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By Chris Bevan
1200: "The only thing CSC could do now is put Frank Schleck in a breakaway and make Cadel Evans' team (which took a punishing in the Alps) chase him back all day long while Carlos Sastre sits comfortably in the peloton.
"Other than that its all going to go to the time trial on Saturday and, pending accidents, Evans should easily make up the required time."
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1157: We lost one rider in the Alps yesterday...well, not literally (we almost did LOSE John-Lee Augustyn on the way down from the Col de la Bonette-Restefond on Tuesday, mind!). AGR rider Jimmy Casper could not keep up with the Grupetto and finished outside the time limit at l'Alpe d'Huez - 48 minutes and 47 seconds behind Carlos Sastre.
1153: Those seven escapees are now 50 seconds clear. For the first time in a few days, the CSC team are not at the head of the peloton (Fabian Cancellara is probably having a well-deserved rest after his efforts on the Croix de Fer yesterday). At the moment it is Bouygues Telecom and Quickstep who are at the front.
1150: "I think we can expect to see some action from Frank Schleck. It's been the plan for a few days from CSC, keep forcing Cadel Evans to chase. Frank Schleck and Carlos Sastre just take it in turns. Bernhard Kohl will likely have a go on the second category climb near the end. Expect activity from Denis Menchov who probably reckons there is still a podium place if he can make some headway."
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1147: "Can we expect any action from the big names today or will they all just coast it in a big group happy to wait for the time trial?"
Sonny Holmes via text on 81111
Quite a bit of chat on 606 about this, and whether CSC are going to put more pressure on Cadel Evans today, Sonny. Frank Schleck seemed to accept his hopes were over when he was interviewed before this stage started, and from what I've heard from Evans and Carlos Sastre, both of them seem to be thinking about the time trial, understandably. We shall see...
1142: "Nice tactics by CSC yesterday - short of knocking Cadel Evans off of his bike it's hard to know what more they could have done as a team.
"Today is prime for a breakaway. Couple of climbs, but nothing big, but both near the end, as a result I'm struggling to see a sprint."
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1140: There are seven riders clear right now - Marcus Burghardt (Columbia), Stephen Auge (Cofidis), Maxime Monfort (Cofidis), Fillippo Pozzato (Liquigas), Sebastian Lang (Gerolsteiner), Freddy Bichot (AGR) and Bjorn Schroder (MRM). They have about 25 seconds on the peloton.
1138: The riders rolled out of Bourg-d'Oisans a few minutes ago and there has already been an attempted breakaway. You can expect a lot of this today from riders not involved in the hunt for the yellow jersey or any of the other classifications.
1136: After yesterday's drama on l'Alpe d'Huez, Carlos Sastre has taken yellow off his CSC team-mate Frank Schleck and holds an advantage of one minute and 34 seconds over Cadel Evans.
So, will that be enough for Sastre to hang on to the lead after Saturday's time trial, or does the Tour belong to Evans now? The Australian is certainly the big favourite...
We wait to find out what this exciting Tour has in store for us but, in the meantime, the race makes its way from Bourg-d'Oisans to Saint-Etienne today.
1135 BST: Right then. Things are a bit clearer now...aren't they?
(BBC)
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