We had another day that shared the properties of good and bad. The bad is that Domingo had burned too many matches in the time trial yesterday. Today his legs were just not under him. Domingo retired from the race in the first feed. I am sure he will be on form for a great season after another month of effort. It is just too bad that we loose him. Domingo has a quiet leadership style that I like very much.

The race was fast today from the beginning. Even the controlled starting circuits for the spectators was fast! The race had quite a few crashes too. Lam went down in one but was able to get back in. His left hand has been on ice since the end of the stage.

Fausto had good condition on the finish. Juan Jose Haedo won another stage for TUT. Frankie and his crew are very happy! Great results for a first year team. They had the finish weird it was dicey. Fausto and quite a few others were slammed where they had to break. In any event, Fausto was good with a 14th place finish.

Jesus and Lam also enjoyed a good day of racing. The course has breathtaking views that are hard to take in at such a blistering pace. 4:41 for 230k… Every race staff was taking pictures. You could see whales from the course.

The course had 2 category 4 climbs and 1 category 3 climb. Really fast. A lot of riders were lost today. T Mobile lost two in the way we lost Domingo for example.

We are doing well and the other teams let us know that this evening. One thing that is funny is that Lam is wearing full fingered gloves and leg warmers. None of the European riders can understand that he is actually cold. We will have to show them just what individuals Mexico can produce.

Tomorrow is a great opportunity. It has a 10k cat 1 climb that tops out 30k before the finish. The decent is not as technical as the other ones we have been experiencing. It is important to stay good in the draft because you have to pedal during the decent. If you come out of the draft it will be hard to get back on. Everyone knows this so the speeds can be high if it is in the favor of a strong team… CSC has made no move in this race and it is getting close to the end. It goes relatively flat for the last 10k.

Overall out team is showing signs of a very good potential. Once we drop another five pounds off of the bikes and get the riders prepared properly, I think we will produce some results that will amaze others who don’t know about the potential of Mexican riders.

Sorry no pictures. It is hard to get anything decent when you are driving a team car.

Tomorrow I will have a guest Andy Gilmour my friend and a great frame builder. Perhaps he can get some good shots.

More after I can capture another internet connection.

Cheers,
Neil