TdF update

Stage 4 is under way. Floyd currently sits 7th at 16 seconds back. See his interview with cyclingnews.com here. With the GC contenders continuing to fall, this one is shaping up to be a bit of a last man standing affair. Alejandro Valverde got KO'd yesterday. A touch of wheels in the peloton and he ends up with a broken collarbone. Freddy Rodriguez got knocked out too as a result of a crash with Erik Dekker, who mangled his face and lost a bunch of his teeth. Stuart O'Grady fractured a vertebrae, but he took to the start today to see if he can continue. Life at the Tour can be a bit rough. A few excerpts from cyclingnews.com:

A crash with 54 km to go took out Davitamon's Fred Rodriguez and Rabobank's Erik Dekker. Both abandoned the race immediately, and although Rodriguez didn't break any bones, he suffered heavy concussion. Dekker suffered concussion and serious facial injuries: abrasions, facial trauma, a contusion, a ripped upper lip, as well as a couple of broken teeth. He was kept unconscious on Tuesday night so that his face could be cleaned. Thus ended what is almost certainly his final Tour de France.

Sandy Casar (Française des Jeux) finished 137th in yesterday's third stage after being taken out by a drunken spectator at the foot of the Cauberg. The spectator then got into an argument with Casar's DS Marc Madiot, while others tried to steal the Frenchman's wheels. Although Casar lost several minutes, he was credited with the time of the first group (five seconds behind winner Kessler), and therefore is just 39 seconds behind on GC.