Packed calendar today, so I'll be wicked brief here... you know where to get race results, and if somehow you don't, look to your left.
- Was it really 122 degrees?
- CN gets back to interviewing the stage winner, the suddenly adorable Yaroslav Popovych. After four straight attacks, you can't argue that he wasn't the strongman of the day.
- The Paceline does some proper crowing about their first good day in forever. see the pictures and the team quotes.
I can't wait for post-stage quotes from Ballan and Freire. They seemed at odds at the end, and Oscarita was riding negatively, letting Ballan take up the chase of Popo every time, which isn't cool unless he was cooked. But Freire redeemed himself a bit by sitting up instead of sprinting for 2nd.
more and more...
Tons of stuff leftover from yesterday, being such an epic stage and all...
- Sam Abt finally weighed in over at the IHT on Landis' ascension.
- ESPN catches on! Julich's diary is a can't miss, with his take on the stage and his American rival/friends. The Worldwide Leader also breaks down Discovery's debacle.
- Speaking of breaking down teams, Rolf Aldag on the Magenta Mob.
- Klodi in the spotlight: Eurosport says he cramped, but Klodi himself claims the strongest man won.
- While on the subject of the T-Mob, latest news is Jan was doped at last year's Tour. Every day.
- Speaking of disgrace, T-Mob found another Belgian to take the reins from Pevenage.
Finally, Boonen breaks down the sprints again:
If I look back on the entire week, every time something was wrong it was just because the speed wasn't high enough. It might sound strange, but in this Tour we're sprinting at much lower speeds than ever before, at least five k's an hour slower. When you have seven guys leading you out you sprint at 70, 72 km/h, and here, I sprint not even at 65 km/h, it makes a big difference! I was talking to Mario Cipollini, who said he had the same problem. We both need high speeds, because then all the small guys like McEwen and Freire, they die. They stay in my wheel, and then they die. If I go 2 km/h faster, they can't come out of my wheel. But now, at these lower speeds, they wait in my wheel and then they come around. I take too much wind, the speed comes down - bam. That's the only problem there is. But that's not something I'm worried about, as it's not really my mistake. That's just the way it is.