It’s the day of the last mountains in this race and it’s the last chance for the climbers to get something out of this tour. Evans looks to have the overall wrapped up, but the fight for 2nd between Gadret and Fothen is going to be very interesting. The Frenchman will need to gain time on Fothen today though, as he will most likely lose time on the time trial. Also we have riders like Dekker, Brajkovic, Popovych and Karpets who, if they take a solo win today could put themselves in a position to get on the final podium. But they need to come up with something special, and the final climb isn’t very steep until the last few kilometres.



The TV break today consisted of Hutchings, Da Dalto, Devenyns, Montaña, Schreck, Veikkanen, Lang, Arekejev, Da Dalto, Zaugg and Kozontchouk.



Meanwhile we have the WikiPedia boys at the front again. Here we have Ben Hermans, who has been a force to reckon with for Evans succes in this tour.



The break stayed together until the 2nd categorized climb on the stage. A gruesome 26-kilometres climb. The first to let go are Veikkanen, Lang and Schreck.



Then New Zealand’s RR Champion, Hutching goes off the back of the break.



A few hundred metres later and it’s over for Da Dalto aswell.



France Television’s Arekejev can’t keep up either.



WikiPedia and La Gazetta are keeping the break on a leash as they’re trying to set things up for Evans and Rogers.



Montaña has left Kozontchouk, Zaugg and Devenyns on the final part of the climb as he crosses the summit about 40 seconds ahead of the three riders. He has 10’43 on the pack with just over 100 kilometres to go.



Unfortuneately for Montaña he’s a rubbish descender as the three chasers quickly catches him again, so we now have a four man front group. Back in the pack, Credit Lyonnais and Magenta have joined in in the chase of the leaders. The pack is down to just 47 riders now.



Going over the next climb, Linus Gerdemann hits the front to try and shake up the favourites’ group.



It works as we over the top have a group of just 12 riders from the pack going clear. Almost all the favourites are in there, but Iglinskiy, Perez Fernandez and Casar are missing out.



Hitting the base of the penultimate climb and the break’s advantage is not cut to just 4 minutes, while the race has come a bit more together back in the favourites’ group.



But strange things are happening in the pack as no-one wants to take the initiative and relay.



Markus Fothen takes advantage of the standstill as he quite simply just rides off the front of the pack. He has about 30 seconds over the top of the climb, with 15 riders chasing him. In this group we have all of the favourites plus a few domestiques. And quite impressively we have two riders from the wildcard team, Molteni.



They’re trying to catch Fothen who is now trying to close down the early break.



The 4-man break still leads Fothen by over a minute as they enter the base of the final climb with about 30 kilometres still to go.



Fothen only has 20 seconds on the pack and he is reeled in quickly afterwards. A few kilometres later it’s all over for the early break aswell, as we now have a front group of 24 riders, from which today’s stage winner no doubt will come from. With only a few domestiques left in the group riders like Karpets, Popovych, Dekker and Brajkovic are at the front relaying, while Evans is staying out of the wind at the back of the group.



With 11 kilometres to go Thomas Dekker decides it’s time to go. Brajkovic and Popovych counter.



They don’t get a gap though, nor does Fothen who puts in an effort a bit later. Apparently the lack of relaying earlier has forced the leaders to sit too much in the wind, and it’s costing them now. Now Evans go! Does he have enough in the tank to pull clear. Yes! He’s got a gap!



The unmistakable importance of a great team has just been emphasized very clearly. Evans has had a lot of riders around him all day and apparently he is the only one who has the required strenght to break clear. This is the product of a strong team effort we’re seeing right here. The Australian enters the final and very steep couple of kilometres with around 40 seconds on the other favourites. Will he take his 3rd stage win?



He does it again! What an amazing tour this has been for Evans. Surely he has forgotten all about the Tour de France right now.



Fothen leads in the rest of the favourites where a few time gaps occured due to the tough finish.



Surely Evans has this victory wrapped up now and tomorrow’s time trial won’t stand in the way of him and victory. He might even win it with the kind of form he is showing right now.

1	Cadel Evans	WIKIPEDIA	5h03'44
2	Markus Fothen	MAGENTA ALL-STARS	+ 31
3	Jaroslav Popovych	FESTINA	s.t.
4	Vincenzo Nibali	DOMINA VACANZE	s.t.
5	John Gadret	CREDIT LYONNAIS	s.t.
6	Janez Brajkovic	FRANCE TELEVISIONS	+ 54
7	Vladimir Karpets	VIRGIN MEDIA - CAISSE D'EPARGNE	s.t.
8	Maxim Iglinski	ACCUMALUX - FORMEX	+ 1'04
9	Michael Rogers	LA GAZETTA DELLO SPORT	s.t.
10	Thomas Dekker	PHILIPS - HUMMEL	s.t.
11	Patrik Sinkewitz	ERSTE	s.t.
12	Pieter Weening	PHILIPS - HUMMEL	s.t.
13	Sandy Casar	FRANCE TELEVISIONS	s.t.
14	Santiago Perez Fernandez	NINTENDO - HONDA	+ 1'37
15	Rigoberto Úran	DOMINA VACANZE	s.t.
16	Stefan Schumacher	CARLSBERG	s.t.
17	Iñigo Landaluze	MOLTENI	+ 1'52
18	Linus Gerdemann	MAGENTA ALL-STARS	+ 2'04
19	Wladimir Gustov	FESTINA	+ 2'19
20	Kai Reus	MAGENTA ALL-STARS	+ 2'28
21	Lars Boom	VIRGIN MEDIA - CAISSE D'EPARGNE	+ 2'40
22	Matthias Kessler	EUROSPORT	+ 2'58
23	Benjamin Noval	MOLTENI	+ 3'45
24	Andrei Sartasov	EUROSPORT	+ 4'17
25	Jelle Vanendert	DOMINA VACANZE	+ 4'49
26	Luca Mazzanti	MOLTENI	+ 6'41
27	Francis De Greef	MOLTENI	+ 6'57
28	Pierrick Fédrigo	NINTENDO - HONDA	+ 7'13
29	Joost Posthuma	LA GAZETTA DELLO SPORT	+ 7'21
30	Jurgen Van Goolen	FESTINA	s.t.
31	Marzio Bruseghin	LA GAZETTA DELLO SPORT	s.t.
32	Jairo Agudelo	NINTENDO - HONDA	+ 7'29
33	Sébastien Joly	EUROSPORT	+ 7'37
34	Matthieu Sprick	WIKIPEDIA	+ 7'53
35	Kevin Seeldraeyers	WARNER BROTHERS	+ 8'01
36	Matea Kvasina	ACCUMALUX - FORMEX	+ 8'17
37	Tom Stubbe	WIKIPEDIA	+ 8'49
38	Oliver Zaugg	FESTINA	+ 10'09
39	Fredy Montaña	NINTENDO - HONDA	+ 10'17
40	Sylwester Szmyd	LA GAZETTA DELLO SPORT	+ 10'49
41	Mathieu Perget	CREDIT LYONNAIS	s.t.
42	Dries Devenyns	AMERICAN SUZUKI	+ 11'05
43	Dmitri Kozontchuk	MAPEI	+ 11'21
44	David George	WIKIPEDIA	+ 12'09
45	Aleksandr Kolobnev	MAPEI	+ 13'21
46	Raffaele Illiano	NINTENDO - HONDA	s.t.
47	Michail Ignatiev	ERSTE	+ 13'29
48	Steve Morabito	FESTINA	s.t.
49	Jordi Grau	FESTINA	+ 13'37
50	Dmitri Medvedev	SONY ERICSSON	+ 13'45
51	Luis Perez Rodriguez	MOLTENI	s.t.
52	Christophe Le Mével	PHILIPS - HUMMEL	+ 13'53
53	Taylor Phinney	VIRGIN MEDIA - CAISSE D'EPARGNE	s.t.
54	Roman Kilun	WIKIPEDIA	+ 14'01
55	Ben Hermans	WIKIPEDIA	s.t.
56	Victor Hugo Peña	FRANCE TELEVISIONS	+ 14'09
57	Giovanni Visconti	WARNER BROTHERS	+ 14'17
58	André Vital	MOLTENI	s.t.
59	Stef Clement	NINTENDO - HONDA	+ 14'57
60	Stefano Garzelli	EUROSPORT	+ 15'29
61	Axel Merckx	EUROSPORT	+ 15'37
62	Brian Vandborg	FESTINA	+ 18'25
63	Anthony Roux	MAGENTA ALL-STARS	+ 18'41
64	William Ford	VIRGIN MEDIA - CAISSE D'EPARGNE	+ 19'53
65	Matt Booth	AMERICAN SUZUKI	+ 20'01
66	Rik Verbrugghe	FRANCE TELEVISIONS	+ 20'09
67	Julien Berard	AMERICAN SUZUKI	s.t.
68	Luigi Sestili	CREDIT LYONNAIS	+ 20'33
69	Aleksandr Arekejev	FRANCE TELEVISIONS	+ 21'29
70	Jakub Danacik	SONY ERICSSON	s.t.
71	Logan Hutchings	ERSTE	+ 24'49
72	Stefan Schreck	CARLSBERG	+ 24'57
73	Mauro Da Dalto	DOMINA VACANZE	+ 25'05
74	Yoann Offredo	MAPEI	+ 25'37
75	Piotr Mazur	ACCUMALUX - FORMEX	+ 26'25
76	Juri Krivtsov	CREDIT LYONNAIS	+ 26'33
77	Danny Pate	WIKIPEDIA	+ 26'41
78	Joseph Cooper	DOMINA VACANZE	+ 26'49
79	Vicente Reynès	EUROSPORT	+ 26'57
80	Michael Schär	FRANCE TELEVISIONS	s.t.
81	Daniele Bennati	LA GAZETTA DELLO SPORT	+ 27'05
82	Robert Hunter	ACCUMALUX - FORMEX	+ 27'13
83	Jérôme Baugnies	ERSTE	s.t.
84	Sebastian Langeveld	VIRGIN MEDIA - CAISSE D'EPARGNE	+ 27'21
85	Enrico Franzoi	FRANCE TELEVISIONS	+ 27'29
86	Gert Dockx	MAPEI	s.t.
87	Markus Eichler	MAPEI	+ 27'37
88	Clément Lhotellerie	NINTENDO - HONDA	+ 27'45
89	Assan Bazajev	SONY ERICSSON	s.t.
90	Bernhard Eisel	CARLSBERG	+ 27'53
91	Arnaud Coyot	ERSTE	+ 28'01
92	Carlo Westphal	CARLSBERG	s.t.
93	Aitor Galdos	MOLTENI	+ 28'09
94	Matthieu Ladagnous	AMERICAN SUZUKI	s.t.
95	Alejandro Borrajo	SONY ERICSSON	s.t.
96	Ben Curfs	AMERICAN SUZUKI	+ 28'17
97	Marcel Sieberg	CARLSBERG	+ 28'25
98	Bert Grabsch	CARLSBERG	s.t.
99	Jussi Veikkanen	ACCUMALUX - FORMEX	+ 28'33
100	Evgeni Sokolov	AMERICAN SUZUKI	+ 28'41
101	Fabio Sacchi	AMERICAN SUZUKI	+ 28'49
102	Sebastian Lang	SONY ERICSSON	+ 29'45
103	Bruno Neves	MAGENTA ALL-STARS	+ 30'09
104	Michael Mørkøv	PHILIPS - HUMMEL	+ 30'17
105	Kevin Fouquet	SONY ERICSSON	+ 30'25
106	Anders Lund	PHILIPS - HUMMEL	+ 31'13
107	Bobbie Traksel	DOMINA VACANZE	+ 31'21
108	Arthur Garcia Rincon	VIRGIN MEDIA - CAISSE D'EPARGNE	+ 31'29
109	Kristof Vandewalle	EUROSPORT	+ 31'45
110	Adrian Laidler	CREDIT LYONNAIS	s.t.
111	Koen De Kort	FRANCE TELEVISIONS	s.t.
112	Alexandre Aulas	DOMINA VACANZE	+ 31'53
113	William Bonnet	CREDIT LYONNAIS	s.t.
114	Luke Roberts	EUROSPORT	+ 32'25
115	Kevin Ista	WIKIPEDIA	+ 32'33
116	Rick Flens	LA GAZETTA DELLO SPORT	+ 32'49
117	Anthony Lavoine	MAGENTA ALL-STARS	+ 33'05
118	Marc Machado	CARLSBERG	+ 33'37
119	Rafaâ Chtioui	ACCUMALUX - FORMEX	+ 34'57
120	Baden Cooke	ERSTE	+ 35'21
121	Saulo Lay	ERSTE	s.t.
122	Emanuele Rizza	AMERICAN SUZUKI	+ 35'37
123	Mark Renshaw	PHILIPS - HUMMEL	s.t.
124	Dennis Van Winden	LA GAZETTA DELLO SPORT	+ 35'45
125	László Bodrogi	PHILIPS - HUMMEL	+ 36'01
126	Jürgen Van de Walle	WARNER BROTHERS	+ 36'25
127	Mark Scanlon	WARNER BROTHERS	+ 37'05
128	Wouter Weylandt	WARNER BROTHERS	+ 38'25
129	Claudio Cucinotta	SONY ERICSSON	+ 39'45
130	Óscar Guerao	MAPEI	+ 41'05
131	Damien Gaudin	MAPEI	+ 41'13
132	Evert Verbist	DOMINA VACANZE	+ 41'21
133	Peter Wrolich	MAGENTA ALL-STARS	s.t.
134	Eric Baumann	CARLSBERG	s.t.
135	Marcel Barth	ACCUMALUX - FORMEX	+ 41'30
136	Michael Ford	LA GAZETTA DELLO SPORT	+ 41'38
137	Ivan Kovalev	VIRGIN MEDIA - CAISSE D'EPARGNE	s.t.
138	Marcel Kittel	ACCUMALUX - FORMEX	+ 41'46
139	Dimitri Champion	CREDIT LYONNAIS	+ 42'50
140	Fabien Taillefour	CREDIT LYONNAIS	+ 42'58
141	Ruben Bongiorno	MOLTENI	+ 43'38
142	Stephen Vicelich	MAPEI	s.t.
143	Viktor Renäng	SONY ERICSSON	+ 43'54
144	Ian Stannard	VIRGIN MEDIA - CAISSE D'EPARGNE	+ 48'58
145	Daniel Thorsen	MAGENTA ALL-STARS	+ 49'22
146	Olaf Pollack	PHILIPS - HUMMEL	+ 51'38
147	Ashley Hutchinson	NINTENDO - HONDA	+ 54'58
148	Josu Irazusta	THE CONTROL TEAM	+ 55'46

GC

1	Cadel Evans	WIKIPEDIA	25h32'34
2	John Gadret	CREDIT LYONNAIS	+ 2'51
3	Markus Fothen	MAGENTA ALL-STARS	+ 3'05
4	Jaroslav Popovych	FESTINA	+ 6'09
5	Janez Brajkovic	FRANCE TELEVISIONS	+ 6'14
6	Thomas Dekker	PHILIPS - HUMMEL	+ 6'24
7	Maxim Iglinski	ACCUMALUX - FORMEX	+ 7'53
8	Vincenzo Nibali	DOMINA VACANZE	+ 7'55
9	Sandy Casar	FRANCE TELEVISIONS	+ 7'56
10	Vladimir Karpets	VIRGIN MEDIA - CAISSE D'EPARGNE	+ 7'57
11	Michael Rogers	LA GAZETTA DELLO SPORT	+ 8'11
12	Santiago Perez Fernandez	NINTENDO - HONDA	+ 8'49
13	Rigoberto Úran	DOMINA VACANZE	+ 9'22
14	Patrik Sinkewitz	ERSTE	+ 9'34
15	Wladimir Gustov	FESTINA	+ 9'37
16	Iñigo Landaluze	MOLTENI	+ 11'19
17	Benjamin Noval	MOLTENI	+ 12'18
18	Stefan Schumacher	CARLSBERG	+ 12'58
19	Pieter Weening	PHILIPS - HUMMEL	+ 13'03
20	Linus Gerdemann	MAGENTA ALL-STARS	+ 13'27
21	Jairo Agudelo	NINTENDO - HONDA	+ 16'23
22	Jelle Vanendert	DOMINA VACANZE	+ 17'34
23	Matthias Kessler	EUROSPORT	+ 18'10
24	Francis De Greef	MOLTENI	+ 18'32
25	Luca Mazzanti	MOLTENI	s.t.
26	Marzio Bruseghin	LA GAZETTA DELLO SPORT	+ 18'54
27	Lars Boom	VIRGIN MEDIA - CAISSE D'EPARGNE	+ 19'27
28	Kai Reus	MAGENTA ALL-STARS	+ 21'03
29	Matea Kvasina	ACCUMALUX - FORMEX	+ 21'16
30	Jurgen Van Goolen	FESTINA	+ 21'39
31	Joost Posthuma	LA GAZETTA DELLO SPORT	+ 22'19
32	Andrei Sartasov	EUROSPORT	+ 25'22
33	Steve Morabito	FESTINA	+ 27'21
34	Sylwester Szmyd	LA GAZETTA DELLO SPORT	+ 28'51
35	Tom Stubbe	WIKIPEDIA	+ 28'54
36	Matthieu Sprick	WIKIPEDIA	+ 29'02
37	Stefano Garzelli	EUROSPORT	+ 31'23
38	André Vital	MOLTENI	+ 32'55
39	Dmitri Kozontchuk	MAPEI	+ 33'11
40	Michail Ignatiev	ERSTE	+ 33'31
41	Stef Clement	NINTENDO - HONDA	+ 35'06
42	Roman Kilun	WIKIPEDIA	+ 35'24
43	Luis Perez Rodriguez	MOLTENI	+ 36'04
44	Kevin Seeldraeyers	WARNER BROTHERS	+ 37'44
45	Taylor Phinney	VIRGIN MEDIA - CAISSE D'EPARGNE	+ 38'29
46	Axel Merckx	EUROSPORT	+ 39'25
47	Aleksandr Kolobnev	MAPEI	+ 40'10
48	Victor Hugo Peña	FRANCE TELEVISIONS	+ 41'11
49	Pierrick Fédrigo	NINTENDO - HONDA	+ 41'36
50	Sébastien Joly	EUROSPORT	+ 42'17

Points

1	Cadel Evans	WIKIPEDIA	20	83
2	Daniele Bennati	LA GAZETTA DELLO SPORT	0	70
3	Markus Fothen	MAGENTA ALL-STARS	17	60
4	John Gadret	CREDIT LYONNAIS	12	55
5	Bernhard Eisel	CARLSBERG	0	54
6	Thomas Dekker	PHILIPS - HUMMEL	6	45
7	Assan Bazajev	SONY ERICSSON	0	45
8	Michael Rogers	LA GAZETTA DELLO SPORT	7	41
9	Marcel Sieberg	CARLSBERG	0	38
10	Janez Brajkovic	FRANCE TELEVISIONS	10	34

KoM

1	Sébastien Joly	EUROSPORT	0	140
2	Giovanni Visconti	WARNER BROTHERS	0	102
3	Oliver Zaugg	FESTINA	60	101
4	Fredy Montaña	NINTENDO - HONDA	75	101
5	Vincenzo Nibali	DOMINA VACANZE	24	88
6	Dmitri Kozontchuk	MAPEI	66	88
7	Cadel Evans	WIKIPEDIA	22	74
8	Dries Devenyns	AMERICAN SUZUKI	58	66
9	Markus Fothen	MAGENTA ALL-STARS	29	65
10	Arnaud Coyot	ERSTE	0	58