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

Well we don;t know if it was French people doing the abusing tbf do we? The boring old cheating riders from yesteryear certainly provided the blue touch paper, but even they weren't all French. The fault lay particularly with France2 for giving them a platform.

Did Nibali get all this abuse last year?

The French press are whipping it up though. Pure sour grapes.

I hope not as well. It didnt spoil it for me but leaves a sour taste... Its not necessarily a French thing - the French are wonderful. It's that legacy of distrust - guess, from the Armstrong years.

But a fantastic race today.

Very exciting today, sat here drinking beer with friends in their apartment in Paris (responsible parents have stuck the kids in the bedroom with octonauts on loop :)) waiting for tomorrow. Going to go and watch them ride in through the bois de boulonge which is across the road then walk to the Champs Elysées to see what we can see. Have a babysitter till 10pm! Yay, excited.

Have a brill time Cumberlover. I love Paris, though now it's usually only seen on the last TdF day!!

Nbali shot up the mountain yesterday, so he must be doping, right?
Quintana has been faster thru the mountain stages than Froome, so more evidence of doping, right?

Contador won Vuelta last yr on a broken leg, so no way that can be legit.
I presume they all got as much criticism as Froome is getting now.

May as well spread the vitriol around.

Quintana is going to be trashing them all in 5 yrs time, isn't he?

YeOldeTrout - Yes! although it might be a lot sooner than that!

Well done to Pinot for winning the stage, and great effort from Quintana today. He's a future winner, for sure.

Great ride from Froome, all the way through the Tour. So pleased for him.

Gutted for froome with the booing, I'll make sure I have a word if I see anyone doing it tomorrow! There was no interview with froome on French tv, will try and get UK highlights.

ooh @gracieelvin shooting off the front at LaCourse, Gracie from Orica-AIS.

Crashes all over the place. About 30 left in the main peloton. Going to be equally tricky for the chaps later on.

Such miserable weather!

Dh told me he read on Twitter that for the men they were going to take their positions at the end of the first lap for the GC placings, to minimise sprint carnage. But I can't find that anywhere! Anyone else heard that today?

Great finish there from van der Breggen

The escapada takes it! That must have been horrendous to ride.

very impressed by the tough women on LaCourse. Seriously awful crashes.

It looks awful there. Summer in Paris is not supposed to be like this!

Hurrah for Anna van der Breggan!

Oh, I love Marianne Vos

And the reaction of the commentator!

That's Vos

She was doing some punditry for the women's Tour of Britain, and we saw her at one start, wandering around the team buses (I.e. small motor homes) chatting to people, dressed in tv-friendly nice top and jacket, and then cycling shorts, bib hanging down, cycling shoes on the bottom half. Made me

So les girls have to race, but it's a bit too tough for les boys....

I was surprised yesterday that they were all saying Froome had won the TDF because, I thought that if today was a real stage there would be the remotest possibility that he could have been beaten. I didn't realise that the time can be taken from the first lap! I saw Chris Boardman tweet it today AtiaoftheJulii.

Hope you're not too wet cucumber

Darling Sylvain, leading from the front.

How funny how hard the women raced & the men are just tootling in comparison.

Tootling now... but wait for the final lap when the glory of a stage win is in sight!