Yellow for Schumacher

Gerolsteiner's Stefan Schumacher had hoped to win Thursday's stage in the Circuit de la Sarthe, but was happy enough to settle for second and the leader's yellow jersey. "It was clear on the uphill finish that the team would ride for me. I'm good at that kind, and I was leading for a long time. Too bad that someone got by me. The stage win was gone, but I'm happy about the yellow," he said.

Naturally, he and the team hope to defend his 3 second lead in today's final stage. "It will be hard, but we will give everything we have," said team manager Hans-Michael Holczer. "It'll be pretty hard," agreed Schumacher, who added, "When you have the yellow jersey, you want to defend it. And that it what I will try to do on Friday."