[ritchiebaby]

It's obvious to me that Marcel Kittel has a nose (tenuous link here) for a stage win. Easily the fastest man in the acceleration stakes, he eased to a comfortable win in Bergerac over John Degenkolb and Dylan Groenewegen. Alexander Kristoff was 5th, but Andre Greipel could only manage 12th. Greipel, Kittel and Kristoff were the first of the peleton through the intermediate sprint to score some extra points, way behind the 2 breakaway riders.

Apart from the fact that Chris Froome won his 50th Yellow Jersey, virtually nothing happened in that race and probably won't either in tomorrow's stage from Eymet to t'town of t'Pau. This features 1 intermediate sprint and 1 Category 4 climb (so small that it only lasts 1.2 km at 4.2%). Another boring day ahead with the only excitement coming from the sprinters - please prove me wrong someone, anyone.

The only consolation is that we're almost into the Pyrenees. Roll on Thursday!

[ritchiebaby]

I forgot to mention yesterday that Rafal Majka, one of my favourite riders, became another casualty of Stage 9, never making the start line of Stage 10.

[ritchiebaby]

A case of deja vu today although it was so close to being different. Maciej Bodnar was part of a 3 man breakaway and, when the chasing peleton got within half a minute, he took off on his own and held off the peloton until the last 250m. When the sprinters took over, there was only one outcome. Marcel Kittel cruised to yet another victory and surely ownership of the Green Jersey all the way to Paris (barring pestilence and famine!). Dylan Groenewegen was 2nd and Edvald Boasson Hagen 3rd. Britons Dan McLay and Ben Swift were 5th and 9th. Kittel has a lead of 133 points over Michael Matthews, who finished 4th today.

All credit to Bodnar, though. He showed what can be done if you have the courage. Another couple of willing workers could have done wonders.

For such an innocuous looking stage, there were a few crashes involving Romain Bardet, Jacob Fuglsang and Alberto Contador plus Dario Cataldo, who was forced to withdraw.

Tomorrow has the chance to be another day of carnage in the mountains. The 214.5km stage from Pau to Payregudes has 6 categorised climbs (4,2,1,H,1,2) and the obligatory intermediate sprint, although as the sprint comes after the first mild climb, it could still feature all of the sprinters before they drift off the back. At the finish, though, it'll all be down (should it not be up?) to the climbers. As good as Chris Froome is, a real combined attack with purpose is the best chance we have of a real contest. The stage should be perfect for Bardet and Aru. Any of you who have seen Tomorrow Never Dies will recognise the finish, especially from the helicopter shots.

[themaclad]

Interesting stage hadn't realised Team Sky wanted to check out caravans on the way round, yellow with Aru. Froome struggling at the end

[ritchiebaby]

A much more interesting day out today, wirh a large breakaway group full of sprinters, intent on battling for intermediate sprint points, and for the first time, Steve Cummings. Michael Matthews was the man in charge, only just holding off Marcel Kittel on the line, followed by Thomas De Gendt.

On the following climb, the sprinters gradually fell behind and by the time the riders reached the only HC climb, both the breakaway and the peloton started to fall apart. First Thomas De Gendt and then Steve Cummings made decisive moves with Cummings on his own over the summit. Thanks to Team Sky's relentless pursuit, he was eventually overhauled with 8km to go. The order stayed the same for most of the remaining distance with Chris Froome being delivered at the front with 500m to ride. But for the first time, we saw a xxxx in the armour of Chris Froome, who had nothing left to give despite a perfect performance from his team.

The strongest man turned out to be Romain Bardet who won by 2 seconds from Rigoberto Uran and Fabio Aru with Mikal Landa and Louis Mentjes the closest of the rest. Chris Frroome finished 22 seconds behind, leading to a Top 4 reshuffle. Fabio Aru now leads by 6 seconds from Chris Froome, with Romain Bardet 3rd 25 seconds behind and Rigoberto Uran 4th 35 seconds behind. Thankfully for the whole Tour, we now have a race.

The second day in the Pyrenees brings a short mountain stage, 101km from Saint Giron to Foix. It still includes 3 Category 1 climbs and an early intermediate sprint. The final climb has sections of 18% and 16%, followed by a 27km downhill dash. Normally on a finish like this, I'd be backing Romain Bardet (especially on Bastille Day) and Chris Froome, but after today's battle, powers of recovery will be vital. Based on his powers of recovery and his commitment, I'd back Dan Martin for this one, but it's up for grabs for anyone.

Oh dear, I seem to have offended the Word Police! You can't rewrite the English language because some ignoramus might be offended at the perfectly normal use of a perfectly normal word in a perfectly normal context. Good job I have a sense of humour.

[Lord Snooty]

Crazy.

The sensors, not the cycling.

[St Charles Owl]

Bizzare why the word "ch1nk" would be censored!!!

[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

So who was this Chinese gentleman, and why was he wearing Chris Froome's armour in the first place?

[ritchiebaby]

Aru Manchu is the chief suspect.

[ritchiebaby]

Yet another exciting day on the road and another rider putting the cat among the pigeons. After delivering Chris Froome in pole position yesterday and then overtaking him with a strong finish, Mikel Landa gave another strong performance to be at the forefront again. He broke away with Albert Contador and the pair were joined by Warren Barguil, who was involved in most moves to dominate the KOTM jersey, and Nairo Quintana to keep their advantage all the way to the line. After being involved in breakaways right from the start, Frenchman Barguil won the sprint from Quintana, Contador and Landa for a home win on Bastille Day. Simon Yates led Dan Yates home 1m 39s later with the Top 4 in a group a further 9 seconds behind.

With no change in the leaders, today's big winner was Mikel Landa who now lies in 5th place only 1m 9s behind Fabio Aru. Both Quintana 2m 7s down and Contador at 5m 22s fought their way into the Top Ten. I'm intrigued that we could be seeing a Wiggins/Froome scenario where the No1 could  be in danger of being challenged by his domestique.

There were a further 2 withdrawals today - Jacob Fuglsang, who has ridden with a fractured wrist on 2 days, and Artur Vichot of FDJ, who have now lost over half their team, a Tour to be forgotten.

We return to a more sedate day tomorrow, with the Tour heading for the Massif Central with a stage starting in Blagnac and ending in Rodez, featuring an early sprint and 2 Category 3 climbs before an apparently innocuous uncategorised climb and a downhill stretch and a short sharp uphill sprint finish. This is now becoming very difficult to predict, whith so many riders involved in different races within each stage.  Team Sky can now ride in 2 ways - today's where they can attack from the front or as before when they dominate the front of the peleton. My rider for tomorrow would be Michael Matthews, who must attack to have any chance of challenging for the Green Jersey IF he can survive the climbs, otherwise Greg Van Armaret.