Yikes! Now we’ve lost Leif Hoste out of Catalunya - he had breathing problems due to his sternum injuries from last month’s crash at P-N, and dropped out yesterday. It was his first time back and he was hyperventilating to an extreme during the TTT. The DC team started the Catalunya race with only 7 guys instead of eight anyway.... It’s gonna make it real tough on the remaining guys as the stages go into the mountains. Leif’s name has been tossed around as a replacement for Eki at the TdF, so this may also have ramifications for the TdF team in July.

Today is rest day at the Giro, so no action there. Over the past weekend, I watched a whole lot of races that I had taped - my PVR was getting maxxed out. I finally watched the OLN Tour de Georgia tapes. When I saw the Craig Hummer interview of Lance right before Stage 2, I was smiling, because I was standing elbow-to-elbow with Craig while he was talking with Lance. The cameraman was shooting right over my shoulder, and Lance had just said hello to me only seconds before they started the camera rolling. Actually, it probably already was, and they cut out that part of the tape. That same thing happened a few times at the TdF last year - I hang out beside the OLN crew a lot at the bus. I think I am sort of a space-holder for them...

Well, the annual Live Strong Gala will be in Austin this Friday, May 20th. It should be a great, star-studded event - the LiveStrong Awards will be presented and they will have the famous auction of all kinds of unique Lance goodies. Last year they raised over $700,000. The link below is to a letter from Lance on the LAF site. Since you're going to ask: Nope, I won’t be there, I think my invitation got lost in the mail, or maybe it was sent to San Jose, Costa Rica - Just kidding....