Fernando Gaviria (Quick-Step) won the sprint finish of today’s stage 1. Sagan and Kittel were 2nd and 3rd. Damned near everyone finished with the same official time. Except Chris Froome, who crashed, and finished 51 seconds back.

His first stage in the Tour, he wins it, gets yellow, green and white.

How hard can it be?!

Maybe he should retire now while he’s on top?

Sadly I'm not in France right now. My wife and I were supposed to be, but circumstances caused us to have to postpone it this time. We're bummed, especially my wife, because the tour goes through her home town of Gouesnou in Brest during Stage 6. Her parents, friends, and family will of course be there.

Oh well, I'm sure the peloton will be in and out of the town in about ten seconds anyway. Still would've been awesome.

BH, my wife tells the story of the Tour passing through her village decades ago, probably in the days of Jacques Anquetil, early ‘60’s.

When the route was announced, the village commenced an enthusiastic refurbishing process. For nearly a year, every building was painted, cleaned, fresh flowers everywhere, roads and walkways swept and free of debris, etc.

On the day the Tour was passing through, nearly every inhabitant was out on the route. The Mayor was all suited up with his sash of authority, standing on the steps of the Hotel de Ville. The peleton went through in about ten seconds, slowed by the necessity of taking some turns, and disappeared over the hill to the next town.

Yup, that's about what I imagined. And yes, they've been preparing of sorts ever since they knew of this year's route. I don't know if they went to the extent that you described, but the whole town has been excited and talking about it for a year. Hehe. Still wish we were there though.

Notably, Tejay Van Garderen (USA), nominally Richie Porte’s lieutenant on the BMC team, finished 51 seconds up on Porte. Early days, but could lead to an interesting situation for BMC.

Peter Sagan won the sprint finish of today’s stage 2 race to capture the green jersey. And the yellow, too. Sagan is not only a good sprinter, he’s a much better all-around rider than the other sprinters.

Most of the GC contenders finished with the same time.

ETA: “Kittel had a flat tire which left him out of contention for the final sprint and he finished the day in 162 place over four minutes down.“

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Pipe Smoker,

BMC won the third stage team time trial today. Sky was second, 4 seconds back. And Quick-Step was third, 7 seconds back. Quick-Step’s good showing was a surprise for me, as Quick-Step is usually a sprinter’s team, not expected to post good time trial results.

quote:

Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:
Sadly I'm not in France right now.

Oh well, I'm sure the peloton will be in and out of the town in about ten seconds anyway. Still would've been awesome.

BH, my wife, kids and I were in southern France during the 2005 TdF. The race came into Pau, had a rest day and then left Pau. I was able to see the tour for three days without much travel. I had my two oldest kids in little yellow TdF jerseys too (it Monopoly money anyway, right?).

Watching the peleton is pretty cool, but they're gone in 5 seconds and they aren't even pedaling hard. The fun part was chasing riders around on the rest day and checking out the mechanic trucks, interviews etc.

Later that week we drove part of the route where they climbed for 5-10km (near Alp du Huez?). The car struggled to get up the hill. I couldn't imagine doing it on a bike!

You'll have a chance to return eventually. It's pretty fun.

Ten years ago we watched the tour to check out the scenery and point out places we wanted to visit on our next trip. Now I watch to drool over the bikes.

quote:

Originally posted by Russ59:

quote:

Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:
Sadly I'm not in France right now.

Oh well, I'm sure the peloton will be in and out of the town in about ten seconds anyway. Still would've been awesome.

BH, my wife, kids and I were in southern France during the 2005 TdF. The race came into Pau, had a rest day and then left Pau. I was able to see the tour for three days without much travel. I had my two oldest kids in little yellow TdF jerseys too (it Monopoly money anyway, right?).

Watching the peleton is pretty cool, but they're gone in 5 seconds and they aren't even pedaling hard. The fun part was chasing riders around on the rest day and checking out the mechanic trucks, interviews etc.

Later that week we drove part of the route where they climbed for 5-10km (near Alp du Huez?). The car struggled to get up the hill. I couldn't imagine doing it on a bike!

You'll have a chance to return eventually. It's pretty fun.

Ten years ago we watched the tour to check out the scenery and point out places we wanted to visit on our next trip. Now I watch to drool over the bikes.

I got to see the 2010 Tour de France in Paris on the Champs-Élysées with my wife (then girlfriend who at the time I had only been dating for about 8 months). It was my first trip to France to visit her. She knew I loved cycling so we planned on seeing the finish in Paris. It was an awesome experience. Her parents actually questioned whether I was only visiting her just so I could see the Tour. Haha. I'm happy to say I proved them wrong by eventually marrying her.

Anyway, it was a great tour. It was also the last year Lance Armstrong raced the Tour and despite everything, it was cool to see him race that last final time in Paris. I remember Cavendish winning the sprint on the Champs-Élysées finish as well. We were lucky in that the place we chose to watch the race was exactly right next to where they set up the stage at the end for giving out the Jerseys and the awards. Such a great memory. We also had the big screen right in front of us the whole time so could see every bit of the race. I had a blast. I'll get to see again one day I have no doubt, although my wife did tell me that she would never again sit on the Champs-Élysées for ten hours, at least not without an adequate supply of wine and champagne.

quote:

Originally posted by Pipe Smoker:
BMC won the third stage team time trial today. Sky was second, 4 seconds back. And Quick-Step was third, 7 seconds back. Quick-Step’s good showing was a surprise for me, as Quick-Step is usually a sprinter’s team, not expected to post good time trial results.

Quick-Step are for sure here this year for sprint wins with Gaviria, but I think they went hard today for a chance to put Gilbert or Jungels into the Yellow Jersey. Also don't forget that the team has won three UCI Team Time Trial World Championships since the event was brought back to the world's calendar. They have some huge engines on that team!

quote:

Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:
....although my wife did tell me that she would never again sit on the Champs-Élysées for ten hours, at least not without an adequate supply of wine and champagne.

Yes, waiting for hours for a glimpse of the riders is not for the faint of heart. Even the swag wagon and vendors/carnival was tiring after a while. Enough already! Where are the riders!?

quote:

Originally posted by Russ59:

quote:

Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:
....although my wife did tell me that she would never again sit on the Champs-Élysées for ten hours, at least not without an adequate supply of wine and champagne.

Yes, waiting for hours for a glimpse of the riders is not for the faint of heart. Even the swag wagon and vendors/carnival was tiring after a while. Enough already! Where are the riders!?

At least on the Champs-Élysées, you are able to practically see the whole race on the monitor as well as see the riders make 10 laps or so, so you get to see quite a bit. Not to mention we were also there for the awards ceremony at the end.

Near the summit of a Hors Category climb they don’t go by so fast.

I think we have witnessed 8 or 9 Tour stages over the years. The most memorable one was a team time trial at Futuroscope when Greg LeMond was running, 1990, I believe. We saw a stage at Calais in 1994 and another stage finish at Futuroscope when we were in France all summer. I remember that one because when it was over, we went to the hotel there and I ordered thé glacé, which was unknown. I ordered thé chaud avec de la glace. They brought that, although in bewilderment. “Américain fous!”

I’ll say one thing. Those guys sure are fast!

6 stages done. Tomorrow's stage is the longest at 143 miles. Vivid scenery.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/tou...nce/stage-6/results/

I think these guys are the most fit group of athletes on the planet.

Even with whatever PEDs they are on.

Quick-Step, historically a sprinter’s team, continues to surprise. After an excellent third-place finish in the team time trial, their man Julian Alaphulilippe won a rugged Alpine stage today – 1’ 34” ahead of the 2nd finisher.

Greg Van Avermaet (BMC) grabbed the yellow jersey with his 4th-place finish. Most of the other GC contenders, including Chris Froome, finished 3’ 23” behind Alaphulilippe.

Today’s stage 11, in the Alps: Geraint Thomas (Sky) had an excellent result, moving up one place to get the yellow jersey. Chris Froome (Sky) moved up four places, and now is second in the GC competition. Sky is looking strong.

Big GC losers: Valverde and Fuglsang, each losing eight places. And Yates lost nine places.

In the green jersey competition, Sagan has a strong lead with 339 points. New guy Gaviria is second with 218 points. Greipel is having a bad year with 106 points. Mark Cavendish is out of the Tour after finishing outside the stage's time limit. Snif – I liked Cav. Kittel was over the limit too. Mountain stages are tough for the pure sprinters.