Tyler Hamilton | Life at Camp Collarbone

Tyler Hamilton has updated his race diary at VeloNews.

Highlights:

I guess my primary reason for being here up until now has been to see if I can hang on and lend support to my good friend Carlos Sastre. He has done so much for me over the last year-and-a-half that I feel like I should make the most of every opportunity to repay him. I wanted to be a contributing factor in the team time trial for him, and tomorrow we will see if I still have what it takes to do some work for him in the mountains.

I'm a little concerned about whether or not I will be able to stand up on the bike. I'm only riding with about 50 percent of my full strength on my right side. So, it hasn't been that easy to keep pace with the accelerations in the peloton over the last few days. To stay with the first group, you really have to be able to pull on the handle bars when the speeds heat up on the climbs.

If I can't stay with the lead guys, I won't be able to be of any service to my trusty amigo. And if I can't do that, then I will be forced to reevaluate my status in this race. Like I said, I'm not sticking around to be pack fill. I really want to help my team. But if I can't, then it will be decision time.