Stage Sixteen...

Stage Sixteen:
1st: Michael Rasmussen - Denmark - Rabobank - 5:36:04
2nd: Carlos Sastre - CSC - Spain - 5:37:45
3rd: Oscar Pereiro - Spain - Caisse d'Epargne-Illes - 5:37:58

Overall:
1st: Oscar Pereiro - Spain - Caisse d'Epargne-Illes - 74:38:05
2nd: Carlos Sastre - CSC - Spain - ( + 1:50)
3rd: Andreas Kloden - Germany - T-Mobile (+ 2:29)
Other notables:
5th: Cadel Evans - Australia - Lotto - (+ 2:56)
9th: Levi Leipheimer - USA - Gerolsteiner (+ 7:46)
11th: Floyd Landis - USA - Phonak - (+ 8:08)
20th: Jose Azevedo - Portugal - Discovery (+ 19:46)
26th: Yaroslav Popovich - Ukraine - Discovery (+ 34:36)
52nd: George Hincapie - USA - Discovery (+ 53:18)

Yellow Jersey (Overall Leader): Oscar Periero
Green Jersey(Top Points Earner): Robbie McEwen (Austrailia)
White Jersey(Best Young Rider): Marcus Fothen (Germany)
Red Polka Dot Jersey (King of the Mountain): Michael Rasmussen
Yellow Numbers (Best Team): CSC
Red Number (Most Competitive): Michael Rasmussen

This stage broke my heart. It didn't make me angry, just very sad. It was another punishing mountain stage. Rasmussen, the King of the Mountain winner of 2005, shined from 5 km on, a clear cut winner from the beginning. But in the race for the yellow jersey, there was pandemonium. A breakaway of 14 followed Rasmussen and two others and contained a few Discovery riders, including Popovich. With four mountains to cross thoughm they could not stay seperated from the major contenders. The carnage known as the Peleton was scattered across the Alps after the first mountain of the day and highest mountain of the Tour, the Col de Galibier. Five riders dropped out today alone, bringing the field down to 147 riders. The decents of the day were treacherous, but oddly enough the safer ones saw more crashes. By the final mountain of the day, several of the main contenders were traveling together - Kloden, Evans, Landis, Sastre, and Menchov. Members of T-Mobile and CSC were present to help Kloden and Sastre, respectively, but Landis and the yellow jersey were alone. And he paid for it. An acceleration at the front of the group was not answered by Landis. He totally cracked. It was so sad. The group picked up more and more time on him and he rode most of the final ten km by himself, with people passing him left and right until one of his teammates, Axel Merckx who has worked so hard for the last couple days, caught up and led him into the line. It's hard to say anything for definite with this tour as things are constantly being turned inside out, but with time running out and another tough stage tomorrow, Floyd may have just lost his chance at winning or even taking the podium. It's devestating. Also disappointing on the day was an ineffectual attack by Leipheimer. He was gaining time for awhile but ended the day right where he started, actually losing a few seconds. Poor, poor USA. Periero, on the other hand is totally defying the odds and looking amazing in the mountains, which are not typically his strong point. The other contenders are kicking themselves for letting him get that half-hour lead before the rest day. Most of us called that though. Tomorrow is the final day in the Alps, and then its just 2 more stages before Paris. What a Tour.