How many Sky in the second group!
Porte and Geraint are the only ones i’ve seen in the front group.

all cycle clothing is gash IMHO bit that is really gash

Ok here comes the sprint.

it won’t be a win for Kittel today! He has fallen back!

HURRAY!

Yes. Finally Greipel turns up

Greipel jumps. The German champion simply powers his way to the line and no one can come close.

BOOOOO!

At bloody last!

That was a fantastic stage finish 🙂

I thought for a second that Kwiatkowski might do it, that would have been brilliant.

Kittel had a puncture apparently. Will be interesting to see the classification, field looked pretty string out.

Last 10k was pretty mad.
Last 1k was insane!

Pinot and Rolland lose one minute

Did I see Tony Martin refusing to take a turn at one point? He did look knackered. Again OPQS do a mammoth amount of work from about 15k to 2k in and come away empty handed.

@mrblobby – yes I thought I saw that too.

Great finish

So close Michal. I wondered if Martin had worked for that attack. NPFS had a so-so day without the big man, but still five in the GC.

Again OPQS do a mammoth amount of work from about 15k to 2k in and come away empty handed.

there is only one page in their book of tactics.
go early.
go hard.
go cav.

I think he also mentioned how the tour would be much better if it was just a prologue followed by 3 weeks of flat TTs.

Well he’s supposed to like cobbles right?!

Greipal wins at last. I’d almost forgotten he was a sprinter.

Terpstra adding his voice to the riders saying cobbles have no place in the Tour. Prudhome though seems to love it so suspect they’ll be back.

Terpstra adding his voice to the riders saying cobbles have no place in the Tour. Prudhome though seems to love it so suspect they’ll be back.

I think they’re great if they turn up once every 2-3 years. Varies the course a bit, keeps things interesting and yes, the Tour should be about the best all-round rider, not just some TT’er who can hang on in the mountains.

So Kittel just didn’t have the legs to stay with the bunch in the wind, that’s got to give a large dose of confidence to the sprinters. Really wanted Kwiatkowski to take the win when he moved off the front! He’ll def get one this year I reckon and still looking good on GC too.

Once the dust settles they’ll be glad they were there. A classic stage in my opinion.

Didn’t Kittel puncture?

He says not in the interview on ITV highlights.

He says not in the interview on ITV highlights.

ITV highlights are well worth watching simply for the rider interviews and the Chris Boardman/Ned Boulting segments. Gary Imlach’s deadpan summaries and round-ups are very good as well.

The actual racing, with Paul Sherwen and Phil Liggett commentating is toe-curlingly awful as they trot out the same tired old clichés in this, the sport of professional bike racing.

‘The Tour de France is the greatest race in this, the country of France’

…Paul Sherwen and Phil Liggett…

And end up missing most of the moves! Eurosport commentary is def better but it won’t series link and I really am that lazy!

I’ve got a Series Link on the Eurosport highlights in this, my Virgin Media box of cycling.

ITV highlights are well worth watching simply for the rider interviews and the Chris Boardman/Ned Boulting segments. Gary Imlach’s deadpan summaries and round-ups are very good as well.

The actual racing, with Paul Sherwen and Phil Liggett commentating is toe-curlingly awful as they trot out the same tired old clichés in this, the sport of professional bike racing.

Agree 100%, I want to kick the telly in every time Sherwin says “years of age”. And we’ve not finished week one yet!

I actually watch Eurosport during race time, it’s flawed at times but less irritating, and Imlach-Boardman-Boulting between. Boardman commentary would be a dream.

I thought Liggett and/or Sherwen were retiring if it was proven that Armstrong had doped?

Carlton Kirby is no better. I used to like David Harmon, but I understand he’s going through some troubled times.
David Duffield in his prime was the best though.

The Phil and Paul commentary make the tour for me, couldn’t imagine it without them. Accordian likewise.

Carlton Kirby is no better

Maybe but I find him a bit lower key and easier to regard as background hum.

Carlton Kirby is infinitely better! When nothing’s happening and he’s talking shit, he knows he’s talking shit. Phil and Paul just talk shit.

When the shit goes down though, Kirby is on it.

David Duffield in his prime was the best though

thats the bloke been trying to think of his name since being bored shitless about dry stone walls…pass the cheese.

growing to loath, ligett and Sherwen “he’s free to fly”, “this guy is an excellent bike handler, he used to ride mountainbikes you know” blah blah bloody blah

David Duffield was the Murray Walker of cycling commentary. He’d be there banging on about cheese and wine and what he had for dinner last night, meanwhile the break would be caught, there’d be a flurry of attacks and 5 minutes later Duffers would notice that things had changed.

David Harmon was brilliant – saw him the other week actually, he’s back commentating but EuroSport haven’t offered him anything.

Carlton Kirby and Sean Kelly are pretty good and once you get used to the accent, Sean is actually very droll.

Phil and Paul though need putting out to pasture, Phil has been doing this for 40 years and he gets steadily worse, it’s got beyond the point of being the odd error, it’s just embarrassing now.

The shittyness of Sherwen and Ligget was evident in the highlights last night when during the last 3km as the sprint trains were building the camera at the back of the peleton lingered on a Giant Shimano rider being spat out the back. No mention of it at all despite it obviously being Kittel. Then the sreen caption poped up so even my Mum would have know it wss Kittel but still no mention.

Then a few seconds later “where’s Kittel? he’s not in the front group”

Cretins

I liked the, “Kwiatkowski has done it! No one can beat him now! Blah blah legs of steel blah blah man of the day blah!”

Then he gets overtaken, sits up, and half the pack comes past like he is standing still.

From Bikehugger:

http://www.bikehugger.com/media/BikeHuggerTdFBingoGame.pdf

Sadly there is no mention of suitcase and courage on any of the Cards.

Or if watching on Eurosport…

I love it when he says ‘making the calculation” and “on the rivet, as they say in cycling terms”.

He is brilliant. I’ve not heard a “bonification” in some time though 🙁