July 5, 2005: A fantastic château

Index to all entries

The big objective today was to get through unscathed. The way the rules are now you can't lose any more than three minutes, so it was just a matter of keeping it steady and not doing anything drastic. Stuart has a lot of confidence now and is sprinting the best he ever has. My main aim now is to help Stuey get that stage win. The green jersey is going to be difficult with Boonen going so well, but we are definitely not giving up.

It was really disappointing for Dave. He lives near me and is real good bloke. I don't know what happened but they were doing a real good ride and it looks like he would still be in yellow if not for the crash.

The next four to five days will be open slather with breaks going down the road. Discovery wants to win the tour, not defend the yellow at this early stage. So, unless there is a challenger to Lance in the break, Discovery won't chase too hard. Plus Lotto and Quick.Step can't control all the breaks.

It's going to be real aggressive until we get to the Alps and tomorrow is going to be a ripper. It will be on from the gun.

The big boss of Cofidis was here today and we stayed in fantastic château - just awesome. One minute you're in the Campanile and you have to go outside to change your mind, and the next minute there are people fluffing your pillow and space outside for chasing foxes. I hope the boss comes more often.