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

[Panwearsjaune]

_

Photo finish!!!

[Panwearsjaune]

Endo I would be very very grateful if it's possible and fully appreciative even if it isn't.

[SeaShellsMyDogTrulySmells]

Jonathan TL been banned for 2 years for doping

[Panwearsjaune]

Career-ending isn't it? 29 yo and no wriggle-room in the business now. At least I'd have thought so.

[DramaAlpaca]

Endo's tech support sounds like the biz. Unfortunately, Stage 2 has definitely gone from my Sky box.

Oh poor Sagan! Pipped at the post yet again

Jonathan TL . I was hoping there might be an innocent explanation there. Sadly not. Career-ending almost certainly.

[canutesauntie]

Geraint Thomas has tweeted another picture of a soon to be extin of Welsh Cakes. Good to know people are pursuing him round france with essential supplies! It's a bit like the magic potion in Astérix

[AtiaoftheJulii]

Only watched the highlights late last night as was busy, then out. Got up this morning and as I was coming downstairs, was wondering whether Sagan would manage a stage win this Tour. Walk into the kitchen where dh was making tea/coffee and he said, "Poor Peter, eh?"

Sad about Tiernan Locke :( I loved those Rapha boys - back in 2011, we were in London for the practice Olympic road race, and dh's dad managed to park literally just round the corner to the square where all the team buses (minibuses and Transit vans mostly!) were parked, and after the race dd3 and I ended up hanging around near Rapha Condor Sharp whilst dh and his dad wandered about. Watching them get changed and listening to their banter left me with a massive soft spot for them, and then they did really well in the Tour of Britain that year too. (And had a good kit.)

Just seems so stupid to be doping these days. Have you seen this guy on twitter? twitter.com/Digger_forum

[SeaShellsMyDogTrulySmells]

Yup such a shame he felt the need to :(

Will check out forum :)

[MirandaWest]

Am glued to itv4 again. This last climb looks hard work (not that the rest is exactly easy)

[SeaShellsMyDogTrulySmells]

Poor Porte :(

That digger forum guy makes depressing reading. He's probably right

[MirandaWest]

Porte very not happy :(

Nibali just keeps on going doesn't he?

[msrisotto]

Shame for Ritchie...wonder what happened? He was all confident that this was his turf!

[SeaShellsMyDogTrulySmells]

I wonder if it's on a level playing field?

[MirandaWest]

He's being interviewed bad saying he thinks it was the heat and just one of those things bad that he feels bad for his team :(

[MirandaWest]

So will Niboli get a special yellow and polka dot jersey?

[EndoplasmicReticulum]

SeaShells I wonder too.

[FelixFelix]

Just catching up now. Currently at 12km to go!

Just realised how much I love the commentary on Eurosport

[Panwearsjaune]

That was utterly brutal, wasn't it? And there's worse to come!

Realised a few days ago that the correct pronunciation of Nibali is indeed with the accent on the "a".

What happened to Porte? His terrain, had support, but just cracked. Unfortunate, damn.

Level playing field....are we speculating in a bad way? Golly.

[Panwearsjaune]

MW - Nibali gets a magical MN Peloton jersey...multi-coloured to suit him.. I think the next best King of the Mountains points rider wears the polka dot. Could be wrong?

[Panwearsjaune]

[DramaAlpaca]

Yes, the next one down in the KoM competition will wear the polka dot jersey on Nibali's behalf - so it is still with Joaquim Rodriguez.

I really, really hope this is being fought out on a level playing field. The fact that the Astana team is managed by the notorious Vinokourov worries me somewhat.

Poor Richie Porte . Such a bad day for him.

[DramaAlpaca]

Oh yes - forgot to say that I was very impressed with Romain Bardet today. Excellent ride from a young rider.

And I forgot to put the in my last post

[EndoplasmicReticulum]

I don't see anybody catching Nibali now.

[SeaShellsMyDogTrulySmells]

Yup, vino worries me and also his dominance. But I'll drop the skepticism ad I do really like him in interviews :)

The Frenchmen are doing v well - do you think they are the ones Brailsford meant when he thought he could win the TdF with a Frenchmen?

[EndoplasmicReticulum]

Yes they interviewed one of them Pinot I think and posed the question, he denied all knowledge but was smiling.

[ariadneoliver]

Thank goodness it's the weekend, having had to work late this week and out of range of the TdF I have spent the evenings catching up on recorded coverage.
I'm not surprised about Jonathan TL, his performance in the Tour of Britain was a tad surprising even at the time. People will always cheat but I'm hopeful that cycling is actually grappling with the issue.dopeology.org/incidents/
Unlike say tennis: tennishasasteroidproblem.blogspot.co.uk/
and after all the whole Jamaican anti doping agency resigned recently www.espn.co.uk/athletics/sport/story/259983.html

Nibali will win now unless he implodes.