zzzzzzzzzzzzzz....
The lead story of the rest day is definitely Floyd Landis' degenerative hip condition, which moxy wrote up for us yesterday. Ah, the many ironies... another American with an extraordinary physical hurdle between him and yellow. A man who was raised in strict reigious environment, calling his own hip "degenerate." Mostly, though, it just goes to show that Landis -- and everyone else in the pro peloton -- are "tough bitches."
Most "rest day wrapups" are unbelievably boring recaps of what you already know. Fortunately, Chris Brewer at the Paceline knows what makes for worthwhile reading, i.e. some snapshots of how the riders are making the best of a day off. So does Andreas Klöden in his team diary.
March on...
- Speaking of the T-Mobs, now sporting one less Belgian, the Squad interviews maillot jaune Serguey Gontchar, whose name I will not spell the same way twice. If you prefer, you can hear Honchar, a
RussianUkrainian riding for a German team, interviewed in Italian.
- Best rest day feature: the Paceline sits down with cycling.tv's Anthony McCrossand! All your unanswered questions, at last...
- Quick Step's Servais Knaven, leadout to ex-sprinter Tom Boonen: It's Petacchi's fault!
"The finale is quite chaotic, the speed isn't high enough, and that's why riders can come and sprint from behind. If you're at the front at that moment, it's impossible to counter these men. According to me, the chaos is caused because there's no Petacchi train here. Those men can ride that fast in the last five km that there's not one rider able to move up any more. Now the peloton looks like a ball rolling to the finish line.
- Eurosport: Discovery are crap! Brewer sits down with Johan Bruyneel to get the backstory.
- Speaking of DS interviews, T-Mob's Olaf Ludwig talks about their success so far. Shorter Cyrille Guimard: your team still sucks.