Pneumonia knocks Barry out of Tour

Michael Barry had been looking forward to riding the Tour de France for the very first time ever in 2007 for his new team, T-Mobile, but a half a lung full of pneumonia has most likely put an end to that.

Barry dropped out of the Giro d'Italia, feeling unwell. "I'd wake up in the morning and it was like someone had whacked me in the chest," he told the Toronto Star. "I didn't feel that great in the races. I was able to do okay, do my job. But it started to stress me out and I wasn't able to get on top of things. Now, I know why. I was racing with half a lung."

He dropped out of the Giro after only one stage and returned to his home in Girona, Spain. When he had difficulty breathing he checked himself into the hospital, where he stayed for a week after x-rays showed that half of one lung was infected with pneumonia.

The 31-year-old Canadian had been on T-Mobile's preliminary Tour roster, but his participation now doesn't seem likely. "My chances of doing the Tour now are pretty slim," he said Barry. "But I'd rather take time off right now and try to come back and have a strong rest of the season. It would bother me more if I was in great shape and then got bumped from the squad."