Rouge Report: Lanterne Rouge Race Began on Col de Madeleine

At last we have a race for rouge. Adriano Malori, the young Italian riding for the Italian squad Lampre-Farnese Vini, turned squares up the Col du Madeleine yesterday to cross the line 151st in Stage 9 that included the race's first real gauntlet of ascents and the first HC climb. He rode in with more than 40 others in the autobus, nearly 35 minutes behind winner Sandy Casar and the other day's leaders.

Thanks to a break that stuck, the Italian finished Stage 10 in the main group in 181st and last in the field, trailing overall maillot jaune Andy Schleck by 2 hours, 2 minutes and 29 seconds. He's tightened the race to Frenchman Anthony Roux, who's in 180th place, by closing down two minutes today. It's time to start tracking the climbs and the ticking of the cut-off clock, we now have a race. We haven't had an Italian Lanterne Rouge since Roldolfo Massi in 1990.

Here's the contenders after Stage 10:

176	Tyler Farrar (USA) Garmin - Transitions	1:50:18
177	Dmitriy Muravyev (Kaz) Team Radioshack	1:55:00
178	Andreas Klier (Ger) Cervelo Test Team	1:56:25
179	Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) Cofidis, Le Credit en Ligne	1:57:37
180	Anthony Roux (Fra) Française des Jeux	2:00:46
181	Adriano Malori (Ita) Lampre-Farnese Vini	2:02:29