Who let the dogs out?

The Tour de France has now completed a full week and change. Despite the absence of any overwhelming favorites due to doping scandals, it's still turning out to be a rather exciting race, and perhaps even more interesting than one would expect. There's at least half a dozen riders still in contention to win the honor of wearing the Maillot Jaune into Paris.

I hate to say what's made this year's Tour so fun to watch, though, has been the crashes. A massive crash just short of the finish line in Stage 2 showed just how dangerous things can get with 189 riders all grouped together jockeying for position on a narrow road. Stage 5 brought about another rash of crashes resulting in some major injuries to top contender Alexander Vinokourov which essentially lost him the race (as he's rumoured to be toughing it out with 60+ stitches holding him together in his knees, no less). His German teammate Andreas Kloden (a contender in his own right) has a suspected fractured tailbone, yet manages to ride on and may be in the best position right now to win it all. The second day in the Alps for Stage 8 brought more horrific crashes and took out two Aussies. Stuart O'Grady had to be lifted out in a helicopter. Michael Rogers slammed straight into a guard rail on a technical descent which likely broke his collar bone as he soon withdrew from the race in tears after valiantly trying to continue on for awhile.

With all these accidents, you'd be tempted to think this Tour was cursed. Well, after Markus Burkhardt's crash in Stage 9, you might be right:



Luckily, it looks like the dog and the cyclist made it out of that crash OK. The same couldn't be said about Burkhardt's front wheel--that thing alone probably cost over $2000.

Levi Leipheimer and the Discovery Channel Team still have a chance to win this thing, too, if you want to root for an American to win for the ninth straight year in a row. The whole thing will probably be decided based on the individual time trial on Saturday and the mountain stages in the Pyrenees right after.