Stages 4/5

Today was windy, no two ways about it. The first of the two stages started out in town and had the requisite sprints within the first 5k. As soon as the race got out of town, the wind started splitting the field. Over the course of the stage, things came back together a number of times. The view from the van was interesting at times, but at other times we were so far back in the caravan that we couldn't see much of what was going on. Most of the main field came back together to finish just off the back of a group of four, by 32 seconds. Post stage, it was time for quick recovery since there was about a two hour turn around time.

The second stage of the day had some hideous winds with crosswinds that really split the field quickly. A group of the main GC contenders got off the front in the first windy section and built a lead quickly. The second group on the road never made up much time on the leaders and really lost time in the last 20k when they stopped working. That enabled the third group (including Greg and celebrity rider, Floyd Landis) to catch back on. There was definitely a shake up in the GC, check it out online.

I have some pictures, but I'll wait until later to dump them . . .