Officials this morning voided the 15-second gap they enforced yesterday, when a break appeared back in the peloton as it crossed the finish line.
Juilet Macur spotted this posters on the roads of le Tour.
A mellow johnny on grid paper. And we think what today's stage looked like in HD.
Uploaded by Serge Dubois | more from the Bike Hugger Photostream.
There are three minor climbs early which should have little impact on the racing, but also 3 intermediate sprints that could factor in the green jersey battle between Thor Hushovd and Mark Cavendish.
Jerseys:
- Yellow: Rinaldo Nocentini
- Green: Thor Hushovd
- Polka-dot: Egoi Martinez
- White: Tony Martin
Mark Cavendish and all the sprinters are quiet in the mountain stages, climbing in the autobus, and biding their time until the next flat stage. Here's a YouTube video with him talking about being in the green.
For your le Tour party from Etsy.
Pierrick Fedrigo of Bbox Bouygues Telecom took France's 3rd stage win of the Tour, coming around Franco Pellizotti in the final 200 meters in Tarbes.
None of the overall contenders tried to break the field on the last two Pyrenean climbs, so Rinaldo Nocentini continues in yellow. Euskaltel-Euskadi's Egoi Martinez takes over the King of the Mountains lead after a long day in the breakaway. Green jersey Thor Hushovd spent the day well behind the action, but holds the green jersey, while Tony Martin finished in the first big group to hold the white jersey. Pellizotti takes the “consolation prize” — the red race numbers that denote the stage's most aggressive rider.
One for the breakaway artists today, with Luis Leon Sanchez of Caisse d'Epargne outkicking Sandy Casar for the stage win.
Much of the day's drama came earlier. Thor Hushovd took advantage of Mark Cavendish's difficulties on the day's first climb to join the break and take two intermediate sprints, knocking the green jersey off Cavendish's shoulders, and giving Hushovd an 11-point lead in the competition. Christophe Kern takes over the King of the Mountains lead.
Rinaldo Nocentini holds the maillot jaune, but saw his overall lead threatened when Andy Schleck attacked on the Col d'Agnes, splitting the field but not dropping any of the expected race winners. After a few kilometers, Nocentini was able to rejoin the field, and he'll wear yellow for at least one more day.
Flickr blogs about le Tour photos.
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Rinaldo Nocentini starts the day in yellow, while Stage 7 winner Brice Feillu, racing his first Tour, holds the King of the Mountains, which could come under attack today. Columbia's Tony Martin continues to lead the young rider's competition for the white jersey.
Le Tour rode through Andorra and pretty sure that's where Andorians come from.
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Tom crashed on the lines yesterday.Uploaded by Hugger Industries | more from the Bike Hugger Photostream.
Stage 7 was great. Climbs, crashes and a surprise finish! You can replay our Live Chat now and come back tomorrow at 7:30am for another great Bike Hugger Live Chat.
Photo: Getty Images
We'll finally hear from the skinny guys today, as the race climbs its first two big climbs, including a finish at Arcalis in Andorra. Expect moves from GC candidates sitting back a few minutes, like Carlos Sastre, Cadel Evans, and Denis Menchov, who have only three mountaintop finishes where they can make time this year.
It's a climber's day, but there could be activity in the green jersey race, as well, as there are two intermediate sprints in the day's last 30 kilometers. If Mark Cavendish or Thor Hushovd should have difficulties on the climbs, the other could move up in the competition.
BikePortland finds a reason to post on the Tour and it's because local Comcast broke away to commercial at the finish of today's stage. Understandably that enraged Portlanders and that brought us to the question of how well Versus is doing and in HD? This afternoon Levi asked
For all you North American fans, how's the coverage of the #tdf on Versus, online, etc? Curious.
We think it's been good so far. The crew has found their stride, that drafting infographic is awesome, and the camera work outstanding (yes, it's just a feed they get). HD camera work is stunning, like their Roubaix coverage. The HD graphics are also well done.
Their website streaming is just strange. Would recommend they not charge you and just run more ads.
Our biggest criticism is with the commercials, of course. If you have Vs on in the background, it's one loud, brash, annoying channel. Maybe they do that on purpose, not sure, but when I am watching I mute every commercial break
Earlier this year, Vs asked us to give them some input and we did. So did you.
We don't know exactly what they heard and didn't, but have noticed they did not bring out the intern again, are doing more interesting backstories, and being more engaging.
They also have not cut to rodeo.
What do you think? We'll share this feedback with them again.
It's time to hit the mountains and see who really is ready to win the Tour. The first big uphill stage of the Tour will have us Live Chatting all morning long. Join us for our Live Chat coverage in the Hub!
Today's a transition stage, with roads turning lumpy. A 4th Category climb that comes with 13 miles to race might launch a late breakaway. If the field stays together, a 500-meter hill with a 6.6 percent slope that comes with just 1.2 miles to race could neutralize the pure sprinters a bit.
The Tour's first 3rd Category climbs threaten Jussi Vaikkenen's hold on the King of the Mountains jersey.
Fabian Cancellara continues in the yellow jersey in the same time as Lance Armstrong.
Note: we're live chatting and blogging again tomorrow.
Stage Preview
Orange deployed fiber-optic cable along the entire race route, providing bandwidth of 155 megabits per second in both finish zones, and an enterprise-class Wi-Fi network to support the press and Tour staff.
Team Orange
- An event team of 50 people
- 860 concerned workers (responsible, technicians, drivers …) in different territorial directions
- 178 kms of cables settled and unsettled for the 21 stages
- 7350 analogical lines
- 3360 numeris lines
- 4700 ADSL lines
- 750 Intermediate points
- 168 Satellite stations
- 3 35-ton trucks
- 3 vans
- 11 cars
- 16 tons of material
Big Tubes
Letour.fr interviewed Henri Terreaux about the challenges of wiring le Tour:
Last year, IT Pro magazine went behind-the-scenes and reviewed how Orange wired the Tour.More than the size of the Tour, it’s mainly the transformation of jobs and means that force us to adapt very rapidly. For example, a few years ago, a photographer present on the finish line would send around ten photos. Now in order to be fast and thanks to the lower costs of transmissions, they send 150, 200 or 500 photos. And we have to furnish a big enough tube so that everything goes through. Added to that, there are now more and more TV crews that send their footage and news reports via the web so the needs are huge. And we have to respond to them.
It's a wonder of technology. Note that to your IT guy next time your intranet goes down . . .
Photos: IT Pro
CVV posts on his team's ride at the Team Time Trail
Tuesday’s team time trial was bittersweet given the circumstances: we lost four of nine riders with 28 kilometers, or about 17 miles, to go over an undulating, technical course with gale-force winds. This was a consequence of our team going fast from the start and some of our riders not matching the pace.
Photo: Reuters
Award-winning photographer Brent Humphreys offers a rich collection of Tour images, photographed since 2004. He captures the color, intensity, and real life moments as singular pieces of art. Mellow Johnny's partnered with Brent to build the exhibition, and proceeds from all sales go to Livestrong. Find out more.
Pez reports that Garmin-Chipotle planted naked men on the course to disrupt their rivals. Did not affect Astand, if true. Maybe more effective to hack the Chalkbot.
Photo: CorVors/PezCyclingnews
NYT offers tips on bike racing.
"It’s that time of year again when riders with Campy group sets and Armstrong dreams feel the urge to test their fitness in competitive races. As the weather improves and the Tour de France rolls around, local coaches testify to an annual spike in interest among those who have never raced before."
Photo: Ozier Muhammad/The New York Times
Road Bike Action reports from the fan-lined roads at the Tour de France.
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