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93rd Tour de France - presented by

Stage 1, Strasbourg - Strasbourg, 183K

2 July

Dust Devil's Daily Wrap
More Glory for the French

Dust Devil's Daily Wrap, Stage List, Stage Profile, Photos

Robbie McEwen came out of the shadows to appear in at the kill with about 500m to go. Amazingly enough Jimmy Casper came through to take the bouquet.

Jimmy Casper is a guy who I didn't think would ever win a Tour stage, or a major victory of any kind for that matter. He's always there at the finish but usually overtaken by the big boys.

Thus far the French have to be enjoying the Tour de France. Thor Hushovd, riding for the French Credit Agricole squad took the first yellow jersey. Now Jimmy Casper, a Frenchman riding for a French team Cofidis, takes the first road stage in an exciting sprint finish!!

The big story of the day is that of the bizarre slashing of Thor Hushovd's arm in the last 100m. It's hard to see what happened, and at the time of this writing nothing was conclusive. I think he will be on the start tomorrow since it appears he has no broken bones, just a bad gash.

It should be interesting to see what becomes of this and how the Tour organization responds to the safety of the riders. It's reminiscent of the 2003 Luz Ardiden stage where the musette hooked Armstrong's bars. If you think about it, it's gotta take SOME NERVE to be riding at 40-45MPH (70KPH) just a few feet or less from the barriers and the crowd waving their arms and banners in the faces of the riders. Something like this is bound to happen occasionally and when the stakes are as high as they are in the TDF, it only makes sense.

So, Big George gets a nice consolation prize today for his near miss yesterday. He has to be on top of the world! 7 years of service to the "machine" and now he gets a shot at some glory for himself.
- The Dust Devil