unknown rookie riders.....

ok, so one guess how we spent last evening......watching a fast-forwarded version of the tour......in the alps not far from italy......with spectacular views and impossible turns and wicked up and downhills.....nowhere that i'd want to ride, by the way......there was a curious mishap on a flat section, where somebody's stupid, large yellow dog walked right across the road and into the path of a rider.....the dog got up and walked away, but the rider's carbon wheel was bent and ruined....luckily the rider wasn't hurt.....poor alexander vinikurov is riding with stitches in his knees and elbows after his wreck from a few days ago......he looks really pained......possibly because riders in pain cannot take most effective drugs for fear of doping accusations.....vini is at least 8 minutes behind the leader, so barring any miracle his hopes of winning the tour are toast....but i digress from my original theme...about the rookie riders who are making a big splash....the stage winner from tuesday is a columbian riding in his first tour, for barloworld, a south african team......no idea what barloworld is.....almost sounds like an r.v. sales lot...eh?.......this guy trains in the mountains, so he was just dandy with his own mountainous breakaway.....since his name hadn't come up before yesterday, nobody chased til it was too late....i am always pleased when the bold single breakaway guys win the stage......swim banquet tonight....(and thankfully that season is over.....) so we will be later than usual watching today's stage....