How ironic is it that on the rest day we wake up two hours earlier than on any other day during the entire race?

Okay, okay, I know getting up at 7:30 is not that early at all. Shoot, a majority of the working people out there have already been to the gym and commuted to work by this time. But it is really early for us right now and keep in mind that this is Spain.

Let's put it this way, one of our neighbors yelled at Leah yesterday for walking our dog before 9 in the morning! That's because when their dog hears our over-grown Weimaraner, he freaks out, starts barking and wakes her up. Needless to say, Jake never barks at all. Anyway, that's just to put things in perspective of the time line here in Spain. (Sorry, you don't need to hear our Melrose Place in Girona stories.)

So, we just passed the border back into Spain and out of Andorra and, as usual, the border police stopped the bus out of curiosity. By doing so, they managed to get a picture of the bus… and usually a few team hats to boot.

Nothing will ever change at the border. "You want to enter the country? Give me some swag or else I will tear your bus apart for fun."

So 450k to go then, for the last 50 they will throw us out of the bus and we will ride to the hotel. “Rest” day.

Leah and Uma will be waiting for me when I get there so I will probably be on the front forcing the pace a little, against the will of my body. But at least I am lucky enough to see my family today. Most of the guys still have another 13 days.

So the race. Yeah well we tried yesterday but it just didn't turn out like we wanted. I made it into the break again on the first climb, it was a tough moment, so all of the guys who made it were quite strong. So, we were gone.

The problem was that I was alone from my team in a large break where we should’ve had more of us there. C'est la Vie. After that it was hard, but not hard enough to take the legs out of Carlos's opponents. I felt really good to be there again after being in the break the day before. But when I was asked if I could actually win the stage out of that 18-man break, I didn’t have the confidence to say yes.

In hindsight I should have tried, but when you are there thinking of your teammate and your teammate only, a question like that really throws a spanner in the works. Also given that the break had the likes of Bettini, Merchante, and Pelozotti in there, it’s understandable that I wasn't filled with confidence.

But as the last climb took it course, I realized I was one of the strongest of the group. By that time, however, it was too late. My team had already been setting a blistering tempo up the climb. They caught me with 8k to go, I pulled for a few k as hard as I could, whittled the field down a little more and that was that.

The head wind made it pretty hard to make a difference anyway. Pretty anti-climactic.

Barring crashes, I feel great right now and this is the only reason that I am not home already. Halfway to Madrid, my goal now isn't just to finish, but to get a stage win. I have already done 500k off-the-front in this race. What’s another couple hundred?