Roberto Heras and Joseba Beloki both had a dismal day on the road to Briançon yesterday, thus ending any chance of a high overall placing in this Tour. Beloki had put in a respectable ride on Tuesday's tenth stage, finishing 5 minutes and 36 seconds back in 26th place, but cracked early on yesterday and came home over half an hour down.
"For me the two days in the Alps have been no good, not even yesterday (Tuesday), because my place was to be near Ullrich," Beloki said. "On today's stage I got into trouble early on, on the Madeleine, and thought it was better to save my strength for the Pyrenees. Roberto was not going well and so didn't need my help. It is a pity, but only Jaksche and Contador are strong. Now that I am not a threat for the general classification, I will try to get into a break. I would like to do that in the Pyrenees but things have to change quite a bit for that to happen". Today marks the second anniversary of Beloki's terrible fall in the 2003 Tour.
