The sprint finish in Stage 15 of the Giro d’Italia was not as exciting as past stages, but Bettini finally won his stage of the Giro. As you know, he’s raised his arms when he was second, and looked kinda chagrined. This time, I saw Bettini hesitate and look over at Pollack to see if Pollack had his arms up, before he signaled victory. And he only raised one arm. It seemed like Bettini didn’t want to embarrass himself again, just in case he really didn’t win.... No victorious pumping his arms in the air and yelling on this one... And I think this was one of the last two sprint stages - from now on, most of the stages are grueling, lung-busting climbing.

Jan moved up to the front at about five kilometers to go, but he wasn’t really a contender for the win. Basso, easily in the GC lead, stayed safe and protected. Word is that Paolo Savoldelli is over his bout with an allergies, but he's also over five minutes down, in third GC. I think Basso will have to have some bigtime problems before he loses his lead to Il Falcon, but who knows?

It sounds like it is official that Leif Hoste will sign a two-year contract with Davitamon-Lotto. It makes sense - he’s ridden for them before, and knows Marc Sergeant well. Also, he’s living in Belgium, so more home-time for him...

Guess that Lance received an honorary degree from Tufts University when he did their commencement address. So now he is Dr. Lance Armstrong - as he said, he barely made it through high school, but that was for lack of interest rather than intellect...