We are not going to hide our feeling of satisfaction: this is the kind of stage we’ve been looking for for years! It’s simple: there’s not a single metre of flat, which means the peloton will get very stretched out, presenting the very real possibility of splits occurring. Let this be a warning to any team leaders who might mistakenly believe they can ride towards the back of the field? especially as, at 145km, this stage is very short! It will give the puncheurs plenty to conjure with. Thinking about just the French riders of that type, I can imagine Voeckler and Chavanel will be itching to get going… Whatever happens, at the finish we will know the names of those riders who can’t win this Tour.

Yesterday was fantastic – not the winner I wanted, or who I predicted, but he definitely deserved it.

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

Photos from Stage 2.

Today? Not sure. Would like to say Sagan. Reckon a decent break will go, but think the GC riders will want to pile the pressure on, and with the time gaps being so tiny no one will want the break to stay away. Think it might end up being similar today, and I’m pretty sure the yellow jersey will be on someone else’s shoulders by the end of it.

A few useful links

Live Cycling News Text Updates
Steephill
Official Tour Live Feed App
Classifications
Withdrawals
Fantasy League Standings
Loser League Standings

The Hounds of Zaroff by Ceri jumps to the front in the Fantasy league, with Death Race by Sam Jones first place in the loser league..

http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/tech-gallery-new-bikes-at-the-tour-de-france

Followed nearly same route on a trip 4 years ago, the coast around Porto is awesome, well worth watching for the scenery alone 🙂

Thomas called it a day?

I hope not, he’s in my fantasy team, as is Tony Martin, I think I may be a curse on them.

No official withdrawals yet. Martin may yet start I suppose as he’s not got the broken collarbone that was reported, “just” deep tissue injuries, bruises and road rash.

Yeah, nothing on the official withdrawal site, I might just be showing interwebz rumours…

surely we are due a stage going to form in which case I also second Sagan for the win

Will be [issed off about yesterday as wel

on the plus side my rubbish team is still worse than my good team [just]

I wanted millar in my team as well DOH !

Should be a fun stage.
That is a nasty hill 12k from the line, should split things up nicely.

Can Cannondale keep it together with Radioshack, or will Bakelants struggle himself to keep yellow?

Hopefully a few GC boys like Joaquim Rodriguez and Dan Martin have a leg stretcher and light it up.
It is a pity Nibili is not here as it looks a stage he would have deffo attacked.

My money’s on another bunch finish with everyone recording the same time again.

What happens if they get to the end of the team time trial with no clear leader? Do they have accurate times for everyone to figure out who’s actualy got the lowest cumulative time?

No. they just have an old man sat in a deck chair at the finish line counting in “Mississippis” 🙄

another hard one to call

Pretty much the same as yesterday I reckon, but this time a bunch finish. Millar in yellow at the end of the day.

Questions:

Is Schleck really going to do something this year?
Is Rolland going for KOM?

Just watched the start of the Eurosport coverage. They had an interview with Hinault talking about Froome, at least they did in French. The “translation” on the UK coverage wasn’t even remotely related to what was going on in French. Very odd.

Is Schleck really going to do something this year?

Yes he will develop huge cajones and descend like a devil… 😉

He is my losers team so I doubt it tbh

Looking for a crazy, open jersied attack by Tommy Voeckler today.

hasn’t Andrey Kashechkin abandoned?

It’s pretty today.

Yesterday’s finish was awesome. Proper hard man finish apart from the camp squeal at the end when he realised he’d won. 😉

Corsica’s going to be rammed with MAMILs next summer!

Has anyone managed to figure out raw the URL for the ticker (as embedded in http://www.letour.fr/le-tour/2013/us/live/aso/) ? (Shame they ‘upgraded’ the little stick figures with spinning legs they used to have).

does garmin sharp have a gc contender?

why doesn’t Cav contest more of the points races?
especially the intermediate sprints?
I’m sure he’s got it in him.
it’s as if he’s saying, I’ll only make an effort if I can win.

tv comedy-duo were just saying he’s been a bit ill and has just finished anti-biotics

Same as the yellow jersey and breakaways. No harm in letting a non contender get away with 10 points more than the pelaton’s sprinting for, if Saggan was in the break then maybe OP-Q might chase them down, otherwise it’s just wasted energy.

If he is ill then I guess they’ll just go for glory with stage finishes rather than the overall green jersey?

Millar time! I really hope he finishes in Yellow today almost fell off my chair on Saturday seeing him so close to the win.

Garmin don’t have a GC rider however I can imagine they’ll happily put their weight behind Millar just to get a Yellow jersey.

it’s not just this year though. he’s done it in previous tours – even last year when he was lighter for the Olympics.

does garmin sharp have a gc contender?

Garmin don’t have a GC rider however I can imagine they’ll happily put their weight behind Millar just to get a Yellow jersey.

…Ryder?

Geraint Thomas riding with a fractured pelvis….. Apparently couldn’t get on the bike without assistance today.

In terms of hard as nails, that’s right up there with riding after your arse is ripped to shreds by barbed wire

Hesjedal and Talansky are G-S’s listed GC contenders, no?

I don’t think Ryder is heard the chuckle brothers say they’ve not got a dedicated GC and are aiming more for stage wins… (which seems odd to me).

The footage from the helicopter today is absolutely breathtaking!

They said there’s 2-3 people who could feature in the GC but they’ll select the leader as the race progresses rather than anointing a captain now.

That is some beautiful road though

Surely all these riders carrying on with deep tissue injuries and bone breaks etc are proof enough they’re all doped up to the eyeballs… 😉

Cheers

Danny B

are they still allowed cortisone if they have a medical reason whilst racing?

Plus I wonder how many water bottles are scattered around France from riders discarding them.

Tdf cleanup team scours the course every day for bottles , gel wrappers etc, so no littering really. I doubt many water bottles are left though, as I imagine fans get most!!

Plus I wonder how many water bottles are scattered around France from riders discarding them.

Not many, the spectators literally fight over them.

They were talking on Eurosport about dedicated dirty areas they were supposed to drop the wrappers in.

Been a bit quiet today despite the terrain, looks like its about to hot up now.

Blimey – must be boring if that’s all you’ve got to talk about 🙂
Are they not on that final climb yet?

Yeah, it got a bit more interesting. Rolland got the points, bit of a gap then the rest of em…

Chavanel is going like the clappers on the decent..

Argh, denied again. Got Dumoulin on my team as well, I got very excited with 1.5k to go…