So Lance stays in the Leader's Jersey, after a hard stage, and tomorrow will be a rough one, too. The carefully orchestrated ceremony of the winners presentation got screwed up again today. It was so tacky - the podium girl handed Lance the flowers, did the kiss-kiss thing, and then asked him for an autograph. So there he stood, on the top step on the podium, flowers dangling, and then whole process came to a halt while he signed an autograph! That is a first, I'll tell you.

Speaking of Podium Girls, I saw that George's lady, Melanie, was at the stage today. They were on the other side of the finish line, so did not get to talk with them. I did talk with Bob Roll, and asked him if he had a quote for the Cat's Hill Classic in Los Gatos on May 8th. (I do the publcity for that race.) He didn't bat an eye and said, "When I saw Greg Lemond race the Cat's, I knew right then that I would be an also-ran." Bobki raced the Cat's Hill in the olden days (OK, OK - I'm joking).

So we had the same old press conference after the race, with the same old obvious questions from the same reporters.. The guys all are dead tired, need a shower and a massage desperately, and they have to sit and and be polite, and endure the same questions and comments every day.

Of course, the really big news, that everybody expected anyway, is that USPS is ending their sponsorship. It is a bummer and I can't imagine calling the team anything but the Posties - rather messes up my fan site URL, huh? However, I think that the eight-year long sponsorship is pretty outstanding in the US. All the rest of the races this year certainly have a poignancy and wisp of sadness to them. I can't imagine seeing the team in anything but red, white and blue..