Every day there have been shocks, upsets, fights, punctures, moments of generosity, good luck, back-stabbing, bad luck, chaingate, head-butting, crashes, tears of joy, go-slows, breathtaking sprints, mountain track-stands, more changes of plot than a Shakespeare play and all of human emotion and drama before us! We have had tragedy, comedy and farce. I have sympathized with Mark Renshaw, Nicholas Roche and Andy Schleck on the vagaries of the UCI, the French, and the unwritten rules of the Peloton. After all of this, the big day on the mountains is still to come, and the several sub-plots have yet to run their course. There is still time for the victims to exact revenge. There is still time for a new hero to emerge from the smoke of battle. I would love to see Andy Schlek conquer the Tourmalet in a fair duel, to see Nicholas Roche get his treasured 15th place, and to see Mark Cavendish gallop down the Champs Elysees with a couple more stage wins and the green jersey, full of swagger and bravado. I would like to see Lance Armstrong take a final curtain call with a solemn bow, with doubtless equal measure of boos and cheers, as the battle-hardened warrior, and flawed hero of old. As Shakespeare said "All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts"![/font:srpugdd3]

Claire