and they’re OFF…
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Hope to see Stage 10 or 11 which is the closest the Tour has ever come since I’ve lived here.
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It was good to see the Tour at last. Unfortunately there was bad weather in Nice for the first stage, the roads were wet and the hilly parts were narrow with lots of hairpin bends. So several ‘chutes’ and quite a few dispirited riders at the finish. Fabulous aerial photography from the helicopters though, as always.
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Thanks Stella for this link. Your ‘SudOuest’ is most informative on lots of fronts!
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It’s a good paper to read, keeps you up to date with regular newsflashes if you upload the app.
Just watched the end of today’s stage - on television. Alaphilippe will be headlining in all the French newspapers tomorrow!
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Great stage today, well done Alaphilippe, hope he wins the tour. He lost his dad who was his biggest fan, a few weeks back hence the tears today.
He lost a lot of time today Peter.
What do you think of Yates? Could he go all the way now?
Cracking leg yesterday but Alaphillipe lost his way a bit. Can’t see Yates hanging on much longer but you never know. You have to fancy Rogelic but it’s wide open. Defending champion Bernal seems to be getting into it and Quintana and Bardet will fancy their chances.
It’s great to see the crowds lining the route again. Most seemed well behaved with masks etc.
But Rogelic did have a little go didn’t he? - and couldn’t get away from Yates…
I saw Pinot saying yesterday was ‘a turning point’ in his career, ‘too many failures’.
Pinot suffered from a bad fall on the first stage and hasn’t recovered. Last year he had a leg injury I think. I can’t see him lasting long in this years race.
By the way, which channel do you watch the TdF ?
I prefer Eurosport with the unintelligible but very knowledgeable Sean Kelly, Brian Smith and Bradley Wiggins.
I don’t think we can get Eurosport we don’t have any subscription TV - we get to watch so little we have a huge backlog of unwatched recordings just from the Freesat channels!
We try (and often fail) to watch the ‘highlights’ show on ITV4 - commented by Ned Boulting and David Millar, with Gary Imlach and Chris Boardman as presenter/pundits.
Do you remember this? - probably my favourite Tour television moment of all time - Stephen Roche almost catching the great climber Delgado on the ascent of La Plagne - to the surprise of everyone including the race commentators (the cameras had left the Yellow Jersey battle to focus on Fignon’s stage win).
David Millar is the worst commentator I have ever heard and can’t stand him. Spluttering, stuttering and repeating words interspered with “yeahs” and the most boring voice imaginable. Hate it when he’s on.
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Great guy Fignon. I met him once and ended up playing a few holes of golf with him and Laurent Jalabert both of whom were commentating on the TdF for French tv in about 2005 ish. They were staying in the hotel on a golf course I was working at and saw them on the course early on the Monday morning which was a rest day. I’d finished cutting the greens when they invited me to play.
Nice pair and so tragic to hear of Fignons death a few years later. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a person with so little fat on him., skinny as a rake where Jalabert was obviously enjoying his retirement…
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I enjoyed watching the Col de Peyrasourde yesterday-we go stuck up there a few years ago going skiing in a 4x4 with snow chains - it was a memorable and fun challenge.
So sorry for Hirschi today! Pogacar had already got 5 second bonus, so they could have done the decent thing!
Now the race director has tested positive for C19