2nd time lucky

Mattias Kessler (T-Mobile) managed to stay away from the sprinters today and take the win on Stage 3. Impressive!

The race lost a few top guys today - all apparently due to broken collarbones - Erik Dekker (Rabobank - lying on the ground in the photo), Fred Rodriguez (Davitamon-Lotto - sitting on the ground) and Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d'Epargne). Too bad as Valverde was one of the yellow jersey hopefuls. From what I saw on tv it looked like he might have caused the crash - the peloton gets so twitchy and anxious as they near the end that one wrong move can cause disaster. The race has been great so far - lots of good action during the sprints and demonstrations of courage during the breakaways. And of course, Phil and Paul's commentary is pleasing to the ears! Hard to watch the Tour, Wimbledon and the World Cup all at the same time!