I was feeling the burning in my lungs and legs during that climb. I have a bridge here that goes over four lanes of highway and I have to petal hard to get up it. This looked crazy. I wish we could know speeds on some descents.

It was lovely to see the views of Provence. We were delighted to see images of Pernes les Fontaines where we stayed for two weeks in 2014. I am looking forward to the next stage which travels through country we stayed in last trip in 2018.

What endurance the riders showed to get through the day. Pogacar looks strong. The next stage could be Cav's moment.

Macross - I found this article about the speeds they reach in the Tour - over 100 kmh in some places. on a bike! some of those roads you wouldn't drive down at that speed.

https://www.bikeradar.com/features/t...19-in-numbers/

rhon - Mont Ventoux looks appalling even to walk up but it seems very popular with hobby cyclists. Yesterday's winner said that he first cycled up it aged 10! fingers crossed for Cav today - then he'll be able to say Merxck's name again!

Thank you annhig, That was what I was thinking. They were going crazy fast.

A very scenic day with the gorges of the Ardèche, Uzès, the Pont du Gard and a finish in Nimes. The French national tourist official will not need to spend money on advertising.

No, no need to advertise the area. Obviously, it has always been popular, but this year, it has gone mad.

https://www.ledauphine.com/magazine-...-proprietaires

It isn't just vacation rentals either. Houses for sale are going like hot cakes round here. Even dumps that would normally sit on the market for years are selling. I've never seen anything like it before.

<<No, no need to advertise the area. Obviously, it has always been popular, but this year, it has gone mad.>>

Same here in Cornwall. People are vey keen to move out of cities now working from home is far more accepted.

I became a bit emotional watching the race as seeing the area brought back wonderful memories. I am especially loving that there is not one team dominating and controlling the race as has happened in the past. This year’s race has been the best for years.

It is certainly a lovely region. We spent a week near Barjac in 2018 and drove along the Gorges in 2010 when we stayed near St Paul Trois Chateaux. So we loved seeing some of the places we visited .
It is good this year. While Pogacar looks hard to beat, there is still a lot of interest to be had in the different stages and we are seeing more of other teams. Should be another lovely stage tonight. We will need a week to get our body clocks back to normal after sitting up until 2 each morning!!

rhon we will need a week also. Sometimes I have even had a nap during the afternoon.

Off the road and into the ravine today for about 30 riders. That should wake you up!

<<Off the road and into the ravine today for about 30 riders. That should wake you up!>>

And three withdrawals including Simon Yates who started the Tour this year with high hopes, Kerouac. Not so Cav who against all the odds has now equalled Merxck's record. Simply amazing which includes his team of course. I just hope that he can somehow get to Paris along with everyone else.

Coverage today started at 40 k in. It is on NBC not NBCsn. Of course, they are showing all the crashes and not the race.

<<Coverage today started at 40 k in. It is on NBC not NBCsn. Of course, they are showing all the crashes and not the race.>>

really? That's a shame. Thank goodness for ITV coverage here. It's on live every day, more or less from the start, then an hour's highlights in the evening. they are usually pretty good at picking out the "best" bits, but i suppose that unless you'd been watching all day, you wouldn't know. I have to say that I admire the commentators - except in the most exciting stages they have very little to talk about for hours! One day we learnt that Richie Porte had not had access to Chris Froome's phone number for a while - bottom barrel being scraped there.

In France we get huge amounts of cultural information about every single village, château or ruin along the way when the riders are not doing much of interest. About half of the television viewers are watching just for that.

We also seem to get told every time a rider or group of riders stops for 15 seconds to "satisfy a natural need." (Ten years ago they would actually film them peeing but now it is absolutely forbidden.)

<<In France we get huge amounts of cultural information about every single village, château or ruin along the way when the riders are not doing much of interest. About half of the television viewers are watching just for that.>>

We get some of that too., but also a lot about the cyclists, sometimes too much.

<<We also seem to get told every time a rider or group of riders stops for 15 seconds to "satisfy a natural need." (Ten years ago they would actually film them peeing but now it is absolutely forbidden.)>>

Just occasionally we get some of that, but not often. I assume that your pics are the same as ours!

Well, just about all of the video feed is from France Télévisions, so it would be unlikely for you to see much different except for images of your local commentators. I have no idea about the variations of images that foreign broadcasters can select (since of course there is always a camera on the peleton, but there are also helicopters for the scenery and other things).

The feed is the feed. Lots of grumbling from Dutch commentators every time a Dutch rider is well placed, but the French director zooms in on a French rider as he passes his parents' village or some such. Also, Belgian commentary is better than Dutch.

The US feed has the scenic shots half obscured by promos for other NBC shows. Apparently, all ruined castles are covered by ads. Nice sky, though.

<<The feed is the feed. Lots of grumbling from Dutch commentators every time a Dutch rider is well placed, but the French director zooms in on a French rider as he passes his parents' village or some such. Also, Belgian commentary is better than Dutch.>>

I also assume that we all get the same feed, menachem, about which the UK commentators rarely complain as luckily, AJP, we get to see the pretty bits not obscured by promos and ads. There are ad breaks but not too long or intrusive, IMO. And as the brit involvement in GC is minimal this year, their focussing others is not so annoying. So long as they focus on Cav in the last 10km or so on the sprint stages, the UK audience is going to be happy.

I think every one gets the same vision. We have it on free to air, but with ads but we do not watch that. Here in Australia we have a link to Skoda Tour tracker which allows us to connect our device to the TV and see it from start to finish without ads. Same commentators though. They usually travel to France, but because of our restrictions, are commentating from Sydney. We get info about the chateaux, churches etc that the helicopters fly over. Of course our commentators have an Australian bias, but are very knowledgeable about all the riders. I wish the vision named all the villages they show. We are always looking at places we could visit if we ever get to return to France.

The previous stage was a trip down memory lane for us as we saw several places we visited when we stayed in both the l'Herault and the Aude. It was another lovely stage last night. Loved the gorges. Now for the Pyrenees. Annhig, hope Cav can climb them safely!

rhon the TdF magazine gives a detailed map of all the towns. I sit with pen and paper and add the names to an itinerary list, and then research. I agree that the commentary here in Aus is good with all the history added, and it seems the commentary team do a lot of research.

I too hope MC survives the tough next week. Between watching Ash Barty’s fabulous win and the cycling, it was a good night of sport.

I have never bought the magazine. Perhaps I will next year. While we have no idea when we will be able to return, P has had a sneaky look at gites again. He has been really pessimistic about it saying he doubts we will ever return. We have seen several places we have been to - small villages where we used to buy our baguette, or roads we have driven along. We are feeling inspired again. Tonight we are hoping to see Eus where we had a gite way back in 2008. We used to shop in Prades.

It will be a night for the climbers. It is good to see the next generation of young Australians playing their part in the tour.

At the start of today's race everyone had these very cool roofs. Sort of variegated. Why do they let the crazy men in speedos chase the bikes? I would have thought people would have stopped that after the oma opa sign fiasco.

Far fewer roadside idiots than in previous years.

Great racing today which really sorted the sheep from the goats. I will say no more in order not to spoil it for others who may not have seen it yet.

It was another good stage. It would have been great for France if a French rider could have won on their national day, but not to be. Another big day ahead for the riders. I agree. Why do idiots inflict the sight of themselves running beside the riders in speedos on people around them and viewers around the world. Hopefully I was so tired I was imagining things when I saw what looked like in a man in a nappy.

Once again, some beautiful scenery and lovely villages and chateaux to enjoy. Looking forward to the next stage. We stayed in Luz St Sauveur for two weeks in 2016. It is a lovely area.

rhon you weren’t imagining the man in the nappy. Another beautiful area, and my legs hurt watching that climb.

Australian Press reporting this.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-...ious/100297762

Thanks, I wasn't imagining that.

The raid and they did not have a warrant. They were talking about it this morning. Wierd.

They were right to allow the search because if they had refused, the authorities would have been back an hour later with a warrant and public opinion would have decided that they had something to hide.

Great ending. That's all I'm saying.

Yes. Many Champs Elysées endings are boring, but this one was not.

<<Yes. Many Champs Elysées endings are boring, but this one was not.>>

Do you think that moving the finish line further up the road made any difference, Kerouac? The UK commentators didn't made that much of it.

No, it doesn't matter where the finish line is. Actually I would like to see them choose a different end point than the Champs Elysées, at least from time to time. I get really bored after a few loops, but since I'm watching at home, I can do stuff in the kitchen or whatever when nothing is happening.

What a great race this year, and one of the best we have seen for years. The riders have my admiration as it is such a hard race. I’m not sure if it was the SBS coverage here in Australia or another organisation that put together a beautiful clip with all the stunning countryside. The clip made me a bit sad as I’m not sure when we Aussies will be able to return.

rhon thanks for starting this thread, and it was great to read. Hope everyone can be happy and healthy during this trying time.

Yes, another great race. Lots of impressive performances. There is a bit of a 'handing over of the baton ' as some elder statesmen retire and a new generation of younger riders emerge. It was great to see young Aussie Ben O 'Connor finishing fourth in his first tour. At least Cav ended up with the green jersey.

The views of chateaux makes you realise just how many stunning ones are all around the country. A lot are only well known in their particular area and we always enjoy just driving past and admiring them. We are really missing not having any immediate prospects of being able to visit.

I see Pogacar is not going to contest the Vuelta in a few weeks. We might try and watch the Olympics road race on Saturday. Next year will also have a ladies tour beginning at the end of the men's tour. So maybe more French sights.

Take care everyone. It has been fun.

<<What a great race this year, and one of the best we have seen for years. The riders have my admiration as it is such a hard race. I’m not sure if it was the SBS coverage here in Australia or another organisation that put together a beautiful clip with all the stunning countryside. The clip made me a bit sad as I’m not sure when we Aussies will be able to return.

rhon thanks for starting this thread, and it was great to read. Hope everyone can be happy and healthy during this trying time.>>

Nicely put, cheska and many thanks tor rhon for the thread from me too. I think that the pics come from the french coverage and edit, though the words are those of your own broadcaster of course. It made me feel sad too to see all those beautiful sights which are so difficult for most of us in the UK to get to see at the moment, but there are people in far worse situations I know.

<<No, it doesn't matter where the finish line is. Actually I would like to see them choose a different end point than the Champs Elysées, at least from time to time. I get really bored after a few loops, but since I'm watching at home, I can do stuff in the kitchen or whatever when nothing is happening.>>

Where would you choose to be an alternative kerouac? We do the same and have it going in the background whilst we do other things til things start to hot up about 1 ½ laps out.

<<Yes, another great race. Lots of impressive performances. There is a bit of a 'handing over of the baton ' as some elder statesmen retire and a new generation of younger riders emerge. It was great to see young Aussie Ben O 'Connor finishing fourth in his first tour. At least Cav ended up with the green jersey. >>

It had a sort of fittedness to it, that he only equalled not broke Merxck's record I thought, though obviously Cav didn't agree. And it's an incentive for him to have another go next year, though whether he'd try so hard to get over those mountain stages again if he'd already got the record is open to doubt.

I'm already missing it, so roll on next year!

Well, the Tour has ended on the Champs Elysées only since 1975 so it's not as though that place is engraved in marble. It doesn't need to end in Paris at all but it will probably continue to do so since I don't think any city in France can pay as much as Paris does for the privilege. But I could imagine it going between République and Bastille, even doing loops, as an alternative.

Naturally I felt a sudden compulsion to see where the Tour ended in 1974. It went from Orléans to the bicycle stadium in the Bois de Vincennes.