Yay, go Frankie!

Well, the Giro is starting to get quite exciting, isn't it!

Frankie has been riding the perfect race: he said right at the beginning that it would take him about 7 days of racing to get his legs back into form, and he hoped to stay quiet and out of trouble for the first week.

He had done exactly that: he's been lurking "there or thereabouts" as they say,  towards the front of the peloton but not right up there in the wind: he's had a couple of guys with him most of the time, and he's done that lovely Cancellara trick of being invisible for virtually all the day, then popping up in the last few km.

If any of you regularly watch the Classics, you'll recognise this tactic of Fabian's - he was always nowhere to be seen for the first 4 hours of the day. It's called "staying out of trouble" and he's very good at it.

Looks as though he's been giving Frankie lessons, as that is exactly what Frankie has been doing. He's missed every single crash, he hasn't even had a mechanical, as far as I know, and then yesterday he popped up at the end, and came in a fantastic third place - ok, ok, first would have been nice, but if he had, then he would have interviews, pressure, etc etc. Far better to sneak in third - gaining four UCI points on the way - and get another good night's sleep. Suddenly he's sitting at 12th in the GC, which is a nice comfortable place to be - within striking distance, but not getting too much attention.

Meanwhile, other Giro news: poor Gianni Meercat has abandoned, with back and knee pain after crashing into the road furniture earlier, and Tyler "over-rated" Farrar of Garmin Quackacude also abandons, with hand injuries after a fall. But Svein Tuft has been doing well, with periodic appearances at the front of the peloton, so go, Svein!

And as  post-script, yes, there do indeed seem to be rumours - but nothing confirmed - that Mr Bruyneel was pounced on by the authorities the minute he arrived in California. No-one seems to know exactly why, although the obvious conclusion is that it is something to do with the long-running doping scandal of US Postal. Last year, Mr Bruyneel didn't go to the ToC, it seems, probably in order to avoid being questioned on this exact subject. So when he sneaked across the border this year, they leaped on him.

Mind you, it could just as easily be for unpaid car rental fines, or something equally un-sinister: a friend of mine, some years ago, left the USA after a holiday having forgotten to pay some really quite minor fine or other, and received letters telling him that if he ever returned to the States, he would be held at customs until the matter was sorted out...