to VeloNews.com's Live Coverage of the seventh stage of the 2008 Vuelta a Espana, a 223.2-kilometer race from Barbastro to a mountain-top finish at Naturlandia, atop La Rabassa in Andorra.

The crash back in stage 4 on the way to Ciudad Real has prompted Quick Step's Carlos Barredo to withdraw from the Vuelta. He broke the scaphoid in his right hand, but stayed in the Vuelta for two stages. He finally pulled out after a lengthy consultation with his doctor during yesterday's rest day.

Today's stage began at 11:30 and the attacks began quickly in rainy conditions. The day's first attacks including a big dig from world champion Paolo Bettini, but that did not stick. Finally, by 18km a group including Allesandro Ballan (Lampre), Marc de Maar (Rabobank), Xabier Zandio Echaide (Caisse d'Epargne), Inigo Landaluze (Euskaltel), Gianni Meersman (Francaise des Jeux) and David Moncoutie (Cofidis) formed and began working on establishing a lead. Moncoutie, however, dropped out of the group before the remaining riders went on to build up a lead that now stands at more than 9:20 at the 75km mark.

The riders have crossed the Category 2 Puerto de Montllobar at 64km. Ahead, the day gets tougher with Cat. 3 Collado de la Faidella and two trips up the Alto de la Rabassa, the first being ranked as a Cat. 1 and then the final climb, to a higher spot on the same climb that takes riders to the finish at Naturlandia. That final push ranks as categoría especial, Spain's version of the hors categorie designation ... a climb defined as "beyond category," which is the fancy way of saying "really freakin' tough."

our leaders have established a 10-minute advantage over the rest of the peloton.

It's a chilly, foggy and rainy day, a stark contrast with the oppressive (but dry) heat that marked the Vuelta's opening stages.

are approaching the feedzone, a momentary lull before the climb that will eventually take them to 111.2km.

As a reminder, the men in the break are:
Allesandro Ballan (Lampre)
Marc de Maar (Rabobank)
Xabier Zandio Echaide (Caisse d'Epargne)
Inigo Landaluze (Euskaltel)
Gianni Meersman (Francaise des Jeux)

today's stage ends with two trips up La Rabassa, cresting the Category 1 ascent for the first time at the 193.4km mark, dropping down a fast descent and repeating the climb before finishing four kilometers further up the mountain for the beyond category finish at Naturlandia.

is quite high, especially considering the terrain. The average for the last two hours of racing has been around 41.5kph and riders are ahead of the time table's fastest prediction.

If you have a question, comment or complaint, feel free to hit the "Contact our editors" link below the Live Update Window.

We will read them all, respond to as many as time allows and even post a few along the way, today.

the leaders are at the feedzone and appear to have a comfortable 10-minute advantage over the peloton.

After a bit of a gnosh, the riders will tackle the Cat. 3 Collado de la Faidella.

has passed through the feedzone 10:20 behind the men in the break. The escapees, meanwhile, are on the slopes of the Collado de la Faidella.

The peloton seems content with the break continuing to build up its lead. The five men in the break are now 10:35 ahead of the field.

As a reminder, the men in the break (with their positions on GC) are:
Allesandro Ballan (Lampre)
Marc de Maar (Rabobank)
Xabier Zandio Echaide (Caisse d'Epargne)
Inigo Landaluze (Euskaltel)
Gianni Meersman (Francaise des Jeux)

Of those, Ballan is the highest on GC, having started the day in 12th position, 2:30 out of the lead, making him the virtual leader of the Vuelta. Of course, there's a tough road ahead and that is likely to change by day's end.

are well into the Cat. 3 Collado de Faidella and still riding together. They are now at the 104km mark, with the summit of the climb coming up at 111.2km.

at the finish today. It's going to be a cold - possibly risky - descent off of La Rabassa. Recall that the course takes riders over the climb once before the final push to the finish at Naturlandia.

our five leaders are now over the top of the climb, the Cat. 3 Collado de Faidella. We'll get a summary of who got the points.

Reader Andy writes in to ask:

Hi and thanks yet again for the great coverage!

I've been wondering why we don't see any "Annikas" at any of the big tours or races?Surely there must be some ultra-fit women riders that could compete with the boys.

Can anyone fill me in on the history of women riding in any of the big tours?
Thanks,
Andy
Stowe VT.

We've run across the question before, but we have not run across any instance of women riding in the grand tours. Unlike Annika Sorenstam, who has played in the PGA against men, female cyclists rarely compete against their male counterparts. Some studies suggest that women are at a disadvantage because of size, body fat distribution, strength-to-weight ratio and other biomechanical factors. Of course, those guys who've been severely spanked by the likes of Allison Dunlap and Katie Compton in Colorado cyclo-cross races may disagree. Indeed, Jeannie Longo - now on the eve of her 50th birthday - continues to turn in impressive times on some of the world's toughest climbs, including Mt. Washington and Mt. Evans here in the U.S.

It is sometimes difficult to sort those biomechanical factors from the sexism inherent in long-established sports, like cycling. Recall that it wasn't until 1984 that women were even allowed to compete in a road race at the Olympics. Progress is slow. Maybe by the time the Live Update Guy's eight-year-old daughter - coincidentally named Annika - is an adult, she will have the option of taking on an event like the Vuelta (if she wants).

the leaders are still holding on to a ten-and-a-half-minute advantage.

De Maar took the top points atop the Collado de Faidella, crossing ahead of Inigo Landaluze, Alessandro Ballan, Xabier Zandio and Gianni Meersman.

is continuing and that's making the day a bit more uncomfortable than usual.

The gap has moved up to 10:50.

the job of chasing the break has largely fallen to the Cofidis team of race leader Sylvain Chavanel. The current situation poses something of a dilema for Chavanel and his team. They appear to be opting to maintain a very moderate pace as the escapees continue to build their advantage - now more than 11:15. The risk, of course, is that if the team chases too hard at this point, Chavael may find himself in trouble on the day's final climbs when the attacks from the big GC challengers begin.

As a result, however, the result is that Ballan is currently the virtual leader on the road ... for now, at least.

the leaders are holding on to an 11:09 advantage. It's a big gap, but there are some seriously tough kilometers ahead.

the gap is holding at around 11 minutes. The leaders are on that relatively flat section on the approach to the first climb up La Rabassa, which begins at 180.5km, tops out at 193.4km and then the final haul begins at 206.8km and ends at 223.2km.

the finish line is covered in fog and the roads are very wet as rain continues to fall.

Up here high in Andorra, it's cloudy, cool and spitting rain. That's put a damper on the otherwise festive mood in Andorra when the Vuelta comes to town. Crowds are building on the upper part of the Rabassa climb, so it should be pretty rowdy.

trip up the Alto de la Rabassa comes up in about 20km. The peloton remains about 10:30 behind the five leaders.

team is moving riders up into the front.

the gap has dropped to 9:40. The leaders are at 169km and that means they're about 11km from the start of the first trip of the Rabassa.

The riders will get two looks at the Rabassa climb. It's no walk in the park. The opening two kilometers are the hardest and steepest, with ramps as steep as 10 percent. It continues steep until 5km to go, when it levels out with 5-6 percent grades. The final punch to the top is 7.5%.

The vampires struck this morning, testing 45 riders from CSC-Saxo Bank, Ag2r, Caisse d'Epargne, Silence-Lotto and Gerolsteiner. They didn't say if any of the riders were "inapt" or not. Since no one was ejected from the race, we're assuming that no one had too much blood in his blood.

Scott Sunderland, currently a sport director at CSC-Saxo Bank, announced he'll take a job as director at the new Cervelo Test Team. Also expected to join the new team is Heinrich Haussler, the German-Aussie sprinter

Here's one we cannot figure out. Levi Leipheimer is the name that's getting the most love among fans painting the road. In fact, he was about the only name we saw painted on the Rabassa climb. That must mean Odessa is around, or that he has some a stronger fanbase here in Spain than we thought.

Our leaders have upped their advantage again and are now 10:00 ahead of the field.

They are closing in on the base of the Rabassa climb.

Igor Anton (Euskaltel-Euskadi) says he's more confident coming into his third Vuelta. Eighth last year, he's aiming for top 5 and a stage win. The Basque climber says he's inspired by Carlos Sastre: "I see myself in Carlos, the way he rides. I hope some day to arrive at his level. He's always very sweet to me, he always says, 'How you doing, kid?'"

It's wet and sloppy out there. The TV crews are all hunkered down beneath umbrellas here at the finish. Print guys are all sitting in the press room, of course.

we're finding it especially difficult to get updates. For one thing the video signals are spotty since the motofeed isn't getting to the TV trailer.

The leaders have been climbing for about five minutes. The peloton is coming up to the base soon, too.

Our latest time check puts the leaders at 10:12.

the Cofidis/Astana effort is paying off. The gap is down to 8:50. There is still a very realistic chance that these fellas will be caught.

has been completely dropped by the lead group.

The gap is coming down to the rest of them, too, with the latest time check putting the leaders 7:40 ahead of the main field.

We may get a glimpse of the break and the peloton as they ride past the press room.

It's about 40 degrees out there.

Our poor European correspondent Andrew Hood went out to check out the finish line and came back soaked to the bone. Ever observant journalist that he is, he reports that it's "what's called a wet rain." That is, we suspect, different than those dry rains we get back in Wyoming.

is at 7:20. Landaluze has slipped off the back. Of the men in the break, Landaluze - famous for beating WADA in CAS court case - may be the most solid climber of the bunch. So he may be dropping back and helping his team.

Back in the peloton, a few riders trying to get away: Martinez, Halgand, Castano - but pack is zipping along at a good pace. Riders like Freire are dropping off back.

He's slipped off the back. Landaluze is dangling 18 seconds off the back while Zandio is dropped at 3:38 with the main pack at 6:26.

Landaluze has rejoined the leading three, so we're up to four. Zandio is now at 4:00 and the peloton is at 6:00.

is taking a big dig on the descent. He seems comfy in these conditions. Being Basque, cold and rain is just another Sunday stroll.

Astana is now driving the chase in the peloton.

Spanish radio is saying that a "very important" sponsor is set to join Cervelo to help underwrite Sastre's move to the team. Word has it that Riis just didn't have the cash to keep Sastre, the Schleck brothers and Fabian Cancellara (not to mention the rest of his team) all fat and happy.

Fabio Baldato - who broke his hip in a crash last week - has announced his retirement at the ripe old age of 40.

The way it's raining it's hard to remember that Andorra is Europe's smallest land-locked country. Formally a "principality," Andorra is also probably Europe's largest shopping center. The entire valley is covered with duty-free shops while the peaks are draped in ski lifts.

Andorra also has the world's longest life expectancy - with people living until a ripe average of 83.5 years. Guess all that shopping and skiing is good on the heart.

took quite a few risks on the descent. He's now 35 seconds ahead of the other three men in the break as he works his way up the climb. He's now 11km from the finish and the peloton is 5:00 back.

The weather is getting worse, by the way.

is back in the main field.

has caught Landaluze. He's now in the lead. He is closing in one the final 10km and he may even move into the leader's jersey today. He begain the day 2:30 out of first.

Back in the field, Bettini, Arroyo, Ardila have attacked out of the main pack.

is 4:49 between Ballan and the peloton. He has Landaluze chasing him. De Meer is trailing by 1:30.

"It's the first day of the mountains, people are cautious, it's cold, it's raining - that's why no one is attacking," said Galicia sport director Alvaro Pino

leading. We need to correct the earlier report that Landaluze was near behind. He's been dropped, too. Right now De Maar is in the second position trailing by a fairly large margin.

Ballan is 1:28 ahead of De Maar. The peloton is at five minutes. David Arroyo (Caisse d'Epargne) and Mauricio Ardila (Rabobank) have moved ahead of the main field.

-3km for Ballan and he's gonna win. The pack has come alive, however, the gap is 2:25, so he may not take over the jersey today.

Ballan has 1km to go and our last time check on the peloton was wrong. The peloton is still five minutes back.

is heading to the finish. He's got the stage win in hand.

He crosses the line, earning his first win of the year. 6:15:58 in the saddle. He wins.

is getting attention from his team. Now we have to watch the clock. If the peloton doesn't make in within the next minute, Ballan will have the jersey..... here comes de Maar.

And here come some of the fav's Contador attacks.... and Sastre isn't able to stay.

but Contador comes ahead of several of his top challengers. We will have to sort through the numbers when they start coming in.

It looks like Valverde has lost about a minute on Contador.

finished very close to Contador, so he is likely to move up on GC.... Yes, he's in second, one minute behind Ballan, who is the new race leader.

He's getting the flowers for the stage win and about the receive the leader's jersey.

He's having a little difficulty opening the champagne.... the cork broke!

Stage 7
1. Alessandro Ballan (I), Lampre, 6:15:51
2. Ezequiel Mosquera (Sp), Xacobeo Galicia, at 2:42
3. Alberto Contador (Sp), Astana, at 2:45
4. Joaquín Rodríguez Oliver (Sp), Caisse d'Epargne at 2:50
5. Levi Leipheimer (USA), Astana at 2:50
6. Igor Anton (Sp), Euskaltel-Euskadi, at 2:50
7. Carlos Sastre (Sp), CSC-Saxo Bank, at 2:50
8. Daniel Moreno Fernández (Sp), Caisse d'Epargne, at 3:03
9. Marzio Bruseghin (I), Lampre, at 3:11
10. Davide Rebellin (I), Gerolsteiner, at 3:11

Overall
1. Alessandro Ballan (I), Lampre, 23:53:26
2. Levi Leipheimer (USA), Astana, at 1:00
3. Sylvain Chavanel (F), Cofidis, at 1:21
4. Alberto Contador (Sp), Astana, at 1:34
5. Alejandro Valverde (Sp), Caisse d'Epargne, at 2:06
6. Carlos Sastre (Sp), CSC, at 2:27
7. Jurgen Van Goolen (B), CSC, at 2:59
8. Ezequiel Mosquera (Sp), Xacobeo Galicia, at 2:59
9. Igor Anton (Sp), Euskaltel-Euskadi, at 3:17
10. Daniel Moreno Fernández (Sp), Caisse d'Epargne, at 3:23

the Vuelta offers a white jersey for combined standings. Ballan gets that, too

there is a large grupetto coming up the final kilometer now... and there are still stragglers.

and try to sort through the numbers today.