Axel rose . . .

. . . to the challenge today, getting himself into the winning break. But unlike his papa, he wasn't able to finish it off. Still, not bad at all for the honorary captain's former teammate. In the end, he had to settle for 2nd place behind Sandy Casar, who survived another nasty crash with a dog earlier in the stage. What's up with the dogs? Are there no leashes in France?

It was more breakaway bingo today. In addition to the six lucky people with Merckx on their team, it was Johnny S whose numbers came golden today. With Casar and Boogerd, he takes 255 points and finishes just ahead of Matt's charging sprinters. Matt's 252 points was more than enough for him to reclaim the yellow jersey. He currently has a 151 point cushion over 2nd place and 742 over 3rd. Given the points still to be awarded, it seems the final podium is still up in the air.

Stage 18 results:

1) Johnny S - 255
2) Matt - 252
3) Hal - 184
4) Jonny G - 161
5) David L - 143
6) Jonny B - 123
7) Rachel - 121
8) Chris - 60
9) Cheryl - 47
10) Charlene - 14
11) James - 10
12) Vic - 7
13) David S - 0

General Classification after stage 18:

1) Matt - 2097
2) Chris - 1946
3) Rachel - 1355
4) Jonny G - 1319
5) James - 1229
6) David L - 1195
7) Hal - 1171
8) Charlene - 1162
9) Cheryl - 1044
10) Vic - 1003
11) Jonny B - 864
12) Johnny S - 693
13) David S - 426

Matt still sits atop the dirty pool too:

1) Matt - 2741
2) Chris - 1844
3) Jonny G - 1792
4) David L - 1586
5) Jonny B - 1260
6) Rachel - 1238
7) Hal - 1167
8) Johnny S - 1142
9) James - 1117
10) Charlene - 1054
11) Cheryl - 996
12) Vic - 933
13) David S - 742

Tomorrow's 55.5 km ITT should settle it. The magic numbers to bear in mind are 1.50 (Contador's lead over Evans) and .59 (Evan's lead over Leipheimer). Both Evans and Leipheimer can fly against the clock, so the top three spots could still change yet. But it's pretty certain that those three guys will stand on the podium in some order.

OTT: Dolorean, What One Bottle Can Do