cyclingnews.com | Brad McGee rider's diary : Stage 15 - Survival

Australian Bradley McGee of FDJeux.com struggled through the mountains, but is still riding:

Today will go down as one of the best and most exciting stages the Tour has ever seen. And for once I was able to see it live. No, I was not on a big day tussling with the leaders over the Tourmalet, but instead I managed to stick my head through the window of a trailing team car (I had stoppedfor a toilet break half way up the final climb and was making my way back into the groupetto) and witness the final kilometres on the team car's TV. Here we had a sorry-looking bunch of 50 riders lumbering their way up the 13km climb, and half way, with Armstrong already giving race interviews. We finished a half hour down. For us, the racing begins again Thursday and these days are merely for survival. Survival hurts.