Welcome to the Bastille Day Coverage of the Tour de Underpants, here in the Drunken Gaming Corner! So Party Hearty today to commemorate the 1790 storming of the Bastille, regarded as the turning point in uniting France as a country.
Today is also a special day since one of my friends has a birthday, but I won’t mention who it is since he prolly doesn’t want it announced all over the place! So think of it as yet another great reason to Party On! Yays!!!
And, since were on the topic, it must be time for the Wine of the Day! I love rose wines, particularly when the weather is warmer or hot and the wine is well-chilled! Very delicious and refreshing! The only drawback is that these roses are often difficult to find in stock in the States. So my recommendation is try anything you can find from the Coteaux d’Aix-en-Provence or the Coteaux Varois en Provence. These are great food wines with nice acidity, and fun and festive by themselves! Perfect for cheering on the riders with!! Yays!!
OK, back to the Tour! The coverage begins at the feeding station at Quissac with the peloton about 5 minutes behind in this flat area, and Michael Morkov in the lead. Awws, he wants to win today because his dad passed away five years ago today to cancer. Go Morkov Go!
Nice caravans in the hills now as the peloton pedals towards the Mediterranean.
Only 12 French riders have claimed victory on Bastille Day, so they are extra motivated today! The French riders were seen drinking a second cup of cappuccino to get a good start. And the French spectators and media have turned out in droves. Wheees!
Oh, grape vines here! Nice chalky cliffs toos! This area must have been under the ocean millions of years ago, like in the Champagne area, giving Champagne a certain chalky characteristic to it.
Wow! That was an epic picture from the helicopter with the peloton weaving it’s way through several switchbacks outside of Sauteyrargues!
Down the road a bit, the sprint started in flat Mas-de-Londres with some beige colored buildings here. Oh noes!!! 100 meters into the sprint Peter Vellas crashed into the barrier on the left side! He seems OK and was able to pedal off, but he held up much of the peloton in the process.
Yays! Nice 8 second wheel change! Nicely done, Peter Sagan mechanic! He weaved his way back through the peloton and past the team cars to catch back up.
Ohhhs, cool castle as part of the wine estate!
The peloton has been disrupted as they fly through some hills now outside of Murviel-les-Montpellier and have caught up a bit to the leaders, about 2.5 minutes behind. And Morkov is in the lead! Nicely done for Dad!
Very old Church of the Montpellier, so epic and beautiful!
That is cool!!!! A couple is getting married in a different, very old church as the Tour goes pedaling by! Many of the guests were waving at the helicopter and the photographer came out and took a picture of the helicopter! Congratulations, newlyweds!!!
Yes, I could use Six Days in Copenhagen, baby!!!! Oh wait, that’s a bike race and not some sort of drunken adventure! LOL!
Ohhhs, the helicopter has a view of the Mediterranean now outside of Mireval. Cool high-speed train going by too! The wind has really picked up here, increasing the difficulty level of the race with Morkov still leading.
Morkov is racing all alone in front, down a long straightaway over a causeway. Go Morkov Go! You Rock!
Hmmms, not sure why the one cyclist keeps grabbing another cyclist’s bike seat – LOL! They are conversing about something but not sure what.
The cyclists are getting closer to Sete now with more people along the road and on some overpasses, cheering on the riders. There are some electrified rail lines and some industry here, perhaps a concrete factory.
There are some modern apartment buildings that look as they have a cage going around the outside of the porches – LOL!
Crash, several riders down! Fredrik Kassiakoff hit his brakes so hard he flew over the handlebars! I hope everyone will be OK! One of the bikes has a very bent rim!
Now they weave their way through narrow streets in the very charming fishing town of Sete. Beautiful snaking peloton through the town streets and around the waterways.
A bit further on down the road is some very interesting modern architecture in the hotel there! I wouldn’t mind staying there!
Cadel “Cuddle” Evans is making some serious progress here as he passes up a whole bunch of people in the peloton. He is only 23 seconds behind the leader, Markov now! People are cheeering him on like crazy here on these narrow ancient streets in Mont Saint-Clair! Go Everyone Go!
The hill is very steep here as they climb up and up with a view of the Mediterranean behind him. Cheer cheer cheer! Pedal pedal pedal! The crowd is going wild!!!! Can Markov keep his lead?
The peloton is all straggled out over the summit and Cadel leads the peloton now as he hauls ass down the backside of the hill. This is a tricky descent through narrow twisting, ancient roads with palm trees and Mediterranean architecture with white walls, red roofs, arching doorways, and colorful swimming pools.
Modern architecture here outside of Mont Saint-Clair as the cyclist whiz by. LOL – the vineyard parallels the rail tracks! And now some of the spectators are in swimsuits with deep tans as they cheer the cyclists on! Wheeees! They wish they all were Mediterranean Girls!
They are riding along the beaches of the Mediterranean now. They have since turned off with vineyards on both sides, and an industrial train with some interesting tanker cars with a frame around them. The peloton is 20 seconds behind here.
The crowd has really gathered here in this flat breezy area and are cheering like crazy! The two leaders are just ahead of the peloton with just a couple miles to go. The cars are being called off the course. The riders are digging deep as they start sprinting. The peloton is catching up fast as they turn around a corner. Sanchez starts sprinting like crazy with just a mile to go. Who will pull off a victory here? It could go to several peeps at this point!
Hagen is there and so is Wiggo! Oh Wiggo is ahead! Oh wait, Griepel sprinted ahead! There goes Sagen! A bunch of cyclists were right behind them! They are all pedaling their asses off as they battle it out for the win! Who can dig the deepest? Aaaannnndddd, it’s Greipel!!!! Nicely done! Many riders all earned the same time since they all came across the finish so closely together. What a thrilling finish today!!!
Markov said that he is happy with his ride today and that his Dad would be proud! Awwws!
I like the Ferris Wheel in the ancient town of Cap-d’Agde! Epic! The ancient red roofs give the town a scenic look.
Greipel is just beaming with that victory! Awwws!
Oh noes, none of the winners were showing any junk – LOL! I will have look for a Bulge of the Day Winner again tomorrow.
I look forward to covering tomorrow’s stage from Limoux to Foix! Looks long, challenging, and scenic! Have fun out there meh hearties! Yays!