Farrar sixth in Dauphine sprint. Wouter on his mind?

Worried about Tyler Farrar, a nice guy, a class act, a great sprinter. He and his Garmin-Cervelo guys made a mess of the stage four sprint at the Criterium du Dauphine. C'est insupportable!

Farrar hasn't been the same since the death of his close friend Wouter Weylandt in the Giro. Devastated, Farrar withdrew two days later and just now seems to be back racing.

Train mechanics and timing are one thing but we're wondering if Farrar has simply lost a bit of his aggression after such a tragedy. It would certainly be understandable that Farrar has temporarily lost that will to win, the take no prisoners, fight for wheels attitude you need to cross the line first.

The death of Weylandt hit him so hard it has slowed him down.

In Macon, he and lead-out man Julian Dean were out of sync and Sky's Boasson Hagen slipped in between them. Both Sky and HTC-Columbia overpowered Garmin and Farrar had to settle for sixth. Not bad, not good, surely disappointing and perhaps a concern.

There's a required period for grieving and moving on. While Farrar is a tough guy on the bike, he's a sensitive guy off. He's also a professional sprinter paid to deliver results. All this gets mixed together and makes us wonder how he's really feeling.

We're just shy of three weeks before the monster showcase, the biggest stage and stages in the world, the Tour de France. We'd like to see a strong, confident Farrar battling for sprint supremacy with Mark Cavendish -- a competition we missed in the Giro. The Battling Buddhist against Boy Racer, full throttle, fast and furious.

We suspect Tyler would tell you nothing is really wrong, just some rust and nothing that won't be worked off with another week or two of racing. Still, we can't help but be concerned about Farrar post-Weylandt.

Is something missing?