First off, big congratulations to my teammates in Italy! I knew they could win the TTT, and they did it with class. It is also cool to see Christian Vande Velde wear the leader’s jersey of the Giro! Awesome!

Over here in France, 4 days of Dunkirk turned out to be just 4 and half days for me. Not the original total of 6. However, that's just fine for me. I came here to get some high power outputs and work on my high and I got 4 great days for that.

Unfortunately, I have been dealing with an allergic reaction to something in our bottles since the race started and its gotten worse. It seems my body doesn't like an ingredient in one of our types of drinks and it results in me feeling nauseous in and out, achy muscles, and hives all over. Each day it got a little worse and today I was full blown in the hurt locker. I sprinted around the circuit for an hour finally actually listening to my body to stop hurting it.

I think being a professional cyclist is one of the best jobs in the world, but also one of the most confusing. It’s full of ups, downs, and constant struggle. Those who succeed learn how to correctly understand and manage the struggle to maximize the height of the high. This seems to be my current theme as I am doing my best to comeback from my horrible injuries of last September’s crash in the fastest way possible. So today, when my body said no, I listened. Now it’s time to flush this toxin out of my body and maximize the great training I got here.