strange tid bits [stage 10]

i woke up this morning in the midst of a bad TDF dream and was waiting to wake up from it, but to no avail. i sat there watching the streaming feed off the internet as erik 'tha man' zabel sprinted it out with daniele bennati to win the main bunch sprint, some 7min after the first 6 riders crossed the line of the first mountain stage. yes i said mountain stage with a beyond catagory climb in it. what is going on? all the favorites were behind zabel and a frenchmen is now in the maillot jaune after succeeding in a 150K breakaway. did i forget to mention that it was a mountain stage with plenty of pain to be dished out and eric zabel leads out the favorites. i wanted to go back to sleep and wake up and see if it truely was a bad dream, but my quattro espresso had kicked in, so i just stared blankly at the screen. a frenchmen in the maillot jaune after a mountain stage, come on, if i wasn't so level headed [don't laugh], i would start to dream up all kinds of french conspiracy theories, starting with all the planted names of the pre-TDF favorites names on a spanish doctors list by the organizers of the tour, than the food of the remaining favorites being tainted, need i go on. how desperate are the french to win? don't answer that, very desperate, they caused floyds hip to degenerate into a personal sufferfest. so off we go to a harder mountain stage 11 tomorrow and another bunch sprint lead by good ol' erik zabel.... which frenchman that wasn't tested for hot sauce, will get the win, or will all my naysayers be quieted by a cadel evans win. only time will tell.

[come on, 5 frenchmen in the top 15, that was some full moon]

1 Juan Miguel Mercado (Spa) Agritubel 4.49.10 (39.527 km/h)
2 Cyril Dessel (Fra) AG2R-Prevoyance
3 Inigo Landaluze (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 0.56
4 Cristian Moreni (Ita) Cofidis 2.24
5 Christophe Rinero (Fra) Saunier Duval 2.25
6 Inaki Isasi (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 5.03
7 Cédric Vasseur (Fra) Quick-Step-Innergetic 5.35
8 Daniele Bennati (Ita) Lampre-Fondital 7.23
9 Erik Zabel (Ger) Milram
10 Stefano Garzelli (Ita) Liquigas
11 Carlos Da Cruz (Fra) Francaise Des Jeux
12 Thomas Voeckler (Fra) Bouygues Telecom
13 Riccardo Ricco (Ita) Saunier Duval
14 Mirko Celestino (Ita) Milram
15 Marzio Bruseghin (Ita) Lampre-Fondital