Gerolsteiner's Robert Förster will have one helper less to help him defend his leader's jersey in the Circuit de la Sarthe. Teammate Georg Totschnig won't be at the start in today's stage two, as the team announced. After coming down with a sore throat yesterday, the team doctor advised him to drop out of the race. "I don't want to take any risk in my preparations for the Tour de France," the Austrian rider said. "Our doctor urgently recommended that I take it easy the next few days in order to recover faster."
Stefan Schumacher, who crashed in the last 100 meters of the race on Tuesday, was down but not out, and will ride again today. "Stefan has large scrape wounds on both shoulder blades - which leads all of us to wonder how on earth he fell? - but, in any case, he'll ride today," said team manager Hans-Michael Holczer.
