Course: None

Comments: I skipped my run today because I was too busy reading about the Tour de France. Stupid, yes, but I regret nothing.

Speaking of the Tour de France, today's stage had a lot of minor action. Freire made a fairly successful run at moving up the Points Classification. If he wins another bunch sprint, he could move into the Green Jersey. Aside from the stage win, Popovych's move back into the top ten seems like a non-event, but one good day in the Alps for him—or one bad day for Landis, Evans, or Menchov—and he's back in the hunt for a podium spot. Still, I was surprised there weren't more Frenchmen on the attack.

Tomorrow's stage is bound to be a rolling slog on a hot and humid course. I'm not even going to pretend to pick a winner. I doubt it will come down to a bunch sprint. Phonak doesn't want to work all that hard before the Alps, and the sprint teams, Lampre, Davitamon-Lotto, and Quick.Step are pretty worn out, so they don't want to work too hard either. Maybe Discovery will send Egoi Martinez up the road to try to take back some time. McEwen's been complaining of knee pain, so it will be interesting to see how he reacts to any more attacks by Freire.  ¶ 9:57 PM