The scenery is stunning today and I can’t wait to spend a lot of time in this area.

Anyone not crying. Fabulous stage.

Raymond Poulidor (who died in 2019) was certainly crying in the afterlife because it is his grandson who is now wearing the yellow jersey. Poulidor is known as the "eternal #2" in France because that was his place during his entire career due to the fabulous Belgian Eddy Merckx. Mathieu van der Poel has cycling in his blood because he was born in Belgium with a champion Dutch cycling father (Adrie van der Poel) and the daughter of Raymond Poulidor. He is hoping to compete in the Tokyo Olympics in the cross country bike event, but he won't have time to train for it because of the Tour de France.

Amazing stage, and yes, I was crying! Such emotion and love for his sport and grandad's legacy. I love Alaphilippe, but I imagine he was OK giving up the yellow jersey to Pou Pou's grandson. God I love this sport!

Another catastrophic day for injuries -- the Tour is becoming very dangerous but is it because of the riders, their bosses or the organizers?

When you have 180 athletes on bicycles on local roads at 30 MPH a few inches from each other, not having accidents is the miracle.

It was really bad today. The face of that one rider as he slid across the pavement.

One of the major suggestions is to eliminate the radio earpieces. They are telling the riders what to do as though they are robots -- and all this from greedy creeps who can't even see the actual road conditions.

Spotters like a car race. That sucks.

Not an enjoyable race to watch, although the race passed through some lovely looking towns. We were relieved to hear this morning that Caleb Ewan only has a broken collarbone in 4 places, and that Geraint Thomas had a dislocated shoulder that they managed to put back in on the side of the road. We were expecting much worse news. Hope the riders who have had to abandon the race recover quickly.

The Tour de Demolition Derby.

Bravo for that little protest they just did. Some are bandaged like mummys due to road rash.

It's a relief not to see them killing each other today. Of course the final 3 minutes are the test.

They think they woman may have fled the country. That seems clearly illegal to me, to do something that causes serious harm/injury to others. In the US, seems like there would be laws that covered that even if under negligance, etc., and that it wasn't intentional. It was a deliberate action that was patently dangerous and caused massive injuries to others. Aside from criminal law, clearly one could be sued in civil court. I think she was German given the sign or else Dutch/Flemish. I suppose could be from Alsace region. Given what she was wearing, she sure got away quickly without being detected.

So happy that no crashes today and at the result! [which I won't mention in case it's spoiler for anyone]

Regarding the crashes, Chris Boardman, who at the time he was riding the Tour was that very rare breed, an English stage winner, told us today that he had a formula for reducing the number of crashes - go slower and keep more distance between the cyclists.

As he then said, that ain't going to happen.

Cheers to Cavendish! I'm not his biggest fan, but it was a great win today for a rider who thought his career was over.

“This race has given my life to me,” an emotional Cavendish said. “And I’ve given my life to the Tour.”

Can he possibly match Eddie Merckx's record? There are enough chances left in this Tour...

It was good to see a stage without all the crashes. We have enjoyed the four days in Brittany. One of the things we love about visiting France is the differences you see in the villages and buildings from one region to the next. We saw some wonderful churches and chateaux over the four days. The day from Tours to Chateauroux should be full of chateaux.

We are looking forward to some of the coming days when they will pass through areas we have stayed in and visited. Cheska, you must be excited to see some views of Nimes again in a few days.

With the time trial next, here's hoping the injuries do not take a toll.

rhon I am excited to see the part of France that brings back so many wonderful memories. We have been impressed with Brittany also, as that will be part of the next trip. We will probably apply for a six month visa and spend three months in Brittany, and the rest around Strasbourg.

Looking forward to everyone having a safe TT.

So much heart so far in this race!:love: I don't think I've ever been so emotional over this bike race. I love it when the riders have grace and passion when they win, the ones for whom the wins really mean something, not just "yeah, I won and I deserved it..." What a great moment for Cav, who has had a lot of adversity and didn't know if he'd ever get back to the Tour. And for Mathieu, as well. Who knows? Maybe Julian could pull off yellow this year??? Although I have to say, my heart still would like to see Primoz get his reward this year. That crash was such bad luck for him.

We are headed to Colorado for 5 nights to escape the 4th of July noise, and won't have TV, so I will be taking a bit of break from the board as we will watch the race when we get back! I'm enjoying chatting with everyone about it. And having been to France several times, I have NOT been to Brittany and wow, I can't wait to visit that part of my favorite European country.
A bientot!

"The woman" has been identified and arrested. She is in Brittany.

I too have been emotional watching the race this year. Last time I cried watching the race was 10 years ago when Cadel Evans won and that had its drama as well. Looking forward to the next stages especially the Alps. Television doesn’t do them justice as seeing them for real takes your breath away.

kerouac how do you think the situation will play out now that the woman has been arrested

She turned herself in, which will almost certainly reduce any penalty. Of course, endangering the lives of others is a crime in France, but a clever lawyer can probably get the penalty reduced to next to nothing. ("If you can't stand in the road, why weren't there barriers?" "People on bicycles should look where they are going!" "The organizers are at fault for letting this happen." -- that sort of stuff.)

kerouac interesting that the Tour organisers have withdrawn the lawsuit.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/20...ile-up-cycling

Jean - I am big Cav fan and I was crying too after he won. For him to go from not riding the Tour at all to winning a stage and in such style in less than a week must feel like a dream to him. He's still highly unlikely to reach Merckx's record but he didn't look to me as if he cared as much about that as about winning just this one extra stage when he thought he'd never get another chance. That said, I wonder what today's stage to Chatelroux will bring.

I had high hopes to see the Change through St Germain through St Jean route yesterday since we like to stay in that area. The only place I was sure I recognized was the apartment building in Change where the riders started from, and that we saw again and again and again.

We got to see the occasional roadside view but only briefly and just the one overhead view, of Laval. Still, it's not every day the whole world has its eyes on Saint Germain le Fouilloux.

Well, Cav is well and truly back. What a smile.

Coquelicot, I thought I remembered that the area around Laval was a favourite of yours. We enjoyed the stage from Tours to Chateauroux. The very first week we spent in France back in 2006 was in this area. We had a gite in Selles sur Cher. I remember visiting St Aignan and walking up that long set of steps from the church to the chateau and having a ' pinch me ' moment. It was just so different from anything we had experienced and I could not believe we were there. Seven trips behind us and we still have those moments.

We love the great goats cheese from this region - Selles sur Cher, Ste Maure de Touraine, Valencay, Chabichou de Poitou are just some.

It is a long stage tonight. Hope I can stay awake.

one of our gourmet cheese shops is offering a Tour de France cheese selection- you get a chesse from each of the regions to nibble whilst the riders go thru the stages.

<<one of our gourmet cheese shops is offering a Tour de France cheese selection- you get a cheese from each of the regions to nibble whilst the riders go thru the stages.>>

What a great idea - the Tour de France in cheese.

rhon - one of our best family holidays was our first one in France with our kids when we spent a week in the Loire and then moved onto Paris . it was a few weeks after the Tour I think but so exciting to see the places where they had been racing.

Well, what a performance. It was very impressive. No spoilers for those who have not yet watched it.

We continue to enjoy watching. It even looked good in the rain.

Northie, lucky you to have a gourmet cheese shop. We do not have one where we live, just a deli which has a fairly good cheese section. Expensive, of course, but we do treat ourselves on special occasions. In the very first week in France which I mentioned, there was a fromagerie. But we were clueless about cheese and hesitant to try our limited French, so did not appreciate it. I often wish we had made more of an effort.

Annhig, I envy you being able to visit France more easily.

What a tough race in a beautiful area. The race is starting to take its toll on the riders as well as us. I will definitely have a nap this afternoon as my energy levels are low after 8 days of staying up very late. I’m obviously not having the right nutrition 🤣🤣🤣

Part of the enjoyment of watching the TDF for me is seeing places we have visited and remembering the fun times we had there. On July 1 2011 we were staying in Amboise and celebrating our granddaughter's 12th birthday at Chenonceaux. Exactly 10 years later on July 1 2021 the race went through Amboise and near Chenonceaux. They showed quite a bit of footage of Chenonceaux and of Clos Luce. I can't believe it has been 10 years but it brought back all the good memories.

The race has been very interesting so far. Lots of trauma, drama and good old fashioned nervousness watching things like riders going 80 kph down wet mountain roads. Last year kerouac posted a link to about 30 minute extended highlights videos of each stage on youtube and I'm having to watch these for some of the stages because I just can't keep up with the live broadcasts.

Very tough Sunday in the pouring rain.

<<Annhig, I envy you being able to visit France more easily.>>

mmmm - rhon - a la recherche du temps perdu just about sums up my feelings. The last time I went was in the Autumn of 2016 just before my DH became ill [or rather got his diagnosis]. And then came covid. Still I'm sure I'll return when things are more settled, and I agree that it is much easier for me to visit than for you.

It was another difficult day in the cold and rain. But what an exciting day. It was terrific to see the end result. The riders certainly deserve the rest day to recover from two hard days on the bike. I just cannot imagine how they do it. I see Damare did not make the time cut.

Cold on the fingers for sure. Some awesome teamwork.

Fabulous result and so glad we were watching inside from our warm house. Let’s hope it warms up a little.

It is going to be tough for all today, and hopefully everyone will be safe. Too hard to pick a winner.

Another fab result for Cav yesterday. The team effort both in getting him over the mountain and then leading him out was outstanding. Just hope that he can beat the time limit today.

I have driven up the Mont Ventoux two or three times, and even that is an arduous task. But every time I have been there, it is like a bicycle autoroute because of the huge number of cyclists. I think that every serious cyclist in Europe feels a need to conquer the Ventoux. And you see quite a few people walking their bikes along the way, so a lot of people need to try again...