GC Riders Mark Time As Colombia Takes Another Stage

After three hard days in the Alps, the GC riders took a back seat on Stage 18 from Bourg d'Oisans at the foot of L'Alpe d'Huez to the industrial town of Saint Étienne. Marcus Burghardt proved the strongest of the successful breakaway riders to deliver Team Colombia their 5th stage victory of the tour. He defeated Carlos Barredo in the final sprint, with Roman Feillu filling the podium by leading home a small chase group some 3 minutes back.

All of the favourites finished together, although Roman Kreuziger and Andy Schleck did gain a few seconds when Kreuziger tried to reduce Schleck's lead in the White Jersey competition with a late attack. However, Schleck was wary of the Czech's tactics and matched him to the finish to record the same time. Damiano Cunego's horror tour continued as he was dropped by the peleton after crashing very early in the day's stage. He had to be guided home by his teammates some 20 minutes in arrears. He will now be lucky to garner a position in the top 20. After being put on hold in the Alps, the battle for the green jersey was renewed on the run in to Saint Etienne. Oscar Freire increased his lead in the competition leading home rivals Thor Hushovd and Erik Zabel at the head of the main pack. With the breakaway and chase group taking all the points on the climbs there was no change to the King of the Mountains standings.

Obviously the previous stage to L'Alpe d'Huez has led to a major shake up in betting markets. Going into the time trial Cadel Evans is now a clear favourite at $1.50. Carlos Sastre ($3.50), and Denis Menchov ($25) are the only other riders given any realistic chance of winning the overall classification. Honestly, there does not appear to be value in any of these prices. Evans looks especially poor value at the $1.50 but I am not willing to lay him given his exceptional time trialling ability.

Yellow Jersey - Carlos Sastre
Green Jersey - Oscar Freire
Polka Dot Jersey - Bernhard Kohl
White Jersey - Andy Schleck