Saturday, July 8

TdF: Stage 7

It was a disappointing day for most of the Americans at the Tour de France. Floyd Landis came in second to Ukraine's Serhiy Honchar, who set a blistering pace for the individual time trial through the Brittany countryside. But, George Hincapie was only able to manage a disappointing 24th, trailing Honchar by 2:42. Levi Leipheimer placed 96th, a disastrous effort, more than 6 minutes behind Honchar. And Bobby Julich crashed out of the race altogether, losing control of his bike while negotiating a tight curve in the course. Julich, who finished third in 1998, was taken to a local hospital after hitting the ground hard and slamming into the curb. Through there is a lot of riding still to come over the next two weeks, the leader-board was really shaken up in this surprising stage:

1. Sergei Gontchar (Ukraine)
2. Floyd Landis (USA)
3. Michael Rogers (Australia)
4. Patrik Sinkewitz (Germany)
5. Marcus Fothen (Germany)
6. Andreas Kloden (Germany)
7. Vladimir Karpets (Russia)
8. Cadel Evans (Australia)
9. Denis Menchov (Russia)
10. David Zabriskie (USA)
11. Matthias Kessler (Germany)
12. Christophe Moreau (France)
13. Paolo Savoldelli (Italy)
14. Eddy Mazzoleni (Italy)
15. Sebastian Lang (Germany)
16. Carlos Sastre (Spain)
17. George Hincapie (USA)
18. Oscar Pereiro Sio (Spain)
19. Thomas Lovkvist (Sweden)
20. Didier Rous (France)
21. Tom Boonen (Belgium)
22. Christian Vande Velde (USA)
23. Yaroslav Popovych (Ukraine)
24. Rubiera Jose Luis (Spain)
25. David Millar (Britain)