A bit of a relief

The Disco Boys were out in a show of force today, showing all of us who doubted them that today, at least, they weren't leaving Lance alone again. They've also got a couple days rest now, as we've got an actual rest day tomorrow and, since they relinquished the yellow jersey to CSC's Jens Voigt, they'll have a bit of a rest day Tuesday - CSC will need to defend the jersey once again.

In a bit of sad news, CSC's first yellow jersey wearer, American David Zabriskie, abandoned the Tour today. He finished 51 minutes behind yesterday, one minute inside the elimination time, and was already fading fast on the first climbs of the day today. He apparently can't take a deep breath due to the injuries sustained during the team time trial crash, and that'll keep any endurance athlete from competing in top form. It's too bad, though - he was great fun to watch (especially in his post-stage interviews), and we were hoping he'd be able to make it to the rest day and perhaps recover a bit in order to win another time trial later on.

So for CSC it was a day of highs and lows - Zabriskie's out, but Voigt's in yellow. Voigt's a good guy, so we're happy to see him smiling atop the podium for the time being. The stage winner was Rabobank's Michael Rasmussen, who also leads the mountain climber's jersey competition, and who helped Rabobank win both weekend stages. Not bad for a team without an overall contender.

Other news from the day - two crashes today forced two riders to abandon. Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano had no broken bones, but he can't walk because of a bad bruise on his back. Jose Angel Gomez Marchante fell in the feed zone and broke his collarbone - the most common cycling injury. The TV cameras captured every painful moment for him, which was hard to watch. Ullrich also had a minor fall, but didn't seem to sustain any real injuries. And, as is Tour etiquette, Lance and the Disco Boys slowed the peloton down to let Jan catch back up.

Tuesday's stage has two category 1 climbs, and then Wednesday will be a doozy - the first HC (beyond classification) climbs of the race thus far. I can't wait. (Of course, I'm not on a bike...)