Tour de France

Well, that was quite a day!

We're only in the early days, when the GC contenders usually all finish in the same time and leave it to the sprinters to have their day. But not so for at least two riders.

Richie Porte looks to be pretty much out of it, at 1min 45 behind, and Contador (already suffering from a bad fall yesterday) had another fall today and lost 48 seconds.

Froome, Valverde, Rolland, Baguil, Bardet, Rodriquez, Aru, Quintana, van Garderen......all on the same time.

Another first Yellow Jersey winner, the present World Champion, Peter Sagan. Stage was specially designed for him, although he nearly madde a mess of it, but was able to recover just in time. Another sprint day tomorrow so perhaps Cav can add another stage win to his total.

Haven't heard the commentators mention Rodriquez at all yet. He must be keeping his head down so that no-one will notice him till it's too late!!

Peter Sagan said that he didn't even realise he'd won till later.....he thought that there were still a couple of riders out front. 

Wasn't his DS talking to him??

Wow, what a race already. Always a shame to see GC contenders suffering in theses early stages.

Well I have called the first two stages, so wife is challenging me every day now. Tomorrow will be very open, it would be great for Cav to equal Hinault's stage wins, but I will go with Kittel for tomorrow. He sat up today and is either tired, or saving himself for tomorrow.

I agree with Ian about the commentary - I hadn't paid attention and didn't realise it had changed , but realised it just wasn't as good. Maybe it will get better as the race goes on.

ITV4 still do a wonderful job though.

A 'rolling' stage today, with only one Cat 4 climb near the start.

There will certainly be a break-away, but will it stay away this time? And how much time will they spend looking over their shoulders, because it is a sprinter's finish and their teams will be moving them up towards the end.

I'll go for Cav in this one. Although, I don't think that, even though he might equal Hinault in terms of number of stage wins, his won't be of anything like the quality of Hinault's.

My choice,  Contador , is having great difficulty in not falling off his bike.

Once he gets to the mountains he should make up some of that lost time.

Good race though.

K

It seemed that yesterday's breakaway wouldn't be caught. I wonder if they would have managed to keep away if they hadn't fragmented 

Just found the live EuroSport feed with no commentary at all, just the sound from the rolling camera. Coversations, crowd etc.

It's just like rolling along with them, outstanding.

They must get seriously sick of the continuous helicopter noise though, I am

I'll go for Cav in this one. Although, I don't think that, even though he might equal Hinault in terms of number of stage wins, his won't be of anything like the quality of Hinault's.

Ian, Really glad you called it today.

Stage wins are stage wins, and they are all relative.
I would not be so bold as to diminish Mark Cavendish's achievement.

Chapeau !