Now this is just getting ridiculous...

Wow. This Tour gets dirtier and dirtier each day. After all but wrapping up a Tour victory with some incredible riding in the Pyrenees, Michael Rasmussen was kicked off his team and, as a result, out of the Tour de France with just four days left till the ride onto the Champs Elysees. Remember, this is the guy that missed four out of competition drug tests prior to the start of the race. Even though he hasn't tested positive for any banned substances, you've gotta think that his sponsor Rabobank knows something. They say they've got evidence that he was actually in Italy when he said he was in Mexico, and I'm inclined to think they must know even more incriminating stuff to have pulled him while on the cusp of winning the yellow jersey outright.

Levi Leipheimer is in third and now a mere 2'49" behind the current race leader and Discovery Channel teammate Alberto Contador. Making it nine in row for the Stars and Stripes is still a long shot, but not completely beyond reason.

(Photo: AP/Peter Dejong)