Stage 10 on the road

Almost from the gun, attacks went off, and with only 10 kilometers ridden, a group of 24 riders formed, including the climber's jersey of David de la Fuente and Oscar Freire, wearing the green jersey (on loan from Kim Kirchen).

Yaroslav Popovych is the highest-ranking rider of the group in 27th at 4:34. Only three teams have missed the break: Milram, Garmin-Chipotle, and Lampre. Milram is doing the chase work in the main field.

In the break:
* Silence-Lotto: Popovych
* Saunier Duval: Bertogliati and de la Fuente
* FdJeux: Sebastian Chavanel, di Gregorio, Roy
* Gerolsteiner: Fothen, Lang, Wegmann
* CSC-Saxo Bank: Cancellara
* Caisse d'Epargne: Gutierrez
* Barloworld: Augustyn, Cheula
* Cofidis: Duque
* Bouygues Telecom: Fedrigo
* Rabobank: Freire
* Agritubel: Feillu, Vogondy
* AG2R: Dupont
* QuickStep: Tosatto
* Credit Agricole: Le Mevel
* Liquigas: Pozzato
* Columbia: Burghardt
* Euskaltel-Euskadi: Isasi

1st Climb, 3rd Category Cote de Benejacq:
1. David de la Fuente, Saunier Duval, 4 pts
2. Filippo Pozzato, Liquigas, 3 pts
3. Leonardo Duque, Cofidis, 2 pts
4. Pierrick Fedrigo, Bouygues Telecom, 1 pt

Garmin-Chipotle has come to the front to try to bring the break back, but the gap is 1:20 with 113k/70 miles to ride.

Sprint 1:
1. Oscar Freire, Rabobank, 6 pts 2. Romain Feillu, Agritubel, 4 pts 3. Filippo Pozzato, Liquigas, 2 pts

Freire retakes the lead in the green jersey competition, for now.

With about 56 miles left on the day, the break was mostly captured, whittling the break from 24 to 7 riders, including Cancellara, Dupont, Freire, Fothen, Roy, Di Gregorio, and Duque. They lead over the top of the 3rd Category Loucroup climb.

2nd Climb, 3rd Category Loucroup:
1. Leonardo Duque, Cofidis, 4 pts 2. Remy di Gregorio, Française des Jeux, 3 pts 3. Markus Fothen, Gerolsteiner, 2 pts 4. Jeremy Roy, Française des Jeux, 1 pt

Hushovd attempted to bridge, but was quickly back in the field, and the pack seemed content to let the break take some time.

Sprint 2: 1. Oscar Freire, Rabobank, 6 pts 2. Leonardo Duque, Cofidis, 4 pts 3. Jeremy Roy, Française des Jeux, 2 pts

Gap to the 7 leaders is now out to 7:00, with Agritubel's Freddy Bichot chasing about 2 minutes behind the breakaway. We're approaching the feed zone. Next up, the Tourmalet.

Early on the Tourmalet, Saunier Duval launched Jufre with Riccardo Ricco, who were quickly recaptured, but the Sauniers launched Jufre again, and the field quickly strung out into small groups as the sprinters fell away.

Up in Freire's group, Remy di Gregorio rode away from the breakaway, and is the stage leader. His gap has climbed to about 50 seconds on his former breakmates.

CSC moved to the front and continued to push the pace, melting the field down to 40, then 25, now down to 14. Damiano Cunego was first to fall off the pace, followed quickly by Alejandro Valverde, with CSC's Jens Voigt towing Sastre and the Schlecks at the head of an elite group. Also in the 14-man group were Kim Kirchen, Christian Vande Velde, Denis Menchov, Cadel Evans, and Saunier Duval's Leonardo Piepoli and Riccardo Ricco.

Di Gregorio took the points atop the Tourmalet. The field is over the top, and Valverde and Cunego will chase hard to try to rejoin what I'll call Group Voigt in recognition of the big German's massive effort.

Atop the Tourmalet:
1. Remy Di Gregorio, Française des Jeux, 20 pts
2. Jeremy Roy, Française des Jeux, 18 pts, @ 2:10
3. Hubert Dupont, AG2R, 16 pts
4. Leonardo Duque, Cofidis, 14 pts
5. Markus Fothen, Gerolsteiner, 12 pts, @ 3:10
6. Fabian Cancellara, CSC-Saxo Bank, 10 pts, @ 3:45
7. Oscar Freire, Rabobank, 8 pts, @ 4:30
8. Riccardo Ricco, Saunier Duval, 7 pts, @ 6:00
9. Jens Voigt, CSC-Saxo Bank, 6 pts
10. Sastre, CSC-Saxo Bank, 5 pts

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