Another exhibit of sportsmanship in an earlier stage when Piils and Saachi shook hands as they rode into town on the way to the final sprint. I love that.
On the other hand, you've got punks like Pettachi who win a bunch of flat stages and then bail out of the race when it gets to the mountains. That's totally bush league and shows a tremendous disrespect to his teammates, his competitors, and to the race itself. I wish there was a bigger outcry about that, but so far I've hardly seen anybody mention it.
TimB, to me this is great TV: it's on every day and every day there's a new hero, a new crisis, a new memorable moment. But to the average American sportsfan, you're right, this isn't good TV. It's too confusing, there's no timeouts or halftime, and it's just a bunch of guys in "tight britches" riding their bikes up and down mountains with unpronounceable names.