Wow! Those Glorious Mountains!

OMG, what a stage we had on Le Tour yesterday. It was the first day of four in the Alps and the field was torn apart and spread over the course. The biggest news, at least for those of us following Le Tour in the USA, is that Tejay Van Garderen withdrew from the race. He had been in second place for the Yellow Jersey, so his withdrawl was quite a shock and at the end of the day, the leaderboard looks quite different. But Chris Froome is still firmly in the Yellow and currently stands 3' 10" ahead of Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas who has moved into second place. Valverde, Thomas and Contador round out the top five.

Nairo Quintana may only be in second position for the Yellow Jersey, but he
is in White for best young rider and has held that honor for most of the Tour. 

Simon Geschke (Giant-Alpecin) won the stage yesterday by less than 30 seconds on a steep uphill finish. He rode a great race and it was an exciting one to watch as riders threatened, and then spilled off the back. There were crashes, dangerous descents, and glorious scenery. Everything I want in the Alps came through in this first stage.

Simon Geschke won the stage with a courageous run up the mountains
of the Alps. It's nice to see the Giant team represented with a win. 

Today we're back in the Alps for Stage 18 from Gap to Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne (185km). There's a LOT of mountains today - three Cat 3 peaks, three Cat 2 peaks, and one HC peak at 1924 meters. It's a never ending roller coaster of big mountains. A good breakaway could take the stage, and there are questions about how much chasing the Yellow jersey will do with two more days in the Alps ahead of them.

Oh these beautiful mountains. I do love it when the boys are
racing through the Alps. Today is day two of four in these mountains
and just look at this profile. SQUEE!!!

I managed to tweak out my lower back late yesterday, so I've been in pain since. I have a machine day today, so I'll either end up almost in tears after my mileage, or I'll have to quit before I get in my full workout. That would disappoint me a great deal, so I'm hoping I can just work through the pain. Here's hoping you have a glorious Thursday.