Tour de France - Stage 16 . What a shocker the stage was today... Nobody would have ever thought that Floyd would have cracked like he did. What a sad, sad thing for him. Robbie Venture (Floyd’s coach) said that he thinks Floyd bonked, and it was not the problem with his hip that caused him to flounder. Floyd was so upset that he gave no interviews - just was ushered into the team car and driven away. Jeeze - losing over 10 minutes in the stage is just so awful for the Yellow Jersey.

Huge kudos to Axel Merckx for the job he did in staying with Floyd and leading Floyd up to the finish. He gave Floyd a very kind pat on the shoulder at the line. I bet Eddy is really proud of his son today for being totally dedicated to the team leader. Axel really gave his all... But Floyd was often isolate, and just couldn’t battle the whole group alone...

Michael Rasmussen totally earned his stage win today - staying out almost the entire stage. His soigneurs literally had to hold him up right after the Finish Line. He totally gave his all, and was physically and emotionally spent after his solo effort over those climbs. It was a horrible, brutal stage today, worse by far than yesterday. The descent was so wicked - everybody sure heeded the warnings, and didn’t do anything dangerous. There was potential for horrible crashes on that road.

I bet there are more than a few riders and directeurs sportif that are now regretting that they let Pereiro take that thirty-minute flyer a couple of stages ago... In hindsight, a bad decision to not chase him down. But, after losing thirty minutes in the Pyrenees, I guess they certainly underestimated the guy. So, here he is in the Yellow Jersey, and some butts are being kicked... Pereiro is delighted and good on him.

Sastre did a great job of chasing to end up on the stage podium. The CSC guys are giving a good race and showing themselves so well without Ivan. A real quality team....