July 8, 2005: Another hectic finish

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Another fast day today and another hectic finish. With the straight run in I thought that it would be more straight forward, but that wasn't the case.

The finish as always going to be a bit of Russian roulette and Stuey was right in the mix until the proverbial hit the fan. The three guys up front were weaving all over the road and that caused the fall. You cannot change your positions in these conditions. I was just behind Stuart and Robbie, about fifth into the corner, and as soon as one went down it was a domino effect, and riders were just going down like nine pins.

During the Tour de France Cofidis team-mates Stuart O'Grady and Matt White will be taking turns to give us an inside look at the daily goings-on in the peloton and the team hotel. An Olympic gold medalist on the track, O'Grady is a rider to watch in the sprints and long breakaways, while White is an experienced grand tour rider who has been kept out of the Tour de France by a run of lousy luck that's finally ended this year. O'Grady has had a rollercoaster ride at the last few Tours, wearing the yellow jersey in 2001 and green in 2002, but never quite managing to hang on to green all the way to Paris. In the last couple of years he's shifted his emphasis away from sprint speed and remodelled himself as a Classics and long breakaway expert. White is finally riding the Tour after breaking his collarbone just before the start of last year's Tour. In 2001 he was expected to ride the Tour but did not make his US Postal's final selection and in 1999 his Vini Caldirola team had its Tour invitation withdrawn when Sergei Gontchar failed a haematocrit test at the Tour of Switzerland. After that, he's due some good luck in 2005! Australia UK USA