Le Tour - Stage 12

Well, well, well...another stage win for Tornado Tom (and the 4th for Quickstep) prior to the first time trial and the "fun" of the Pyrenees.

I missed the whole stage due to a very badly placed 2 hour meeting at work, so I don't have a whole lot to work with, but...

The peloton let a two man break get a good amount of time until just before the final climb when Liquigas decided to reel them in, but it wasn't until Lampre, Française de Jeux, Quick.Step, and Credit Agricole started pulling that they were finally able to bring in just about the 1km marker.

From there Quickstep did what they do best and led out Boonen for the win over Zabel and Hunter. With the win Tom got a big boost towards locking down the green jersey, but missing out on any points yesterday will still leave a little wiggle room for Zabel and Hunter to try and fight.

Also in big but probably way too early news, Tom told Velonews that he is planning on racing the Tour of California next year (I think I need to book my flight now-woo hoo)



No movement in the GC today but with the time trial tomorrow, don't expect Rasmussen to be in yellow tomorrow night (with all the rumors and accusations going around will he even finish the tour?).

General Classification After Stage 12
1 Michael Rasmussen (Den) Rabobank 57.37.10
2 Alejandro Valverde Belmonte (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 2.35
3 Iban Mayo Diez (Spa) Saunier Duval - Prodir 2.39
4 Cadel Evans (Aus) Predictor - Lotto 2.41
5 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 3.08
6 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Team CSC 3.39
7 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana 3.50
8 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 3.53
9 Kim Kirchen (Lux) T-Mobile Team 5.06
10 Mikel Astarloza Chaurreau (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 5.20

Points Classification
1 Tom Boonen (Bel) Quickstep - Innergetic 195 pts
2 Robert Hunter (RSA) Barloworld 175
3 Erik Zabel (Ger) Team Milram 174
4 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Crédit Agricole 132
5 Sébastien Chavanel (Fra) Française des Jeux 127