... if you dare.

Who will win the stage? Who will be top 5 GC?

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This is a tough one. First impulse is to say a climber, however with nearly 40k downhill after the Galiber, it could favor a breakaway of non GC riders.

How about Paolo Savoldelli. Climb reasonable, probably best descender, far enough down on GC, and with a purpose to make other teams drag Vino and Kloden along.

Oh, GC stays unchanged, or only very minor gaps with Rasmussen in yellow comfortably.

GC
Mayo
Rasmussen
Pereiro
Moreau
Kloden

Stage winner
Vinokourov

... if you dare.

Who will win the stage? Who will be top 5 GC?



Contador, pulls a Pantani on the Galibier and solo's in for the win.

Rasmussen leads the GC but Contador, Menchov and Kloden make big moves forward.

I'll predict that the huge decent is going to be fun to watch.

Climbing and sprinting is cool, but I love to watch these guys lean into the curves like MotoGP racers!

I'll predict that the huge decent is going to be fun to watch.

Climbing and sprinting is cool, but I love to watch these guys lean into the curves like MotoGP racers!

I've ridden down the Galiber the direction they are riding up, it's really fun.

Oscar Pereiro by a sprint among 3 riders include Kloeden and Menchov. the chicken will retains his yellow jersey while Vino and Levi loose some minutes.

Oooh! I LIKE the Vino prediction!

Leipheimer will beat him, though. He has to!

Contador will give a good ride, IMO, after having a mechanical rob him on Sunday. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that the "young guns" stop playing games, but are stage hungry and go for broke on the Galibier. Christophe Moreau and Mayo make break this up since their form is very good atm. I don't know who is the best decender, so in no particular order:

Alejandro Valverde
Frank Schleck
Cadel Evans
Andrey Kashechkin
Alberto Contador

Oh, and someone will flat due the the "Evan's wheelsucking distruptor field" :wink:

The spoiler is if the Chicken tries to take the stage, in which case we will have an attack fest and all bets are off.

Mayo
Pereiro
Rasmussen
Evans (wheels sucking off all of the above).

Valverde will take it. Salvodelli 2nd and Vino Third...

Frank Schleck. Nuff said. :)

Garbage breakaway allowed to go, gain time, a win amongst them.

Rasmussen stays in yellow.

Leaders shadowbox a bit up the galibier. Young guns hit it pretty hard. Contador attacks 472 times. Vino can basically follow.

Everyone else keeps their powder dry for the alps.

With all of the confidence coming out of Astana today, I'm really interested to see how Vino does tomorrow.

at 10K popo is 1:30 ahead on a solo break

I am at work - does eurosport still offer a live audio feed ? or does anybody ?

Nevermind - I found it, it was not showing up in Firefox for some reason.

... if you dare.

Who will win the stage? Who will be top 5 GC?

<img src="http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2007/tour07/graphics/profile9.gif">

Seems like a perfect stage for a breakaway especially since no team so far has been willing to assert itself.

I'll go with Boogerd.

I think Moreau will attack.

this is a tough stage to predict - the climb is 37km from the finish and it's all down hill from there. my first thought was a nobody would take the stage, but the Galibier is a formidible climb - i do not think Levi will have a top 10 place.

the stage winner? look for Moreau and Contador to be at the front in the end.

One thing has been made apparent in this stage... $5,500 Lightweight Obermayer wheels will not come off best against a fat Labrador. Burghardt's front wheel just folded in two when he hit a dog.

Ps... the dog looked fine!

One thing has been made apparent in this stage... $5,500 Lightweight Obermayer wheels will not come off best against a fat Labrador. Burghardt's front wheel just folded in two when he hit a dog.

Ps... the dog looked fine!


I was wondering this morning, how often the hit animals (deer?) in a race such as the TdF.

I saw a few animals on Skyline drive the other day (1 deer, 1 black bear crossing the road slowly), which made me wonder about this happening this morning, and they hit a dog. Preminition?

my first thought was right - a seemingly unknown took the stage and what a great win it was - impressive speed past the leaders - wow.