Greig Leach

Panic must have gone through the hears of Jean-Christophe Peraud (AG2R), his team and all of France, when he lost his front wheel on the slick pavement markings and took out himself and several other riders. Chaos ensued as team mechanic rushed around passing out wheels, bikes and bandages. Peraud had crashed long before the all important 3 kilometers to go point, so any time he lost on the peloton would be applied to his overall time. That meant he was in danger of losing his second place, something the team could let happen. So while there was no team time trial in this Tour, AG2R ran a very fast one to get their man back into the peloton, screaming at the cars to give them room and let them do what needed to be done. There efforts were rewarded, but there were some very anxious moments in Paris before he was tucked back into the fold.