The Stuart O'Grady Tour de France diary

Photo ©: Luc Claessen

During the Tour de France CSC speedster Stuart O'Grady will be giving us his 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.

After winning cycling's toughest one day classic Paris - Roubaix this year, Stuey has achieved his goal of winning one of cycling's Spring Classics. That's not to say that he intends on hanging up his wheels just yet though. After a brief break from the rigours of pro cycling after his win, Stuey began winding his form up again for the Tour, a race that has featured on his schedule since 1998. This year he returns to line up for his 10th Tour, this time maybe not with the goal of returning home with the green jersey but you can be sure that he will be right in the thick of the action from day one.

2007 entries - the Tour de France

• July 12: Week one

2006 entries - the Tour de France

• July 23: Happy to be in Paris
• July 22: An unbelievable Tour
• July 20: Amazing
• July 19: Anything's possible
• July 18: Everyone pulling together
• July 17: A final rest
• July 15-16: Exactly what we needed & a terrible day
• July 14: Shotgun start
• July 13: Hard, hot and not a metre of flat
• July 12: Good for the morale
• July 9: A weird race
• July 8: Black cloud over CSC
• July 7: Some improvement
• July 6: Can't get the power down
• July 5: A painful start
• July 3: Surprising breaks
• July 2: Dangerous sprinting on the barriers
• July 1: Controlled anger in the prologue
• June 30: The storm before the calm

2005 entries - the Tour de France

• July 24 - Switch off, switch on
• July 21 - Tomorrow's the day
• July 19 - Thinking of Amy
• July 17-18 - Busting a gut & A well deserved break
• July 15-16 - So close... & Hot, hard, and fast
• July 13-14 - A great day & You can count on Vino
• July 12 - It's all about conservation
• July 10-11 - Rest day at last & Can't complain
• July 9 - I felt like Moses
• July 7-8 - Another hectic finish & Russian roulette
• July 6 - An impressive victory
• July 5 - A fantastic château
• July 4 - An action packed day
• July 3 - Not a bad start
• July 2 - Hoping to avoid the carnage
• July 1 - The calm before the storm

Previous Cyclingnews interviews with Stuart O'Grady & Matt White

• March 2006: Seeing a silver lining
• January 2005: Every second counts
• October 2004 : The Year of Living Dangerously
• July 2004: Life goes on like a song
• April 2004: Cobbles and broken ribs don't mix
• July 2003: Scratching the seven year itch
• July 2002 - "Ready to do everything I can to keep the green jersey"
• May 2002 - Like having new legs
• An Evening with Stuart O'Grady, January 2002 - Answering questions from the fans