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

[Panwearsjaune]

_

Photo finish!!!

[EndoplasmicReticulum]

Just watching now. The finish line is in a complete sea of mud and all the TV trucks are sinking.

Shall I say again "should have stayed in Yorkshire"?

[EndoplasmicReticulum]

Arrgh that looked nasty. It's getting a bit exciting now, pesky kids need collecting from school though.

[MirandaWest]

Does look nasty - hope he is ok.

Am glad we live 2 min walk from school so don't need to go out for a little while.

[MirandaWest]

Oh this is not good at all :(

Does rather open things up though.

[Letsgoforawalk]

so the 'hell' comment was the start of hello rather than a general comment on stage 10.
Poor Contador! That's not a phrase you'll hear from me very often..
Luckily my kids bring themselves home now (and, today, get ignored for a few mins)

[MirandaWest]

Off to get DD (DS will come back in a bit on his own).

Seems my posting before intended was a bit prophetic there...

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

I feel a bit sorry for him, but not that sorry. I feel do sorry for the rest if his team.

It is a horrible day out there today - it looks almost as bad there as it is here in sunny (ha ha ha) Scotland!

[DoctorTwo]

Oh dear. I thought it was bad enough I had no signal for the past 36 hours (cunting T-Mobile!), but this is horrible.

[MirandaWest]

The sheer power of them is incredible.

[EndoplasmicReticulum]

I thought this last night when watching football (something I only do about once every 4 years) and the commentators were saying how tired the poor little footballers would be after 90 minutes, going into extra time, having played a few matches over the previous weeks.

[msrisotto]

Nibili was stand out amazing today. Fingers crossed for Richie Porte though I don't expect him to do better or as good as he finished today.

[Panwearsjaune]

Every stage brings a new drama, doesn't it? Despite reservations about Bertie, it will still be awful for him, and of course the team riders who have 'buried' themselves so far. But the stage end was just soo intriguing.

Yes Endo the sight of footie players going down in agony after being shoulder charged or having a coming together must make pro-cyclists out loud!

[EndoplasmicReticulum]

Just watched the highlights. Bloody hell. I didn't want Contador to win, but I wanted him to be out-ridden rather than fall off. To then get back on and give chase with a fractured tibia is slightly insane.

As they said on highlights - all past winners Froome, Contador, Andy Shleck - have crashed out, can't remember so many crashes of favourites before.

Nibali seems the best rider - he went up that bit at the end as if it was flat.

[ariadneoliver]

Eventful if nothing else. I'm no great Contador fan but sad to see that there won't be a fight for the yellow jersey. Nibs just has to stay on his bike now.

There was a rumour on Twitter that Contador's bike frame snapped and that caused the fall, someone will be having words with Specialized if that's the case.

PS. Poor tired footballers, please feel free to ring Tony Martin I'm sure he'll be very sympathetic.

[EndoplasmicReticulum]

Saw a photo of Contador's bike - it wasn't clear if it was bike frame snapping that caused crash, or crash that caused bike frame snapping.

Tony Martin doesn't know when to stop, does he.

[DramaAlpaca]

Wow, that was an eventful day. I'm not at all a Contador fan, but very sad for him & his team that he's been forced out in such a way.

Looks like a fight for 2nd & 3rd place now, with Nibali coming into impressive form at just the right time.

Tony Martin certainly has some engine. Chapeau to him

This could make the Vuelta very interesting - we could have Quintana, Froome and even Contador, injuries permitting. And of course that raises another interesting question: will Wiggins ride the Vuelta, or will Froome want to do it after his TdeF ended so soon, and where will that leave Wiggins...

[EndoplasmicReticulum]

where will that leave Wiggins - looking for a spot on another team I would think!

[DramaAlpaca]

Yes, I suspect he's already looking around.

[Panwearsjaune]

I think a Wiggo deal has already been done. He was unusually gracious prior to the Tour after being dropped and the transfer season is in August, I think. He'll be in OPQS quick step.

[Panwearsjaune]

And Sky would go with Porte as a long term choice in any event,esp if he podiums now?

[EndoplasmicReticulum]

Contador's bike story so far.

velonews.competitor.com/2014/07/news/timeline-details-alberto-contadors-tour-ending-crash_336328

I'm slightly more confused after reading that than I was before. How many bikes were there?

[Panwearsjaune]

and having read these posts in the last hours, Wiggo announces he is staying with Sky!

[DramaAlpaca]

I've also read that Wiggo has announced he is staying with Sky, but Brailsford is being non-committal on the subject, saying that they are in talks but nothing has yet been signed. Wiggo has apparently also been talking to Garmin Sharp.

[msrisotto]

Apparently wiggo will not do the tdf again but will focus on time trials and that how far can you go in an hour thing.

[SeaShellsMyDogTrulySmells]

Poor Contador :( I wanted to see him beaten in a fair fight not by falls.

I think Wiggo may stay - for the Olympics etc Brailsford will be more sympathetic plus his pay is huge. Orica need an elder statesman, but I doubt they can pay, and Garmin and Wiggo split in v bad blood when he left for sky. OPQS have a v strong and diverse team and I would think he would end up being super domestique only there - they will soon suffer from the sky curse of too many strong riders/who do you rise for within a race.

The weather is atrocious, and stunning here. Were are holidaying near the cobbles in a couple of weeks and need the sun to come out!!