Wiggins was 6th in the time trial yesterday, and even finished behind his team-mate David Millar. What the 'experts' fail to recognise is that his physique has changed completely, so he is better at climbing but probably worse at his previous speciality.



Overall standings with 3 stages left



1. Alberto Contador (Spain / Astana ) 73hrs 15mins 39s

2. Andy Schleck (Luxembourg / Saxo Bank ) +4:11"

3. Lance Armstrong (US / Astana ) +5:25"

4. Bradley Wiggins (GB / Garmin ) +5:36"

5. Andreas Kloeden (Germany / Astana ) +5:38"

6. Frank Schleck (Luxembourg / Saxo Bank ) +5:59"



Very close for 3rd to 6th. Unfortunately I'm not convinced Bradley has enough left to finish on the podium. Great effort all the same, as this event is an absolute man-killer.

I see Armstrong is looking to put together a US-based team of his own for next years Tour - acknowledgement that he isn't going to be the main man at Astana and would have to work for the benefit of Contador next year?

There's supposed to be a British team from September as well. Unfortunately the likes of Cavendish and Wiggins are already contracted elsewhere.



Re: Astana - the last I heard the team principal, Bruyneel, was also set to leave.

Not today.



5th stage win of Le Tour for Mark Cavendish. 9th overall to set a new British record.

What amount of green jersey points are on offer for winning stages and coming in second?? Cav was 30 points behind before today's stage so wondering if there was any real chance of him pipping Hushovd on Sunday.

he's 25 points behind now... not much chance really..., i'm sure he said in an interview that getting to paris was his main aim though, not the green jersey

Yeah, that was after he realised that he had no chance of winning the green jersey.

After he got cruelly stripped of the points he won the other day too...if it wasnt for that then it'd be proper interesting going into Sunday.

True. Having said that, I think Hushovd is the better overall rider. He can't get near Cavendish in a sprint, but he is better at picking up the intermediate points. Overall he is 36 minutes and 25 places in front of Cavendish.

Big day today - hoping to see some exciting riding with the other riders putting pressure on Contador. Can't see them succeeding though - his team are too strong & he's by far the best rider in the race, so I reckon he'll come in 3rd or 4th on the stage. Of course he'll get Armstong's 100% support as well.



Reckon Bradley will lose some more time today - 4th to 10th places may change around quite a bit. I hope he doesn't, but this will be a huge challenge for him.



Happy viewing.

Great stage today. Brilliant defensive ride from Armstrong, Contador helped him every step of the way. Hats off to Wiggins too, he really had to dig deep to hang on to 4th place.

Brilliant performance today from Bradley - neighbours must have wondered what was happening when the cheer went up from my house after he zoomed into sight from the bend at the end. Dealt nicely with that Swedish runner as well - shoved him out of the way!!



Sporting performance of the year for me.