You can never relax if you want to win the Tour de France. If you are not trying to avoid the crashes, then you must be ready for the moves.

On stage seven, Lance Armstrong and Jan Ullrich and all of the favourites except Christophe Moreau, were aware of the change of wind direction as the race arrived on the rugged coastline of Brittany.

CSC tore into the pace and the wind tore into the peloton, catching Moreau at the back. Luck was with him, as Stuart O'Grady, feeling tired after two active days, worked with others to close the gap, but it took a long time and a lot of hard work.

It was an excellent day's racing, but one also of sadness with the crash to Switzerland's Sven Montgomery. Sven has tried four times to finish the Tour and has yet to do so. He has the worst luck in this race.

The Tour de France certainly favors no one.