"At 36, this was probably [Mengin's] last chance to win a Tour stage. Coming into that fateful final corner - when Vinokourov and Bernucci were zeroing in on his wheel - Mengin's tires slipped from under him on the rain-splattered stripes of white paint on a pedestrian crossing.... 'I know the roads well here. I even know that bend where I crashed,' explained Mengin. 'I didn't have great legs today, but I had the morale to try something. That's life. You have to give 100 percent when you've got the chance.'"