Suisse: Repeat Performance

Winning a stage in a major pro tour race is quite the accomplishment in itself. Winning 2 in 3 days, well, that's almost unheard of. Marcus Burghardt followed up on his stage win on Wednesday by running away with this one yet again. He made his way into a large breakaway early, and attacked his way out of that break when he felt them beginning to struggle. He then finished the last 50 kms with relative ease as nobody came within a minute of him at the finish. The win gained Burghardt yet another stage victory and vaulted him to the lead of the points competition with 2 stages to go. Burghardt has been riding incredibly strongly in this tour, and has certainly been rewarded. It was a relatively easy day in the peloton, and Robert Gesink had relatively no problem holding on to his yellow jersey, and the top 15 overall stayed exactly the same. Today's stage was big, however, for the race for not only the points jersey but the mountains one as well. Mathias Frank found his way into the breakaway and managed to hit the checkpoints and move his way into the leading position for the competition. Tomorrow brings yet another flat stage that could bring several results. Some of the contenders that are not good TT riders may try one last desperate attempt to get themselves ahead before the final time trial on Sunday. The other option is that the field will be content to let a breakaway go free and keep themselves together before the TT.

Either way tomorrow is a pretty manageable stage for a large breakaway to slip free near the end and sprint it out between themselves.

CLASSIFICATIONS AFTER STAGE 7

OVERALL

1. Robert Gesink

2. Rigoberto Uran -29

3. Steve Morabito -36

4. Frank Schleck -38

5. Joaquin Rodriguez -42

6. Matteo Carrara -54

7. Lance Armstrong -55

8. Oliver Zaugg -1:01

9. Jakob Fuglsang -1:17

10. Thomas Lovkvist -1:38

11. Andy Schleck -1:40

12. Andreas Kloden -1:48

13. Levi Leipheimer -2:18

14. Tony Martin -2:19

15. Roman Kreuzinger -2:24

MOUNTAINS

1. Mathias Frank 49

2. Wouter Poels 40

3. Robert Gesink 21

POINTS

1. Marcus Burghardt 50

2. Marco Marcato 43

3. Oscar Friere 33

TEAM STANDINGS

1. Team Saxo Bank

2. Team Radioshack -3:42

3. Rabobank -10:49