By Chris Brewer

Ride of the Day:  While Andy did a great job, my ride of the day goes to his teammate Jens Voigt.  He simply turned himself inside out for his captain, riding to the point where he nearly fell over approaching the final summit.  And then at the end of the race he was mobbed by reporters and somehow found the energy to answer questions before riding off to his team bus and some rest.  And how about that world champion, Cadel Evans?!  While practically everyone thought he’d bonked and was having a bad day, word quickly spread after the stage he has a broken elbow. OMG. (sorry for the emoticon, CMO Lance)

Much Respect: I hadn’t been in the press area 15 minutes before several friends and colleagues came up to express their regret and respect for Lance Armstrong following his recent spat of crashes.  The recurrent theme was how unlucky they felt he had been, and how impressed they were that he is still out there plugging away at the front of the peloton.  The only regret?  That we’d never get to see a showdown with a healthy Lance in the mix to see what he really had in his legs.

The Weather Outside is: Hot.  Not fry-an-egg-on-the-sidewalk hot, but in the range of 90F for sure.  When the guys came across the line every single rider was soaked in sweat and spent.  This is one of the areas many people take for granted, thinking it’s the climbs that are the main factor.  Well, they are AND the temperature can easily be over 100F reflecting back off the asphalt – and the heat often melts the roads making them more like ice than a rideable surface.

LIVESTRONG is in the house: seeing lots of people sporting LIVESTRONG bands and merchandise, thanks to the Nike street teams and the big booth near the finish line.  I try to make it a point to say thank you to anyone I come across wearing yellow gear, but here that would require talking to half the crowd!

Tactically speaking: we’ve seen a few top teams seemingly attack early on the climbs, leading some to think the riders have “gone rogue” and are out stage hunting.  That’s actually rarely the case, these squads are too disciplined.  What they really are doing is sending a strong rider up the road to wait and then work for his team leader at the critical point in the stage.  Sometimes things don’t work out and the rider is then set free to go for glory.  One of the most noted cases of this was back in the Discovery Channel days when George Hincapie won in 2005 atop Pla d'Adet, the hardest stage of Lance’s 7thTour victory.

Where the Shack Stands:  Levi Leipheimer moved up on the standings to 6th overall, 3’59” back to Schleck.  Assuming he and Contador maintain their form till the end, there are still 9 other riders still in contact with Levi fighting for the final podium.  Expect things to settle down for a bit among the top men till Stage 14 and the climb to Ax-3 Domaines.  Your mileage may vary…

By the numbers: In the first 5 hours I was on the ground I saw 4 friends from Austin, paid 3 tolls on the way from the airport, walked 2km to and from the parking area, and saw 1 great stage.  More to come – ciao for now, we’ll talk soon – Cb…