Paris - Roubaix

What can you do? Poor George Hincapie looks like he's probably got the best shot of his career at winning the Paris - Roubaix and his handlebars (or was it the steerer?) snaps clean. That's a bitch. Down goes George. I hope he's okay.

Then, Discovery gets two strong riders at the front, they blow a train crossing while the arms are down and the red light is lit. They have a nice little sprint on the velodrome, pulling in respectable finishes. And then they get disqualified. They'd ridden probably 250 km by the time they got to the crossing, the train is quickly approaching - what would you do? You're tired, your legs feel like burning jello, your lungs sting, you're covered in dust, and you've been riding a bike over granite cobblestones for almost 6 hours - and the end is in sight. You know what the rules say, but at that particular moment the rules are not at the forefront of your mind. That just sucks.

Thanks to the disqualifications, Boonen, who actually stopped for the train, came in second. Not bad for a guy whose team absolutely vaporized and left him alone at the front. I know Basso is supposedly the golden child for the Tour this year, but I bet Boonen's going to give him a serious run for it. Probably depends on who's got the better crew and who masters the mountains. It'll be interesting to see how the Giro turns out.

In honor of Paris - Roubaix, I rode on the roughest section of bike path I could find (which wasn't too hard to do - the paths in my town need a serious re-paving).