Jumping right into the race action, there is a huge break of fourteen men off the front with a monstrous lead on the peloton. The group includes George Hincapie (Discovery Channel).

The 14 escapees swoop down the Col de Mente; Rabobank did indeed get the top 3 men over the mountain, keeping their chicken cooped up. Unless they are using Hincapie as a stepping stone, as we saw T-Mobile use Nardello yesterday.

Of course Sevilla is also in the break for Ullrich, but with the gap at 18.10 maybe the break will stay away. The Phonak team will be pleased to have Pereiro in the break, this morning they said they wanted someone in the break to help Floyd Landis later. They are still determined to get Landis in a strong position after today's stage.

The men in this break are Mikel Astarloza (AG2r), Iker Camano (Euskaltel Euskadi), Allesandro Bertolini (Domina Vacanze), Oscar Pereiro (Phonak), Laurent Brochard and Jerome Pineau (Bouygues Telecom), Allan Davis (Liberty Seguros - Wurth), Michael Boogerd, Karsten Kroon, and Erik Dekker (Rabobank), Oscar Sevilla (T-Mobile), and the Big Hink, George Hincapie (Discovery Channel). Oh, and Pietro Caucchioli (Credit Agricole) and Rubens Bertogliati (Saunier Duval-Prodir).

That's a lot of guys to have off the front.

1401 CEST - 95 km left . The peloton, still on the Col de Mente, sees Brad McGee drop off the back, while 18 minutes up the road the escapees are at the feed zone. Still four big climbs left... it's nothing but up and down after this valley.

Bouygues Telecom have veteran Laurent Brochard and the fighting Jerome Pineau in the break; they will be hoping to get a famous stage win today; of those in the break probably the best climber is Pietro Caucchioli