Bertie needs to ‘glow’ on the rest day…

GC done already. Froome Porte 1-2 sewn up barring an accident. It could be 10 minutes to the first none Sky rider by Paris.

both in my winners team so hope so and there you go he murders them

No way could Brad ever do that and Porte second

Bloody hell 😯

I’m not really a fan of Froome but what a performance. First proper day on the slopes and he’s demolished the opposition.

Just awesome!

This could have been Froome’s 3rd Grand Tour win instead of his 1st.

I’m not really a fan of Froome but what a performance.

Touche!

He’s the Andy Murray of professional cycling, wouldn’t smile if you held a gun to his head and threatened him! But my god, what a ride… Was expecting him to maybe just nudge a few seconds into the GC lead today over Contador et al, but he’s just done 50% of the work he needs to do to win the Tour probably with that ride!

he looks pretty fresh and he is barley out of breath in the interview

lots of smiling and joy from him as well

Awesome days racing

All over bar the shouting I’d say. I didn’t see anyone who could challenge Froome in the mountains today and don’t forget he can time trial as well.

Poxy ITV4 advert break as well just as the stage was obviously kicking off.

Don’t hate,celebrate! Big up Team Sky!

That ad break was badly timed wasn’t it 🙄

Loved watching Porte grinning like a maniac.

LOL @ the dodgy looking “local dignitaries”. Looks like they’ve just rolled out of the bar.

Told.

ITV4 ad break well timed as always.

Fantastic ride from Froome, and he was even keeping his elbows in check (most of the time). Porte rode excellently too, hoping he gets a stage win or two, he definitely deserves it.

Also a fantastic ride from Impey, he really wanted to stay with them, but it just wasn’t on the cards.

Froome, Porte, Evans, Contador, Valverde, Quintana, Ryder, even Andy (maybe…) could all be in the mix. If anyone takes big time today it will be Froome, but I’m not expecting him to win the tour today, although I am expecting quite a few to lose big time today and be forgotton about for the rest of the tour.

So we can forget about Evans, Ryder, Andy, Tejay, Gesink, Voeckler, Rolland… Contador, Valverde, Quintana – maybe the first two just had a bad day today? Quintana definitely went a bit too soon, but I think he’ll come back later.

Like I said, I wasn’t expecting Froome to win the tour today, but I think he pretty much has.

Also looking forward to the VG update tonight.. 🙂

Going to have to watch the highlights later just catch the bits in the ad breaks.

If you have an iPad get the ITV player and pay 4 quid for the premium package for a month, it’s the same coverage but starts earlier and is continuous without ads.

Mostly I watched TV then reverted to iPad when the final “strategic” ad break came on.

I think Froome’s pet dog just died, otherwise I find it hard to explain his complete lack of enthusiasm on the podium.

Not a good day for my team, my longshot choice of Schleck hasn’t paid off 🙄

I think Froome’s pet dog just died, otherwise I find it hard to explain his complete lack of enthusiasm on the podium.

I thought he looked like he was going to cry tbh and therefore he held it in

Interviewed on Eurosport he was smiling all the way through

I think Froome’s pet dog just died, otherwise I find it hard to explain his complete lack of enthusiasm on the podium.

They’re sportsmen, not media stars – give the guy a break, he’s just ridden 180km over sweltering hot mountains – I bet you’d look a bit peeved by the time the 12th journalist stuck his microphone under your nose and started asking the same inane questions when all you wanted was a cold drink and a lie down!

Immense ride, did it Armstrong style – stay out of trouble and anonymous in the first week, wait for the first big hill, stick the whole team on the front and blow the race to pieces!

I did enjoy watching the cheating Spainsh bastard drop back too. Now we just have to wait for his miraculous rest day recovery… 🙄

Ah right, the premium thing, that explains the ridiculously long ad break at the crux of that climb. Completely different race before and after the break. Bloody annoying as itv4 is all I can get on my hols 🙁

Anyone else see the knob drawn on the road with about 1k to go?

They’re sportsmen, not media stars – give the guy a break, he’s just ridden 180km over sweltering hot mountains – I bet you’d look a bit peeved by the time the 12th journalist stuck his microphone under your nose and started asking the same inane questions when all you wanted was a cold drink and a lie down!

I can understand that, but I was talking about the podium… he actually seemed fairly cheerful when he was being interviewed. (Although I’d argue that top professional sportsmen are media stars these days…)

Anyone else see the knob drawn on the road with about 1k to go?

Yes.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XF2ayWcJfxo[/video]

😆

I don’t care anymore. It’s just entertainment.

I agree hence the attempt at humour rather than a rant and was wary of derailing the spirit of Realmans threads, whatever it was impressive and he’s a more exciting rider to watch than Wiggins (even if he was staring at his SRM he was turning himself inside out on a solo attack). Just hope it hasn’t killed the competition off so soon in the tour.

Disappointed in Quintana, I was hoping he would drag my fantasy team score back into the realms of respectability! Loved him nonchalantly grabbing a bottle from the pannier of the Vittel support bike as he passed, then pointing to his back wheel as he passed Riblon with a total poker face. Class.

Big UP for Peter Kennaugh, another Manxie doing well on Tour. Can’t wait for a Radio 2 “top tenuous” for him as my father-in-law lives across the road from his Gran….

Just caught up with the highlights. That felt like a real old school sort of win where a gc contendor takes a stage in style rather than microseconds at a time. Felt sorry for Evans though, that must have been destroying today

A bit too old school for some people 😕

i love richie porte pain management face,id love to see chuck norris handle that ?

A bit too old school for some people

Yep, that’s true but at least it’s not happening when everyone else is on top form so it’s not so unreasonable. When bjarne Riis won it felt back in the day it felt like he was just taking the piss really. Doesn’t feel like that this time

WOW! Just watched the highlights.
Quintana did claim that he was riding for Valverde, trying to break Sky, which may have been a bit of a niaive plan but showed what he was capable of. Watch out for stage wins from him.
But Froome looked immense. Let’s hope that we see some more wins from him rather than just defensive riding.