Joost speaks, Zazu silent

The route of today's stage of the Tour de France was flat and straight. The peoloton reached speeds of 65kph (40mph) in chasing down a small escape group so they could set up a sprint finish. One of Joost's team-mates, the Spaniard Oscar Freire won, just bearly beating out the practically unstoppable Robbie McEwen and other top sprinters and earning himself the second win of the race. There's a good photo at the LeTour site.

Meanwhile, Joost put a short statement on his blog during the TdF yesterday:

In Dutch:

Vandaag de rustdag. Ik heb vanmorgen één uur op de rollers gezeten. Daarna op bed gerust en om twee uur hebben we de pers te woord gestaan en daarna massage, eten en naar bed. Een lekker rustig dagje dus. Nog even en dan mogen de klassementsrenners aan de bak. Ik ben benieuwd hoe onze kopman, Menchov, zich erin gaat mengen. Tot nu toe heb ik me steeds in de buurt van hem begeven. Zo moest ik dus ook een goede tijdrit voor hem neerzetten. Hij heeft zich daar goed aan gehouden en reed net een fractie sneller dan mij. Groeten, Joost.

In my rough English rendition:

Today is a rest day for us. In the morning I sat on the rollers an hour [that is, he put his bike on rollers and pedaled as if on a stationary bike]. Afterwards I rested in bed and at two o'clock we met the press and I got a massage, at dinner, and went to bed. Nice quiet day for me. Soon the well-placed riders will show their stuff. I'm curious to see how Menchov. our rider with the best position in the general classification, will do in coming stages. So far I've been near him. I put in a good time trial for him. He extended himself and his time in that event was a bit faster than mine. Groeten, Joost.

The press is still ga-ga over Zizou's head-butt and he's still silent.