Good evening, (or good morning) everyone,

I'm happy to report that I made it through the day with just a scratch on my knee!

At one point in the race today I felt like a pinball. I got tossed around between a guy who was crashing and my teammate Sebastian Lang, who unfortunately crashed as a result of my bumping into him. It was unavoidable and he is totally fine. The group had slowed down enough because of the crash which was taking place when I got bumped.

Another time I got tossed around and hit my knee on something which caused it to bleed - but I don't know why really. Then another time I had to clip out but didn't go down. The problem with the beginning of the tour is that we are all still fresh and everyone is nervous and stressed and getting good position in the peloton is a constant battle.

The race is the war but every day is another battle to stay upright, up front and out of the wind. On TV it looks like we're just rolling along peacefully but inside the peloton is a constant struggle.

Then ther