Pereiro

??huh?? i'm beginning to hate this Tour. i've never seen more parity in the peloton. i guess this can be seen as a good thing, but it becomes like the NFL where you begin to not care who wins b/c there are no favorites, no great teams. no great teams in this Tour either. Phonak too weak to defend Floyd's yellow. Rabobank too weak to defeand Menchov's spot. ALL the sprinter's teams to weak to get their guys up into the mix. to be honest, while i'm no fan of Pereiro, i sorta hope he gives some major mierda to Floyd, Menchov, Kloden, et.al. He finished 10th last year, 3.30 down on Floyd. he was helped by scoring some time in a couple breakaways when he wasn't perceived as a danger man. the first was gaining 5.00 on the favorites at the 15th Pla d'Adet stage with his 2nd place to George. the very next stage, 16 Pau he gained another 3.24 on the favs with his stage win. and finally on stage 19 LePuyenVelay he finished 4th in yet another breakaway gaining another 4 minutes.

he'll be a watched man now, especially in the Alps. he did finish 26.00 down on the stage to Pla d'Beret, but now he has much more motivation. i really want Floyd to win, but i think it would be great if he, Menchov, Kloden, and whoever else comes up to have to deal with Pereiro all the way to Paris. Wow! this is certainly different from Sr. Armstrong and his Disco mafia lording over the peloton.

a New Era indeed.

(and did you catch that entirely uncomfortable interview with Tyler in the middle of the coverage? yikes. the news of this supposed 'fax from Haven' looks pretty bad, and i personally was uncomfortable watching him)