Paolo Bettini, I apologize. I noted your apathetic form in the prologue and stage 1, thinking that you didn't have form yet. But clearly you had a strategy to win because you took today's stage and quite nearly yesterday's as well -- if Mick Rogers hadn't gotten a flat on the descent, your chase group may have had enough power to reel it it.
photos by Mike Shimahara, BikeZen.com
It was a very different stage from last year's and not just with the deluge of rain. While there was a flurry of early attacks, Discovery Channel seemed to do a good job of letting a break get away and then keeping it on a three-minute leash. As the finish line approached, the sprint teams did their part to reel it back in and setup the finish.
