Le Tour Day 3 Was A Tale of Crashes - Day 4 Starts Out With A Rider's Protest

It's Tuesday and apparently it's supposed to rain on and off throughout the day. My tomato plants will be joyous in the increased humidity, my grass might stop turning yellow and return to green, and my hubby will be disappointed because he can't do the outdoor work he was planning to do today. I guess Mother Nature can't always please everyone. LOL

Today's stage is rolling hills, nothing major at all. I hope 
that we can have a crash-free day for a change. 

Today is Day 4 of Le Tour de France and our last day in Brittany. Let's review Day 3, however, because after the Huge crash of Day 2, we went into Day 3 hoping for better results. Unfortunately, we got crash after crash - smaller scale, but devastating nonetheless. 

At the 37-kilometre mark a small crash brought down Geraint Thomas along with several Jumbo-Visma riders. Thomas pushed onward with a dislocated shoulder (popped back in by medical), but Robert Gesink (Jumbo-Visma) was forced to abandon because of his injuries. 

The riders are staging a "slow down" today. For the first 
10 kilometres of today's stage, they will ride together 
at a slow, steady pace to protest the 3-kilometre rule. The 
riders have been pushing to get that extended to an 
8-kilometre rule instead, especially on these narrower 
and more technical routes such as yesterday's multiple
city turns and constricted streets and byways. Le Tour 
officials, however, blame the crashes less on the route, 
and more on the riders "lack of attention" and "nerves" 
within the Peloton. Probably both sides are right, to an 
extent. 

Close to the end of the race, as the 10-km to go mark, Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) fell hard with a teammate, and at 4-km to go, Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) crashed on the downhill finish. All of these riders continued on, but serious time was lost. 

On the final curve before the straight run to the finish line, 
Caleb Ewen and Peter Sagan touched wheels and 
lost control, sliding hard across the tarmac. Ewen broke 
his right collarbone and had to withdraw from the 
race. Sagan got bounced about, but will be back in the 
saddle today. Bike racing is not for the faint of heart! 

Finally, at the final curve, a serious crash between Caleb Ewen (Lotto Soudal) and Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) ended Sagan's hopes for a sprint ending and sent Ewen to the hospital where he later withdrew from the race due to a broken collarbone. Tim Merlier (Alpecin Fenix) won the stage, but the GC classifications really didn't change from the day before. I'm hoping we can end Brittany on a better note - no serious crashes, no withdrawals due to injury, and moving onward to tomorrow's Individual Trim Trial with a minimum of muss and fuss. 

So, I'm out of here. I hope you have a truly fantastic Tuesday and please, as always, be kind and stay safe. I'll be back tomorrow before I head out to get my scalp tattoo! Whoot!!!