Tour de France Stage 7 - the stage of American Mishaps...

Well, well , well... Who would have expected the Stage 7 Individual Time Trial to end like this. Poor old Bobby Julich ate it right after the start - a hard, ugly fall. He put his hand down, and there went his wrist. His bike flew into the barricades and his hip hit hard on the curb. Into the ambulance and out of the Tour de France. This is the second time he’s crashed out of Tour in a Time Trial.. I’m sure he is bitterly disappointed as his role was the potential team leader of CSC. I wondered if his clincher had rolled off or something... he just leaned right into the pavement.. Bummer for him and for his team.

Levi was the second disappointment - he just didn’t have legs or something. I’m sure we’ll hear more about what his problem was, but he ended up over 5 minutes down. That will extremely difficult to make up in the mountains. Levi was a minute and a half down at the first time check, only 16k from the Start. Christian Van de Velde actually passed Levi on the course, which I’m sure was demoralizing for Levi. CV did a great ride today - he’s a great guy - one of my favorites. Dave Zabriskie didn’t meet expectations for a win today, either. He placed 13th, the only other American in the Top Twenty.

Floyd continued his Time Trial mechanical problems - does he have a TT Jinx? He did extremely well considering he had a problem with his TT handlebars and had to change bikes. Change bikes in the middle of an ITT! Holy Crap - that could be a disaster, but Floyd stayed cool and ended up in the second spot for the stage. Gonchar (also spelled Gontchar and Honchar, depending on what news source you surf on) was elated, to say the least, to bring in the Stage win and the Leader’s Jersey to T-Mobile.

George was steady, but not speedy, at least not the blazing speed we’d hoped for. He passed Thor Hushovd on the way. I think Thor is pretty disheartened and angry, by his relegation and lost hopes for the Green Jersey. George ended up 24th, and I think the Discovery Team will lose their fluorescent number bibs today. Savoldelli did a respectable job for the team - he looked real good today. So did Popo, but no cigar for anyone on the team. Except for my Iron Man, Eki, who by damn, placed 22nd - ahead of George Hincapie.... Jeeze - I just love Eki... Chechu rode very well and placed 26th...

Was funny to see the evident rivalry between Tom Boonen and Robbie McEwen on the course. Tom passed Robbie, and they rode almost side-by-side for a while - very ironic. Finally, Boonen stood up and sprinted ahead. Boonen could have dogged it, knowing he was going to lose Yellow today, but he honored the Jersey with a good, hard ride to the Finish, with a respectable time.