Stage 7: Virenque powers to yellow

Five-time king of the mountains Richard Virenque of QuickStep (who was at the center of the Festina scandal in 1998) won today's stage to Morzine decisively, and will wear yellow tomorrow.

Virenque also won the stage to Morzine in 2000 (which was the stage where Armstrong bonked and lost time, though he retained the yellow jersey).

Rolf Aldag rode a brilliant stage, and finished second in the stage. At one point, he was dropped by Virenque and his teammate Paolo Bettini, but fought back up to Virenque, and later dropped him on a climb!

Sylvain Chavanel and Australia's Michael Rogers gapped the field to finish 3rd and 4th.

Several contenders rode themselves out of contention, including Gilberto Simoni and Santiago Botero.

Tyler Hamilton stayed with Armstrong's group, which will populate most of the leaderboard.

Today's results:
1) Richard Virenque (QuickStep) 6:06:03
2) Rolf Aldag (Telekom) at 2:29
3) Sylvain Chavanel (Brioches) at 3:45
4) Michael Rogers (QuickStep) at 4:02
5) Stefano Garzelli (Vini Caldirola) at 4:06
6) Christophe Moreau (Credit Agricole) same time
7) Laurent Dufaux (Alessio) s.t.
8) David Millar (Cofidis) s.t.
9) Georg Totsching (Gerolsteiner) s.t.
10) Alexandre Vinokourov (Telekom) s.t.

Also at 4:06:
15) Lance Armstrong (US Postal)
18) Carlos Sastre (CSC)
19) Manuel Beltran (US Postal)
21) Jan Ullrich (Telekom)
24) Francisco Mancebo (iBanesto)
25) Tyler Hamilton (CSC)
26) Iban Mayo (Euskaltel)
32) Joseba Beloki (ONCE)
33) Ivan Basso (Fassa Bortolo)
37) Jorg Jaksche (ONCE)