Meanwhile, at the Tour of the Basque Country...

I'm quite fond of the Northern Classics but blue skies and soft breezes
seemed to take something out of the Ronde. On the other hand, short and
steep Pyreneen climbs are always in season. Today's 2nd stage ended on the
nominal 8km long 2nd cat La Lejana but that categorization understates the
truly nasty final 500 meters.

Rabobank had the peloton lined out as it snaked through the small town at
the foot of the final climb. I figured they were trying to launch
Rasmussen but the commentators speculated it was for Menchov. When a Rabo
rider finally went, there was some momentary confusion about who it was;
one French Eurosport commentator thought maybe it was Boogerd but the
other quickly corrected him with the comment that it couldn't have been
Boogerd because you couldn't see his teeth. I could've told him that. It
was Weening, who quickly opened a 15 second lead.

With a bit less than 5k to go, Kaiku's Serrano decided it was time to pay
the sponsor, gritted his teeth, and bridged up. Second day in a row he's
tried to go early. He tried to go past but Weening held on, and the lead
became two. Another group tried to bridge but only Aitor Osa made it,
followed a bit by Moncoutie, who used to ride the piste at the Bois de
Vincennes.

Weening attacked inside the red kite to try to get a running start on the
fearsome finish. It wasn't enough and he hit a wall, nearly stalling out,
then was swallowed. Osa countered and only Moncoutie could follow. Second
day in a row Serrano got taken. The incline, which was bad, became worse.
It took about two minutes for Osa and Moncoutie to go from the 500m to the
200m mark. The final 100 meters were a little easier, a very little, and
Moncoutie inched up on Osa. With a supreme effort he passed Osa with 50m
to go to take the stage. Rebellin was closing fast but finished a couple
of seconds back, with DiLuca and Cunego.

Serrano passes the line and nearly falls. He was sitting on the ground,
chest heaving. Hard to tell if it was sobbing or lack of air.

Osa takes the lead on GC.