Riis looks on bright side

Although they lost an ill Jens Voigt yesterday when the German finished 39 seconds outside the time cut, Bjarne Riis was able to see something positive at the finish in Briançon. "Bobby and Carlos had some problems on Galibier, but I think they all did very well today," he was quoted on the team's website www.team-csc.com.

"Ivan felt better than yesterday, but we didn't consider attacking with such a long distance from the last summit to the finish," he said.

Losing Voigt is a blow to the team, particularly as they had already lost fellow maillot jaune wearer David Zabriskie. Voigt had been ill with fever for the past few days.

"When I started in today's stage, I knew it was against all odds, but I still wanted to do everything I possibly could to continue," said Voigt. "Kim Andersen gave me a lot of motivation during the stage, but in the end it just wasn't enough."