i think my heart is just about back in the right place...

... after having been in my mouth for the last 18km of Stage Eight, watching Chris Froome scurrying down the hill like a demented black beetle, pedalling while sitting on the top tube ("ouch!") and taking what appeared to be insane risks on the corners.

I guess it was worth it, as he took the stage, took the extra 10 seconds, and took the yellow jersey - but my word, it was hard to watch!

Sean Kelly, on the commentary, actually said: "My god. The descent he's making here at the moment - I'm scared."

It seemed like the sort of risk to take if you have nothing to lose: but for such a high profile rider, already sitting high up in the GC to do it - whoooo hoooo! I loved his quote in the pre-podium sweaty-face interview: "it was fun!"  Teammate G later said "He takes bigger risks than I do in training. I'm not surprised. He's a bit of a nutcase when it comes to that."

I think team boss Dave Brailsford nearly had a heart attack as well: when he greeted Chris en route to the face-mopping tent, there was a big man-hug, then Sir B turned away, possibly with a tiny tear in his eye. He doesn't seem like a man to get particularly emotional, but I thought he was maybe just a little bit overcome, at that point.

Meanwhile, bad news for Poor Pierre - he didn't actually fall, but a slow puncture lead to a tyre misfunction, bike out of control and a hard scrape along a wall. He lost 1:30, and most of the left-hand side of his shorts:

Ouch! That's got to hurt.

He later had stitches in his hand - much later, after being made to wait and go though doping control before being allowed back to the team bus for treatment - and says he has scratches "everywhere", so he's going to have a painful night.

But he remains upbeat, despite slipping down to 15th place in the GC.

Go, Pierre! A worthy Schleckland Pet!

There isn't any other news today, apart from a quick nod of respect to Cav, who always hates the Pyranees. and who had a long, hard day of it: he was pushed into contesting an early sprint point in order to prevent Saggy Sagan pinching the green jersey, and by the time they hit the first climb, he was already cooked. He and faithful Bernie Eisel spent most of the race all alone, 30 minutes behind everyone else, doing their own private TTT while calculating what the cut-off time was going to be in order not to use one watt more than they needed to.

Cav said:"It's just too hot for me, I'm from the Isle of Man. I have white skin and that, I can't deal with this heat. Especially this year as I haven't really been training in Italy, I've been training on the track so I haven't seen the sun. I just want to go and sit down.."

D'aaaw!