Tumbling in Basque Country

I'd love to speak about the way the stage finished today, but I can't because I wasn't there. Everything started fine today, albeit quite hard, and we ended up with Bob in a very strong breakaway. Knowing the danger of the men in the break SaxoBank never let the gap grow too big. It wasn't easy for them though because it wasn't easy for anyone sitting in the peloton behind. All was going ok for me until the descent from the last KOM of the day. I was riding with Robert and the next thing I knew I was flipping into the ditch. It was a pretty quick end to my day as the race was on full gas now and it took a long time to get my spare bike from the car in all the chaos of the splitting peloton. I was disappointed about that, but I was/am much happier that I came away from the crash mostly unscathed. It's just a reminder of how dangerous this sport is and the respect it commands. Nonetheless I'm counting my blessings and going to try and move on from it.

As for the other guys, Robert is now our lone gc guy but pretty far back. Frank had a horribly timed puncture in the last 4-5km and lost all his chances. And for Bob's efforts today he deserves a round of applause. He wasn't able to match the incredible Tony Martin in the end, but the effort required to be in the break today was solid. Tomorrow is the longest stage of the race with the usual (and likely sprint) finish in Vittoria. The start takes us up two climbs in quick succession, so it's likely to be ugly. Hoping I won't be too sore and can muster the effort! Wish I could report more exciting/better news, but for the moment this is all I've got. Thanks for reading.