The thunder and lightning during the stage were really spooky. It was a very dangerous stage because of the incredible amount of rain and the winding roads. There were a lot of crashes and punctures. Even I flatted twice. The weather made the race very hard. Unfortunately it was not enough for Dege. That is really too bad and his disappointment is understandable. We are all disappointed.

I survived the Tourmalet well yesterday, by the way. We rode into the finish in a relatively large group without much time pressure. I will use the time trial tomorrow to pretty much warm up for the stage to Paris. It is not important to me and nevertheless I must keep an eye on the time limit. Later I will work out some times so that I know how fast I must go. But how do you go into a time trial when you know it doesn’t matter? Of course I can’t just climb out of the bus and on to the bike and make my leisurely way to the finish. I will have to warm up, although it will be nothing like a World Championships program. Actually I want to recover as well as I can, so that I can win again in Paris.

Photo: roth-foto.de