I just thought it was pretty cool that the prologue and stage 1 were both in England: prologue time trial in London, and stage 1 from London to Canterbury. But yeah, the mtn. stages are where it gets interesting.

Filippo Pozzato (Liquigas) won the fifth stage of the 2007 Tour de France on Thursday.

The hilly, 182.5km stage from Chablis to Autun was a tough one for the Astana team, which saw both Alexandre Vinokourov and Andreas Klöden crash; the heavily favored Vino' lost 1:19 as a consequence.

ARGH!

Very very close. You see the finish? Kloden can fuck off but Alex will be okay. Nasty hill tommorow. Hang on it could be Sat??

The Tour's morning newsflash came out of the Astana camp. After the ugliness of Thursday's stage when both Alexandre Vinokourov and Klöden crashed and had to be taken to the hospital, both were at the start line Friday.

"Klöden is in pain and will find it hard to get up on the pedals on the climbs," Astana team manager Marc Biver said before stage 6. "He seems demoralized. The most visible injuries aren't always the worst ones. We'll see how he goes."

Klöden, runner-up in the 2004 Tour and third last year, was diagnosed with a hairline fracture of his coccyx after crashing 107km into the 182.5km fifth stage and landing in a grassy ditch. Tour doctor Gerard Porte examined Klöden.

"From a medical point of view, there's no reason why he can't continue," the doctor said. "We'll have to see what kind of pains he has. The pain will determine if he can continue or not."

Pre-race GC favorite Vinokourov went down 25km from the finish and received stitches to his right knee and elbow. Both riders spent most of Friday at the back of the field, thankful for some rest before the real climbing begins.

Horrible day from an Australian perspective though - 3 of our big names went out. Michael Rogers in particular is a big loss since he was in yellow on the road before the crash. At least Evans is still doing well.

Or Dana could torture him with more pictures of sweaty men in spandex.

What I like less are sweaty bulges.

**high fives** the cap'n.

Good race! We're being treated again to a Tour de France that promises not to be over till it's over.

Like last year when Floyd Landis came back from the dead to take the yellow jersey on the penultimate stage, we may not know this year's winner until the last rider finishes the 55.5-km time trial on July 28, the day before the riders promenade to Paris.

It's a far cry from the era of Lance Armstrong's textbook domination. He used the same formula for nearly the entire seven years -- win the first mountain stage, then kick butt in the time trials. As great as he was, he made it look easy. The Tour was always interesting but lacked drama.

Not this year. With half of the 20 stages remaining, nearly all of the dozen potential winners are in contention. Flat stages today and tomorrow will carry them to the first of two time trial showdowns, a hilly 54-km stage 13 test that's bound to shuffle the top 10.

The rider on the hot seat will be Michael Rasmussen (Rabobank), should he, as expected, arrive at the TT starting line on Saturday still in the yellow jersey.

The great Dane is perhaps cycling's best climber and he used that talent in the Alps to take over race leadership and the King of the Mountains competition. But a time trialist he isn't. Rasmussen finished 166th among the 189 riders in the Tour's prologue, and if he isn't well back in the field on Saturday it'll be a surprise.

Licking their chops are three riders in particular who have yellow aspirations. These are climbers who are also among the best against the clock. Cadel Evans (Predictor-Lotto) lies 4th, 2:41 behind Rasmussen. Andreas Kloden (Astana) is 8th at 3:50, one place ahead of Levi Leipheimer (Discovery Channel) at 3:53.

This isn't to discount the chances of Spanish climber Alejandro Valverde (Caisse D'Epargne). He's 2nd at 2:35 and the best sprinter among the nine riders still in contention. His time trialing is thought to be much improved.

Says Rabobank director Erik Dekker, "Who knows how much time Rasmussen will lose [in the two time trials]? It wouldn't be surprising if he loses five minutes, and seeing Valverde within that time isn't too good. Rasmussen worked on his position but he didn't do much training on the time trial bike."

Whether or not the man known as Chicken survives Saturday in first place, he'll have a chance to again put time on his rivals when the Tour hits the Pyrenees on Sunday, Monday and Wednesday (Tuesday is a rest day). These mountainous stages, following two fatigue-inducing weeks of racing, should be the most grueling of the Tour.

Then it all boils down to the long, flat time trial on July 28, the day before the Tour-ending promenade into Paris. At this point it's anyone's guess who will be sipping champagne in the peloton that Sunday.

Our guess at this midway point: Kloden.

Vinokourov is out due to a banned blood transfusion. His whole team quit, it is on Yahoo for those interested in reading it all.

Vinokourov is out due to a banned blood transfusion. His whole team quit, it is on Yahoo for those interested in reading it all.