Le Tour Day 17 - We're High in the Mountains

Did all of you see that crash yesterday? With this mountain having history of a rider in the Tour (Fabio Casartelli) losing his life after crashing here several years ago, my breath was held until Philippe Gilbert climbed back over the wall he had hit at high speed and resumed racing. A second crash on the final downhill by Adam Yates was also a heart-stopper, but both riders were all right after the stage ended. The winner of the stage was Julian Alaphilippe, the current holder of the Polka-dot Jersey for King of the Mountains. He rode a thrilling and daring downhill on the final slopes to win in Bagneres-de-Luchon. The Yellow Jersey stayed with Geraint Thomas and Peter Sagan has the Green Jersey wrapped up as long as he can make it to the finish line in Paris. 

The main Peleton was hit by the residue of pepper
spray used by the police to break up a French
farmers' protest. The race was halted for 15
minutes while the riders flushed their eyes and
several large bales of hay blocking the roadway
were moved. 

Protests caused a bit of havoc earlier in Stage 16, with French farmers moving giant haybales across the road, protesting new French labor laws and a general lack of investment in the region. The police blasted the protesters with pepper spray, but the spray lingered in the air and affected the riders when they entered the area. Because of a multitude of burning eyes and lungs, the race was halted as a neutral for 15 minutes. Both the Yellow Jersey wearer, Geraint Thomas, and the current Green Jersey winner, Peter Sagan, were caught by the spray and had their burning eyes drenched with water. 

Today's stage looks deceptively easy, but it's a beast. The
mountains of the Pyrenees take everything from a rider and
pull the strength from their legs. Short does not mean
sweet today. 

Today's stage is short but very intense. Stretching only 65 km, it features two Cat 1 peaks and ends at the summit of the third peak of the day, the Col du Portet, an HC peak. It might be a short stage, but this one is intense and begins immediately as the race officially begins. It's going to be a day of hard climbing and fast downhills - exciting to watch. 

That final peak today is no easy climb. Look
at all of those black portions on the detail! It's
steep and narrow and it's going to be a
serious challenge to all of the riders today. 

It's finally a day off for me and I have errands to run and a lot of laundry to do. I'm really looking forward to catching up at home for a while. DH was laying out bricks for a patio extension yesterday and he wasn't happy with what he came up with, giving me permission to rearrange today if I wanted. Yes, I want. So I'll be outside for a while today adding moving bricks to my schedule. Have a great Wednesday. I'll be back tomorrow for another mountain stage in the Pyrenees! Whoot!!!