The Stuart O'Grady diary

During the Tour de France CSC speedster Stuart O'Grady will be giving us a regular inside look at the daily goings-on in the peloton and the team hotel. An Olympic gold medalist on the track, O'Grady is a rider to watch in the sprints and long breakaways, and one of CSC's best hopes for a stage win or even the green points jersey.

O'Grady has had a rollercoaster ride at the last few Tours, wearing the yellow jersey in 2001 and green in 2002, but never quite managing to hang on to green all the way to Paris. In the last couple of years he's shifted his emphasis away from sprint speed and remodelled himself as a Classics and long breakaway expert.

Index to all entries

The storm before the calm

Where do I start? It has just been the most unbelievable day. I came here with the exciting prospect of riding for Ivan Basso to try and help him win his first Tour de France.

Now with the amazing proceedings of the day everything is very different. I have to be careful what I say here because Ivan has not been found guilty of anything but Bjarne has had to make a decision to go along with the code of conduct of the Pro Tour. Obviously it was a very hard decision for him to make.

I am sure there is a lot more information to come but now he has had to make the right decision for everyone involved in the team.

We will wake in the morning and I will focus on the prologue. I am here to do a job. We can't just sit around here and mope.

We still have a very strong team here. We have eight very talented bike riders and we can still really do something in this Tour.

It will mean a change of plans and that will all be worked out in the coming days. I have not had much chance to talk to Bjarne yet about what my new role will be but I imagine I will be helping Carlos Sastre and Bobby Julich. I really can't say too much more at the moment because it is such a huge disappointment.

Obviously the next few days we will sit down and nut out a Plan B.

I still hope to get the chance to get up the road at some stage and get the chance to go for a stage win.