Tour de France 2017

Probably, he was out with injury and probably does not have the depth needed to win a GT stage right now.

That speedo advert. I'll dig out the bright orange longsleeve I have.

As much as I love JA Flecha, I don't hold out hope that he's ever going to make it as an actor.

His little recon where he 'came across' his former team mate was rubbish in terms of his acting skills. I did like him looking at cows through binoculars though.

That's not a very PC word for those roadside supporters

I wonder if grand tours should go from 3 weeks to 2 weeks. That or shorter stages...

So hard to figure out what on earth is going on while working

easy to figure out what is going on with a delicious pint in hand in the upstairs room of the Lamb

Was Chaves working for Yates earlier on, or is he just off the pace today? He's still smiling on Backstage Pass, but he's having a right rough old time at the minute.

British national champ in road and TT and he's sat solidly at the back for almost the entire race so far so his powder is as dry as it's going to get

Cummings bar I.D? Touch of flare on the drops.

Not taking anything away from him. But I just don't think he has the depth to still be strong at the end of a stage in a GT. Would love to be proved wrong.

Edit. He is at the front right now. Sadly I think it's for nothing as sky are riding hard.

Given the stem is 3T from some pics I've seen, Aeronova bars?

De Gent/Cummings gonna struggle

Aeronova bars?

He's used Rotunda Teams previously, when he was at MTN Qhubeka and at BMC. I doubt that he's changed.

Ergonova perhaps? Doesn't look like Aero tops.

and Cummings goes. is it futile?

Cummings off!

Brice Feillu for most combative rider today though? Great bridging attempt.

Bertie's off too! No reaction seeing as he's about 5 minutes back

Stevo! Looks fresh at the moment, well relatively anyway.

Whatever you think of Team Sky, they've done a fantastic job today. Still got 5 riders in the peloton I think, with some really strong riders having been dropped already.

I also saw that at the start of this stage, there were still two Sky riders at less than 7 minutes back from Froome (Henao and Landa I think). Considering some of the stages so far, and the fact that their role has just been a shepherd for Froome, that's hugely impressive.

He looks like he has legs for a while anyhow.

Hope he wins the stage so he can go back to chilling at the lanterne rouge.

Gautier down

(Stacked it on a dodgy bend into a grass mound)