From First To Last.

We have our first casualty from our pool.

Jurgen Van den Broeck is out.

Sorry Toby.  Last years winner is this years last place.  The Tour she is an evil mistress.

It's been a brutal opening week to the tour, again.  I'm not sure how I feel about the nervousness and crashes being the new "norm" for the tour.

Or has it always been that way, and we've just never had the same amount of coverage of the tour as we've had since doper #1 (aka Lance) brought it to the national consciousness?

If all this crashing and dropping out is a new thing, I wonder if there is anything that can be done.  We keep hearing Phil and Paul tell us how "Everyone wants to be in the first 15 places at the head of the peloton."  Start the tour on wider roads?  End the stages on wider roads?

Finally got to watch the team time trial this morning.  Always will be my favorite stage of the tour.  There's just something magical about the uniformness of the teams.  It really is the only time the layman can see the entire team working towards a common goal.  All spiffed out in their matchy watchy bikes and aero helmets.  It also is the stage that really can put the first dent in the armor for some of the contenders.  Tejay and Cadel conceding 20+ seconds to Froome could be a death sentence.  Neither of them are explosive in the mountains.  Contador only lost a few, which he could make up when the tour turns uphill.  But I don't know about his time trial abilities now.  Seems he's lost a step (off the dope?).

Don't tell me what happened today.  I've been avoiding the internet so I don't accidentally see the results.  I'm off right now to finish watching the stage.

Happy riding and sorry Toby!