Suisse: Burghardt Takes Soggy Stage

After the crazy and controversial ending to yesterday's stage, the field took a more mellow approach today and let a 3 man breakaway escape to fight it out for themselves. That breakaway was Marcus Burghardt, Martijn Maaskant, and Daniel Oss. After they knew they would be free, they began the usual cat and mouse game as to who would attack last. Marcus Burghardt put that game to bed quickly with a massive kick in the final kilometer that left the other two reeling and unable to catch up. Much of the reason that the breakaway was able to get away was the inclimate weather that plagued the riders all day. The intense rain made the roads very slick and also caused several small accidents throughout the day. It also meant that the peloton was unable to reach the great speeds they usually do late in the stage to catch the breakaway. It was a well calculated move by all three of them, but it was Burghardt's late effort that really sealed the deal. The overall GC stayed pretty much the same. As opposed to my other guesses, I can almost guarantee that there will be some attacks and action tomorrow.

This stage, sometimes referred to as the "queen", is one of the most grueling in any major race and certainly the most difficult in this one. It is not the only climbing stage, but it is the most difficult. It starts out with two huge climbs right from the start and then slowly works its way to one last "monster" climb at the end followed by a brief but rigorous and fast descent. This is where the climbers like Schleck will become a factor, and it will take a huge effort for anybody in the current top 5 GC to stay there2. It is probably the "must watch" stage of the race.

CLASSIFICATIONS AFTER STAGE 5

OVERALL

1. Tony Martin

2. Fabian Cancellara -1

3. Thomas Lovkvist -9

4. Rigoberto Uran -10

5. Dries Devenyns -11

7. Frank Schleck -13

11. Nicolas Roche -18

13. Levi Leipheimer -19

18. Robert Gesink -27

20. Matteo Carrara -29

21. Lance Armstrong -30

25. Andy Schleck -37

29. Andreas Kloden -45

33. George Hincapie -54

34. Dave Zabriskie -57

35. Philippe Gilbert -1:01

MOUNTAINS
1. Aitor Hernandez Gutierrez 19

2. Alexandre Pliuschin 18

3. Mathias Frank 15

POINTS

1. Marco Marcato 42

2. Jose Joaquin Rojas 30

3. Marcus Burghardt 25

TEAM STANDINGS

1. Team Saxo-Bank

2. Quick Step -28

3. Rabobank -38