Posted on 07/12/2005 5:26:00 AM PDT by green iguana
14:14 - Lead Drops To 8’40"
The peloton is now 8’40" behind the seven escapees. The attack was instigated by Posthuma and Brochard in the first kilometer of the stage. These two riders were joined by Krivtsov at the 3km mark. A counter-attack from Sanchez, Facci, Bortolami and Isasi caught the three early escapees at the 16km mark. 14:09 - Eight Complete Teams
There are only eight teams with a full contingent of nine riders still in the Tour. The complete formations are: Discovery Channel, T-Mobile, Rabobank, Cofidis, Quickstep, Bouyges Telecom, Gerolsteiner and Euskaltel. There are 173 riders still in the race. Today’s retiree is Gerrit Glomser. His Lampre-Caffita team-mate Evgeny Petrov didn’t take the start after a doping control conducted by the UCI this morning.
TdF ping - I don't have a ping list.
Tomorrow: 
Hi there...
I was looking for the live thread.
Just starting the first climb.
I suspect that we might not see too much action among the bigguns until the last climb up to the finish...
Exciting stuff :-)
Today is the day to separate the men from the boys.
12:16 - No News About The Stage StartThe 10th stage was expected to begin at around midday. There was meant to be a 9.7km neutral zone but that was extended by 11.5km because protests were planned to disrupt the racing at the start of the stage.
The peloton is currently at a standstill in Brignoud, the new site of the official start.
We can expect the stage to begin any minute now.
11:21 - Welcome To The Live Coverage Of Stage 10
The 192.5km 10th stage of the 2005 Tour de France was meant to begin at 11.40am but it will start 10 minutes early because of a protest in Grenoble. The itinerary has changed slightly for the stage from Grenoble to Courchevel. The official start will now be in Brignoud (which was meant to be the 11.5km mark of the stage).
The amendment has been made by the organizers at the last minute to ensure there are no interruptions to the racing because of the planned protest.
Good afternoon! (I guess - what time is it there?)
Yes - I think we'll learn a lot about how this Tour's going to shake out on that stage-ending climb. I read that this is the first stage route that Lance scouted and practiced this year (not counting the time-trials...)
I wonder what the protest was about? Insufficient dairy price supports? 34 hour work week? Lousy summer weather? Guess we'll never know...
Leaders about 11km from the top of the first climb. Lead down to 6:15 (after peaking at 10:40 or so...)
I am on Central European time, so it's soon going to be 3pm.
The last climb should be interesting. I wonder if Discovery will try to blow the peloton apart...
Just watched an interview with Vino and he said he had fun saturday, and was looking for more of the same today. Sounds promising. Go vino :-)
I am also curious to see if Basso got the legs to attack. He seems to be a bit of a defensive rider. Come on Basso. Attack. Attack. Attack.
hehe. I am getting carried away here.
The protest was probably one that some freepers could have empathised with. It was about gun rights.. sort of. Farmers are upset that they are not allowed to shoot wolves. Apperently wolves have been killing quite a few sheep in the area lately.
Cheers.
Stage 10 ping!
I'm cubicle bound. Anyone know where Lance is?
Semper Fi
A bit of action now...
11:48 - 174 Riders Still In The TourThere were 174 riders at the sign on this morning. Below is a summary of the riders who have abandoned the Tour.
Constantino Zaballa (SDV) quit during stage five.
Claudio Corioni (FAS) quit during stage six.
Steve Zampieri (PHO) and Alessandro Spezialetti (LAM) quit during stage seven.
Isaac Galvez (IBA), Sylvain Calzati (A2R) and Leon van Bon (DVL) quit during stage eight. Christophe Mengin (FDJ) and Serhiy Honchar (DOM) didn’t take the start for stage eight. Dave Zabriskie (CSC), Jose Angel Gomez (SDV), Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano (LSW), Jaan Kirsipuu (C.A) and Luciano Pagliarini (LIQ) quit during the ninth stage.
Evgeny Petrov (LAM) was declared unfit to contest the 10th stage after blood controls earlier today.
15:02 - Kloden & Rubiera Lead Peloton
The peloton is now 5’12" behind the stage leaders. At the front of the main pack are Andreas Kloden and Jose Luis Rubiera.
15:01 - Mayo Dropped
Iban Mayo has been dropped by the peloton which has now just caught up with the Garzelli group.
Leaders have about 5 1/2 km to go on first climb. The pace is just shredding the peloton.
I see - I might have joined that protest! Thanks.
Looks like the sprinters have been dropped from the peloton on the first climb (23 riders dropped, including Boonen [Green jersey]). Leaders 5km from the peak of the first climb.
Lance is safely at the front of the peloton.
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