We're past the half-way point in Le Tour de France, and every day brings a new surprise. But as usual, I'm entranced. Today is a mostly-somewhat-flat sprinters stage, but yesterday was supposed to be a sprinter's stage too, and nobody really sprinted. LOL Yesterday was overtaken by an early successful breakaway and out of the thirteen riders in that breakaway, three pulled ahead in the final kilometres. The winner was a total surprise - someone who has been riding in Le Tour for five years and managed to get to Paris each year, but a total black horse. An unexpected winner. It was really wonderful to have someone out of the top names pull out a stage win.
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Just look at this profile. It's not completely flat, Mother Nature really doesn't do a lot of true flat areas in this part of France, but it's not the big peaks we left behind us or those upcoming this weekend. Will the sprinters take advantage of this? It's possible, but given yesterday's stage and how the sprinters took a day off, maybe today will be another "off" day for them. |
Taking a look at the stage profile. We're going from Nimes to Carcassonne. There's a lot of up and downs, but minor up and downs, just the kind that any general area of the world would have. At this point, it's early in the stage and although there has been a breakaway, Cavendish's team has been keeping things in check and they haven't gotten too far ahead of the peloton.
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We're "hugging" the coastline moving from Nimes to Carcassonne. It's a long and fairly straight route to get closer and closer to the Pyrenees. |
I think Mark Cavendish was tired yesterday and decided to give himself a "day off", if you can call a bike ride of almost 200 kilometers a "day off". There are still many days until we ride into Paris on the 18th, It's a flat ending at today's stage, and you never really know what will happen in any stage of Le Tour. That's really the best thing about this incredible race.
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Congratulations to Nils Politt, the winner of Stage 12 in this year's Le Tour de France. After five years with the peloton, just helping his GC riders in their stages, he broke away and rode brilliantly, winning Stage 12 uncontested. Very well done! |
It's a "day off", and since my Wednesday was taken up with computer stuff, today I get to catch up on the other errands that need doing on my days off. I'll be doing some grocery shopping, I might head to the bank for the shop, and I'll have some food prep work in the kitchen. At least I won't have laundry - that was able to be done on my usual Wednesday. I'll take a look at my lists when I sign off here.
I don't really have a lot to say today. All seems good, Le Tour is on in the background, and I'm getting ready for some breakfast. I hope your Friday is fabulous and I'll be back tomorrow. Please be kind, stay safe, and do something you really enjoy today.
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