Stage Fifteen...

Stage Fifteen:
1st: Frank Schleck - Luxembourg - CSC - 4:52:22
2nd: Damiano Cunego - Italy - Lampre - 4:52:33
3rd: Stefano Garzelli - Italy - Liquigas - 4:53:32

Overall:
1st: Floyd Landis - USA - Phonak - 69:00:05
2nd: Oscar Pereiro - Spain - Caisse d'Epargne-Illes -(+ :10)
3rd: Cyril Dessel - France - AG2R (+ 2:02)
Other notables:
6th: Andreas Kloden - Germany - T-Mobile (+ 2:29)
7th: Cadel Evans - Australia - Lotto - (+ 2:56)
9th: Levi Leipheimer - USA - Gerolsteiner (+ 6:18)
13th: Yaroslav Popovich - Ukraine - Discovery (+ 7:36)
25th: Jose Azevedo* - Portugal - Discovery (+ 13:47)
38th: George Hincapie - USA - Discovery (+ 26:18)

Yellow Jersey (Overall Leader): Floyd Landis
Green Jersey(Top Points Earner): Robbie McEwen (Austrailia)
White Jersey(Best Young Rider): Marcus Fothen (Germany)
Red Polka Dot Jersey (King of the Mountain): David de la Fuente (Spain)
Yellow Numbers (Best Team): CSC
Red Number (Most Competitive): Stefano Garzelli (Italy)

The Alps always hold something special, particularly when the include the famed Alpe d'Huez. If you're a non-cycling fan and you think of one memorable image you've seen in passing from the tour, odds are its from Alpe d'Huez. Lance on the US Postal Team glancing over his shoulder at Jan Ulrich? Yup, 2001. Lance riding alone with his sun glasses on, yellow jersey unzipped and cross dangling as he peddled up hill? Mmhmm, 2004 time trial. How about fans swamping the road so that you can't see where the path is until you're already on it? Yeah, every year. I don't want to hear the cycling has no fan base. On this mountain alone, whenever it's included in the tour anywhere from 500,000 to 1,000,000 fans show upfrom across the world. Unbelievable. And they are insane. Absolutely crazy. And that's even without being completely intoxicated. They run along side, in front of and around the riders in costumes, with flags, or totally naked. They stand in the middle of the road snapping pictures until the last possible second, and are so loud you can barely hear the commentary from the box. Cycling legends are made on this mountain. Today was no exception. On a very strategic day of racing with two other climbs, the tour did not disappoint. A lead breakaway of 25 riders contained no one who is really still a yellow jersey contender, but several big names, like Zabriskie, Jens Voight, George Hincapie, Egoi Martinez, and several others. Martinez actually crashed out, but remained in the race. The same does not go for Tom Boonen who abandoned the race today, daunted by the Alps. He has yet to finish a Tour de France. There were a few attacks through out the day before the final major climb where all hell broke loose. The breakaway fell apart and the Peloton shattered. At the base of the Alpe d'Huez the contenders made their moves. Landis, Kloden, Leipheimer, Evans, Menchov - all were in fantastic form. Menchov and Evans did crack a little though. Landis and Kloden though looked amazing. Periero lost the jersey to Landis by the time he crossed the line, but still road very well considering he was not expected to be in the GC at all. I wish I could go into more detail on the stage, but there was just so much that happened, it's hard to pick and choose what to include. Just know that this year's trip up the Alpe d'Huez more than lived up to its precursors. In other news, Lance Armstrong made the trip to France yesterday and was seen riding the Alpe d'Huez on the rest day. He rode the mountain 4 times in the tour, winning the stage twice - once in 2001, and once when it was made into a time trial in 2004. This time though, no one recognized him. How strange. He rode in the Discovery car today during the stage. I give him a lot of credit for doing that. It has to be insanely difficult. It's like when I go back to Cross to watch a show and I'm just dying to be onstage with them - it's still home in a way. Im sure it's comparable to that. Anyway - tomorrow is another day in the Alps. It's anybody's guess how it will turn out though, just like every other stage, I know - but add to that the fact that no one saved anything today. They are going to be exhausted for a stage tomorrow that will be just as difficult, if not more so than today. Personally, I can't wait.