Catching Up to the Tour

Man, it's been a busy week. And not just for me.

The biggest bike race in the world has been blown open, to smithereens even, and as the dust has settled, faithful viewers have realized that they're witnessing one of the most exciting and dramatic Tours in years.

I'm a Lance fan, let me just say that. But it's been an absolute thrill to tune in to a Tour stage and not know--I mean really not know--how the day would go. Who would attack, who would control, who would be able to follow if a dangerous rider jumped out of the group.

GC threats are many and changing. And that's the joy of it. The guy you're rooting for may actually have a chance to pull off something huge.

A recap, for those of you who need it:

• Tom Boonen won stage 6, but Fabian Cancellara held the lead.


• Linus Gerdemann won stage 7 and took the yellow jersey. This was a heroic effort by the 24-year-old German.


• Michael Rasmussen went on one of his signature fliers and won stage 8, taking the yellow jersey in the process. He intends to keep it.


• Last night, Juan Soler, a 24-year-old Tour rookie from Colombia with the South African Barloworld team, won the final Alps stage in convincing fashion, soloing away up the Galibier and holding off all the GC guys to the line. Very impressive.


• This morning, in his last Tour, Frenchman Cedric Vasseur outsprinted his break-away companions including Jens Voigt to win the stage. Rasmussen hangs on to yellow.

The standings are enough to bring a glint to your eye:

Overall, after Stage 10

1. Michael Rasmussen (Dk), RABOBANK, 49:23:48

2. Alejandro Valverde (Sp), CAISSE D'EPARGNE, 2:35

3. Iban Mayo (Sp), SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR, 2:39

4. Cadel Evans (Aus), PREDICTOR - LOTTO, 2:41

5. Alberto Contador (Sp), DISCOVERY CHANNEL TEAM, 3:08

6. Christophe Moreau (F), AG2R PREVOYANCE, 3:18

7. Carlos Sastre (Sp), TEAM CSC, 3:39

8. Andréas Kloden (G), ASTANA, 3:50

9. Levi Leipheimer (USA), DISCOVERY CHANNEL TEAM, 3:53

10. Kim Kirchen (Lux), T-MOBILE TEAM, 5:09

18. Denis Menchov (Rus), RABOBANK, 7:10

21. Alexandre Vinokourov (Kz), ASTANA, 8:05

22. Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr), DISCOVERY CHANNEL TEAM, 8:16

23. Vladimir Karpets (Rus), CAISSE D'EPARGNE, 8:51

25. Christopher Horner (USA), PREDICTOR - LOTTO, 9:11

Our man Chris Horner is having the race of his life, finishing toward the front consistently and putting in great efforts in the Tour's highest mountains. Dude's ripe for a stage victory.