Congratulations to British rider Geraint Thomas who picks up the first yellow jersey of the 2017 tour. Chris Froome with an admirable 6th place after todays time trial.

Excellent outcomes for Thomas and Froome. I fancy Quintana this year.

Quintana looked shaky in the giro but I agree he's the favourite. These Yates' stand a chance but am I being too patriotic??

Froome wasn't great in the Dauphine which is usually a good guide to Tour form.

The Yates brothers are good riders but can't see them on the podium unless a few others go the way of Valverde.

Quintana lost his major lieutenant today when Valverde crashed out of the time trial having smashed his knee cap - race could be all over if sky utilise the crosswinds early in the week and get into the front eschelons like they have in the past - no Stannard to put in the hard miles but Rowe, Kiryienka and Thomas should be good enough if they link up with lotto soudal and offer Greipel the stage in trade

just seen how things can hit you out of the blue in this race - a rider falls at the front of the peloton and takes out half of team sky and AG2R - they have managed to get back but Froome in particular has damaged his bike and lost skin on his cosic which will aggravate over the next few days. Kwiakovski is Froome's minder - one hell of a support to count on is that

Looks like a very good performance today from Cav after all his troubles and only 5 weeks of training. I think he got 3rd in the sprint ( still waiting for the official result )

Cav got 4th but as you say very encouraging I agree

Froome says he will be fine

Thomas still in yellow and looks like he is trying to grow a moustache - not sure why - maybe just while he is in yellow

Is this on tv? My sister and bro-in-law are well into this and we went to see the Tour De Yorkshire.

It's on ITV4 and Eurosport every afternoon

Cheers, ITV4 it is then. Eurosport's commentary always seems to be a let down, especially snooker and football.

Eurosport commentary on the cycling is unsurpassed,Carlton Kirby really knows his stuff as does Sean Kelly

When do they reach longwy?

Tomorrow i think.

Stevie2112 wrote:Tomorrow i think.

About an hour from my folks place, in case you were wondering..

Two nasty crashes at the end of today's stage - Sky taken out again and Cav then pushed by Peter Sagan into the barrier lands on his head/shoulder and another cyclist rides right into him as he was on the ground

Judging by Cav's response in an interview he suspect's his tour is over - same shoulder as he did at Harrogate a few tours back

Nasty crash for cav today,doesn't look good for him,after a poor season with illness.

Just thinking Sagan could get kicked out of tour after seeing umpteen relays !

It does look like he deliberately knocked him off,but these things happen in racing,so doubt anything will be done.

He got a 30 second time penalty

He's just been disqualified. Right decision in my opinion.

Now sky reporting Sagan has been kicked out of the tour.

Apparently they gave Sagan a 30 second penalty.
Dimension data appealed that decision and on appeal Sagan was kicked off the tour.
Correctly in my opinion.

Wow,didn't see that coming.Good on em

I couldn't see it happening either, but the correct decision.
It looked at first as if he was just trying to throw his weight over to regain his balance, but a second look and he definitely wiped him out.

It's a shame the F1 don't have the same set of balls.

Stevie2112 wrote:Nasty crash for cav today,doesn't look good for him,after a poor season with illness.

And, Sky now reporting the tour is over for Cav.

Sagan's team have launched an official protest

https://www.bora-hansgrohe.com/en/news/ ... 4/10894251" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

this isn't over yet

Massive fan of Cav's but I don't think Segan should've been disqualified. Boardman got it spit on when he said, "They've looked at the consequences too much and not the actual action..."

Right next to Segan, that other cyclist made a far more dangerous move (potentially) hard left, but that wasn't even reviewed.

Absolutely no chance is that a disqualification. When you look at what Cav did in 2011 too he's got nothing to grumble about. Sh!t happens in a sprint

Here is what has got others disqualified in the past

http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/pet ... de-france/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I think there's a difference.
There's no problem putting your elbows out, making yourself bigger so that someone else has to go round you, but he left Cav nowhere to go but the fence.

If you look at the overhead footage, it's obvious Sagan did him deliberately. He moves stadily to the right and elbows Cav into the fence. No excuses.

Strange from BMC today - not worked out for them at all

Fabio Aru class on the climb caught everyone out with how far he could push it - sky won't let that happen again

Froome relatively comfortable and now in yellow - has any team ever kept yellow from start to finish?

Quintana - missing Valverde off the pace and paying the price of completing the Giro

Simon Yates now in White like his twin brother Adam last year and no real contender to take it off him I suspect - should finish high up the overall standings

Sky team still controling things but Froome will not have it as easy this year as last. Will have to wait untill the serious sh it starts come this weekend

Great outcome for Froome. Quintana will be disappointed.

I will answer my own question - in 1970 Eddy Merckx's Faemino-Faema held Yellow from the 1st stage until the end - cycling has moved on a great deal since then so this would be an incredible achievement should it occur. One thing for sure if they do the haters will be out in full effect

Cavendish put his nose in a place where it didn't belong and paid the price. All's fair in love and bicycle racing.

Sagan's team really not letting this lie - trying to get him back in the race as of tomorrow

https://www.bora-hansgrohe.com/en/news/ ... s/10983587" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

How can he be let back in if he's missed a couple of stages??

indeed Winston but cycling is a very strange world

Kittel looked awesome in today's finish

Chester Perry wrote:Sagan's team really not letting this lie - trying to get him back in the race as of tomorrow

https://www.bora-hansgrohe.com/en/news/ ... s/10983587" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

CAS have turned the appeal down

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/cas-rej ... de-france/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Could be a very interesting day today - high potential for crosswinds and therefore time-gaps in eschelons - the big GC teams are in for a hard time - will Sky miss Stannard (the best in the world on days like this) will Quintana/movistar fall back has they have in previous years - will astana keep Aru in the mix. These days can be as exiting as the mountains and demonstrate the need for a GC rider to have a strong team, enjoy.

Steady today for the leaders - winds didn't materialise - so in effect a good way to prepare for the next 2 days in the mountains.

Still not sure how they determined anyone was a winner from that photo-finish from the picture shown

I've watched it over and over. It was a dead heat and for me, if there had to be a winner, it wasn't Kittel. How they came to the conclusion that Kittel took the line is beyond me!

According to to Tissot, Kittel won by 6mm, but they refused to provide TV companies with enlarged pics.

The pic is on the BBC website - if you look very very carefully Kittel just has it - I think

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

https://youtu.be/Yt3p-F2x7rY" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

All set up for tomorrow - hope it is not a blow out as I am expecting fireworks

Sky will be hoping that Luke Rowe has managed to get over whatever was troubling him today - they will need a full team as I expect them and all the others to be down to 4 or 5 by the 2nd to last climb - it will be brutal