This has been a punishing Tour all right, with the result that at least two otherwise tantalizing mountain stages (including today’s) have been busts as far as the lead pack goes.

It was a docile run, enlivened only by an 8-rider breakaway that included ageless — well, aged maybe is more accurate — Lance Armstrong and even more senior French champion Christophe Moreau. In the end a Frenchman, Pierrick Fedrigo, did win — the sixth stage for the host country in this edition of the Tour — and Moreau closed to within 15 points of the polka-dot mountain jersey. In a surprise, Thor Hushovd regained the green jersey from Alessandro Petacchi, who entered the stage with a new doping cloud over his head.

Otherwise the general category stayed the same at the top, with Alberto Contador maintaining an 8-second edge over Andy Schleck following yesterday’s controversial 39-second win. We fantasized a sportsmanlike finish today where Contador rode to within 5 feet of the finish, then stopped for 39 seconds before crossing the line. But it was not to be.

It’s unfortunate not one of the Top 10 riders chose to press any kind of attack, because Stage 16 is one of the toughest in this year’s Tour and by rights should’ve provided some fireworks. World champion Cadel Evans, who fell from the back of the peloton, tweeted @cadelofficial, “All suffered here today. I rode in with a group that indicates my level…can’t remember a time I came in after the preso was done ( “

Putting this stage up against tomorrow’s rest day was probably a strategic mistake by the organizers. The riders obviously held back with the thought of focusing on Thursday’s climactic Pyrenees stage as the ultimate decider of this year’s race, the penultimate time trial notwithstanding.

Full report from VeloNews.

After a tough mountains stage Tuesday, the Tour took an unofficial rest day Wednesday.

Regrettably, the peloton’s leisurely sashay through the last Alps stage came on Bastille Day. French cycling fans will have to wait till this evening for any fireworks.

No significant changes in the leader board, with our man Andy Schleck holding onto the yellow jersey in a bunch finish.

We don’t mean to be harsh. It’s been a thrash of a Tour so far. The riders that haven’t crashed or aren’t hurt have to be riding on the edge of exhaustion.

But we call ‘em like we see ‘em. And we were hoping for a better show in the final Alps day.

The single saving grace may have been the first stage win for Team Radio Shack, although it wasn’t Lance Armstrong or Levi Leipheimer who pulled it off. In a two-man sprint after a long 7-rider breakaway, otherwise little-heralded Portuguese rider Sergio Paulinho bested Vasili Kiryienka (Caisse d’Epargne) to take the stage.

The pack rolled in some 14 minutes later, undoubtedly relieved at a lackluster day in the saddle.

Full results from CyclingNews.com.

Tomorrow’s stage returns to the flatlands with only an early Category 3 climb interrupting a laid-back profile. We hope at least the final sprint provides some drama.

Random notes:

Following the lead of the mountain-biking community, Tour riders are experimenting with tubeless tires.

Much has been made of Lance Armstrong’s misfortunes in this Tour, but he can’t hold a candle to the career bad-luck leader, Cadel Evans. Evans lost the yellow jersey Tuesday, then revealed he was riding with a broken elbow suffered on Stage 8. We’ve often observed that Evans can’t seem to get a break in the Grand Tours — maybe we should revise that to “positive break.”

Twice, in fact, mountain bikers have won the Tour. But you won’t find their names on the roll call of champions.

In 2006 Floyd Landis took the yellow jersey home but was subsequently disqualified for doping. By now you’d have to have spent the past two months in a diving bell not to know that Landis, who for years denied wrongdoing, has come clean and implicated a whole culture of deception in pro cycling.

The following year an mtber also came close, when Dane Michael Rasmussen had the title wrapped up but was forced off his Team Rabobank due to failure to report his whereabouts in training.

Given the allegations swirling around the sport today, you have to wonder if the Nos. 2 in both cases, Spaniards Oscar Pereiro and Alberto Contador, were any cleaner than the disqualified winners.

You don’t have to wonder about the mountain biking champion leading this year’s Tour, however. Aussie Evans, riding for Team BMC Racing, has made it clear from the start that he doesn’t dope. No one has ever questioned Evans on the point either — and his bad luck and perennial bridesmaid status (which may finally be changing, as he’s also the reigning World Champion road king) has never given reason to doubt him.

The other ex-mtb contender this year is Canadian Ryder Hesjedal, whom we’ve followed since his junior ranks due to his close proximity to our Seattle home base (Ryder grew up on Vancouver Island). Lanky and muscular, Hesjedal does not fit the rail-thin physical profile of a typical Tour winner. But he’s sitting at 6th and most Tour watchers give him at least a shot at a podium finish.

Cadel in yellow, Ryder No. 2? Unlikely. But their presence alone cements our longstanding observation that mountain bikers are better overall athletes than road racers. So far there’s never been a roadie who has transitioned from Grand Tour competition to world-class mountain biking, and that includes Lance. [Note: An exception to the rule comes to mind: Three-time national NORBA champion Jacquie Phelan. The parallels aren't as easy to draw on the women's side, but we have little doubt Jacquie — who beat the majority of male riders she raced against — would've rainbow-jerseyed in both disciplines had Tour and World Cup equivalents existed for women during her prime.]

In any case, it’s great that mountain biking fans have riders to root for in the Tour.

Schleck astonishingly left race favorite Alberto Contador in the dust as he bulleted ahead with just under a kilometer to go and then sprinted over the line ahead of Spaniard Samuel Sanchez. It could be that Contador is waiting for the Pyrenees to make his move. It could also be that Alberto didn’t have the right stuff this time around.

Andy Schleck: Aiming for yellow

Andy didn’t take the yellow jersey, which deservedly went to Cadel Evans — but he narrowed the gap between Cadel and him to 20 seconds, and sent a signal throughout the peloton that this could finally be his year.

The other big news of the day was Lance Armstrong’s crash (and having to stop later on a climb to avoid going down in a crash ahead of him) and subsequent fade from the race leadership — nearly 12 minutes behind the stage winners — on the punishing slopes.

Much was made of the luck factor re Lance, who seemed to be miraculously blessed and crashless during his 7-Tour run, but the real culprit in his suffering was a spotty spring season, where crashes, repeated doping allegations and the celebrity demands of a 7-time Tour winner left Lance under-prepared for his final Tour. Without the pounding miles of the Giro d’Italia (he rode, but crashed out of, the Tour of California instead) under his belt, Lance just didn’t have the prep this year. Since he’s truly out of the competition this year, it will take the pressure off and enable him to take an elder statesman role for the rest of the Tour.

As of our writing, Lance still has not tweeted to his fans. We’ll look forward to his pithy assessment. [UPDATE: Lance's tweet as follows — "When it rains it pours I guess.. Today was not my day needless to say. Quite banged but gonna hang in here and enjoy my last 2 weeks."]

The frustration for fans through much of the stage had to do with the highly touted climb of the Col de la Ramaz with average grades of 7 to 8 percent. An attack by Team Sky was hyped by Versus commentators Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen, but although some big names were fading (including the yellow jersey Sylvain Chavanel), none of the general classification favorites made any semblance of individual attack. And the main group, despite the pace, was not cutting into the undistinguished breakaway’s lead — indicating that the pace was not really pinning the meter.

The pace accelerated on the final climb to Morzine-Avoriaz, but no single GC favorite pressed the question. Instead it was everybody waiting for someone to go. And no one did, until Schleck took flight, recalling the good old days of the Cannibal (Eddy Merckx) or the Badger (Bernard Hinault), when any slack pace was considered ripe for individual attack.

The Tour is far from decided, but Schleck has shown it’s far from a lock for Contador. We’re also keeping an eye on Ivan Basso, the Giro d’Italia winner this year who finished with Contador and the others 10 seconds behind Schleck.

Line of the day: Phil Liggett again scores with the observation that Lance Armstrong, after crashing, rejoined the pack “by the skin of his racing shorts.” Given the tattered condition of Lance’s garments after taking the tumble, Lance was lucky to have more shorts than skin showing!

Tomorrow is a rest day, and then another mountainous run in Stage 9 with a crocodile-teeth profile that could provide further separation in the ranks.

Today’s penultimate stage of the 2010 Giro d’Italia was highlighted by the legendary Passo di Gavia, this year’s edition’s highest point. The 20th stage packed nearly 20,000 feet of elevation gain (over five climbs) into just 110 miles of riding. While none of the stretches was particularly steep by this year’s Giro standards, that’s a lot of stomping on the pedals.

For us mere mortals, consider some comparisons:

Giro d'Italia 2010, Stage 20 profile, including the majestic Gavia Pass

The Terrible Two through the tough rolling country around Santa Rosa features 16,500 feet of climbing — but that’s over a course of 200 miles.

The Son of Death Ride near Los Angeles, billed as the “toughest one-day road ride in the U.S.,” features 17,000 feet of climbing over 138 miles.

These are as brutal as endurance races get, and they can’t touch the suffering inflicted by today’s Giro stage.

For all that, the racing was not as dramatic as yesterday’s stage. Only Cadel Evans mounted a serious attack, and it was too late (over the final climb) to matter. Through most of the course, the leaders seemed content to concede the overall victory to Ivan Basso, who rode inspiringly and convincingly to take the pink jersey yesterday.

So the 2010 Giro is pretty much over, and those of us following it day-by-day on Universal Sports via its (and Italian televison’s) live coverage have to feel a twinge of regret. In terms of pure racing drama, head-shaking unpredictability and climactic twists and turns, this year’s Giro ranks among the great Grand Tours of all time. It didn’t have Lance (who will end his career never having won a Giro) or Alberto Contador, who won it two years ago. But the other big names were there, and the action was nonpareil.

The Giro will be a tough act to follow for this year’s Tour de France, beginning July 3. Let’s hope the Giro’s challenges have put its contenders — Basso, Cadel Evans, Alexander Vinokourov, Carlos Sastre — into peak form to challenge Contador and the others in the Tour, making a real race out of another Grand Tour.

They’re laying it all on the line. But from a spectator standpoint, they might as well be at spinning class.

Leave it to this year’s Giro to throw in a diabolical wrinkle. Two days after the punishing climb of Monte Zoncolan, riders were cast back into the cauldron of oxygen debt and altitudinal nausea.

For the record, David Arroyo (ESP) held onto the pink jersey, although his lead shrank over rivals Ivan Basso (Liquigas) and Cadel Evans (BMC). Riding out of the saddle much of the route, Evans placed a surprising 28 seconds ahead of Basso, cutting Basso’s advantage almost in half.

Basso is now second overall, and Evans fourth.

The 13-kilometer profile of the Plan de Corones looked like the long side of a carpenter’s level. The final 1-kilometer kicker included a stretch of 24 percent grade, just how you like to finish a hard ride out of the saddle.

Plus much of the route is dirt and gravel, always a pace killer. And there was a headwind at the top. The only factor working in the riders’ favor today was the sunny weather, in the 70s at the start and the 50s at the top of the dirt climb.

Carlos Sastre, a strong climber, was riding a 34 X 28 gear, the only place outside Zoncolan and Angliru (Spain) where the bike gets fitted that low, according to his team mechanic (and VeloNews’ Andrew Hood).

Never in the Tour de France. This climb is that brutal.

34 X 28 … that’s our spinning gear! (Sastre, alas, was the day’s big disappointment, looking listless over most of the route and never challenging for the stage win.)

Alberto Contador, the winner of 2008′s Giro, finished fourth in this time trial at 40:48. The winner, Franco Pellizotti, averaged 19.14 kilometers an hour.

Most of the times in today’s stage, won by 2000 Giro overall champion Stefano Garzelli in 41:28, were well off the 2008 pace. It could be the result of the Giro’s difficulty level so far, and of Monte Zoncolan two days ago.

Also possible, in our view, is that the slower times are another pointer toward this year’s Giro as the true start of the post-doping era. The 2008 winner, Pellizotti, is under suspension for doping violations, and the No. 5 place, Riccardo Ricco, was suspended not long after the 2008 Giro for doping as well. The top six riders in 2008 were faster than today’s winning time over the same course.

On-road conditions also play a role, but today’s weather was perfect. Let’s hope it stays that way through the closing mountainous stages of the Giro.

The Giro d’Italia may be wearing the new mantle.

Ivan Basso, riding with his characteristic smile and/or grimace but with the methodical power and grace of a mountain lion on the attack, took the agonizingly steep but incomparably thrilling Monte Zoncolan, the 15th stage of the Giro — vaulting him into third place in the general classification and more than a minute ahead of his closest rival, Cadel Evans.

Spaniard David Arroyo maintained the leader’s pink jersey, but lost more than three minutes to Basso. Tomorrow’s rest day will prove a temporary respite from mountain pain over the final week of the Giro.

For a time Evans managed to duke it out with Basso. But Cadel was out of the saddle much of the time, expending precious upper-body strength while Basso simply ground out the gears in his saddle up the relentless grade.

The middle 6 kilometers of the climb — the day’s fourth — averaged 15 percent — which any cyclist who pays attention to such things knows is a world of hurt just over a few hundred feet. There were 22 percent pitches on the final 3 kilometers. To see world champion cyclists pedaling with the cadence and fatigue of weekend riders climbing was quite a sight. You don’t normally find that kind of suffering, even in the Tour de France.

It may be proof that the post-doping era has finally taken root in the Giro, because the slumped shoulders and saliva ropes and sunken cheeks and vacant expressions of the final climb testified to real sacrifice. During the height of the doping era riders would show hardly any signs of true suffering, and there was always the sense that their physical limits had less to do with god-given genetics than whether they were juiced that particular day.

Among the top three favorites of this year’s Giro, Evans is the only rider with unimpeachable credentials. Basso and Alexander Vinokourov both have been banned from the sport — and now returned — after testing positive. Evans has maintained from the beginning he was never part of the doping circle of cycling, and his results have never given any reason to doubt.

So far this year’s Giro has been “clean” (full testing cannot be completed till after the race is over), in contrast to the Landis-Lance eruptions going on over in the U.S. Let’s hope the Italian classic stays that way.

The champions of this year’s unbelievably exciting Giro — and the public who has followed them — deserve to have their victories and legacies unbesmirched in one of the most memorable Grand Tours of all time.

What a grand Grand Tour this year’s Giro is proving to be!

The breakaway, which caught No. 1 Alexander Vinokourov and No. 2 Cadel Evans watching each other instead of the split group, put given-up-for-dead contenders Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) and Carlos Sastre (Candil) back in the hunt. Especially given the punishing mountain stages ahead, the Giro officially is a wide open race again.

Sastre took third, behind Russian Evgeny Petrov (Katusha) and Quick Step’s Darlo Cataldo. Petrov took the stage with a dramatic sprint on the final uphill section of the stage. Overall the lead group had nearly 13 minutes on the race leaders at the start of the day.

So now Riche Porte of Saxo Bank is the race leader, by a stunning margin over Vinokourov and Evans, who trail by 10 and 11 minutes respectively. Oh and a headline Vino would like to have back: “Alexander Vinokourov Growing More Confident by the Day of Giro d’Italia Success.” Ouch!

One can only wonder how the two leaders let top-caliber riders in a huge pack take off without them. This isn’t a matter of fitness or capability, it’s simple on-road intelligence.

You know that if the greats of the past were in a similar situation, all the way from Eddy Merckx to Bernard Hinault to Greg Lemond, there’s no way a former Tour de France winner and top contender in last year’s Tour would’ve been allowed to slip off the front.

Heck, if Lance Armstrong were in this year’s Giro, there’s no way it would have happened.

But there you have it. Inexplicable things happen in bicycle racing, and today’s stage will be remembered for a long time as one of those crazy strategic brain cramps that — if it costs Vino and Evans a shot at winning the Giro — prove anything can happen, even in the controlled environment of Grand Tour racing.

VeloNews and CyclingNews will have full results as they emerge.

Despite the goop, the finish was dry and thrilling as somehow out of the pack we found Cadel Evans, No. 2, and Alexander Vinokourov in the pink jersey battled out the slight uphill finish, only to be passed in the final seconds by HTC’s Matthew Goss and fellow sprinters Filippo Pozzato (KAT) and “Rainboy” (from Wenatchee) Tyler Farrar (GRM) for the top 3 places.

It’s supposed to get colder and wetter around here this week, but nothing will compare to the images of pro racers going 30 miles an hour, bunched together, in driving rain on slick pavement. Thankfully no major crashes, and hopes for better weather to come!

Now it’s off to Versus to await this afternoon’s undoubtedly more pleasant (weather-wise) second stage of the Amgen Tour of California. Flat flat flat (the terrain, let’s hope not the tires)!

As we’ve said practically from Day 1, this year’s Giro d’Italia has been a joy to watch, setting a new standard for early-on stage racing thrills and spills. VeloNews provides a nice retrospective of Week 1.

Meanwhile, Lance Armstrong awaits tomorrow’s start of the Tour of California while expressing doubt that 2010 will be a banner year for The King. The problem is simple logistics: He’s not getting into racing form so far this year. He’s missed some big spring classics and not doing the Giro so he can compete in the Tour of California, a far lesser event. And then there’s all the promotional stuff, and a new baby on the way, and on and on…

We’ve all been there. So perhaps Lance can be forgiven if this story is true.