Far too many Pisco Sour’s last night, eyes are heavy, head is sore, however, Le Tour calls and so here we are.

Tom Dumoulin said he won the queen stage at Andorra-Arcalis. It was certainly the queen stage of the Pyrenees but the way this Tour de France is designed makes it hard to know in advance which one is the most decisive stage. The Alps are yet to come. But the route is subtle. In between the Mont Ventoux and the Alps, there’s the Grand Colombier. Only once this grueling climb in the Jura overlooking the Mont Blanc and the Bourget lake has been featured in the Tour de France. In 2012, it didn’t impact the race really, probably because the finish was a bit far away from the top of the hill. This time around, the riders have to climb the Grand Colombier one and half time, the first time via Lochieu, which is not the steepest part, the second time via the famous S above Culoz, which makes it necessary to pass the finishing line with 23.5km to go. The summit won’t be reached twice but the downhill back to Culoz is a spectacular one. The terrain is suitable for movement in the race. Many climbs beforehand, even some that aren’t categorized in order to not frighten the riders are likely to give way for a big breakaway to take shape. It’s a day for France to finally win a stage with Romain Bardet but at the difference of last year, he’s maybe too high on GC, seventh with a deficit of only four minutes. It doesn’t give him a total freedom.

Lumpy

Really hilly

Who to watch?

The Contenders: Stephen Cummings has won one stage and here’s another opportunity for the opportunist. It’s hilly and selective and as we saw on the Aspin he can hold Vincenzo Nibali and Dani Navarro at bay. Team mate Serge Pauwels is suited to this too.

Rafa? Majka and Vincenzo Nibali are two big names to watch today. Majka though didn’t go in the moves on the stage to Mont Ventoux which is surprising given he was, and still is, in the hunt for mountains points. Is something not right? Or maybe we’ll see him up the road again today and using the Grand Colombier as his launchpad. Nibali’s proving enigmatic this race but should feature and the descending today suits him.

Despite his strong ride at La Pierre St Martin last year Tony Gallopin has eschewed the overall classification for stage wins, a brave decision. He’s won in the Jura before and can climb and sprint well from a breakaway. He’s looked nervous in some stages but given Lotto-Soudal already have a stage win maybe he can put his poker face on and take the stage win the French are waiting for.

There’s also the chance we get the big names contesting the win after the early break doesn’t get enough time or even some big names light the touchpaper early. Among the current top-10 Adam Yates, Alejandro Valverde and Dan Martin all have a fast finish. Romain Bardet could do his thing on the descent too.

And finally, as ever, a couple of pics from yesterday.
Cav, full gas, Kittel unhappy.

In honour for Realman, Sagan

Textbook Tour pic.

downhill overall, flat finish – Cav again ?

😉

Morning, thanks again.

A tough stage. Lets see what the contenders have got, I think we know (hope) 😉

Froome for the win.

If Froome is not 3 mins clear at the end they he might just be human….
Porte/TJ/Valverde/Nairo all need to be playing tag team up there. The sky train might not be working flat out and might not be all there. When it’s gone they have to use their numbers.

If there are no proper attacks today I will be very grumpy and sleep deprived. Nearly vino time down under

Like Mike i am hoping Quintana/the rest of the GC goes for it but I suspect the best they will do is break the Sky train and not froome who will dish out some pain on the flat to them but not quite breakaway

Cheers OP for doing these threads its much appreciated as I look fwd tit he STW TdF threads

So the break is out, sprinters are off the back, green points to the break and all very civil, bit of a fight after lunch?

Sky. They just seem so dominant. Always the largest group, generally at the front of the peleton. In control. I am no expert but someti es you wonder wtf the other teams are doing, they seem to be racing for second or third at best.

Beautiful day and countryside looks so green.

Always the largest group, generally at the front of the peleton. In control. I am no expert but someti es you wonder wtf the other teams are doing, they seem to be racing for second or third at best.

Possibly but at this point there is no need for anyone else to be working, let sky run their guys out

and a little wake up as the leader just hit the start of the Grand Colombier, 8 mins up on the peloton so will we get attacks on this one of the second go?

(Go Richie)

too many sky shirts still in the mix though

Second climb is much shorter 600m vs 1100 ? Can’t see them making it back and Sky don’t care its about doing a job on Yates and Quintana no ?

Well I think the break is gone, just if BMC/Movistar are going to do it on this one or the next, feeling says last one as giving sky time to reorganise is stupid. Break and go

and Astana??? Where did that come from

What a stunning hill they’re on. Anyone else thinking endless singletrack?

Great stage so far .

time for fireworks?
Just seen GT dropped too

Astana based shenanigans afoot I reckon…

yep and I’m going to run out of Vino before the end!!! Presentations done by 2am

Allez Allez Allez

What a stunning hill they’re on. Anyone else thinking endless singletrack

Indeed. If you go on uttawagavtt there are lots of routes around there, close to Ax-les-bains not so far from Annecy /Semnoz or even Lyon

Great timing on the ads – missed Aru and Valverde having a go and being brought back.

Amazing helicopter shots, hoping for no more ads down here! When will BMC/Movistar give it a go?

Stunning ariel coverage as usual

TJ gone, porte and Nairo content to mark Froome, running out of up

Indeed, marking him seems to be all they have got

Bit iof CX there on the descent 😉

Chase on …

will Nairo ever actually attack him?

Well will the tour be won downhill?

He made a couple of token attempts on an earlier stage then seemed to just raise a white flag

Movistar go without him ?

Funny old finish really, its like Quintana has no spirit ?

A war of attrition….
Stage over and no change, 2 Summit finishes to go and an uphill TT. Quiet couple of days I think and then resume hostility.

oh and there will be some big time gaps in the top 10 on the 2 summit finishes. Podium all there to lose I reckon, anyone taking bets against Froome?

Poels managing to single handedly bring back three serious attacks from good climbers. Froome playing around on a climb that no-one else can breathe on. Sky aren’t helping to dispel the doping rumours, are they? I haven’t felt that dismayed watching a Tour stage since Hincapie was riding away from pure climbers.

Sky aren’t helping to dispel the doping rumours, are they?

So how would they do that? Throw a stage or two? It seems to me there are plenty of others keeping up day in day out.

Poels is no George Hincapie, he can climb with the best of them – he’s won a monument this season. Nieve won the mountains classification at the Giro this year. The fact is Sky have some very good riders.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/froome-agrees-that-skys-strength-must-be-demoralising-for-people/

Poels managing to single handedly bring back three serious attacks from good climbers. Froome playing around on a climb that no-one else can breathe on. Sky aren’t helping to dispel the doping rumours, are they? I haven’t felt that dismayed watching a Tour stage since Hincapie was riding away from pure climbers.

You can invent these little dramas if you really want to but you do realise that Froome cross the line in a group of other riders, some of whom did some attacking at some point on the stage.

I actually thought Froome looked knackered at a few points on the stage, alongside others who looked far fresher.

Poels managing to single handedly bring back three serious attacks from good climbers.

Sky have some solid riders. Remember he had Richie Porte as a domestic previously and he is considered a GC contender of the future with BMC. They have built a squad around Froome with riders who would probably have squads around them in other teams.

They have built a squad around Froome with riders who would probably have squads around them in other teams.

Froome did his domestique duties before he became team leader.

Someone picked up that the sky budget is 6x one of the other teams, as said they have to pay a lot to make you shelve your ambition. While they dominate the rest are playing for the podium, I hope the second TT and first summit finish shake it up a bit at least.

Someone picked up that the sky budget is 6x one of the other teams,

It’s higher but nowhere near 6x. Sky’s budget in 2015 was 24.4M GBP and AG2R, for example, were at 14M EUR.

I think Sky have played a blinder this year. Froome has shown he’s a great racer not just GC mountain and TT man.

It’s 6x one of the teams they were at 5million according to SBS last night. Even at 24vs14 they are significantly better funded.

Froome has played a blinder but yesterday was a team effort. The 2 Sky guys left just dictated and wound them back in. Not an easy ride but it would have been a very different story if he had been isolated. His 2 moves so far were great racing but he hasn’t manged to destroy the field yet. As I say I’m waiting for the proper mountain top finishes. There is still a lot of racing left to do.

The comments from the coverage down here always go back to the fact that the top couple of riders behind Froome could be GC contenders in their own right – Porte for instance is looking strong and has had his goes at it, without the puncture on stage 2 and the Ventoux screw up he would be up in the top 3 at this point.

Yes, but let’s compare apples with apples. Tinkoffs budget was £22mill, and a lot of teams were undisclosed. I doubt Astana and BMC are different, so it’s hardly like Sky are pricing the opposition out of the water.

Grand Tour cycle racing is a team game, so why are we surprised Sky’s team domestiques are helping him out – it’s their job. If you want pure man v man then it’s ITTs. I seem to remember Wiggo being slagged off as “just a time trialler” so really you just can’t win.