Winnersaint

Disappointment I can accept, but scarring 15 years later? The only scarring I have from my bike prang a year ago is the visible one above my left knee. Apart from a little reluctance initially on steep descents I sort of got over it. Funny how people handle life's little dramas differently!

I'm a teacher, I'm not going to be striking even though NAS/UWT for 33 years. Most of the recent public sector pension and conditions of service changes that are being argued about will have feck all effect on me, but it's more about the message it sends to young people. I get all that stuff about bankers and city types, but my day to day work is with vulnerable teenagers at risk of exclusion, with low self-esteem or with negative attitudes to education. It seems to me I have to not strike, because it is about them and not about me, a sentiment a number of my colleagues would do well to remember.

Vuelta a Espana already on Stage 5. Nibali in red. Love this race as the parcours is usually less predictable than TdF with some seriously silly climbs. Angliru anyone? http://www.climbbybike.com/profile.asp?Climbprofile=Angliru---Gamonal&MountainID=18 From 2011. Wiggins and Froome v Cobo. Funny how the latter is nothing but an also ran now!!!

Thought I'd read something on the Sky ticker yesterday. soemthing along the lines of @Va Va Vroome. Kenya's first TdF winner

This year's Tour never stopped giving, from the bus in Bastia to the Champs Elysee at dusk. Can't believe it's over. Roll on it's smaller Spanish brother at the end of August. I agree with NFP that Froome may well dominate for a few years. Quintana strikes me more as a Giro/Vuelta winner in years to come. He's out of contract with Movistar. Wonder if DB will make a move to bring him to Sky to replace the likely to depart Rigoberto Uran As far as Cav is concerned too much was left at the Giro. That said if he'd had the lead out Kittel had he'd have won. QPQS didn't give him anything like the tow that Wiggins and EBH gave into the last corner. Steegmans was dropping off in the Place De La Concorde. Head to head Cav on form is probably at least as fast as Kittel if not a smidge faster, but the train simply wasn't up to it. Will be interesting if as predited Mark Renshaw is at OPQS next year how much better he will fare. Oh yes bring on Yorkshire!

Ooops accidentally posted again!

Dirty Bertie's face was a picture at the end. Can't wait for the double Alpe D'Huez tomorrow. They'd better watch out on the descent of the Sarenne though. Friend of mine went up there from Freney D'Oisans a couple of weeks ago as part of acclimatisation for La Marmotte. Says its very steep and the roads are extremely sketchy at the top. Also rain might be an issue. Can't wait

Dirty Bertie's face was a picture at the end. Can't wait for the double Alpe D'Huez tomorrow. They'd better watch out on the descent of the Sarenne though. Friend of mine went up there from Freney D'Oisans a couple of weeks ago as part of acclimatisation for La Marmotte. Says its very steep and the roads are extremely sketchy at the top. Also rain might be an issue. Can't wait

Sky coach Tim Kerrison reckons that the doping era had a seriously detrimental effect on coaching standards in road cycling and that Sky are merely exploiting the knowledge gap. He has worked in a number of endurance sports, particularly swimming and was astonished by the lack of structured coaching within the sport when he came into it. It was easier in terms of results to go down a doping route in the 90's and 00s than to invest in this area. With that route increasingly closed off the gaps between those i.e. Sky using 'good science' compared to those who previously relied on 'bad science' widened and may continue to do so. That said, what I saw yesterday didn't look normal. Even Dave Brailsford has said that multiple attacks on mountains were a thing of the past in an era of clean cycling, which is exactly what Froome did so I agree with Sandwich the whispers will not go away. Subjecting the riders data to WADA scrutiny would not breach confidentiality and may be the only thing to halt the whispering campaign

Speechless!!!!Froome's just gone vroome!!

NFP respect for doing Ventoux. It's the one I really want to do. As a kid I remember the tragic black and white footage of Tom Simpson's last moments without really understanding what was going on or why. All I can remember was my mum, a talented rider in her own right in the early 50's in tears. Apart from the 'boys of 66' Tom Simpson was just about my first sporting hero.

Harsh on Cav methinks. Veelers seems to peel off to left and then remains basically on line as Greipel and Kittel go left thus blocking Cav off from following their wheel. Cavendish has to adjust at high speed to the right which throws him quite naturally to the left as the sudden adjustment would, hence the contact. Commissaires have declared no fault. OPQS need to look at that final few km today as they got lost as a train. Even Steegmans was adrift. It certainly bore no resemblance to HTC of old or Argos Shimano today. Kittel took full advantage. Fair play to him.

Definitely a bad day at the office for Sky, Pete Kennaugh's encounter with a hawthorn bush started things off badly and it ended badly with Vasil Kyrienka being outside time cut off, Lopez and Suitsou really need to step up now. Sky domestiques seriously put themselves into the red yesterday and it showed today. Movistar made an absolute horlicks of the stage in the end.

Pete Kennaugh is the next big thing from Sky. Only 23 years old. Has been track orientated for London 2012 for past 3 years, but has been long talked about as a potential TdF winner in the future. Hope GT gets at least one crack at it but feel that Kennaugh may be there before that opportunity arises. Did you know that Gareth Bale, Sam Warburton and Geraint Thomas were all at the same school in Cardiff?

Could be interesting.The Pailheres looks to be a monster and will shred the peloton but possibly not the place for significant GC attacks. The Ax3 climb could be explosive given it's length. Respect to anyone Sandwich who goes up mountains like those on a bike. Next door neighbour, as I type, will have climbed and descended Glandon and probably be well on the way to Telegraphe/Galibier on La Marmotte. One day I may get to try before I get too old.

Think you will be right on this one as well. Only issue could be unpredictable crosswinds from the Carmargue which is to the south of most of the stage. If this causes splits in the peloton it could upset the bunch sprinters plans. BTW what was impressive about Cav yesterday was that it really wasn't even close. Admittedly Greipel had sat up by the line, but he'd been seriously distanced by the initial burst that Cav put in. EBH got in a brilliant position, but was never really close enough to get Cav's wheel, and impressive though he is Sagan isn't an out and out drag race sprinter. Good stage. Like the breakaways with 'will they, won't they catch them' scenarios

Correctly called Cat

Good stuff by Orica Greenedge winning the TTT yesterday. OPQS and Sky right up there too. No great GC losses although some lost for Evans and TJVG. Looking forward to the Pyrenees at the weekend. Mountain top finish on Saturday at Ax 3 Domaines after the Col De Pailheres. http://www.letour.fr/le-tour/2013/us/stage-8.html Expect the whole thing to be more clearly defined come the rest day on Monday. The only downside to the whole thing is having to listen to the interminable drivel from Phil Liggett and his pet monkey on ITV 4's commentary as have no access to Eurosport during working hours. C'est la vie!

Couldn't put it better myself. if you think the east coast looked good wait until tomorrow and Monday. Definitely on my list of must do cycling places. As far as the crash was concerned Tony Martin I believe is out with a collarbone, Geraint Thomas has gone to have X-Rays, Sagan looked pretty beaten up as did Beefy Bertie. Bring on Stage 2!

55 Live in Winnersh Berkshire, but grew up in North Baddesley and Fordingbridge amongst others. First home game was v Leeds in October 1963. the Revie side on its way up to the First Division. 4-1 defeat. First away game was v Bristol City at Ashton Gate in the Cup in Jan 1967. Never been so scared in my life. All those Wurzels sound alikes singing 'Drink up thy Ziderrrr' at the top of their voices under the covered end at Ashton Gate was a bit much for a nine year old. Never had a season ticket, never will. Have always been and will always be a Saint

Think Sky will go with the Dauphine team, probably minus Pete Kennaugh and with the addition of Bernie Eisel and Christian Knees. You could argue a case for Dario Cataldo given that he is the current Italian TT champion and that with the loss of Wiggins Sky would be weakened in the TTT around Nice once they've got through Corsica. Still very strong on that front though with Porte, Froome, EBH and Geraint Thomas. If they go down that route it might mean swapping Stannard for Cataldo.

Phil Thompson said 'Penguin' for no apparent reason on Sky when Liverpool conceded against Chelsea. He's a big nosed Scouse idiot.

1 Yes the absolute number 1 sporting highlight of the year. 2 Froome, Contador, TJ Van Garderen, Evans (Nibali not doing it) today's stage of Criterium Du Dauphine will be an interesting one as it Most fascinating will be the fight for green between Cav and Sagan. 3 Unfortunately not. The nearest I'll get to Alpe D'Huez this year is talking about it to my next door neighbour who is doing La Marmotte in July. Plus it's still term time so no go. 4 Agree with Sandwich that Wiggo was well off the pace at the Giro. Not sure about his prospects for the Vuelta. he possibly won't get the leadership there, plus the course is probably suited more to Sky's Colombians. In some respects his fame and personality goes well beyond cycling itself and I'm not sure he is prepared to be an also-ran in a Grand Tour, so I think it will be the ITT at the World Champs that he focuses on. Even then he will have to go some to beat Tony Martin who I believe was turning an 8 tooth gear on Wednesday.

Racking up the miles on the bike a fair bit. Waiting for the TdF. Holiday - then season will be almost upon us again.

Going up Hill Lane as Birmingham City came down back towards the station was just about the scariest experience of the last 55 years.(March 1974). Chelsea in the Cup in 77 was a bit wild also. Like a lot of things in life if you wanted it and looked for it you could get all the thrills you wanted. Not for me though. The nagging fear factor was part of it but my memories are that it was easy to avoid.