Today's stage was another good one. A few more riders were shaken out of G.C. contention, and, unfortunately, one of them was Alexandre Vinokourov. Menchov is in a spot of bother, too. Soler looked good for someone who riders for a wildcard team, but solo victories are always beautiful. Some dumbass let his dog wander out on the course, and it took out a T-Mobile rider. That team is having the worst luck this year. It looks like Contador should be the captain for Discovery Channel, rather than Leipheimer, but we'll see how things go down the road—Leipheimer is the better time-trialer, after all. If nothing else, Contador looks like he could win the White Jersey for best young rider. Valverde is looking strong; he could win this whole thing after all (although I still don't have faith that he'll see Paris).

Tomorrow's Stage: Stage 10 - Tallard to Marseille (229.5km)

Coming off of two hard mountain stages, most of the teams will want to rest. I imagine a small breakaway of non-contenders will get down the road, and the peloton will let them duke it out for the win. I have a feeling Juan Antonio Flecha could be the man for the day. His team, Rabobank, has the Yellow Jersey, so if they get a man in the break, they won't have to drive the chase. Flecha's a breakaway specialist with a good pedigree, and I'm confident he could win in a small group sprint. Milram might push the pace early on, trying to pick up intermediate sprint points for Erik Zabel. With two category-three climbs close to the finish, I don't imagine we'll see a bunch sprint at the end. Zabel and Boonen might duke it out for points on the finish line, though, even if riders have already finished. Zabel is supposed to be better on the hills, so he might move back into the Green Jersey.  ¶ 10:36 PM