Stage Four - Day Five

The team time trial. It was exciting and completely not what I expected. The rainy conditions contributed to what I thought would be a relatively normal (if there is such a thing) day of team time trailing. But, alas, that was not to be.

For me, the highlights of the day were CSC, Phonak, and, of course, USPS. Most people pick Phonak and USPS as being the best. But CSC came through more than any other team. We knew that Phonak was strong, that Tyler could drag them on. And USPS? They wanted to win. But CSC? They fell and regrouped so many times that I thought it was all over. But somehow they crossed the line in 4th and ended up in 5th. And, to me, that's the most impressive.

I know people have said "well, they didn't end up first, did they?" And really, all I've got is that they probably didn't even expect to end up that high. T-Mobile got screwed, which was just fine with me. I was completely proud of BLB for not crashing as well as of Tyler's team. Crossing the line with only five riders was extraordinary.

And as for USPS? Wow. They fly. The pictures of poor Benjamin in tears, though, were heart breaking. I'm glad he wasn't eliminated, though.

But, oh, the worst was my boys. My poor FDJ. They were last (EDIT: Turns out they were just trying to survive and not get eliminated). It was sad to watch them, and then horrible to see them get passed by Robert Heras' Liberty Seguros team. My poor boys obviously didn't get it together. Let's hope things improve.


(from cyclingworld.dk)