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I love having weekends off. I decided not to work this weekend and it was a great time.

I am going back to Thursday, because I took Thursday night off as well. After work I went to the park in the late afternoon / early evening with the kids. I dug a big sandcastle with the shovel including a tunnel through the castle wall. The kids had lots of fun playing this – and the games they thought up were amazing.

Friday night I also took off and we watched a movie together before I watched the tour De France with a mate.

So now we know why Riccardo Ricco was so good on the climbs – he’s a cheat. He has been removed from the race after testing positive to a banned substance, a version of EPO. Other team members also have been targeted for testing and as a result the whole team has been scratched. This has changed the rankings for the yellow jersey, polka dot jersey and white jersey. I would hate to be the sponsor of that team -Saunier Duval - Scott! Interestingly this team had made the most money from the race so far also. I’m not sure what happens to that.

The good news here is that they have picked this up early enough that it isn’t going to affect the end of the race. I just hope that there are no more riders trying to escape the testing and cheating.

More news on most major news websites. The Guardian reports that Ricco was taken into police custody.

The Maillot Jeune has gone to Australian Cadel Evans by 1 second over Frank Schleck in an extremely gruelling ride up the two massive unclassified climbs today.

Todays race from Pau to Hautacam included the highest pass for this years race in the Pyrenees, the pass over the Col du Tourmalet. Early attacks saw the leader Di Gregorio take a 6 minute lead into the race down hill between the two climbs. However the major action was in 2 places. The last 6 or 7 kms of the Col Du Tourmalet climb were the first breaking point as CSC rider Jens Voight pumped up the pace forcing Kirchen and may other favourites to be dropped. The race down into the valley offered little respite for these riders as they attempted to get back with the favourites, Evans, Sastre, Vandevelde, Menchov and Ricco.

Wow! what a rider. This guy Ricco showed his explosive uphill acceleration on the Super Besse a few days ago. Today he has showed it again with a long 4-5 kilometre sprint up a 8-10% gradient slope. I am extremely impressed with the speed at which he accelerated, and then the apparent ease with which he just kept going.  He reeled in all the people above him and then bolted for the summit of the Col d'Aspin.

It has been a magic few days watching the Tour De France and the big climbs have now started in the Pyrenees. I am watching Ricco now descending at a very rapid pace and holding my breath as he comes very close to the edge of the road on some corners at around 80-90 km / hour.

Tomorrow there is a massive climb over the Col du Tourmalet at over 2000 metres.