A day to forget for Gerolsteiner

Thursday's stage of the Vuelta was just one of those days when (almost) nothing went right for Gerolsteiner. "Three men dropped out, a broken-down bus, broken-down material, an injured mechanic and a broken tooth," Robert Förster told www.radsportnews.de

The race started off poorly for the team as Sven Montgomery and Andrea Moletta dropped back from the peloton within the first kilometres. Later, on a climb, youngster Markus Fothen dropped back to the team car to pick up a rain jacket and never reached the peloton again.

At least not on his bike: "A fully loaded team car came by us, with our three guys in it. They didn't look happy," recalled Förster.

The only highlight of the day was Heinrich Haussler's top ten finish after being in the right escape. But that was really the only good news of the day: two belts in the team bus' engine were torn, as was one in the mechanic's vehicle; the air compressor and the high-pressure cleaner were also broken down; a mechanic hurt his back; and Rene Haselbacher broke a tooth on an olive at dinner. Exclaimed Förster: "That was really not our day!"