Moinard - are about 15 seconds ahead of five chasers, survivors of the original break.

 

The Contador group is at 1:45

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

Frank Schleck has regained contact with the Contador group.

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

Our four leaders are about to be joined by a group of four chasers.

 

 

French TV just said that Marchante from Cervelo also crashed ... but it looks like he's back on bike. We've still no word yet on Voigt.

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

That first chase group includes:

Nicolas Roche (Ag2r)

Sandy Casar (Francaise des Jeux)

Pierrick Fedrigo (BBox)

Stephane Goubert (Ag2r)

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

The yellow jersey group is growing as the big GC men are showing a bit of restraint on the descent. That's understandable

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

Our four leaders on the road are still holding a 20-second lead over the chase group of four.

 

The yellow jersey group is now at 1:28.

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

Our leaders are now 15.5km from the finish... make that 15 now.

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

We still have no word on Voigt. It was an ugly crash. He crashed going at a speed of 65- to 70kph. He hit his face hard, too.

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

Wiggins is at the front of yellow jersey group. It is really the safest place to be.

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

Ohhhhhh, these are tight, tight, tight turns.

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

Our four leaders are 15 seconds ahead of the four man chase and 1:17 ahead of the yellow jersey group.

[NotTheRealSteveWest]

10km to go.