What's with the dogs this year? Got a kick out of this in the velonews.com live coverage today:

5:15 PM Reader note
One of our readers, David H, was apparently there at the canine crash. We cannot confirm any of this, so take it for what it's worth:
The dog was last seen being lead away by French police. He was rumored to have been a dog licensed to chase in Mexico, subsequently seen chasing in Italy, and had been being seen by a vet in Spain. Rumor has it that the Iams team is set to withdraw from all future chasing events.


Also, for the Stuart O'Grady fans out there, there was this update on his condition:

4:14 PM Stuart O'Grady
We have received a few letters from readers wondering how Stuart O'Grady is faring since that awful crash nearly two weeks ago. This is from his web-site:
Stuart has left his France hospital and has been transported to Monaco where's he's based. It was a four hour road trip in a special ambulance with a floating bed. In his words "a bloody good taxi like the Hilton hotel on wheels". He expects to be resting in his Monte Carlo hospital bed for another two weeks or so.
The next stage is a series of tests and an operation on his left shoulder. So these are the injuries, two bung shoulders, a punctured lung (now going at 85%) and a heap of broken ribs and a few busted vertebras'. "In all, not my best day at the office I'm afraid". "When I do something I do it big time"

On a happier note my wife Anne Marie is about to give birth to our second child, next week I hope". So something special happening in my life apart from hitting posts".
Sounds like Stuart's maintaining good spirits! After this, I'll definitely pay more attention to him next season. "Harden the F Up", indeed!