Hautacam

Well the first big mountain finish was today. As usual it doesn't tell you who will win the tour, but it definitely tells you who won't. Valverde and Cunego are almost certainly out of the running for the overall. They didn't completely crack, but they lost 4+ minutes to Cadel Evans and almost that much to all of the other contenders. So there goes my prediction, though I would like credit for avoiding Valverde. And now that Evans has yellow we'll have to see how his team holds up. He only has a lead of 1 second over Frank Schleck, and CSC has a much better team. Being in yellow by only a second is something you expect to see the day after a prologue, not going into the first rest day.

No further word on Beltran or his B sample. Phil and Paul actually haven't talked about him much. I did read that yesterday's victory by Ricardo Ricco was "too impressive" and people are starting to question whether he's clean. I guess that's where the sport is at, and it's not a good place to be. Overall I was kind of disappointed in the big contenders. There were a couple of attacks but nothing really significant. Still the group was whittled down to five. Christian VandeVelde was in that elite group of five and he's definitely been one of the big stories of the tour. I certainly hope that he continues to do well.

They're lucky Contador couldn't make it