Tour de France 2013

[Withnail]

Cavendish has a wee bit of bother, possibly related to the incident above, possibly in revenge for Agincourt or somesuch; long memories have the French - almost, but probably not quite, as long as the Anglais.

Froome vrooms once more, causing consternation for the eventual winner of the stage, and now has ± (and not much minus) three and a half minutes on the rest of the GC contenders.

Porte was a bit quick too...

 

[Withnail]

Manx Missile misfires, losing out to Kittel by half a wheel - good god that Kittel is an absolute beast!

Look at the size of him! Imagine the size of his balls!

Sagan, tucked in behind Kittel, looks a certainty for the Green Jersey - not a Tour that Cav will look back on with much fondness one suspects.

 

[Withnail]

Better day for the Manxman...

I have a sneaking suspicion he enjoyed that.

 

[Withnail]

In other news...

Froome loses over a minute in the GC while his team falls apart around him (Boasson Hagan saying goodbye to both Tour and a pain free shoulder after yesterday's monster crash) - not looking quite as rosy now for Team Sky.

As an indication of what one bad day can do to you - Valverde goes from 2nd to 16th, and 12 minutes to make up, due to 1 x puncture + 1 x cruel crosswind.

No Wiggo-style processional for Froome, then. He will require much graft and much luck.

To the hills!

 

[monkey bidness]

Better day for the Manxman...

I have a sneaking suspicion he enjoyed that.

Though I doubt that his bandy-legged pedalling style will catch on... And as for cycling no hands, whatever will his mum think!

 

[Withnail]

Great day of racing today - missed it all of course due to work but even the highlights were exciting.

You have to feel for Julien Simon - how he wanted it! How close he came to it! How he lost it!

Favourite face of the day was from Kadri, trying to bridge the gap to Simon - it was a FACE of PAIN.

On the Sky side of things, Geraint Thomas looked like he was properly back in the saddle, as 'twere, which with two riders out and a mahoosive last week in the offing is some comfort no doubt to Froome.

Ventoux tomorrow - beastly beasting.

 

[monkey bidness]

FROOME! He the man!

 

[monkey bidness]

FROOME! He the man!

Oh ,the shame. I cannot believe I wrote that!

I can only offer the excuse that I may have been suffering from 'trop du soleil au Mont Ventoux' and , perhaps, a soupçon too much of an excellent red wine - " Appelation LIDL-sur-Trouie Controllé"

By god, he was good, though!

 

[Withnail]

The way he just dropped Quintana was indeed rather awesome - i wish i'd been able to watch it live.

 

[monkey bidness]

Inscrutable. Quintana & Yoda. Separated at birth?

 

[monkey bidness]

Christ almighty!
I have been deliberately avoiding any sports related news during the day so that I can watch the ITV4 summary at 7pm each race-day with no foreknowledge of the results, thus heightening my pleasure when either Cavendish or Froome blow away the rest of the field. Then just seconds ago I almost choked on my G&T as I suddenly realised that the newsreader, in the background, on our kitchen/diner telly was about to bugger up my evening by announcing today's results. Only my Ninja swift reactions saved the day, as I threw myself across the room to secure the remote and, with a deft backhanded slash, silenced the TV. Diasater averted.

...now where did I put that bottle of wine?

 

[Gramaisc]

Christ almighty!
I have been deliberately avoiding any sports related news during the day so that I can watch the ITV4 summary at 7pm each race-day with no foreknowledge of the results, thus heightening my pleasure when either Cavendish or Froome blow away the rest of the field. Then just seconds ago I almost choked on my G&T as I suddenly realised that the newsreader, in the background, on our kitchen/diner telly was about to bugger up my evening by announcing today's results. Only my Ninja swift reactions saved the day, as I threw myself across the room to secure the remote and, with a deft backhanded slash, silenced the TV. Diasater averted.

...now where did I put that bottle of wine?

 

[monkey bidness]

Thank you Gramaisc. A brilliant and apposite diversion. I will have to watch the rest of it after 8 o'clock. Mind you the middle bit did seem to have turned into a recruiting film for UKIP! Plausible nonsense!
Gotta go. The Race awaits..

 

[Withnail]

Inscrutable. Quintana & Yoda. Separated at birth?

My favourite 'picture' of the tour so far was when Quintana picked up his winnings for the highest climb of the race in Ax 3 Domaines - even on the podium he was shorter than one of the ladies flanking him.

 

[Withnail]

Finally found the actual picture -

Yes, he's standing on a podium.

TBF the lady on the right was wearing some eye-wateringly high heels - but then Quintana does have on a hat...

 

[Withnail]

Another extraordinary performance from Froome the Zoom gives him over 4 1/2 mins on his nearest rival - Contador's face was a picture as Froome took the stage win - surely he has it in the bag?

Tomorrow is the one to sort the wheat from the chaff, the sheep from the goats, the boys from the (get on with it)...

(I drove up the Alpe-d'Huez road once - it is an absolute beast)

 

[Gramaisc]

Each mountain climb is ranked according to difficulty from four to one - but the most punishing are given the label "hors categorie", or beyond categorisation. Tour legend has it that the numbers originally referred to the gear that a car would have to be in to go up it. HC climbs, it is said, were either impassable by car or would even have to be tackled in reverse gear. Nice story, if true.

 

[Withnail]

HC climbs, it is said, were either impassable by car or would even have to be tackled in reverse gear. Nice story, if true.

I 'tackled' it in a rather clapped out van - verily i swear the vehicle gave out a tangible sigh (if i may be permitted a synaesthetic episode) of relief after the last 'false' crest.

Observe it in all its glory/torture here -

 

[Withnail]

9-man breakaway have just started the Alpe-d'Huez climb 1 - Peloton 7 and a bit mins behind.

The real pain begins...

 

[Withnail]

Absolutely amazing.

Van Garderen would surely have held on if he hadn't had a mechanical. Riblon was immense to come back at him though, and had a most comical fall into a ditch (during one of itv4's interminable, ill-timed ad breaks ) - what more fitting way to end it than a French winner for such a stage?

Froome looked f**ked, as did pretty much everyone (except Yoda/Quintana) - you could see the pain! Great days racing.