Bradley McGee is also out. He got in the car during yesterday's stage.

Yep...I think he had problems with a sore back.

<<The two sprinting greats, Alessandro Petacchi and Mario Cipollini did not sign in to today's stage. Petacchi has been confirmed done with this year's tour due to injuries sustained a stage 5 crash at the 104K mark. >>

Too bad I didn't go with my gut on this one.

This is from MrBookmaker.com
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
Tour 2004 - Petacchi

Tour de France 2004 : How many stages will Alessandro
Petacchi win ? (Petacchi must start in the Tour de
France 2004 otherwise the bet will be refunded - The
prologue as well as the team time trial do not count
for this bet)

None 16.00
Exactly 1 or 2 stage(s) 3.50
Exactly 3 or 4 stages 2.50
Exactly 5 or 6 stages 2.75
7 stages or more 4.75
++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Yeah, it's really too bad that McGee had to drop out. I was pretty impressed with his 7th (I think) at the Giro. It would have been nice to see him finish the Tour

To say nothing of Petacchi's amazing Giro performance this year...how many stages did he win? A million? I think it was a million.

Cippollini's DNF is official...from http://www.olntv.com/tdf04/

14 H 25 - Another DNF For Cipollini
Mario Cipollini may have won 12 stage of the Tour de France since his debut 12 years ago, but the 2002 world champion has never finished the race. Today he ensured that his record remains in tact. Although no reason has been given, he was not at the sign on this morning. This was the eighth time the charismatic Italian was started the Tour.