It seems that every time you watch the sun set over the beautiful ocean of cycling, you're called back home to work on the acquarium of bike racing. Fish floating upside down, algae blooms, that one puffer that keeps attacking the newts.. and, ah cripes, hold on, Tinkerbell's floating in here. What's.. what is that on the bottom.. a beek?

No one's alluded to it, but Michael Rasmussen has not been a beneficiary of Bjarne Riis admission, this year. The Tour has resolved that it won't take it, and that's a good thing. That Rasmussen looked like Riis, rode like Riis, spoke like Riis and hails from the same land as Riis didn't help, either. With a bald spot, he would have been the reincarnation of Riis. So many wanted him gone that I wondered if Riis wasn't part of their anger, too. Rasmussen needed to go.

One strong man of the Tour who could be in contention for the yellow jersey this year is Frankie Andreu. I applaud him for going to that race, doing his work, and facing the people that tried to tear him apart, last year. Frankie has taken more than his share of hard knocks. For someone who loves bicycle racing and was trying to help, he sure got punched by his own sport. First, his unjust (in my opinion) firing from the domestic team he provided so much value to. Then, after admitting his own drug use during his racing career, he was slammed by Johan Bruyneel. We have lived long enough the 'Code of Silence' period in bike racing. We are all sick of it. The noise is only getting louder. If we're ever going to get that acquarium clean, we can't have the silent-but-deadly's swimming around in there.

It's refreshing to see the riders getting upset with each other. When riders jobs are at risk because of the actions of someone on their team, or another team, it's not fair. Pressure will continue to mount. Tom Boonen's words were strong, today. One has to wonder if there is not an implication in there, somewhere.

Another one in serious contention for yellow, this year, is Paul Kimmage. He asked the hard questions of Vinokourov before the Tour. He always asks the hard questions. He stood up in a room and asked Vino how he dared to start this Tour with Ferrari as his doctor/trainer. Vino's defense rang hollow, and everyone paid the price.

It's true that DeFeet Custom Shop socks crossed the line first, again, today. That is one thing about this race that we can say is positively true. Even though they are a legal, competitive advantage, we're not gonna do backflips about it, today. We will, however, continue to do our best at making them. That's what we do, and we will always be proud of that.