Frankie! Mind that barrier!

Goodness, my heart went bumpity-bump for a moment this afternoon, as we were watching the live coverage of Paris-Nice, Stage 7: we haven't yet watched the middle stages, but as it was on live, we decided to stay in and watch it.

Most of the race was fairly standard stuff, up and down, people in the break, you know how it goes: a moment of glory as Jakob pings off the front on the final climb: then there's a big crash with only 5k to go, and to my horror there is a Trek rider, looking for all the world like Frankie, hanging over the barrier:

 It is Frankie!  The commentators confirm it's G on the ground, although we don't know how they can tell, as he's under a pile of bikes and partially under the barrier.

Worst of all, it looks as though his head is directly in line with the arnco barrier support, and just for a moment, there's a horrible flashback of Wouter Weylandt hitting his head - and we all know how that ended.

 Frankie is rolling over the barrier, oof, he looks as though he's in a lot of pain,  and to his left,  the FDJ rider is pulling himself upright on the barrier, and appears to be not too badly hurt.

G is still lying on the ground, not moving.

As the Mavic car rushes heartlessly past, Frankie appears to be getting his breath back, or possibly saying "G, mate, are you ok?"

As Frankie lifts his bike off of G, he appears to be holding his right shoulder, and for a moment I think that he's busted a collarbone.

Luckily he seems to recover, and he moves away, but he is still looking back at the stricken Sky rider, clearly concerned about him, which is seriously nice of him, considering the FDJ rider who was also involved has already legged it back into the race.

The kind passer-by is then moved aside by the Sky personnel, and he tries to straighten Frankie's handlebars, although it's apparently a lost cause.

The mechanic arrives with a new bike, and Frankie departs, still casting a glance back at poor G, lying on the road. A few moments later, we see that G is sitting up, thank god, and Frankie is away and back onto the race. He came in 59th, 3' 41" down, which could have been worse, and that puts him down in 34th place, over 5 mins down.

Andy, meanshile, came in 63rd, 5 mins down, along with Toe-mah V'klare (as Rob Hatch insists on pronouncing it), and was subjected to the usual insults by the commentators, but I don't care, I was just happy to see him finishing all in one piece. He's now sitting 80th, 34mins down, which is quite an improvement on 162nd. LLB is teasing me, saying that sitting 80th in a race is nothing to be getting all excited about, but we does agree that it's good news that Andy is finishing the race. It takes a special type of courage to keep on cycing, despite all the insults, despite not being anywhere in GC, despite being not on top form - especially when, as we have in Andy's case, you have been The Best.

Don't worry, Andy, you'll be back on that podium again one day, I am sure of it!

G, meanwhile, limped in just over 7 mins down, tattered and torn, and with blood dripping off both knees, but at least he was upright and pedalling. Whether he takes the start tomorrow is another question... he's out of the GC now, but at least *looks around guiltily* that pushes Jakob up into 5th positon,  just 29 seconds down.

So there you have it, another exciting day of racing, and tomorrow is the final day, so come on lads, all you have to do is stay on the bikes and finish...