The Official 101st Tour de France, thread.

[Seagull over Canaryland]

They would be very welcome to do so as I shall - hopefully - be long gone. However they will probably get towed by the bomb squad and have a controlled explosion conducted on their boot lid!

Yeah right, I'm sure the EOD have much better things to do than enforce parking in Saffron Walden - unless it has suddenly become a hotbed of terrorism. This is sleepy rural Suffolk, not Afghanistan or Syria. An assistant Commissaire might just stand by the offending vehicle, wave a warning pendant and blow his whistle for 30 seconds while the peloton ride past....... end of.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Yeah right, I'm sure the EOD have much better things to do than enforce parking in Saffron Walden - unless it has suddenly become a hotbed of terrorism. This is sleepy rural Suffolk, not Afghanistan or Syria. An assistant Commissaire might just stand by the offending vehicle, wave a warning pendant and blow his whistle for 30 seconds while the peloton ride past....... end of.

Saffron Walden is in Essex. Well ream, innit.

 

[Stat Brother]

Anyway,

I'm looking forward to Matt Rendall being back on our screens.
Clearly a man far to intelligent for his own good, and way too much of a loose cannon to have on roving reporter duties.

He's usually very good value.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Anyway,

I'm looking forward to Matt Rendall being back on our screens.
Clearly a man far to intelligent for his own good, and way too much of a loose cannon to have on roving reporter duties.

He's usually very good value.

Sure is. Gary Imlach too. And Ned Boulting.

 

[Dr Q]

Really looking forward to this tomorrow. Will walk to the bottom of the lane and then across a field, and there will be one of the worlds greatest sporting events passing by.
Heartened by the way the local communities are celebrating Le Tour. Everywhere is yellow, bunting, flags, yellow painted bikes, even a 20ft Eiffel Tower in the local village. Very proud to live in Yorkshire.

 

[franks brother]

wonder how many will come a cropper on our poorly maintained roads?

 

[Thunder Bolt]

wonder how many will come a cropper on our poorly maintained roads?

 

[vegster]

A huge ramp from 5Live this morning, " le Grand Depart " mentions running at an unprecedented 18.6 per hour. I'm sure they are on some kind of bonus, this has caught Bernie Eccelstone cold as there has only been a grudging couple of mentions for the British GP today....Quick Bernie, get your hand in your pocket.

 

[DTES]

So Contador's Saxo Tinkoff team have a jersey this year that is.... yellow. How does that work?

 

[Gazwag]

Why is the TV feed so crap just checked itv is as bad as eurosport

 

[1066familyman]

Good to see Rudy's mate Nicolas Edet in the break. He'll be wearing polka dot at the end of the day then. Great break intent from Cofidis right from the off, and Edet might be trying to go for that KOM jersey to match the one he got to keep from last year's Vuelta.

 

[Hamilton]

Entering into the fray and putting my neck on the line. Cav will win this stage. He looks so relaxed.

 

[wakeytom]

Wi' a stick o' rhubarb!

Unfortunately they are not in Rhubarb country otherwise I would probably have "gone home" to watch, got to admit though love North Yorks, spent many a time up there when living in West Yorks and it looks as lovely as ever whilst watching this stage so far, great crowds as well

 

[1066familyman]

Entering into the fray and putting my neck on the line. Cav will win this stage. He looks so relaxed.

Kittel deals with bumps much better nowadays it seems, but the narrow roads might scare him today. Probably all depend whos sprint train copes the best with the rolling finale. I hope for no crashes and Cav right in the mix and able to pull off the win today, but I've gone for e/w bets on Demare @ 14's & Kristoff @ 25's.

 

[Pantani]

Wow, that new Taxo Sinkoff kit is absolutely disgusting. Surely they realise that fluro colours are a purely Italian thing.

On to predictions. For the GC:

1. Contador
2. Froome
3. Nibali

Pretty wild, out there prediction, I know. These guys are the real quality of the field though and the other podium contenders have all been prone to a really bad day at some point in a three week tour.

For green, again there really isn't a prediction to make, Sagan will obviously win it easily.

King of the Mountains is always really tough to predict, I think 1066 has the correct team but the wrong rider, Daniel Navarro is my pick.

For today, Kittel, easily. Cav just cannot beat him in a straight up sprint these days. Hope to be proven wrong though.

 

[1066familyman]

Wow, that new Taxo Sinkoff kit is absolutely disgusting. Surely they realise that fluro colours are a purely Italian thing.

On to predictions. For the GC:

1. Contador
2. Froome
3. Nibali

Pretty wild, out there prediction, I know. These guys are the real quality of the field though and the other podium contenders have all been prone to a really bad day at some point in a three week tour.

For green, again there really isn't a prediction to make, Sagan will obviously win it easily.

King of the Mountains is always really tough to predict, I think 1066 has the correct team but the wrong rider, Daniel Navarro is my pick.

For today, Kittel, easily. Cav just cannot beat him in a straight up sprint these days. Hope to be proven wrong though.

I like your KOM tip. I do predict a Cofidis v Europcar battle for it, along with a most visible days in the break battle too. I fancy Navarro to be concentrating on trying to bag them WT points for GC Top Ten instead. He's team leader with Taaramae as back up. The Eurpocar trio of Rolland, Cyril Gautier & Tommy V should be well up for putting one of them up for KOM jersey. My dream scenario of course is a repeat of the epic Tommy V vs Kessiakoff battle from a couple of years ago but this time between Molard or Edet v Gautier.

I tend to agree on your GC prediction. I think Contador will take it from Froome, but whether Nibs can get enough form back over the three weeks to take the third podium spot I'm not too sure.

 

[Hamilton]

Kittel deals with bumps much better nowadays it seems, but the narrow roads might scare him today. Probably all depend whos sprint train copes the best with the rolling finale. I hope for no crashes and Cav right in the mix and able to pull off the win today, but I've gone for e/w bets on Demare @ 14's & Kristoff @ 25's.

Yep. I also like the fact that Cav didn't race last week. I think that was a good move. Will REnshaw do a good lead out? I'd imagine they've been working that one all week (month/year).

 

[Sussax]

very fascinating stuff, about dry-stone walls.

 

[wakeytom]

ITV are very frustrating here, the way they are talking about the area is not helping with the stereotypical view of Yorkshire folk

 

[Dr. Notthenineo'clocknews]

Yeah but have they paid their "road tax" ?