It was close to being a great day for CSC. They had a slight edge at every checkpoint, and it looked like there was going to be a real chink in the Disco armor. Riis said his team's goal was to win the stage, and they went out and proved it. They were going to beat Discovery at its own game, take the time trial, hold onto the yellow jersey, and get Basso a little bit closer to the lead.

Well, it didn't quite work out that way.



Photo from CyclingNews

Well, in the end, it wasn't that bad. You hate to lose the yellow jersey by crashing 2k from the finish line, but its not like Zabriskie was going to win the Tour. And its not like CSC has bigger goals, like Basso winning it all. And losing two seconds to Armstrong means diddly squat, and everyone knows it.

But it doesn't make it suck any less. CSC is probably our favorite team, and with good reason, they are more fun. T-Mobile is a dysfunctional mess of warring egos and me-first hatreds. Discovery is the opposite, a boring as hell team devoted to one man's pursuit of excellence. CSC is the "other" great team, but they have personality. It's like the island of misfit toys, only all of the castoffs are back to kick the crap out of the big guns who snubbed them. We want CSC to do well.

Zabriskie losing the maillot jaune was inevitable, but couldn't he have lost it on a sprint or at least on some rider's epic breakway? Losing it on a crash is so disappointing. The crash probably cost CSC the few seconds they lost the stage by. Sure, its bad luck, but bad luck that costs you about five seconds is the best kind of bad luck to have.

Armstrong's in yellow, but Basso and Vino are in great position right now. Let's watch the sprinters fight until we get to the mountains on Monday.