For a French team like my Ag2r La Mondiale team, having the yellow jersey at the Tour de France is a dream scenario.

Live global and domestic television means your product or company gets plenty of airtime and free advertising so naturally our sponsors, who have been with us on the race this past week, want us to hold onto yellow for as long as we possibly can.

The Tour Village is where everybody congregates before each stage. A big outdoor square is usually taken over by race sponsors, staff, journalists and riders. Here, you can enjoy anything from a coffee and a continental breakfast to an English language newspaper, a packet of sweets or a haircut.

It's not, though, where you expect to get shot. Yesterday morning, I was sitting talking to one of the main bosses of Ag2r, an agricultural insurance company that sponsors our team, when a massive bang -- like a gunshot -- went off.

Immediately, I felt a sting behind my left knee. I looked down to see blood pouring from my leg and a massive bruise appearing at the back of my knee around the tendon area. I had been shot!

The Tour security rushed to search the area as I clutched my leg in agony, but nothing was found. We looked on the ground for evidence of a pellet from a gun, or even a paintball or something, but found nothing.

I still don't know what it was but it frightened the life out of me and may have repercussions later in the race, if my knee doesn't get better.

The adrenaline was still pumping through my body as we started the stage and, as is often the case after you get a fright, my legs were empty for about 40 minutes.

All I could think about was 'what the hell just happened?' -- it didn't help that I had a jersey to defend or that the attacks went from the gun, pardon the pun.

Unfortunately for us, team-mate Rinaldo Nocentini's donning of the leader's jersey on Friday evening was followed by two very hard mountain stages in the Pyrenees.

Second and third overall, Alberto Contador and Lance Armstrong, were probably delighted to see a French team in yellow. They knew we would defend it and they also knew their Astana team wouldn't have to do as much work if we had yellow. I'm sure they will take it when they want it.

Having the race leader, everything else goes out the window and Rinaldo is automatically protected by our team.

That means he never has to ride in the wind. We always have to be in the top 10 or 15 in the bunch.

One, two, or all of us surround him at all times and make sure he gets shelter. He never has to go back to the team car for a drink. If he's thirsty, we go back and ride up through the peloton with bottles for him. If he punctures, a couple of us stop with him and pace him back to the bunch; if he needs to pee, the same thing happens, unless the bunch is travelling too fast to regain contact. Then, he simply relieves himself on the move as one of us pushes him from the side. You don't be long learning which side to push from either -- the old saying 'p*****g into the wind' comes to mind!

If Rinaldo has a mechanical problem or wrecks his bike and the team car can't get to him quickly enough, one of us will give him ours. All of this saves him precious energy, but it soon saps the strength out of the rest of the team.

The plan yesterday was to let a group get up the road and we would ride tempo on the front of the bunch over climbs of the Col d'Aspen and the Hors Categorie Col du Tourmalet.

We wanted to ride steadily up the Tourmalet so that there would still be a large number of riders in the peloton at the top. That way, we were likely to get more help from the sprinter's teams as they sniffed a possible stage win on the run in from the last mountain.

leading

Stephane Gobert rode the first part of the 13 km-long, 2,115-metre-high Tourmalet, which was lined with fans.

With six km to go, I took over on the front of the peloton, and it was a fantastic feeling to be leading up the mountain with the yellow jersey on my wheel -- a great experience.

I was disappointed with my sprint, even though I finished 10th on the stage. I was blocked in a bit in the middle of the group and world champion Allesandro Ballan and Sylvain Chavanel almost crashed in front of me. I slammed on the brakes before the right-hander.

I gave it all I could to get out of there and dived into the next corner but my pedal hit the ground and I almost came down myself.

People ask me why I take part in the sprints, but I love it. I love the thrill of people leaning on you, the pushing and elbowing, the split-second decisions that have to be made but I never take any crazy risks.

After the stage, we hopped on a bus to the airport, where we flew to Limoges and our first rest day today. Hopefully, I can get my leg looked at and will be ready to go tomorrow.