The MN peloton heading for the Alps and then Paris. The TdF thread. Hopefully we're not on drugs. Actually, do nicotine and alcohol get you banned? In which case I'm buggered...

[ariadneoliver]

Starting tomorrow in Utrecht

The stages

1 Individual time trial Saturday, July 4th Utrecht / Utrecht 13.8 km

2 On-line Sunday, July 5th Utrecht / Zélande 166 km

3 On-line Monday, July 6th Anvers / Huy 159.5 km

4 Hilly Tuesday, July 7th Seraing / Cambrai 223.5 km

5 On-line Wednesday, July 8th Arras Communauté Urbaine / Amiens Métropole 189.5 km

6 On-line Thursday, July 9th Abbeville / Le Havre 191.5 km

7 On-line Friday, July 10th Livarot / Fougères 190.5 km

8 On-line Saturday, July 11th Rennes / Mûr-de-Bretagne 181.5 km

9 Team time trial Sunday, July 12th Vannes / Plumelec 28 km

• Rest day	Monday, July 13th	Pau		
  

10 Mountain Tuesday, July 14th Tarbes / La Pierre-Saint-Martin 167 km

11 Mountain Wednesday, July 15th Pau / Cauterets - Vallée de Saint-Savin 188 km

12 Mountain Thursday, July 16th Lannemezan / Plateau de Beille 195 km

13 Hilly Friday, July 17th Muret / Rodez 198.5 km

14 Hilly Saturday, July 18th Rodez / Mende 178.5 km

15 Hilly Sunday, July 19th Mende / Valence 183 km

16 Hilly Monday, July 20th Bourg-de-Péage / Gap 201 km

• Rest day	Tuesday, July 21st	Gap		
  

17 Mountain Wednesday, July 22nd Digne-les-Bains / Pra Loup 161 km

18 Mountain Thursday, July 23rd Gap / Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne 186.5 km

19 Mountain Friday, July 24th Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne / La Toussuire - Les Sybelles 138 km

20 Mountain Saturday, July 25th Modane Valfréjus / Alpe d’Huez 110.5 km

21 On-line Sunday, July 26th Sèvres - Grand Paris Seine Ouest / Paris Champs-Élysées 109.5 km

www.letour.com/le-tour/2015/us/overall-route.html

Teams

www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/cycling/tour-de-france/11693097/Tour-de-France-2015-teams-and-riders.html

Hope you've all got bottles and musettes filled for the long haul!
Allez MN Peloton

It's a bit harsh to blame team sky for winning! I don't think it has been boring at all though, so many crashes! And the TDF motorbike that took out Fuglsang yesterday.

only read about Fulsang this morning, and that Mark Renshaw is out with a mygraine.

I wouldn't be 'blaming' Sky for winning - it's obviously one very effective way of winning a grand tour, which is the task in hand. It will become known as the "3min 10sec" Tour. It's just a bit too much like a footie team scoring in the first 10 mins and then 'parking the bus' in front of goal. And of course it's up to other teams/riders to break that 'sitting on the front' thing down and mess with their heads, but non-one seems up for it. Hence a wish to see Quintana/Valve/Bertie or anyone else coming up with a plan, cunning or otherwise, to mix it up a bit.
Scenery gorge as ever.

Hello all. Mr Rosie and I are at home watching, and usually take the final week of the tour as annual leave and go out there for a couple of stages. We were in Carcassonne last year ... But for various reasons can't be away from home this year.

Mr Rosie is moaning it's a bit boring as no one is "up for it" ... But goodness it's beautiful. And the actual stages (if you see them as a race within a race) have been great. Very exciting.

Watching every night as DP is a cyclist :)

I like the Ned & Chris TdF facts as well :)

Ah well today's stage has set it up a bit more interestingly (is that a word?) for tomorrow. They must have read my post!
Is 2 and a half minutes too much for Quintana to make up?

Well that shuffled things up and made it more interestingly.. didn't it Endo? It was quite surprising to see Sky drop off so quickly, but chapeau to Poels for getting dropped, then digging in, catching up and holding the pace for Froomey.
Quintana time? I'd think it'll be a role reversal - Froomey will be tracking Quintana and ensuring he doesn't stretch out. The podium places will be a bare-fist fight!

Nibali - what can one say? The Shark knew exactly what was happening. Reminds me of Lady Macbeth, of Macbeth:
"Would not play false,
yet wouldst wrongly win."

Very true, Pan!

Echoes of Contador attacking one of the Schleck brothers (on Mont Ventoux?) when they had a chain come off.

I was thinking of that SDTG - and when Wiggo held up the race when Cadel E had a puncture. Classy Nibali wasn't.

The treatment that Froome is getting from the spectators is disgraceful!

So, Nibali and Quintana did super well today - will they get spat at and accused of doping now?

Race on!

oh maybe not. Got a bit excited there. Excusez-moi.

Allez Froomy!

(Although I have a soft-spot for Quintana)

So glad they are making a race of it...

Aaah! Don't lose it now sky!

Goodness its exciting. We were on the Alpe D'Huez in the early 2000s and the atmosphere was amazing...

Allez Froomy!

The flatter bit at the top could be CF's saving.

Come on Froomey!!

Are people booing him?!

Crikey it's a jungle up there ...

Some bastards are booing Froome.

Bastards.

Portes gone, well done Porte and Wouter Pool (sp)

Poel bloody Autocorrect

Really, really tough.

Porte amazing.

If I were Froome - after this abuse - I might not want to do it again.

Sacre Bleu!

Goodness that could have gone another way! Well done Froome, I hope he didn't hear the boos Red

The supporters are a bloody disgrace. The French should be ashamed.