Tour de France 2014 - Au revoir Yorkshire and the south, bonjour les montagnes et les côtes!!

[Panwearsjaune]

_

Photo finish!!!

[Letsgoforawalk]

I'm here! Back from that place where they have the big bike race and enjoying the hot hot hot vuelta. Will pop over to new thread once I've caught up on today's racing highlights.

[Panwearsamagicjersey]

Oh good for ariadne - will check in.

I have a posh phone but really only use it as a proper phone. All stuff is on laptop really.

[DramaAlpaca]

Just spotted that ariadne has just started a new thread in Sports:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/sports/2165989-Vuelta-a-Espa-a

I'm on Twitter, but don't have a posh phone so don't check in very often, and only on my laptop. I follow Jensie & lots of other cyclists.

[Panwearsamagicjersey]

Epic!

I didn;t see his final flourish. But that twitter thing is a laugh-out-loud one. "You never see Jensie and Zeus at the same time".

I'll do the Vuelta thing in a mo? It's almost a 'real' TdF race, in effect? Froome v Quintana, but Jensie will probably win anyways!

[DramaAlpaca]

Hi there Pan! Good to see you

Epic cross post there

Was cheering Jensie on yesterday. Never mind he didn't take the stage, the man is a legend, and a true showman

[Panwearsamagicjersey]

Perfect peloton-timing there DA!!

[DramaAlpaca]

Well, I thought it was time to bump this thread what with the Vuelta starting tomorrow and all...

Is anybody else around??

I've been trying & failing to get excited about the USA Pro-Cycling Challenge & the Eneco Tour - roll out the Vuelta! And it looks like it will be a good one, with lots of big names. Hopefully it will be a bit more competitive than the TdF, and it will certainly have better weather

[Panwearsamagicjersey]

Do we think it's time for a Vuelta thread??

Surely it is! We've missed so much in between..

has anyone been following @jensvoightfacts at all?

"The team car has been penalised for drafting behind Jensie"

"Jensie doesn't get road grit. The road gets Jensie grit"

"When he takes a bottle, Jensie gives the team car a bit of a push."

"Today Jensie moved the finish line 800mtres forward to give the youngsters a chance of a win."

Vuelta/escapados thread being turbo-matured in Jerez barrels...by Jensie!

[LostInWales]

Boo, I was hoping I could whack it on my kindle for the holidays if he had another one! It looked like there was going to be another one this year to pre-order for around now but then it vanished and I don't know if it was just a hopeful dream . Have a great time on holiday. I will keep my eye out for you in wee fee corner when we are camping in France too!

[Letsgoforawalk]

Thanks for the link ariadne I will wrestle the ipad off DH later and catch up.
lost in Wales I wasn't very clear I think, the yellow jumper one was, I believe, his first and on the road bike was the second. I was saying yellow jumper funnier than road bike, but both very good!
I'm off on holiday too and unless I sit with the teenagers in "wifi corner" on the campsite we are going to, will be nil by mumsnet for a couple of weeks. May miss the first day of the vuelta but will be pedalling hard to catch the peloton on here from 25th onward. Not long really to tour of Britain! I've booked the day off work for when they visit my city and I'm planning my viewing spot.....

[LostInWales]

Boultings books are brilliant aren't they, he's got a great way of taking the mickey out of himself but obviously loves cycling and all the personalities. The Wegelius book, not quite such fun but very interesting.

Umm, you aren't allowed to not be here for the Vuelta though you know? Didn't you read the small print?

Letsgo, what was Ned's first book, I've only read the road bike one and Yellow Jumper? I'd love to have another one to catch up on. The patches have been a revelation, I've been out doing things with my children I wouldn't have thought of doing for ages, I am like this and not from the drugs! I was cliff jumping into the sea today!

[DramaAlpaca]

I'm sure we'll manage to behave ourselves in your absence, Pan, but if DoctorTwo is willing to deputise for you as Road Capt as & when necessary that's fine by me.

There's plenty of space left on this thread, so we shouldn't need another until you are back

[ShutUpLegs]

Pan you don't get to resign as Road Capt - it is a role conferred by the peleton. Injury or non-selection are the only routes out.

[ariadneoliver]

I'll also be around for the Vuelta so I'm sure between us we can keep the peleton in some sort of order.

Letsgo the Tour of Poland is on Eurosport but you can find highlights on this page www.youtube.com/channel/UC_GS2853Pq0IbAZtwlxzM0g

[DoctorTwo]

I don't mind having a go Pan. I'm usually happiest sitting on the team bus discussing tactics and strategy but am willing to lead from the front for a change. Luckily we still have a couple of weeks before our team captain needs to be selected. :o

[Panwearsamagicjersey]

That's next after Domestique, lets.

Whilst I'm here, can I please pass the road capt jersey to someone else for La Vuelta?
I won't be around for a chunk of it, I'm afraid. It means making effort to keep this unruly peloton in some kind of order, and of course lugging the podium out the back of the team Skoda. I can pass on the manuals in it's various iterations and amendments, and hopefully SDTG will pass on her pattern for the magic jerseys.
Any volunteers for this most prestigious and humbling position?

[DramaAlpaca]

I have just watched Rough Rider, a documentary on doping in cycling by Paul Kimmage, the Irish sports journalist who has done a lot to raise awareness of cycling's murky past. It was on RTE, an Irish channel, but I hope UK channels will show it at some point as it's well worth watching. Kimmage was a pro-cyclist in the 1980s, and wrote a book called Rough Ride about his experiences in the peloton, which made him very unpopular with the UCI and with many of his contemporaries. It's an interesting read.

[Letsgoforawalk]

Needs first book is funny too. Funnier I think, 'how I won the yellow jumper'

[Panwearsamagicjersey]

Just started Ned Boulting's On The Road Bike. Hilarious so far. Recommended.

Also have Wegelius' Domestique on it's wheel.

[Letsgoforawalk]

Where is the tour of Poland on the telly? We only have freeview.....
Pleased for G, so that's a Welshman riding well in the rain again, who'd have thought it eh?
lostinwales hope the patches suit you better, constant pain is very wearing and needs careful management

Ooh yes camper van grand tour following. I'll leave DH with the kids and join the convoy.
Can I hitch a ride if I promise to bring and ?

[ariadneoliver]

And today Petr Vakoc channelled Tony Martin. So exciting to see whether he hung on or not!

[DramaAlpaca]

I was watching the Tour of Poland through my fingers !

So happy for G, he rode the perfect tactical race & got the reward.

[DoctorTwo]

I think Pete ran out of biscuits, but Geraint went out and won deservedly. He was ossum. That race was a war of attrition, and I don't blame them.

It was lovely to see Lizzie Armitstead and Emma Pooley get first and second place too. Emma is like Geraint; ever the domestique. She's brilliant at what she does and worked tirelessly today, as she always does. Respeck.

[ariadneoliver]

Wow. The whole break of 4 crashed on a corner into a parked lorry.

[Panwearsamagicjersey]

it's utter carnage!