I find out today that I am basically on call this weekend. That sucks. But, since Pope Benedict is apparently unwilling to heal my knee through prayer, being on call is a good excuse to stay off the bike for a few more days. However, I will at least spin for an hour or so tomorrow morning.

News Item of the Day: Italy's Alessandro Petacchi won a sprint finish to claim the 12th stage of the Giro d'Italia on Friday. Ivan Basso kept the pink jersey as the overall race leader after he finished the stage in the same time as his closest rivals. Petacchi was led out by his Fassa Bortolo team and overtook Paride Grillo in the final metres to take his second win in this year's Giro. Grillo finished second and Spain's Isaac Galvez Lopez was third.

Saturday's 13th stage is a 218km (135 mile) route through the mountains from Mezzocorona to Ortisei. It will include several tough climbs and is expected to take more than seven hours to complete.

Velotrash:A source close to Sheryl Crow told Star magazine that the singer has ended her nearly three-year relationship with Tour de France champ Lance Armstrong. Sheryl's rep is denying the split, but one of Crow's buddies says that between Sheryl's touring and Lance's training, they hardly got to spend any time together and ended up growing apart. "They were leading separate lives," the source said.

This has been a bad week for cycling romance. Lance & Crow rumored split. Ullrich and his significant other split up. And starting all the discord was Cipo announcing that he and his wife were splitting.