An awesome Stage 16 this morning... Ivan Basso just breezed up that last climb - Monte Bondone. What power and grace! He was using a fast, small gear - took off - left Simoni and Gutierrez, and never stopped spinning his way to the stage victory. He is so solid in the maglia rosa now. He looks like he’s got a lot left in his legs for the big climb tomorrow, but not I’m so sure about Simoni, Gutierrez and Savoldelli. Simoni kinda looked like he blew up a bit when Basso took off, but he found his legs again. He’s a fighter. However, he is 9.24 down in the GC and Savoldelli is a whopping 9.17. Gutierrez held his second spot at 5.24 down. Chechu was the only Discovery rider who was able to stay with Paolo to the top. Tommy Danielson was in trouble and lost a ton of time - came in way back.

I’d like to say, speaking of grace, that Ivan Basso had more class than to drench the Podium Girls with the bubbly. He briefly sprayed the obligatory champagne out toward the crowd, and put the bottle down. You could tell that the Podies trusted he was not going to spray them - they didn’t jump back out of the way, like with some podium winners.

So tomorrow should be one hell of a stage. I go spinning starting at 6 am, and either I am going to have to blow it off, or rush back to catch the end of the stage. Hmmm - what do you think I’m gonna do....

The photo of Ivan is from the 2005 SF Grand Prix....

I shot off a note to Anthony and Brian of cycling.tv. Told Anthony to call me Velogal, not Velogirl - dang it....They didn’t know that I had co-authored Tour de France for Dummies - so they want a copy. Which, of course, I’ll send them. Did I tell you that the TDF for Dummies has come out in a German version, and my name is misspelled... Oh well, it goes along with the other errors in the book - none of which are mine.... Like screwing up the French in my acknowledgment/thank you part of the book. Duh... Who in the Hell did that? Pas moi....

Will cycling fans in Germany really want to buy the book, with a forward by Lance Armstrong? To me, trying to sell that book in France, Germany, Italy, Spain or Belgium is like that ancient saying about carrying coals to Newcastle. Those folks are raised with cycling and it’s a part of their life.... They are gonna buy a book that explains cycling? Obviously, nobody at Wiley and Sons asked me, but I’ll be surprised there are big sales in Europe. It would be nice, but I’m not holding my breath.