Le Tour (may contain spoilers)

That made me wince.

I’m thinking that having been stopped that long there was probably a nice little cafe before setting off up the climb.

There’s some hard bastards carrying on. It’ll certainly chafe when they hit the shower tonight

No medics to cover front of race, hence they held it up to get a medical car back up. Starting again.

be interesting to see who doesn’t get up tomorrow, looking at Greg Henderson the cobbles won’t be a welcome thought.

😐

eh, no cycling news feeds here 😐

like, what happened and where?

touch of wheels, fights for positioning, near Muy?

has it started again?

Fromei’dge still upright, Bertie? Nibbs? Valv?

C’mon, don’t be shy….

Now bollards in the middle of the course. Riders not happy at all.

Medical blokes in for a busy afternoon

http://www.letour.com/le-tour/2015/us/live/aso/
All the favs still there, 2 big wheel touches, lots of carnage. Would have been a very big spread if they had let them go and all the tech guys and medics way behind the field.

dont think it was that bad (RE Ambulances) There a re few out, but it’s the neutralisation and stop that’s going to make the headlines tomorrow.

Right decision though if all the medical teams are dealing with the carnage from that. Be awful if there was another off miles up the road and no one there to deal with it.

Cancellara went down , but he’s ok ( be aching in the morning though ) – all the other main contenders are ok ( I think ) .
One rider went down & then wallop!

what was the state of the race when it happened – breakaway or all in one big daft group ?

Looked really nasty for several riders

break was caught (or just about caught) post feed station and everyone trying to get forward for the start of the climb. Narrowed right up for the start of the climb.

Average speed was 42 kph at the crash, according to the live telematics.

This looks useful:
https://twitter.com/letourdata

Ah, cheers – I guess you can easily see why a stoppage might make sense and not “really” matter

🙁

looked a lot faster than 42 on the little snippet I saw (or do you mean the stage average was 42 ?)

Looking at the amount of shredded Lycra it’s been tough, was just deciding if I stay up or go to bed (midnight here) but the front guys have just put a kick in to race it, sky went belting off after the first hold and are right up again, could drop a couple of GC contenders by 1-2 mins by the end of tomorrow if luck goes your way

Ten Dam also dislocating a shoulder, the Wolf Man just popped it back in and carried on

Nails.

He crashed yesterday too
https://app.strava.com/activities/339694197

Data till crash. Than Pioneer was on top of car.

Graph of speeds at point of crash:

Between 45-50kph before they started slowing ahead of impact.

Was the purple line Cancellara?

Well Standards getting a fine later on today, outrageous sticky bottle 😀

RAce back on then?

So:
Crash
Split
Neutralise
Front Group Held
Rear Group brought back together
Front Group & Rear Group in one bunch
DeNeutralised
Race on
Fromme’idge et all back in front incl Fab?

Correct ?

2 crashes, 2nd a bit up the road from the first.
It took a full stop to get both groups back together.
Re start, neutral up the first climb
Race from the KOM line.

Muchos Grazias’os 😀

Cancellara now out the back…

Was already 4 minutes back, lead group really drilling it. Not having the luckiest of seasons.

Froom vs Bertie for the win?

Brutal finish!!! First blood to Froome over Bertie on that one, quite a few couldn’t sustain that.

Great stage. Really enjoyed that!

Froome using his elbows to barge past opponents today, impressive aggression!

and Yates.S up in the front too!

Daniel Friebe tweeting Froome in yellow.

EDIT – Confirmed, by 1 second from Tony “almost yellow” Martin.

Hell of a ride by Froome and Thomas as well. My gut instinct is that I’m not sure Sky would want yellow just yet though.

From official TdF twitter feed.

By 1 second from T Martin.

just not EQS tour

Ohhh eeek.

Looks like a great stage to watch when I get home then.

Anyone care for a 1,2,3 and whose in Lella ??

Ta

Froome in yellow, a little earlier than they wanted, be a long time to defentd it. Froome looks strong but Saxo looks a stronger team overall, that said tomorrow there will be more carnage. I think there were less riders on the deck in the DH at the weekend…

Despite it not really suiting Froome I am currently doing my best Belgian rain dance for tomorrow.

So how long can TM hang onto that second place for? 😈

He is getting 2s closer to the lead every day…

Great finish by a furiously spinning Froome there. Though cobbles tomorrow.

Feel for Tony Martin, would have been nice to see him in yellow.

Notice Nibbles getting a few seconds back on Bertie too.

Despite it not really suiting Froome I am currently doing my best Belgian rain dance for tomorrow.

Do hope not. Just want to see a decent race with all the GC getting through unhurt, not wacky races.