As you’ve probably read by now, it was Benoit, Ace Azevedo and Triki Beltran who went down in the big crash yesterday at the Vuelta. Benoit broke a tiny bone in this wrist, which can be a major trouble point if it does not heal correctly. Tiny little part in the wrist mechanism, but vital to the movement of his wrist. Benoit will be off the bike for quite a while, I think - it is unclear if it will require surgery, or just a long healing time. Jeeze - Ace has been bedeviled by crashes lately, and has about three layers of big-time road rash. Neither Ace nor Benoit took the start today, and Triki abandoned early in the stage, leaving his 7th place GC... His knee must be more thrashed than he realized yesterday when he finished the stage after the crash. Photo of Triki is from the 2005 training camp, when we were in Ojai.

With three of the team missing now, it may be tough for Tom to hold onto his 6th place in the GC. Most embarrassing blunder of the year in today’s Stage 13: Ardila, of Davitamon, sprinted to what he thought was victory and raised his arms, but he wasn’t at the finish line! It was the KOM - a couple of hundred meters from the finish... Jeeze, how embarrassing... Pereiro, in second place, kinda sat up, and the third place guy, Samuel Sanchez of Euskatel, kept up the steam and took the win, laughing like crazy.... But you know, the route was screwed up and changed because of a truck broken down on one of the climbs, so the route was longer, and then the officials shortened it by three meters. So, I guess you can see how Ardila may have been mistaken.... But where was the DS? Or maybe he told Ardila that it was the finish... Whatever, but it’s kinda like running the wrong way on the football field in high school.