At the dawn's early light, there is very little light unfortunately. Clouds and showers blanket the Trans-Canada Highway from Winnipeg to the first check point in Brandon, but the fact that today's green flag is a stage stop means the race leaders' advantage will be a bit muted because all cars will have a chance to reach the sun fairly early in the day. That is good because the race pace has slowed due to so many clouds over so many miles. We'll report any news as soon as we can.

P.S. At 7:00 a.m. big, noisy thunderstorm is sweeping through Winnipeg, very close to the stage start at Red River College. There is a glimpse of relatively clear sky well of to the west, so let's keep our hopes up.