Complaints to Schleckland!

Sorry everyone, I've received complaints that I haven't written about le Tour!!

You are quite right, and I've been a bit deflated since Our Andy crashed out with a very bad knee injury,  and I've been a bit thrown by an unsubstantiated but persistent rumour that Jakob said something like "Andy's head is full of hunting and fishing, and he will never be in the TdF again" which seems like an incredibly disloyal and hurtful thing for a friend to say.

Are they not friends any more?  Does Jakob not live in Mondorf any more?

However, life - and le Tour - goes on, so I will do my best to continue blogging in the sure and certain knowledge that Andy will be back with us one day.

Although the post-operation report is, frankly, a bit scary:

"Besides the ligaments and the meniscus, we can also confirm that the cartilage behind the knee cap is damaged, which is the worst and most painful part of Andy’s injury," team doctor Andreas Gösele said after surgery on the Trek website. [Sarcastic Note: the Trek website could do with some surgery hahahahaha] "The surgeons have removed a part of the meniscus and have arthroscopically shaved the damaged cartilage. In terms of rehab he cannot put load on his knee for at least two weeks, so crutches will be necessary."
"I'm feeling pretty bad, to understate it," Schleck said. "I'm gutted. My knee looks like there's been an explosion inside."

Uuuuuurrrrgggg!

So, best wishes go to Our Andy and let's hope he takes the advice of the surgeons and takes a proper rest. Two weeks on crutches, Andy! No cheating! No hopping around the apartment! Let's hope TinkerJil pegs him down on the sofa and doesn't let him do anything too energetic.

So, back to the Tour: lots of broken legs, not least of which is Contador - hmmm...

Somewhere in Luxembourg:

Bing Bong! The door bell rings.

Andy: (starts to get up) "I wonder who that is?"

TinkerJil: "SIT! I'll get it."  (sounds of door opening and friendly greetings)

TinkerJil: "Andy, love, a visitor for  you..."

(Contador limps into the room on crutches with his leg in plaster)

Conti: "Andy! Hope it's ok to drop in like this, you did say that I would always be welcome in Luxembourg? "
TinkerJil: "Of course you are, here, sit down. " (clears a mess of papers, pizza boxes and baby toys off the sofa)
Andy: "Berto! Hey, good to see you, sorry to hear about your leg.  "
Conti: "Yeah, and I'm sorry to hear about yours. At least mine is only broken. "
Andy: (groans) "Don't remind me. How long before you ride again? "
Conti: "Depends, but it's not a bad break. "
TinkerJil: "But you rode on it, for 20kms. "
Conti: "I know, not the cleverest of things, but I didn't realise I'd broken it. Besides, you can't talk, you finished the stage. "
Andy: "Well, I had to - Cougar Girl was waiting in London, I couldn't let her down... "
TinkerJil: (scolding) "She would have understood. You should have abandoned straight away. "
Andy: "Yeah, well, probably I should have done, but you know how it is... "
Conti: "Yup. We're riders. We ride."

An hour later, Conti gets up to go and there is some confusion over whose crutches are whose...

Meanwhile the Tour continues, Jakob is bandaged like a mummy, Frankie had a good ride yesterday and came 7th, putting him up to 14th in the GC, and BumFluff is still in the top 5. It should be a nice easy day today, then a rest day tomorrow, then back into the mountains.