Rest Day

Ok so today it's rest day for the riders in the tour and I'm going to take this chance to go through the different classifications.

The General Rank
1. Michael Rasmussen Rabobank 69.52.14
2. Alberto Contador Discovery Channel +2.23
3. Cadel Evans Predictor-Lotto +4.00
...
7. Haimar Zubeldia +7:27
10. Mikel Astarloza +9:21
28. Amets Txurruka +38:17
44. Inigo Landaluze +1:03:59
59. Ruben Perez +1:34:45
67. Gorka Verdugo +1:41:56
99. Jorge Azanza +2:16:27
106. Inaki Isasi +2:26:35

With only one mountainstage and one time trial to go Michael Rasmussen and Alberto Contador seem to be the two who will battle it out for the victory, I dont think Cadel Evans can make 4 minutes good on Rasmussen. With what we have seen yesterday Alberto Contador should be the better climber of the two and will certainly bring some firework in tomorrows stage on the Aubisque.
Euskaltel is doing great with two top 10 places. Haimar Zubeldia should certainly keep his place and who knows maybe climb another place tomorrow. Mikel Astarloza should prove himself and keep up with the better climbers tomorrow but he should be able to get some time back in the last time trial. Also Amets Txurruka is riding a great Tour de France with a nice 28th place, a good prospect for the futur.

Points classification
1. Tom Boonen Quickstep-Innergetic 195
2. Robert Hunter Barloworld 175
3. Erik Zabel Team Milram 174
...
25. Ruben Perez 42
42. Inaki Isasi 27
54. Mikel Astarloza 22
56. Haimar Zubeldia 21
61. Inigo Landaluze 20
87. Amets Txurruka 8
108. Gorka Verdugo 2

If Boonen has no accident anymore he should be able to keep the green jersey. The two stages between the last mountainstage and the time trial will probably become something for escapers and then there's only the sprint on the Champs-Elysees and there Boonen won already once so he should be able to get a good result there.
For Euskaltel there were no high hopes in this classification but I expected Isasi far higher seeing his tour of last year where he was in the top 10 a couple of times.

Mountains Classification
1. Michael Rasmussen Rabobank 142
2. Mauricio Soler Barloworld 140
3. Yaroslav Popovych Discovery Channel 104
...
11. Mikel Astarloza 51
12. Amets Txurruka 50
16. Haimar Zubeldia 44
27. Ruben Perez 27
29. Inigo Landaluze 29
34. Gorka Verdugo 20

This will be a battle between Rasmussen and Soler, but I think Rasmussen will let this classification over to Soler and concentrates himself on the yellow jersey.
For Euskaltel good results from Astarloza and Txurruka but I expected Inigo Landaluze much higher.

Young Rider Classification
1. Alberto Contador Discovery Channel 69.54.37
2. Mauricio Soler Barloworld +12.37
3. Kanstantin Siutsou Barloworld +30.35
...
4. Amets Txurruka +35.54
12. Jorge Azanza +2.14.04

This classification is over and out. Contador will win it easily before Soler, maybe Amets will be able to get the third spot but he will have to drive a very good mountainstage tomorrow.