Crash of the Titans

Down, Down, Down, Down, Gravity: I don't know if anyone else almost gacked when Frank Schleck and Popovych went down just a few hours into the race, but as they mercifully emerged with only bruises, the most craptastic luck of the day (after perhaps the poor boy taken out at the feed zone) clearly belongs to defending mountain god Maurizio Soler, with a likely broken bone in his hand that makes his sprain of the same wrist he snapped in the Giro look like a minor hangnail. Damn! *Must* I root for that obnoxious twerp Ricco' for the mountains classification? Incidentally, is cyclingnews bull!@#$ing when it claims that the Cobra has a tat of an elf giving the finger on his abdomen? You can't make such perfection up, I tell you!

Gone But Not Forgotten: and, as Rabobank starts to disintegrate with the imminent losses of Thomas Dekker and perhaps even versatile sprint king we love Oscar Friere, lest anyone forget who's the *real* winner of the 2007 Tour--and yes, anonymous is right, he might well have tanked spectacularly in the time trial and handed Contador the maillot jaune anyway, had he been given the chance, but even this ruthless suckmeister of a time trialist had enough gap going in for my money--Michael Rasmussen has now decided to compete in the women's Danish national championships, though it still doesn't change the fact that his racing license was actually from Monaco, nor that the poor thing's apparently been further hampered by a hunger strike:



Damn, Chicken, you're not even gonna lose your appeal to CAS and get back on the bike for at least another year if you're lucky--couldn't you take some of that 655,000 euros you won from Rabobank and at least break from training enough to buy yourself a nice sandwich?

Il Grande Giro: and you thought you had to wait til next May! Nope, the Giro Donne is on the road, with the usual killer suspects--Arndt, Teutenberg, Brandli, Bronzini, and not least reigning world road goddess Marta Bastianelli--on hand and serious time already being taken out of the favorites. Forza Marta--don't falter, you're not a Cunegoesque one-hit wonder!

Question o' the Day: what the hell was Valverde thinking yesterday? An early dope-slap to earnest rival Cadel? A fail-safe footnote for the history books in case he crashes out or can't hold his form as usual? Looks like the microdosing is really paying off (allegedly! totally hypothetically! I don't even consider it an actual possibility!)? The maillot jaune looks really cool with his red-and-yellow Spanish national champions bike? Eat his dust Menchov but don't lose heart Sastre--you're only 6 seconds back!

SPOILER UPDATE: woo-hoo Thor! And what the hell was Caisse d'Epargne thinking today?