Backstedt, Hamilton diaries updated

VeloNews | Magnus Opus: All in all, this was a good day

Magnus Backstedt offers a look from inside the 190-kilometer breakaway on Stage 5:

Honestly, those last five or six kilometers were just done on pure willpower, because I was totally spent after being out there for 188km. I kept trying and trying mostly because I held out hope that I could maybe pull something off. Coming into Chartres, there were three or four times there that I was convinced that it was more-or-less over for me, but I figured that, having come this far, I should give it my best. I would get dropped and then I kept trying to come back and come back... but it took a lot out of me.

VeloNews | Tyler Tunes: Riding with heart

Tyler Hamilton chimes in with a report on the last couple of days, particularly Phonak's 2nd place in the team time trial, where the team suffered flat after flat:

It was chaos. We were down to five guys, the minimum amount needed at the finish, and we still had a lot of ground to cover. At that point, I thought we were riding for pride. I don't think there was a single guy on our team who didn't roll into the finish devastated. It was an awful feeling considering our ambitions for the day.