Tour de France 2014

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.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BsBYdgJCMAABSP8.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/jCTkR5u.jpg

i wonder if I could do the kittel hair

Finally getting a chance to see some more live coverage here. That's...crappy weather.

they've removed two sections of cobbles from the race due to the weather, hope no one gets seriously hurt today :/

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!