I went for a seven-mile jog after work. I felt pretty good, except for the first mile when I felt stiff and creaky. After I finished, I rushed home to watch the Tour de France. (Just for those who might care, I tape the live coverage with Phil and Paul, because Bob and Al on the Primetime coverage are kind of annoying. Don't get me wrong, I love Bob Roll; he just needs to stick to the side pieces, not the main race commentary. Al Trautwig just rubs me the wrong way. Everything he says sounds condescending and smug. The less I hear from him, the better.)

Today's stage was marred by a terrible crash 2k from the end. A lot of the top sprinters went down, and some of my favorite riders looked pretty banged up coming across the line. Poor old Fast Freddie Rodriguez looked especially miserable creaking along, hunched over his handlebars, holding his ribs. The Yellow Jersey wearer, Fabian Cancellara, went down, too. He drifted to the finish holding his left arm in way that indicated a broken collarbone, though he later said he was fine. Thor Hushovd crashed, and I haven't heard anything on his condition. George Hincapie got a nasty gash on his knee, which you can see in this video from VeloNewsTV. Tomas Vaitkus got the worst of it, breaking his thumb in five places. He is, however, the only one involved in the crash who isn't planning to start tomorrow.

As much as I love bunch sprints, in the Tour they always seem to leave behind a huge element of carnage. It's really disappointing to see a GC rider go out because he got caught in a pile-up, or to see a sprinter's chance at the green jersey disappear because someone came across his wheel. But that's what happens in the first week of the Tour. That's why the winner can't just be good; he has to have a little luck, too.

Gert Steegmans's victory in today's stage struck me as a little odd. There is some speculation the Tom Boonen gifted his lead-out man the victory. I don't know. It looked like Tornado Tom was riding pretty hard to me. Steegmans left the door open, but Boonen didn't—or couldn't—come through. Regardless, Boonen took enough points to wear the green jersey tomorrow, and a Belgian rider on a Belgian team won a stage in Belgium.

Tomorrow's Stage: Stage 3 - Waregem to Compiègne (236.5km)

This is the longest stage of the Tour, but it's relatively flat and should end with a bunch sprint. However, most of the big name sprinters are riding hurt at the moment. Tom Boonen seems to be the only healthy marquee rider, so I have to put my money on him. He'll need to watch out for Romain Feillu, though; the plucky French rider on the Agritubel squad has finished fifth twice and looked sharp both times.  ¶ 12:00 AM