Tour de France General Classification Analysis, Second Rest Day

The rest day at the Tour de France does not usually produce a change in the General Classification. But with the revelation that Alexander Vinokourov tested positive for a homoglbous blood transfusion, Team Astana pulled out of the Tour and the General Classification changed.

With Kloden and Kashechkin now out of the Tour, the Top 10 of the Tour de France General Classification now looks like this:

1 Michael Rasmussen (Den) Rabobank 69.52.14
2 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Discovery Channel 2.23
3 Cadel Evans (Aus) Predictor - Lotto 4.00
4 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Discovery Channel 5.25
5 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Team CSC 6.46
6 Haimar Zubeldia Agirre (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 7.27
7 Kim Kirchen (Lux) T-Mobile Team 8.24
8 Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 9.21
9 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 10.41
10 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 12.29

Discovery Channel now has three riders in the Top 10, and they now lead the team competition.

The burden will be on Discovery tomorrow to attack Michael Rasmussen throughout the final stage in the Pyrenees. If Levi Leipheimer wants to get on the podium, then he will need to attack Cadel Evans early and often. In fact, Leipheimer would be wise to see if Rabobank will let him go early in the race. If they let him go, then he has an opportunity to pick up considerable time on GC. If they don't let him go, Discovery should repeatedly attack Rasmussen and Evans to see if they can cause them to crack.

Vino aside, the last day in the Pyrenees should be an exciting one to behold.