Todays stage ends with a not very long and not very steep climb an short descenta short uphill and a flat drag to the line. 7 riders attacked early and that move would take all intermediate prizes. Our headbangers are Lloyd(Warner Brothers) Merckx(Eurosport) Vorganov(Nintendo) Forster(Magenta) De Ketele(American Suzuki) Hermans (Wikipedia) and Swiss Champ Zberg (Festina) For some reason I don't ahve the screens that I thought I did so lets open with one of our race leader, Janez Brajkovic...
The gap would extend to almost 14 minutes(85KM's to go) until Carlsberg, Erste and Credit Lyonais began the chase.
The gap is still 10'30" at the bottom of the final hill with 12km's to go. Looking to impress the home crowd Zberg takes off and gets a 40 second gap early.
The break shatters when Axel Merckx begins the chase. Vorganov, Merckx and Hermans trail 1'39 at the KoM.
In the pack several riders attack near the top, including Contador Popocych, Pozzovivo and Frank Schleck.
Only Schleck gets a gap, while Monfort of American Suzuki attacks on the descent taking some time.
Zberg Wins the Stage! and anticlimatically doesn't salute so this is what you get.
Vogranov wins the race for second ahead of Hermans
This is where the lack of screens gets me but as on the descent the groups stayed the same with only gaps changing. Frank Schleck would regain much of the time he lost in the TT and Monfort would finish anonymously behind him. Marzano of Gazzeta lead the pack to the line in 9th. The pack contains all of the favorites and then some.
