Astana in Command

Updated: I forgot to credit Paddy with the 25 points he gets for Levi being back in gold. It's fixed now.

David Moncoutie won the stage. But as far as the GC goes, it all went Astana's way today. Leipheimer finds himself back in yellow. And Contador is in second after jumping ahead with Valverde and Anton to take 5 seconds from the competition. CN and Pez for the rest.

My mountain men put on another show of force in the FGBC Pool. That's two wins in a row, and I'm now just two points from the podium in the GC. Much better. And to think I was ready to give up on those guys after the dismal performance by my sprinters in the first week left me languishing in the gutter with Dallas. Come on Arlene finished second today, and continues to eat into Vic's once mighty stranglehold on the top sport. His lead is down to just 11 points. Jonny B finished third on the day. More mountains tomorrow, but it doesn't look like it'll be too decisive. The big fireworks will go off next weekend.

Stage 8 Results:

Chris 345
Arlene 215
Jonny B 195
Brad 160
Vic 150
Dallas 120
Matt 105
Paddy 90
Ian 35
David 0
Hal 0


Overall Standings:

Vic 1126
Arlene 1115
Paddy 958
Chris 956
Jonny B 791
Brad 778
Hal 689
Matt 629
David 587
Dallas 507
Ian 484