Talansky's Back

That musta' sucked.  Severe back pain makes every second of a normal existence a guided tour of hell, so if Talansky decided he was going to gut it out and get back on his bike and race in the frikkin' Tour, he's a pretty tough son of a bitch.  He rode it out by himself too, so I would guess part of the conversation with his directeur sportif was the info that the team would not be working bring him back.