Overall smooth start to the race today without massive pile-ups that often happen in the first days.  The crowds were unbelievable in Yorkshire -- such a turnout could not have been expected.

 

Cavendish screwed it up in the last 250 meters because he was too anxious and now it seems likely that he will be out of the race altogether.  Sad finish for the home crowd but Kittel is the real deal and Sagan doesn't have the same level of power but is still crafty and quite fast.  

 

I hate Cuntador but they say he is in great shape and will at least challenge Froome more than last year.  It would be nice to have some others step up and create some drama.  I will miss Quintana Rojas.  I'm amazed that he won the Giro, and apparently he has his sites set on the Vuelta this summer.  I hope he comes back to the TDF next year.

 

20 more days of fun and punishment!

Ready to watch a tough 2nd day. 12000 ft of climbing, 125 miles.

.....

Yeah that is too bad for Cav.

.....

The news about Cavendish sucks and I'm with you, Al, I hope some shows up to make things interesting.

Anyone but Froome here. Contador is probably my favorite but really anyone but Froome.

I really have nothing against Froome and Sky in general but rooting mainly for Contador and Nibali as my 2nd choice.

For Green I think no one else deserves it more than Sagan.

I don't see it happening this year but...

 

Tejay... Tejay... Tejay!

O M G. 

 

I don't know how to do spoilers here so I'm just gonna shut the fuck up right now. What a stage so far!

Yep

Yeah....Stage 5 is definitely one to watch.

Crazy day but 3 hours and 20 minutes for nearly 100 miles was very impressive.

Think will watch it again...

I didn't have time to watch but I will say that the outcome wasn't what I wanted. I hate when injuries remove the rivals and I would have much rather watched the big 3 duke it out in the mountains. I guess that's how it goes but for me the race has lost some attraction this year.

I gotta agree with you there, Chris. It's not exciting to lose key players to crashes

ROLF... think Wiggins is bored?

 

 

http://instagram.com/bradwiggins?modal=true

Awesome rides by Tony Martin and Tony Gallopin.

Will be interesting to see what they do tomorrow.

Cool stage

But I hadn't seen it before inadvertently seeing the first line of your post in Tapatalk timeline mode. Kinda wrecked the suspense. For those of us recording, it would be great to hold off on results commentary or at least put in something generic and then return a couple of lines so it doesn't show up in Tapatalk or the like. Thanks.

OH, boy.....  interesting. (and yikes)

Took me even longer than usual to see the last stage before the rest day.

 

It was quite a wild ride in many ways.  The Contador crash and abandon was totally the opposite of what I was expecting for the stage, and the whole breakaway/Martin/Kwiatkowski/Rodriguez thing was epic, and then Nibali dominating the finish.  Wow.

Holy cow...

 

 

Tony MARTIN, Omega Pharma-Quick Step, in 1:06:21

 

Crushed it is a massive understatement.

Spoiler tags don't work on tapatalk (post preview will reveal the content) if close to the top of the post.

.....

Not related to this year's Tour but I watched ESPN's 30 for 30 movie, Slaying the Badger, last night and found it highly enjoyable.  Roughly speaking it chronicles the rise of LeMond and focuses on the '86 Tour. 

 

I didn't get to watch much of this year's Tour, really just the last few stages and pieces of some of the early ones but watching the last TT was as inspiring as usual.  I need to ride more.

Wow, some crash yesterday.

 

I sure hope everyone is ok.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pbc6BHuEWPk&feature=youtu.be

Edited July 8, 201511 yr by TMoney

Not related to this year's Tour but I watched ESPN's 30 for 30 movie, Slaying the Badger, last night and found it highly enjoyable.  Roughly speaking it chronicles the rise of LeMond and focuses on the '86 Tour. 

 

I didn't get to watch much of this year's Tour, really just the last few stages and pieces of some of the early ones but watching the last TT was as inspiring as usual.  I need to ride more.

Yes, I really enjoyed this as well. LeMond was a monster before he got shot.

 

I've watched a bit of this years tour, but didn't see yesterday's stage and crash.

This Tour is already pretty freakin epic with cross-winds, crashes, cobbles, and comebacks. Today's finish was awesome and inspiring, especially after the disaster yesterday.

Very sorry to see Fabian Cancellara abandon with another broken vertebrae in his last Tour. Losing Simon Gerrans and Tom Demoulin were other bummers.

Impressive finish on stage 4.

I felt for those guys sucking dirt in the pelaton.....

 

What's up with those team Sky sag wagons?

(they look like some sort of Jag SUV thing)