Vinohmygod! (Spoiler Post)

Kloden's Hosed: well, so far as I can tell, that's it for poor Andreas Kloden, since if Vinokorouv wasn't already planning to jerk the choke chain in the Pyrenees to rein the self-interested boy's ambitions in, once Vino took an incredible 1st and Kashechkin a handy-yet-definitively-inferior 4th today I imagine he sure as hell's planning to now. Dammit! Still and all, one can't help but admire what our resident peloton wingnut is capable of (if also wonder how exactly he pulled it off, given his many friends in low places), and it will be one of the most spectacular comebacks in history (even over Floyd's, given the team-car advice-and-hydration coddling he had on his spectacular stage) if he can remotely come in sight of the podium. Sorry Kloden--even your fabulous form and obvious right to team captaincy can't begin to stand up to Vino's voracious ego and desire for '06 vengeance!

Arf!: and, I'm blown away by 'Piti' Valverde's suckmaster of a ride today, particularly given his recent freakish improvement in the discipline and a nice little rest day most of yesterday. With Cadel (who I continue to disregard for some reason, then again I'm usually wrong) on such smashing form, and even Levi nicely rescuing what looked initially to be a surprisingly lame performance at the early time checks, I think you'd better move tomorrow Alejandro, even assuming Cadel and Levi's continued overreliance on the dull Jan Ullrich strategy of glomming onto other guys' wheels rather'n ever attacking on their own. While we're at it, a bittersweet goodbye to we love Iban Mayo's unexpected GC chances, and a colossal "you suck!" to the press for stoking the hype around his still-slowly-reemerging confidence, but I'm still banking on you to take a stage win any day now, so allez Iban! Finally, I note with decidedly mixed feelings that I was egregiously wrong in choosing St. David Millar this morning. See what happens when I try to be nice? Well, that's enough of that!

And while we're at it, anyone else wondering if it's really just the maillot jaune that makes one ride like two men? After all, even Rabobank's own DS was glumly mourning the state of the Chicken's time trialling the other day....