CYCLING

[Macca 16,965]

Oh good lord what a finish!! OGE bus no less! Crashes galore, the best sprinters knocked out, everyone given the same time. Amazing start to 3 weeks racing.

It was high drama wasn't it? I'll post the stage 2 profile and route later on but tonight's stage involves a couple of category 3 climbs and a category 2 climb. A number of the sprinters could lose touch with the peloton.

Not sure how others see things, but I see an averall podium finish to Cadel as quite an achievement. He's now 36 years old and doesn't have the team to support him that Froome has.

Anyway ... for a summary of last nights stage go to this site.

[Cards13 9,117]

It was high drama wasn't it? I'll post the stage 2 profile and route later on but tonight's stage involves a couple of category 3 climbs and a category 2 climb. A number of the sprinters could lose touch with the peloton.

Not sure how others see things, but I see an averall podium finish to Cadel as quite an achievement. He's now 36 years old and doesn't have the team to support him that Froome has.

Anyway ... for a summary of last nights stage go to this site.

A few of the sprinters will struggle if they are sore after yesterdays crashes, Sagan, Cav in particular.

Agree it would be amazing, in fact I think one of BMC will finish on podium and it will be a young guy not the elder statesman. Love what Cadel has achieved but just not sure that big diesel can grind it out of 3 weeks as consistantly as it used to. I think Froome and Sky will be doing everything they can to break Cadel (and others) as early as possible.

Interested on your thoughts on Andy Schleck? Have not really heard much about him in the build up but he must still be a threat.

[Macca 16,965]

A few of the sprinters will struggle if they are sore after yesterdays crashes, Sagan, Cav in particular.

Agree it would be amazing, in fact I think one of BMC will finish on podium and it will be a young guy not the elder statesman. Love what Cadel has achieved but just not sure that big diesel can grind it out of 3 weeks as consistantly as it used to. I think Froome and Sky will be doing everything they can to break Cadel (and others) as early as possible.

Interested on your thoughts on Andy Schleck? Have not really heard much about him in the build up but he must still be a threat.

Didn't he fracture his pelvis last year? That's gotta impact your career you'd reckon (in such a gruelling sport)

... here's an interesting article on him ... Andy Schleck still on comeback trail at the Tour de France

The bloke that I'm intrigued about is Contador. The bookies have him as firm 2nd favourite but I'm not sure about the strength of his team.

I'm reminded that all sorts of things can happen during the Tour. Injuries occur and as we found out last night, crashes can happen all too frequently. As you mentioned, Cavendish was involved in one as well.

There are 2 more stages in Corsica and the commentators made mention of some of the narrow parts of the course. The barriers came in quite close to the Peloton last night and this contributed to a few falls.

It's quite different to have a category 2 climb on the 2nd day of the tour. Tonight will be very interesting.

[Macca 16,965]

Stage 2

Jean Francois Pescheux's view ...

Mountains of opportunity en route to Ajaccio

The winner of stage one didn't even want to consider what might happen when he first rides the Tour de France as the race leader. Generally, he could hope to keep the yellow jersey for a few days but without time bonuses – and with everyone in the peloton on the same time after the race to Bastia – it's highly likely that there'll be a change in leadership.

The race from Bastia to Ajaccio is far from a standard second stage of the Tour; it features three climbs, including the 1,163m high col de Vizzavona. It might be the first Sunday of the 100th Tour but it could help us understand who will be in the yellow jersey on the final Sunday.

Already a number of riders are injured; Alberto Contador was caught in a crash in the finale of stage one and although he finished, he's battered, bruised and is missing some skin. Will this prompt other squads to throw down the gauntlet and try to gain time on the two-time champion? Or will his accident prompt him to come out fighting?

This traditionally a week for the sprinters but stages two and three are on tough terrain, on twisting roads that will inspire opportunists and GC specialists alike.

[dee-luded 2,959]

There's a bus stuck at the finishing line under the banner. Hard to believe something like this could happen.

They've moved the bus. Is Reg Varney at the wheel?

Chaos!

Reg... & 'not you butler' Blakey...

... check this out Macca .... It must ave been 'im, on 'Olidayz on the continent'...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcXiC0iUs_Y

Edited June 30, 2013 by dee-luded

[Macca 16,965]

Reg... & 'not you butler' Blakey...

... check this out Macca .... It must ave been I'm, I think,,,, in retirement, on 'Olidayz on the continent'...

It was certainly a crazy moment last night.

The bus was literally still stuck under the banner (which was fixed) with the peloton less than 5 minutes or so from the finish. At one stage they were going to end the stage at the 3km mark (which had a 'chicane' like characteristic)

As it was, because the peloton accelerated earlier than expected, it may have contributed to the crash that happened with 5ks or so to go. The narrowness on parts of the course didn't help either.

They ended up backing the bus back but the driver was copping all sorts of grief.

[Cards13 9,117]

Does anyone know if the driver was Australian? I would assume he was French, the Telegraph in the UK made it out like it was the Aussies messing with Cav... f logs!

As to Contador, I am not sure where he is at, he also took some bark of last night. His knee was an issue last year (besides the drugs) he said he was at 75% during the Giro, and he is at 90% now. I don't think he will get near Froome at only 90% and I think he is not at 90% either.

[dee-luded 2,959]

It was certainly a crazy moment last night.

The bus was literally still stuck under the banner (which was fixed) with the peloton less than 5 minutes or so from the finish. At one stage they were going to end the stage at the 3km mark (which had a 'chicane' like characteristic)

As it was, because the peloton accelerated earlier than expected, it may have contributed to the crash that happened with 5ks or so to go. The narrowness on parts of the course didn't help either.

They ended up backing the bus back but the driver was copping all sorts of grief.

Its good to hear they got it out.

let the front tyres down to lower pressure, to lower it, and gently reverse it back? pump the tyres back up, and away you go-go.

[dee-luded 2,959]

Does anyone know if the driver was Australian? I would assume he was French, the Telegraph in the UK made it out like it was the Aussies messing with Cav... f logs!

As to Contador, I am not sure where he is at, he also took some bark of last night. His knee was an issue last year (besides the drugs) he said he was at 75% during the Giro, and he is at 90% now. I don't think he will get near Froome at only 90% and I think he is not at 90% either.

... the driver; maybe from somewhere near Castellammare di Stabia, wishing he was a Sea Captain of a Cruise Ship... most likely from europe, or a contiki driver

our Contiki Bus back in the 90's, sideswiped another Bus on the hairpin turn of the Monaco Grand Prix track...

[jazza 1,323]

Does anyone know if the driver was Australian? I would assume he was French, the Telegraph in the UK made it out like it was the Aussies messing with Cav... f logs!

As to Contador, I am not sure where he is at, he also took some bark of last night. His knee was an issue last year (besides the drugs) he said he was at 75% during the Giro, and he is at 90% now. I don't think he will get near Froome at only 90% and I think he is not at 90% either.

yes , the driver was bbo from Romsey

and his navigator was none other than MN on a recluse and hoping to stay out of the limelight for a while

[Macca 16,965]

Key moments last night (video) ... Bakelants cooks up a surprise in Ajaccio

[Macca 16,965]

Stage 3 ... live coverage from the official site

Jean Francois Pescheux's view ...

Up-down, left-right

“You know,” said Christian Prudhomme when asked about the Corsican stages of the 100th Tour de France, “the Tour de Corse for cars – the rally – it's nicknamed the ‘Rally of 10,000 bends'. Stage two and three are 145 kilometres of right, left, up, down… right-left-up-down, left-left, right-up-down…” He relished the thought of what might come and then concluded: “I'm very curious to see what will happen.”

Indeed the magical mystery Tour continues tomorrow and if the opening stages are anything to go by, anything can happen. The fact that there is barely a stretch of road that's longer than 200 metres make it one for the good bike handlers. Some sections are on narrow roads. Some of it is along the coast. Some of it up and over hills... there's variety and it's anything but a standard stage three.

We've had a sprint. We've seen some mountains. Now the up-down, left-right rhythm of the 2013 Tour de France continues with a day for the opportunists. Who could the winner be? One of many... but Peter Sagan says he wants to leave Corsica in the yellow jersey and Peter Sagan often gets what Peter Sagan wants.

[Cards13 9,117]

The driver was Basque, fark you Telegraph journo!

Bring on stage 3.

[Cards13 9,117]

Great stage. Good lord they just bloody fly on those tight, twisting roads. While note huge hills watching them on the way down is insane. Watching Chavanel fly down the hill last night was brilliant and amazing considering he must have a pair of the biggest brash ones!

"Gerro" with the win! Green Edge rode a perfect team race to set him up at the finish. For him to beat Sagan (what an all around machine he is) was exciting to see. Also loved how they cut to Scott McGrory after the race as he is "part" of the Green Edge team for the race, they had informed Scotty the night before that Gerrans was going to lead out for Impy. Obviously as soon as he had turned his back they sniggered and winked at each other as it was the other way around.

Love watching this race, so hard to stay awake all night though. I think I had to nippy naps last night, not looking forward to the long mountain stages ahead but soooo looking forward to them.

Cadel has been looking "prominant" at the front towards the end of the stages, staying out of any potential trouble. Going to be very interesting to see the team TT tonight, where it puts BMC and setting the team up for the "transition stages" before moving into the hills on stages 8 and 9.

[Macca 16,965]

Yep, a great finish and congrats to Simon Gerrans - it did look like Sagan had nipped him on the line and that's how Phil Liggett called it. All in all. it was a fantastic stage to watch and the 3 days in Corsica have been great.

... Stage 4 ... live coverage from the official site

Jean Francois Pescheux's view

The TTT: answering questions with tactics and power ...

After 514.5km of racing over three days, there are still 71 men only one second shy of the yellow jersey in the 100th Tour de France. The race leader himself, Jan Bakelants, knows his colleagues are strong and that they should stand a chance of a good performance in the team time trial around Nice but to keep the yellow jersey they essentially have to win. He doesn't expect that they will.

There are several squads that specialise in this discipline: the dominate formation of last year's Tour – Sky, the winners of the TTT in 2011 – Garmin-Sharp; runners-up in the equivalent stage of 2011 – BMC Racing; reigning world TTT champions – Omega Pharma-Quickstep... or perhaps even Astana, Saxo-Tinkoff or Movistar.

If we make the list of potential winners any longer, we'll mention every squad in the race but this is a day when tactics are crucial. The time is taken on the fifth rider across the line and the winning team is likely to take the yellow jersey. This final fact raises an important question: does the real title favourites for the 100th Tour want to lead quite so early? Tune in and find out the answer to this quandary and a few others. This is a day to expose the weakness – or strengths – of the GC specialists.

Map of course and preview

Profile ...

[Macca 16,965]

ORICA GreenEDGE win the Team time trial ... Simon Gerrans wears the yellow jersey ... beauty!

[Cards13 9,117]

Was off work crook yesterday, asleep early... have recorded this and can't wait to watch it tonight!!!

[Macca 16,965]

Was off work crook yesterday, asleep early... have recorded this and can't wait to watch it tonight!!!

You've sort of got to pace yourself with the late finishes, Cards. That's the theory anyway With the flat stages I might sometimes record and then watch the last 45 minutes in the morning but the mountain stages are must viewing ... thankfully those mountain stages are primarily on the weekends on this tour.

Tonight's stage is due to finish sometime after 1.00am (as are most of the stage's) Next Sunday's finish is just after midnight, Monday is a rest day, whilst next Wednesday's time trial might be an earlier finish.

Anyway, Stage 5 ... live coverage from the official site

Jean Francois Pescheux's view ...

Why not a third for Orica-GreenEdge?

On the ferry from Calvi to Nice, Robbie McEwen and the manager of the team that had just won the third stage discussed the days ahead. “I remember the Gineste well,” said McEwen who is now a consultant for the Orica-GreenEdge team who, amongst other jobs, advises on tactics and offers tips to their team's sprinters. “It's not classified as a climb for the fifth stage but it can be good for Matt Goss.” Of course, his perspective is tainted by favouritism for his team but the profile of this long stage from Cagnes-sur-Mer to Marseille calls out for a sprint finish. But, as McEwen reminded Shayne Bannan, “a few of the sprinters like Kittel could be eliminated by that last little rise.”

The stage is raced near the coast but far enough away for the sea breeze not to be as big a factor as it might have been.

Yes, it does suit Goss but there are others who are going to be ready for the col de la Gineste: Mark Cavendish missed out on a 24th stage win in Nice by just one second, André Greipel is speeding over hills like this with relative ease of late, John Degenkolb has the qualities to manage the gradient and the speed to finish off the job, and JJ Rojas has been so close so often that he might just be the surprise winner of the sprinters... if, of courses, it actually comes down to a bunch kick.

... Map of the course and preview

Profile ...

Edited July 6, 2013 by Macca

[Cards13 9,117]

Macca just watched it! BRILLIANT!!!! What a great bloody win!!! Could have been a second quicker too, old mate 5th was slightly off the end of the line. Well done to the GE team, jesus they just won a stage of the Tour and have Gerro in the yellow!

BMC as a team looked really average, Cadel looked bloody strong. He pulled some big stinks in the front and finished off leading the team home. He lost a lot of time, they all saying its only 25 seconds, bull dust that is huge at this stage against Froome/Sky!

[Macca 16,965]

Stage 6 ... live coverage from the official site

Jean Francois Pescheux's view ...

Shorter, flatter ... faster?

After the undulations on the island of Corsica come a few days where the sprinters show their style. As we saw in stage five, it's the job of the stars to finish off the work done by others. Even the winner in Marseille, Mark Cavendish, admitted that he didn't do very much; he just happened to beat the likes of Edvald Boasson Hagen, Peter Sagan and André Greipel because he felt an obligation to pay back his team-mates for their efforts over almost 230km.

The formula for sprint stages is generally the same: a break goes, the yellow jersey's team gets on the front and sets a steady tempo, then the sprinters' teams move forward and begin the chase. Orica-GreenEdge has a sprinter as well as the yellow jersey so it's natural that the Australian team will be at the front of the pack en route to Montpellier in stage six. There is a chance that Daryl Impey could take the yellow jersey from Simon Gerrans; the South African only has to finish eight places ahead of the Australian and he'll become the first from his country to lead the Tour de France.

It was in Montpellier that South African cycling came of age when Robbie Hunter won a Tour de France sprint stage six years ago... the usual names come to mind when considering what might happen in this stage and perhaps it will be another day for South African fans to celebrate a bit of history.

Map of the course and preview ...

Profile ...

[Macca 16,965]

Stage 7 ... live coverage from the official site

Jean Francois Pescheux's view ...

Tarn it: a stage when anything can happen ...

“It's quite a lumpy day,” said Daryl Impey about the seventh stage of the 100th Tour de France, from Montpellier to the capital of the Tarn department, Albi. “I think we've got a team that can defend the yellow jersey for another day but it's a bit of an uncertain sort of stage. On a good day, I can survive with some of the climbs so we'll definitely be fight to the end to try and defend it one more day.”

His appraisal reminds us that, although we're not yet in the mountains, the terrain en route to Albi is far from easy. There are four categorised climbs but it's a day of constant undulations and it'll test the legs as the race nears the end of the opening week.

The roads can be narrow and the twists and turns add to a recipe for anxiety of the GC riders. By stage six, one general classification hope had quit the race because of injuries sustained in a crash. Jurgen van den Broeck would not be the last to fall either for, on the road to Montpellier other GC hopefuls – Joaquim Rodriguez, Nairo Quintana and Janez Brajkovic – were also involved in incident that scratched off some skin and reminded us all that the Tour can be lost even if a rider has the best form of their lives.

A day before the Tour's arrival in the high mountains, it's difficult to predict how this stage will be contested. It'll be hot and the peloton will again be nervous. The GC riders are doing what they can to survive, the sprinters have had their chances and now might be the time for opportunists to come knocking...

Map of the course and preview

Profile ...

[Macca 16,965]

Here's a 10 minute podcast summary of last night's stage ... stage 7 analysis

For a comprehensive summary of last night's stage ... Sagan 1st after a 150m lead out by Cannondale

This was a day when their leader, Peter Sagan, was determined to win and ultimately he did. The credit for success must go to every member of the team that was utterly committed to delivering him to the line in first place.

Not only did he win the stage, he did so on a day that his teams eliminated his main rivals for the green jersey. Sagan was first at the intermediate sprint and first again at the finish.

[Macca 16,965]

Stage 8 ... Live coverage from the official site

Jean Francois Pescheux's preview ... Froome: the favourite for victory up high

Stage eight is going to be entirely different to the days that preceded it. There have been sprints and battles on undulating terrain but now the race is in the mountains!

The first winner on a big climb of the 2012 edition was Chris Froome. He has shown himself already, with a little surge in the finale of stage two in Ajaccio where he race away from his rivals with relative ease. That was a hill, but a mountain awaits...

Map of the course and preview

Profile ... the climb to the 'Col de Pailhères' should begin around about 11pm whilst the 2nd climb to 'Ax 3 Domaines' should commence around about 12.20am. (times are approximate)

[Cards13 9,117]

Here it is Macca, the first big test for the GC boys. Can Cadel produce? I think he can but will he have enough to counter Froome, I don't think so but fingers crossed he can pull some time back.

[Macca 16,965]

Here it is Macca, the first big test for the GC boys. Can Cadel produce? I think he can but will he have enough to counter Froome, I don't think so but fingers crossed he can pull some time back.

It's difficult to know what the tactics will be. Often most or many of the best of the GC have the energy to stay with each other when the tour first hits the mountains. It is a big climb first up though and they will climb for the best part of an hour.

And then there's the last climb to top things off. Looking at the profile, it's quite confrontational isn't it? Just really hoping that Cadel does well tonight. We may get an indication on how strong his team is.

Froome on the other hand seems to like to lay down the gauntlet. You'd almost expect him to go for it tonight. Contador may show his hand as well. Going to be fascinating viewing regardless. Bring it on!