This story about the parachutist who died after his parachute was tampered with (according to the Police) is like a something out of CSI (the American tv series about Crime Scene Investigators). What a truly awful way to die.

Devastating for David Millar that he shipped his chain at a crucial moment in the Prologue of the Tour de France and so lost the stage win by only 8 hundreths of a second and the chance to put himself in the yellow jersey. Looking on the bright side though, his ride on Saturday demonstrates that he is in good form and it also means that he won't have to work hard over the first few days to keep the yellow jersey. In fact, he appeared to be remarkably relaxed when interviewed after today's (Sunday) stage on television. He was sat so far at the back of the peloton that he avoided the horrendous crash that happened 500m from the finish. Awful viewing, that crash and it appeared to be carnage. According to www.letour.fr 35 riders hit the ground although Jimmy Caspar was the only one so badly hurt he won't start tomorrow. Petacchi, the Italian sprinter who made such an impression at this year's Giro, won the stage, relatively easily. Robbie McEwan (who took second) will not be happy.