Alpine Wolves Disrupt Le Tour

From our cycling correspondent (with ref. to BBC Sport)

"This is precisely why the French didn't get the games: Wolf attacks Frenchman's sheep. Frenchman attacks the one single sporting event in the world that he actually claims he has ever had the slightest bit of interest in.

Presumably French farmers feel the tour organisers are in some way responsible.

'The route of the 10th stage features two Category One climbs. The start of the stage has been modified to ward off farmers who planned to block the riders to protest against wolf attacks on sheep and cows.

The stage was meant to start in Grenoble, but will now begin 11.5 km away in Brignoud at 1100 BST. Farmers had planned to block the race along the route to the ski station of Courchevel to protest against attacks on their herds by wolves in the Alps, organizers said.

Armstrong is hoping Monday's rest day will help to rally his Discovery team, who have shown rare signs of fallibility in the opening stages of the 2005 tour.'

I see fat Jan [Ullrich] stacked it again. Maybe he'll crash into a wolf today. Or maybe T-mobile need to arrange for a wolf to chase him up the mountain. Maybe they could sew I nice steak into the lining of his shorts." ... Quite.