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

[Panwearsjaune]

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Photo finish!!!

On twitter just now:

David Millar ?@millarmind 16m
Right, @thejensie my man, you have to do what we talked about in Bayern. Champs honour break. I'm going biking with @ryder_hesjedal instead.

Jens Voigt ?@thejensie 1m
Hi Dave- guess there is no way around it- hey??!! Alrighty then- Showtime one more time, lets put on the gameface!! @millarmind

Never been so happy that the weather is overcast, I would have had to go to the beach again if it was lovely . I'd better decant myself from bed and onto the sofa then, ready for a tough day cheering on Jens.

And the wearers of the Tour magical jersey, to parade later on the Camps Elysee are.....

The Entire Peloton! .

Just for having the commitment and stamina that's been layered on years of training, from the roll out in Yorkshire for 3 long weeks, through crashes, s---t weather, lunatic spectators taking selfies, work commitments, domestic turmoil and the fight for the remote, mechanicals, drug testing, endless media interviews, riding while texting (or is it texting while riding?), unplanned loo stops in stranger's facilities, and having to tell your legs to shut up on a regular basis. Wear the jersey with pride.

I'm going to be SO sad tomorrow, I hate the after tour hangover.

How long 'till the Vuelta?

The Vuelta starts on the 23rd, so a day under four weeks. At the moment ITV are saying they're only showing highlights.

They aren't holding back are they? Constant thrusts - they can't keep that up for 90kms???

And do we lose the after today?

I've just looked at the stage details and they are doing laps. 8 of the buggers.

Yay, round and round and round .

Watched the women race earlier too, can't get over how pretty Vos is, does that make me shallow, I always knew she was an incredibly talented rider!

Shhh! Keep quiet about the ...

We were supposed to lose the after Wimbledon, but it's still there so I don't think MNHQ have noticed .

Quite enjoying these circuits of Paris - no tension hoping Cav tips his wheel in front at the right time.

Don't worry Lost you have the Tour de Wallonie, the Tour de Pologne and the Prudential London Surrey ride before the Vuelta so you won't have too many withdrawal symptoms or be out of practice by the time we get to Spain.

G's attitude is fabulous. Finds a few benefits from a bike crash of a Tour for the Sky Team.

Didn't realise just how whinny Richie Porte's voice is!

It was good to see Jensie race ahead of the peloton on the second lap to lead if only for a few minutes. I'd love it if he rode La Vuelta and did the same. Pretty soon he won't feel the need to say "shut up legs!" End of an era. Now I wonder how long Horner will carry on for...

Only 49 weeks till next year's Tour.

Tis all over. I loved La Course - lets hope it comes back. And that ASO stepping up to put it on shames the UCI into upping its own game. Vos is amazing, isn't she?

Its been a great Tour for the emerging talent - lovely to see the French talent finally re-emerge. And of course, the departures for Jens and David M.

I can't help but wonder Bradhsaw-style what it would have been like had Nibali had some competition in the mountains but that will remain one of life's great unanswered questions.

Are we hanging around for the Vuelta?

So that's it, there's been some real highs and lows and in the end losing Froome and Contador didn't lessen the excitement and made the fight for the top 10 great TV.

We'll be back for the Vuelta for sure, but won't we want a shiny new thread?

I've been away this weekend and just caught up! Really enjoyed the last sprint. So pleased for Kittel. I've become a bit of a big fan of his

Looking forward to the Vuelta now.

So it's all over. Another whole year to wait .

Roll on the Vuelta

For anyone with severe TdeF withdrawal symptoms, Eurosport has stage 3 of the Tour de Wallonie live tomorrow afternoon.

Just back from my own little Tour of Brittany - fantastic place to cycle, especially if like me you only do flat roads! We were down in Southern Finisterre, by the seaside. We picked a destination up to 20km away each day, cycled there VERY slowly so we could admire the surroundings, had a nice long lunch and cycled back again. The signage and routes are amazing and generally the car drivers are very sympathetic - I can recommend it.

We managed to watch most of the Tour highlights each evening and was home in time to watch all of yesterday - it felt a bit strange without Cav, but it was still very enjoyable.

Sounds like a great trip Frosty.

And just to whip up the excitement here is the Vuelta route it's going through some gorgeous places

www.cyclingstage.com/vuelta-2014-route/

This thread popped up on my Active list and it looked like an appropriate place to share my amazing purchase this weekend - I promise this isn't spam! But someone was selling this print at a craft fair near me. Personally the Tour drives me mad but DP is a huge fan and to be fair, it does look awesome once it's framed.

Catching up after no-internet week - did manage to see stage highlights every day though. Except I didn't see the time trial, but I knew who would win.

Watched a bit of Commonwealth track too, although find some of the races very hard to understand. What's the deal with the little guy on the motorbike?

Endo that's the Durney (sp?) bike. It goes round and round the track at a gradually increasing speed to get all the riders in the race to go faster and faster in a controlled way. When he reaches a certain speed he pulls off the track and all hell breaks loose as the racing starts

Thurlow that print is beautiful!