Bit of a breather today – partly for the riders and partly for those watching at home. There might even be a chance I get some work done for the first afternoon since Monday!

192km across the lumpy industrial edge of the Alps through Grenoble with gradients shallow enough to present few problems at GC level but enough to set up a breakaway and to wear out some of the sprinters en route to the finish in Saint-Etienne.

Likely to be a very fast start with a long descent combined with a desperate rush to get into the day’s break – the sort of terrain that has Wout van Aert, Peter Sagan, Magnus Cort and Fred Wright written all over it but the purer sprinters like Caleb Ewen and Fabio Jakobsen will be keen to bring it back if possible on the long flat/flattish run in.

Sagan  !!

Warren Barguil’s out with a positive Covid test

Warren Barguil est non partant ce matin au départ de la 13ème étape du Tour de France en raison d’un test positif au Covid. ❌
Nos sept autres coureurs ont tous été testés négatifs.

Merci pour tout Wawa ♥️#TDF2022 pic.twitter.com/AtnKnyDat3

— Team Arkéa Samsic (@Arkea_Samsic) July 15, 2022

might even be a chance I get some work done for the first afternoon

this

and this:

Beaten to it by @llama!

oh my Sarah Cracknell in her pomp….

Much nicer than the current St Etienne activities

Average speed of 53kph so far – OK it’s been a slight downhill for a lot of it but it still includes the first 4th Cat climb. Frantic chasing to get into the break.

On an unrelated note, but perhaps pertinent given the St-Etienne finish, whoever selects the outro music for ITV4 Highlights and Live shows is a legend – always brilliant. Maybe there’s a Spotify or something out there.

whoever selects the outro music for ITV4 Highlights and Live shows is a legend – always brilliant.

Particularly appreciated ‘Jungels is Massive’ 🙂

Mistral is blowing and we have splits and echelons

“Time flies by in the yellow and green,
stick around and you’ll see what I mean.
There’s a mountain top that I’m dreaming of,
If you need me you’ll know where I’ll be.
I’ll be riding shotgun, underneath the hot sun,
feeling like someone, some one, someone.”

Shotgun by George Ezra.

Whenever I hear this song, the Tour de France jumps to mind.

Come on Caleb, you deserve some luck.

Sounds like Fabio Jakobsen is really struggling in the heat and won’t be contesting any sprint. Caleb Ewen on the other hand has the full Lotto team on the front of the peloton to bring it back for a bunch sprint.

Noooo Caleb.

went down hard!

He’s back up and rolling but he really doesn’t look comfortable.

Come on Fred!

Nice to see another breakaway win.