15:28 CEST
Navarro rides up the side of the peloton, with half a
pair of shorts. The other half is flapping in the breeze
after a crash or two.
15:35 CEST
Scheirlinckx has to avoid some fire trucks coming the
other way. That was close!
15:45 CEST 165km/71km to go
Pollack is back in the peloton. Impressive! It follows
the leaders at 7'12.
16:18 CEST
Pollack is also dropped from the bunch, but that's no
surprise.
16:33 CEST 196km/40km to go
There's at least one rider doing better than Di Luca
today: Jan Ullrich. He sits quite relaxed, about 3/4 of
the way down the small bunch.
16:54 CEST 213km/23km to go
Kessler is caught by the bunch, as he gets a bidon ready
to hand to his teammate. He has blood pouring down his
right leg as a result of that crash (third time this
week!) and is not happy.
16:58 CEST 217km/19km to go
Verbrugghe counter attacks.
Pollack has made it back to the peloton again, or has he?
17:00 CEST 218km/18km to go
Kessler now gets seen to by the race doctor to mop up the
blood.
17:06 CEST 221km/15km to go
Di Luca is suffering. Ullrich gets in the drops and
motors up just behind the front group, passing riders who
have blown. He's definitely not in a high gear. It's
snowing flower blossoms too.
17:22 CEST 231km/5km to go
Ullrich sits behind Rujano. Not much shelter for Der
Kaiser there.
Verbrugghe attacks on the flat. Smart move!
--
Michael Press