Tour de France 2014

my brother and I gave a yelp of delight when he jumped off the front.

relying on ilx for updates from about 13:10 on...

JENS <3 <3 <3

Pro-tip: the Cycling News Tour Tracker app is an amazing app to follow the tour live. And it's free!

Just gonna leave this here. Because I want to.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=243BJu0zB50

^nostalgia bomb, always loved the way it turns into Frere Jacques right at the end
my friends are at the top of the next climb, exciting!

cheers lbi! dl-ing now.

Incredible crowds today - it looked amazing when they went up Buttertubs

Cavendish you absolute plonker! Headbutts Gerands and falls himself. He head butted Veelers last year. What a tool.

Didn't see the replay yet, but pretty sure he's out of the Tour.

Disgracefully stupid maneuver.

Froome in 6th for a good car position.

Did Cavendish really need the room on his left? Looks like he had more room to his right than Gehrens had on his left.

Gary Fisher ‏@Gary_Fisher 2m
@Cycletart @PunkassCG Cocquard HOOKED Gerro's handlebar! Down goes Gerro, taking out the Aggressor CAV.

Bit depressing from a British perspective that the two biggest names are probably out already: Wiggins not even selected (again) and I'd be amazed if Cavendish hasn't broken his collarbone.

The way I saw it, nobody would have gone down if it wasn't for the guy on Gerrans' left (Europcar?) and if nobody had gone down Cav would have been in trouble for use of head, but nobody was going to catch Kittel anyway.

dislocated shoulder apparently

some suggestion that coquard hooked gerro's bars, otherwise they all might've got through unscathed

daniel friebe hilariously bitchy about cofidis' useless turn at the front during the finale on the cycling podcast: "milram-esque"!

Cavendish:headbutting::Suarez:Biting ?

millar was very good on the itv cycling podcast, have heard the friebe one yet

some suggestion that coquard hooked gerro's bars, otherwise they all might've got through unscathed

That may well be true, but the root cause was that Cav was boxed in and was trying to force his way out with his head

So, another breakaway for Jensie today to defend his polka dots?

oh I agree NBS, just saying. I mean the road was curving to the right, coquard was right to be following that line.

so they planned that route so Cav could win the yellow in Harrogate and then

JENSIE: KING OF THE MOORS

how good is the tinkoff-saxo bottle carrying vest!!

hostilities have OPENED

wow Nibali, didn't think he'd hang on there

that was an astonishing stage. felt like a one-day classic at times, or a world championship. astonishing to see the top gc racers attacking each other.

Yeah, that was ace.

Frickin' amazing finish, the whole stage was a treat.

Happy for Nibali

Think Nibali hated his jersey so much he had to win this so he can swap it for the yellow.

you'd have to say he's picked a good time to break that winless streak!

good to see kwiatkowski there, he looked like the form had deserted him at the dauphine. might get some extra resources at his disposal now cav's gone home.

Aw, Kennaugh won today in the tour of Austria.

Keep watching this over and over and over. https://vine.co/v/MPzJP5OEijY

Watched as far as Holme Moss, can't wait to watch the finale later. Looked in incredible again.

Tour of Yorkshire is coming next year, I hope they feature something like that stage.

I was pretty amused by Mike Tomolaris standing in front of a Ward's pub in turn in front of a steel mill somewhere in Attercliff. Two great defunct Sheffield institutions.

that nibs vine is killing me. reeeeejected!

Finally saw the end of the stage. Burngreave looks a lot like the the end of Amstel Gold.

I hadn't realised that Nibali got away so late, I guess I'd assumed he'd got away on the descent.
Truly great finish, I don't think I've seen so much GC action on a stage 2 before.

That bit where all the GC guys were out of their seats up the Cote de Jenkin Road must have been amazing to see.

Rode on part of the route this morning, up to the intermediate sprint in Epping:
http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r299/crunchydog_2006/sprintsmall_zps57d5e563.jpg

Hanging out near the 1k arch. Got whacked by some caravan tat. Excited! Saw the prologue in 2007 but have never been at a proper stage.

Epping looking lovely there - were there lots of ordinary cyclists about?

What's the tat like over here, any random stuff from French agricultural insurance companies and whatnot? I saw a picture of some Yorkshire Thé bags...

Not a *huge* amount of tat here. Haribo, thé, polka dot carrefour hats, TFL reflective safety bands (that's what got me), didn't see a lot of the rest.

Saw them fly past on the Lea Bridge Road about 15 mins ago, will upload a video later

Here it is. A real 'blink and you'll miss it' experience after hours of waiting:
http://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtube_gdata_player&v=IhjNPZJHh3M

Disappointed you made no effort to get hit by a cyclist. Couldn't you at least have unleashed a dog or something?

I tried spreading a rumour that the Tour organisers were giving out a prize to the person who could get the most loose animals in a selfie, but nobody seemed to believe me

Try harder next time oh wait. That was fun to see today, that area from Cambridge through Epping I've never been to so it was nice to get a view of the place.

Kind of bummed about La Course, not the race itself which was everything a women's race can be, attack attack attack right from the gun. Not that we got to see it. Despite it being on at a convenient time for Oz, it started too early and ended up being a minor side show. Not having a combined podium at the end diminished the race. La course should have been scheduled to finish just before the Men hit the champs so we didn't have to watch the parade from Evry.

How the last shot of the coverage should have looked

http://i62.tinypic.com/33zfh3q.jpg

Really thou, Lacourse should have started back in Harrogate or Continued on from the Giro Rosa, see stage 9 here

http://prowomenscycling.com/2014/07/14/video-stage-9-giro-rosa-2014/

All the other highlights are on that blog

As for the tour, great race, Nibali is a well deserved winner. I think he could have taken it over Contador. as for Froome, he may have had it in him to get to the podium but I Sky would have imploded all the same so I'm not sure if he'd have made it beyond third. Anyway, you win the race you get to race. Nibali didn't put a foot wrong all race, he was very canny and took time whenever he could, I'm not sure Contador could have made back enough after the Roubaix stage, it would have been close though.

Super stoked for what Pinot does next, I hope being the great French hope isn't too much for him. Being heated by Peraud was probably a good thing in that regard.

Also, second hand lolworthy moment. Greg Lemond asking Vino is he would ever support a women's team, only thing that would have made it more priceless would have been Astana BePink rolling into shot behind him.

Need to catchup on Greg LeMond's Eurosport work, it has apparently been highly amusing, a bit too ADD for TV. (Probably how I would be)

what i saw of lemondtv was just terrible. i'm actually quite sympathetic to him, but, man.

re nibali- love the way the guy races, great winner. thought any shit he got about last year's vuelta and worlds was bullshit. but then, i totally loved the way vino raced, and now they are linked. *shrug emoticon*

oh man not gonna lie I checked out after early on cuz I thought it was gonna be boring w/o real contention for the yellow

are there good stages to watch in retrospect?

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/gallery/2014/jul/27/tour-de-france-2014-cycling-pictures#/?picture=443148015&index=0

i like this gallery

baden cooke rumor-mongering that froome started the race with the busted wrist from the dauphine crash! lordy.

gbx how many stages did u see before checking out - should check:

- s2 (mini northern classic)
- s5 (cobbles)
- s10 (belles filles finish)
- s14 (rafa majka winking @ camera)
- s15 (can the break stay away??)
- s18 (hautacam finish)

Is there a Way TdF 2015 thread? Can't find one...

Haven't seen one

i made one Tour De France 2015

Cool, thanks!