Team Ineos (evil environmental destroyers / frackers of Holderness) nee Team Sky, sacrificed some of their riders to help wipe out other leading GC teams to leave (one of) their GC riders Geraint Thomas to strengthen his second overall place , pushing the competition further back (GC rider = Queen in chess) Of course all the other competitions within the competition still carry on , points rider, KoM rider, stage winner, team, young rider and then the overall aim the Yellow Jersey
I was in Rodez last Friday . Whole streets in the centre had been taped off with warnings about parking . Rodez was only part of the route and not the finish for the stage today . The organisation must be immense and dread to think what restrictions were in place in Albi where the finish was today . I have witnessed some of this race in the past and the riders can be here and gone in seconds .
Best place to watch is in the mountains , riders going past much more slowly and for much longer . Other than that go to the start take in the atmosphere then go to a bar and watch on TV. Nice part of France though, hope it wasn't too hot.
Speaking of chess this is one of the coolest toys I've seen in ages. https://sodasays.co.uk/products/square-off-smart-chess-board
Back home now . Rodez was hot , but we had been in the Perpignan area for a week prior with mid 30 's centigrade , so it was a bit cooler . Aveyron department is beautiful , lovely lakes and rivers , and stunning views .
t was a bit of a surprise the day before the rest day, on paper it looked like a sprinters finish, with very little room for action with the GC contenders. But, the crosswinds blew the peloton to bits, and G and Bernal were in the front group, but several of the possible GC contenders end up in the 2nd and 3rd groups, and particularly Pinot who looks an early threat lost 1m.20s on the front group as did Richie Porte who is now 2m.40s down on G.. That put G up to 2nd over a minute behind Julian Alaphilippe, who is unlikely to maintain his lead once we get into the real mountain stages. Still, Thomas's biggest reval seems to be Egan Bernal his own teammate, he is just 4s behind Thomas and in 3rd place.
For those not in the know, GC stands for 'gold coat', which you get to wear if you bring the coolest bike.
I believe that makes Froome the British first Grand tour winner ever, taking that accolade away from Wiggin's Tour De France win. It's very interesting and amazing at the same time Julian Alephillippes rise to prominence in this year's Tour. His performance is quite extraordinary, and I notice there are no shouts of "Doper" being voiced by the French. Even though he is French, he is a very likeable character, and I truly hope that his performance is not illegally gained, as this year's tour is better for having a joker in the pack. P.S. It was nice to see his facial reaction to Macron trying to gain some political browny points being shown with him and Pinot, his expression showing his disdain for such a cheap shot.
Seems to have been a bad couple of days for Thomas with Allephillipes showing he's better than they thought? Apparently he doesn't have as many support riders as team Ineos, but surely over 2 mins is too big a gap? I haven't followed as much as I'd liked, but am off this week so may get the chance if it's a decent contest.
2 minutes is a lot, but there are still 4 big climbs to come, and if he should blow up, which at this stage seems unlikely, then 2 minutes can easily be lost. G and the others just have to keep going and hope he does have a bad day now.
Watched yesterday and thought that whilst Thomas had a bad day Allaphillipe may have bottomed himself when he could have just sat in Thomas's wheel,,, we will see...
I’ve followed the TdF since I was at school and it’s definitely cleaned up its act a bit, but it’s still a sad indictment that my reaction to the last few days racing has been to hope that Thomas doesn’t get too demoralised and drop out of second place so that when, not if, Alaphillipe is banned he wouldn’t then be the winner by default. And as you say the hollow claims of the French journalists that if Froome has been French they would have been just as critical of him have been proven to be ridiculous by Alaphillipe’s even more ‘unnatural’ performance being lauded without question. It’s still great to watch though isn’t it?