Mark Cavendish, the 'Manx Missile' has won today's 3rd Stage to add to his victory in the opening stage on Saturday. That makes an amazing 28 stage victories since 2008, a truly remarkable feat for a sprinter whose shelf-life at the very top is generally 3-4 years. He has now equalled Bernard Hinault's total of stage wins and only the great Eddy Merckx with 34 wins has more. Should be a cracking tour, especially once they reach the mountains, the last week in the Alps will certainly sort out the men from the boys, I fully expect Chris Froome to be the man to beat once again...
Really enjoy watching the TDF when I can, I mean, not a lot else going on in France at the moment! Some of the flatter stages a little tedious until the last 10K when all the sprinters 'trains' start lining up. Mountain stages sure sort the men from the boys. Great achievement from Cav though after a couple of lean seasons at the Tour, appreciate that he is in the team just for the sprints whilst Hinault and Merckx were all round riders but he can certainly 'complete' for his team. Read first autobiography on holiday one year, good read, not laid my hand on the second one yet though, may be this year!
Oh, he's there Fingy. Quietly hanging around the top 10 ready to pounce. The Brummy Irishman, Dan Martin, is also in the Top 10 currently on the same time as Froome. Would be nice to see Dan stay in touch with Froome, but I don't think that will happen. A Top 10 finish for Martin would be a good Tour.
Cavendish has been around for quite some time so it would be good to see another 'long term rider' cracked it.
He's dad is English and he was born there so does that not make him English? Many people are born abroad to English parents but they are still English. I went out to watch Le Tour 3 years ago when Cav did so well. Great time out there. Cav is only six wins behind the great Eddy Merckx, so we could have the greatest rider of Stage wins. I think if he can get another 2-3 wins this time, he may do it.
Good stat on the ITV4 highlights programme last night which kept interrupting the 60 minute advert break. If you remove the time trial wins and just take on full blown racing stages, Cav is miles ahead of anyone else. Appreciate times are different now with the whole team intent in getting the sprinter to the finish line first, but he sure knows how to battle that last few meters, or in the case of yesterday, centimeters.
And Cav has done it again! A hat-trick of stage wins with today's 6th stage, his 29th career Tour de France stage win, incredible...
Watching on Eurosport at the moment, the first serious climbs today and I expect Froome to take time off some of his rivals here...
Same as Sooper. I am a big fan of Le Tour. i watch every stage or Sky+ and watch later. last Sept/Oct i went out to France for 10 days with some Cyclists who rode some of the big Alp stages. You won't believe how high up these mountains were. I had a Great time a great time there.
Froome attacks on the descent, hitting 84kph, he's either mental or brilliant (or both)... You lucky man, I'd love to have done that when I was younger. I've driven at high altitude in both Tenerife and Cyprus, that's scary enough in a car...
What a ride! Chris Froome, YOU ARE A SUPERSTAR! I don't thnk I've ever seen anybody attack like that on a descent before.
What a win from Froome, a stunning attack on the descent, I've not seen such a brilliant attack for years, he's put a marker down the others couldn't match. Great 2nd place from Ireland's Dan Martin but Froome is clearly in top form...
Feck 50+mph in old money....with only a bike between him and the tarmac........must have ice running through his veins.......
I've never seen anyone ride in that position he came down in, virtually sitting on the crossbar of his frame. Love his comment, "It was just a bit of fun"...
