Mikel 6th in Dauphiné; 7th overall

Mikel Astarloza continues to show what a quality rider he is. Today, after infiltrating in the break of the day, and being virtuall leader for the most of the stage, he finished 6th, meaning he`s now 7th overall going into the last stage. A break of 11 got clear quite early in the stage, and though the break split up in several pieces, most of them arrived aheah of the "pack". On this occasion, the "pack" was Moreau. I sadly didn`t get to see the stage, but from what I`ve heard, Mikel attacked several times up the Télégraphe, but due to his good overall placing going in to the stage (18th), Astana put the pressure on back in the peloton and upped the pace. Sadly, Mikel spent his forces badly, and couldn`t keep up when Iglinsky, Di Grégorio, Fédrigo and Botcharov attacked. But he still fought on admirably to get 6th today, something which in turns mean he`s now a brilliant 7th overall. On the down side for Euskaltel today was the performances of Igor and Haimar. Haimar dropped from 10th to 18th overall, coming home more than 6 minutes adrift. Igor was closer to the leaders, but still lost 4:13 to Iglinsky, who won solo. There`s one more stage to go in this year`s Dauphiné, and I expect to see Euskaltel on the attack once more. They`ve had a terrific Dauphiné so far, and they surely deserve a stage-win for their efforts. Aupa Euskaltel!

• 6th, Mikel Astarloza, 2:16
• 20th, Igor Antón, 4:13
• 27th, Haimar Zubeldia, 6:30
• 59th, Rubén Pérez, 16:55
• 64th, Iñigo Landaluze, s.t
• 66th, Gorka Verdugo, s.t
• 70th, Unai Uribarri, 20:57
• 84th, Jorge Azanza, 27:09