I personally find active recovery to be very important. If I take much time off completely I seem to feel more and more tired and less motivated, so I need to be back on my bike - but *gentle* - zone 1-2 active recovery, no hammering. (and I *do* have at least one day of total rest per week)

As far as stage racing goes. Right about now, at the beginning of the season I usually find the idea of a 2-3 day, 3-4 stage race impossible to fathom. How the heck am I supposed to do that when a 9 mile TT wipes me out so bady , but seriously once you get back into it and start racing a few doubles on the weekends your body gets used to it again and its not a problem. Even if you feel tired, once you're back on the bike its OK - and everyone else is in the same boat - they all raced the day before too.