FF : 3 Time U.S. PRO Cycling Champion

Tour de France
Crash Update

Glad to say that day by day things are getting better.

My head injury seems to be coming along and no complications other than some swelling in the face.

Shoulder is still not very mobile but getting easier to get out of bed.

I've been keeping up with the race and in contact with Robbie to see how the team has been fairing with out me. Before I left I told Robbie I had a feeling Gert would step up to the plate for him on the 4th stage. And he did with perfection. It took a lot of coaching from Robbie, but it sounds like he was able to control Gert's power.

Little History with Gert is that they guy is very powerful and fast(very fast), but sometimes hard to control his power to use it at the right time. He is young and sometimes lacks the confidence and experience of when to make the right move. And in the tour with all the crowds it very hard to talk and keep in communication so your almost on auto pilot.

So Robbie tells me that he told Gert he needed to jump with 400 meters from the finish and get him to under 200 meters just around the bend. Gert did it almost to perfection and jumped with 420 meters, dropping Robbie off exactly in position where he felt he could drive it all the way to the line.

It was also cool to see Robbie dedicate the victory to me as I couldn't be there for him. He knew how much it meant to me and how hard it was for me not to be there. He also knew exactly what happened in the crash so he was amazed to see me walking after such a thing.

We also talked about the 5th stage and what happened. Sounds like Gert lost a little concentration on where exactly the finish was an thought he saw 200 meters to go when it really was 600 meters. You could see that with 300 meters to go he was out of steam and Robbie had no choice but the wait and see if he could jump on another wheel as they came by.

I think that also caught the others by surprise and they came by maybe a bit slower than normal making it easy to sling shot from further back like Friere did. If Gert would have timed his efforts correctly it would have been impossible for any one to come from that far back. But when Robbie had not choice but to allow the speed to drop it was just what happens. Just like the stage Casper won, he came off my wheel from behind to sling past Bonnen and Robbie as the slowed.

This is Gert's first Tour and is still getting the hang of it. I have a feeling he will be able to put things together at least one more time for Robbie. 2 stage wins is not so bad I told Robbie and he said with a small laugh, "yeah your right".

I told Robbie that it killed me not being there to really get things down right, but the pain was also killing me too so there was no way I could be there now.

Still plenty of stages for Robbie and I will keep a close eye on things.

Tour de Suisse
June 10-18

Stage 2
Brengarten - Eisiedeln 156km

Today we were out to prove that yesterday would not be a repeat of Stage 1.. One small obstacle stood in front of us - a 7km climb toward the end of the stage. We knew we first had to get over this climb to contend the finish.

We also knew Quick-step and Rabobank would make it hard on us to get over the climb. We decided we would not help out in the chase to keep the race together.

The first major action was a solo rider off the front. Finally, when the gap got to 8 minutes, Rabobank put two guys on the front to start the chase. They wanted help chasing – they asked us for help and we said no, the gap had grown pretty big. Quick-step also decided not to help out which was a little strange seeing that Tom Boonen was getting over the hills better than all of us.

Rabobank finally gave up in the chase and we all just waited around. The break looked like it would stay away.

My thoughts were on the climb still to come. Would the climbers try to show off? I decided I would stay within my own rhythm considering we were not racing for first any longer.

I lost contact with the front of the group on the climb but I had the reserves to jump back on if needed.

We went over the top and most of the group was together. I worked my way to the top the front group to find Robbie so we could figure out our plan for the finish.

The final few kilometers proved to be hard - just as hard of a battle as if we were going for the stage win. Robbie and I got ourselves into position. We sat about 10 guys back coming into the final kilometer. I asked him if he wanted me to take him out to challenge the sprint. But he was not interested and motivated to sprint for second. He said to save it for a day that counts.

Another day that didn't turn out how we wanted but the team morale is good and we are still thinking of Le Tour.

By the way- congrats to my Girona neighbor and friend Levi for his awesome win in the Dauphine!

Stage 1
Baden - Baden 155km

Today was to be for the sprinters. The plan for our team was to get robbie to the finish and give a chance at the win.

Being it was the first real race after the Giro we didn't know exactly how his legs would feel.

The race started nice and steady. Everyone seemed happy to ride easy and chat a bit. It was also good for me as today I was trying out the new Ridley Noah. Everyone on the tour team gets one. So swiss being the last race before the tour it is the last chance to switch. But it does make a little hard jumping on a new bike in a race. Our mechanics try to make the transition as easy as possible by copying the measurements of our other bikes as close as possible.

The race was finally animated by a solo attack on the first cat 3 climb of the day. The rest of us just had a hard enough time just getting over it.

No one seemed interested to get the break back so with about 80 km left both Quick-step and us put two guys to start the chase.

The pace was finally on and with the heat every one seemed to feel it. We hit the next cat 4 climb and the pace went up. I was finding the day a bit hard on me. Couldn't tell exactly how I felt but not feeling so hot.

We finally entered the final circuit and the speed was fast. The gap was coming down fast and every one was fighting hard to stay at the front.

The circuit today proved to be challenging as we had a pretty tuff 2km climb. Luckly I thought there was penty of time to work my way to the front.

The first time up it I hit it right at the front. They first guys jammed it hard and I dicided to do my drift and save the legs. Over the top I found myself at the back of the group but still in the field.

I worked my way back to the front knowing we had one more time up it.

This tome we passed the finish line leading into the climb at full speed. I worked my way back to the front as we hit the bottom. Again i decided to drift and save the legs knowing that the odds where that it would all come together for the sprint.

I found myself still in contact with the field over the top, but this time I looked up and there was a gap. I didn't think of it as dangerous at first but no one was reacting fast enough and the gap grew bigger. Then both Quick-step and robobank noticed most of the sprinters missed the split and went full gas to make sure we did not come back. We chased at hard as we could but the gap stayed at 20 second. We finally gave up in the last 5km and called it a day.

It was just one of those days for our team, but we had the same bad luck last year and we quickly came around to win a stage.

Better luck tomorrow.

TOUR DE FRANCE 2007 DAILY BLOG:

Here's the link: http://tourdefrance.active.com/site10.aspx

You're welcome to send questions and comments which I'll try to answer from the road. Thanks for the support.--Freddie