Ballan Goes Ballistic

After a bunch of stages that saw the stars of the classics pull the rug out from under the big legs of the sprinters, the script called for the mountain goats to come out and play today. But apparently nobody gave that script to Allesandro Ballan. Yet another spring strongman wins the day, this time as the lone survivor of the day's long breakaway. He was helped by some miserable conditions: 15 C., rain, and heavy fog at times, which made the coveragepretty spotty. Ballan won by almost three minutes and takes over the revolving-door position of GC leader as well. Ezequiel Mosquerra led the rest of the bunch over to finish second, while Contador lept away from his competition to grab a few seconds while finishing third. Head on over to CN and Pez for the rest of the story.

After a week of stinking up the FGBC Vuelta Pool, Chris's team finally showed some signs of life today. Mosquerra's 125 points helped. But Anton, Gesink, and Zaugg all chipped in as well to push the total up to 290 points on the day. Arlene was second with 215 points, while Paddy continues to hang around the podium with 130 points. David, Ian, and Jonny B were all zeroes on the day. And Vic wasn't much better. With only 55 points, he sees his race lead shrink to just 76 points over Arlene. Paddy is in third, at just over 100 points back. More mountains tomorrow.

Stage 7:

Chris 290
Arlene 215
Paddy 130
Brad 115
Matt 100
Dallas 80
Vic 55
Hal 35
David 0
Ian 0
Jonny B 0


Overall Standings:

Vic 976
Arlene 900
Paddy 868
Hal 689
Brad 618
Chris 611
Jonny B 596
David 587
Matt 524
Ian 449
Dallas 387

OTT: Old Crow Medicine Show, Tennessee Pusher