What's for Lunch?

The rest of us, apparently. Greg the Lunchbucket kid is hungry. So hungry that he couldn't wait until the Alps to make his move. He calmly played his cards for the overall title today by putting Pellizotti and Fothen into the breakaway. And when they survived to the finish, he cashed in. He also picked up points from Hushovd, Armstrong and Vandevelde. His total for the day was 290 points. Good enough for a fairly demonstrative stage win with some significant implications for the overall race. Larry and Chris A tied for second with 235 points each. Both of them have Hey Nicki Sorensen on their squads. Anytime you can pick up 150 points from a wild card guy, you can consider it a succesful day on the vicarious racing front. Dallas, Paddy, and Jonny M have Sorensen too. And they were also up among the day's leaders. But with fewer points from the supporting cast, they just missed out on the podium.

In the overall pool, we have ourselves a new leader. For the first time since the race began a week and a half ago, neither Melissa nor Andy find themselves in the overall lead. Greg, the hungry Hamiltonian, has moved up to the top of the GC on the strength of his big win today. He has a 48 point lead over Melissa. And Andy is another 80 points back of her. With a rather unpredictable group of riders amongst the top seven finishers, today's stage resulted in a lot of jostling at the top of the leaderboard. The weasel has weaseled his way into 4th overall. You should never underestimate that guy. He's a sneaky one. Good thing he's in Paraguay right now. At least we don't have to put up with that smug smirk he's no doubt flashing around down there. The locals no doubt will have had enough trouble figuring out what he wants under normal circumstances. And now they will find themselves having even more of his cocksure yet evasive attitude to deal with. It could get ugly. Charlene has moved up into 5th on the GC. That is awesome. She has put in her time. It's nice to see it being rewarded with some results. The RRR guys, meanwhile, continue to fall. After spending the bulk of the first nine stages in third place, Brad the Impaler is now down to 9th overall. Mike and Larry occupy the two spots ahead of him. And yes, the FGBC continues to be shut out of the top 20. But all of a sudden it's not looking nearly as disastrous. Mark S retains his grip on the lanterne rouge. It's a little bit tighter, after LeAnn picked up another 15 points today while Mark had another scoreless stage. Don't give the Fraggle a chance to break your heart, Mark. She will tear it out, chew it up, and spit it into the gutter, leaving you shattered and sobbing like a jilted schoolboy. She just really hates losing.

As for the overall race, check out the Pez.

Results and standings here.