2014 Tour De France

[ScottCM]

It's no longer Vincenzo Nibali but Tony Gallopin in the yellow jersey on the front line at the start. In Mulhouse, despite the wet conditions, he's smiling along with Peter Sagan (green), Tony Martin (polka dot) and Michal Kwiatkowski (white).

[jaxtun]

how many holes in your shirts after the 3 weeks?

Hahaha - this is what happens whenever Spartacus appears on screen - burnt a lot of shirts yesterday!

 

http://www.manolith.com/wp-content/uploads//2013/03/burned-shirt.jpg

[ScottCM]

Questioned on the start line by France Televisions, yellow jersey wearer Tony Gallopin said: "It's incredibale and indiscribable. This is going to be a great Bastille Day. I would have preferred an easier stage to defend the lead but I hope the Maillot Jaune will boost me. I'm realistic. I only have 1.34 lead over Nibali, it's not much in a stage like this but I will fight at 200%."

[ScottCM]

Climbs of the day:

- Km 30.5: col du Firstplan (cat. 2), 8.3km at 5.4%

- Km 54.5: Petit Ballon (cat. 1), 9.3km at 8.1%

- Km 71.5: col du Platzerwasel (cat. 1), 7.1km at 8.4%

- Km 103.5: col d'Oderen (cat. 2), 6.7km at 6.1%

- Km 125.5: col des Croix (cat. 3), 3.2km at 6.2%

- Km 143.5: col de Chevrères (cat. 1), 3.5km at 9.5%

- Km 161.5: La Planche des belles filles (cat. 1), 5.9km at 8.5%

[ScottCM]

Tony Martin is the new leader of the King of the Mountains competition with 18 points while Blel Kadri and Alessandro De Marchi have 17. Nicolas Edet and Joaquim Rodriguez follow with 12 and 11 points respectively. The big fight for the polka dot jersey is expected to happen between those two today.

[ScottCM]

Michal Kwiatkowski leads the best young rider competition with an advantage of only 13 seconds over Romain Bardet and 1.06 over Thibaut Pinot. The two Frenchmen have high ambitions today on their favorite terrain.

 

Astana has lost the yellow jersey without fighting for it but they still lead the teams competition but the classification has been reshuffled as the Kazakh team didn't have anyone in the break yesterday. Belkin is now at 22 seconds and AG2R-La Mondiale at 53 seconds.

['Dale]

!!!

Sunny at the start but that will be of little comfort for the riders as there are heavy showers expected for most of the stage.

 

[Eldron]

This has been the most exciting TdF in 15 years and we're only hitting the mountains now!

 

Fanflippintastic.

 

Damn my customers making me leave the house - damn you all

[cantona007]

Does anybody have an idea/guess when they will start the last climb of the day?

 

Thanks

[Slowbee]

why the lead car before they start ?

 

is it a rolling start ?

[ScottCM]

Questioned before the start Blel Kadri

“As I look at the route and still feel good, I'm tempted to break away again. The first goal is to try and win the stage, so I'll try to catch the early breakaway. I've realized that Joaquim Rodriguez is also motivated by the KOM competition. I'm ready to challenge him but the priority remains to our help our two leaders, Roman [bardet] and Jean-Christophe [Péraud]. But shall I manage to get the polka dot jersey back, it would be for having fun for a few days, not for bringing it all the way to Paris.”

[ScottCM]

Romain Bardet crashed during stage 6 before arriving in Reims. He's still in pain but he hasn't lost any time off the favorites since the crash. AG2R-La Mondiale's doctor Eric Bouvat stated: “Romain is hemmed in at the level of a shoulder blade but there's no need for an x-ray examination.”

['Dale]

why the lead car before they start ?

 

is it a rolling start ?

 

Neutral zone to the start km

['Dale]

Partly ceremonial or proccessional

 

[ScottCM]

RACE PROPER HAS STARTED!!!!

[ScottCM]

Voelkler (SP) and Westra among the riders trying to form a breakaway