After working on meh Pacific Northwest sunburn, I’m back inside for the 5 p.m. coverage of the 4th leg of the Tour de France!
I’m wondering if Fabian Canellara can keep his yellow shirt or if Frank Sagen will win the stage again, or if someone else will manage to win!!!!
Today’s coverage of the stage from Abbeyville to Rouen started about the feeding station. Today they are riding along the beautiful Alabaster Coast, here at Ste Marguerite sur Mer! Super scenic, not including the guy with the swimsuit thing going up his butt crack!!!
It turns out that one of the riders broke his hip yesterday during one of the crashes but it didn’t hurt him much yesterday, and he didn’t realize that he had broken it until an X-Ray showed it at the hospital!!!!
Yann Hugo had to stop and change a tire right after the feeding station. The peloton turned away from the misty coast and through a woodsie area. Oh wait, he had to have another tire changed! Catch back up!
Now they are heading back along the coast along the English Channel and through some open fields and fields of hay in Veules-les-Roses. Beautiful!
Yes indeed, the beverage of the day should be traditional cider!!! I lovvve a great cider!!! Get whatever kind is available in your area, whether it’s French or English, it should be totally yumm!!!!
I love the huge modern wind turbines, also in Veules-les-Roses! Beautiful!
Oh noes, I just saw the update about yesterday’s crashes and appeared to include 8 or 9 injuries including a broken tibia, a separated shoulder, chest contusions, a concussion, a huge gash down the front of Mark Cavandish’s leg, and more!!! Oh noes!!! Take care, everyone!!!!
Now they are heading through Fecamp. Three riders are in the lead with the peloton a bit over 7 minutes behind. Yukiya Arashiro is in the lead at the moment and he lives in France year-round.
Ahhhhs, someone is sharing the love with a huge yellow shirt on the lawn, awwwww!! I loved the Gingerbread Man of hay that appeared earlier too!!!
One of the Dutch cyclists needed a new tire and the mechanic was all fumbling about with the longest tire change so far in the Tour, as the peloton goes riding by! The little girl outside of Faconne was so thrilled to see the tire change so I suppose it was all worthwhile!
Ohhhh, the Benedictine Palace is beautiful!!!! So epic!!
Now some the cyclists are getting foodz to share with their teammates!!! Nice tram!!!!
Wow, someone in meh neighborhood is really having funz with the fireworks at the moment, as someone had issues with his bike helmet and got a new one – Yays!
Nice huge fake giraffe at it starts to rain a bit, and around the roundabout in their brightly colored jerseys and helmets! Rain water on the camera lenses with some blue skies with clouds off in the distance! Wet roads in a little town and now some open fields! Hello Team BMC and Cadel in the peloton! The leaders of the peloton are having a chat now as the pedal through the tree-lined road! Oh, there is flourescent rezzing for a few seconds – LOL!
Now the peloton is a bit over 4 minutes behind outside of Alloveyea. Great fields as the peloton stretches out!
Oh noes, a new crash towards the rear of the peloton as the water bottles go all over and a few wheels about. Most seem ok through a bit of chaoes. The road was very narrow here and a few bicycles ended up on the grass to the side of the road.
The LiquidGas team has the word ‘fizik’ on their butts and it cracks me up – LOL!
Awwwws, a football field with a large pink sculpture of a bicycle!
OK, now picking up the pace along the river Seine, the same river that runs through Paris, of course! The road seems to have dried out now, making it much safer for the riders. The peloton is almost 2 minutes behind the leaders as they rapidly approach the finish.
Oh cool gate and gardens! Oh yes the Clean Bottle with removable bottom tram!
Who will win, Cavandish or Sagen? The Route de Duclair is a beautiful area as just about 8 miles from the finish with less than a minute behind the leaders as they race through some country side here.
They are rolling up towards the finish now as the fireworks go off. Now we see the ancient Abbey from the 12th century as they line up the hill.
24 seconds behind now, hello firemen display!!!
The peloton is catching up, uphill at six miles from the finish! Pedal pedal pedal! Fireworks go boom here as the frantic pedal mounts! They are closing in and in sight!!! It’s every rider for themselves now!!!!
LOL! A few almost crashed into the center island, while one rider rode right on the middle of the traffic device, just like he was in Amsterdam!!!
Yes indeed, Rouen is a much larger city than the prior towns they were in, with large bridges across the river Seine. Looks like a wonderful place to visit tram!!!
Now the peloton is pedaling their asses off tram!!! Oh noes in front of the shopping! Someone towards the front of the peloton crashed!!! Here’s Mark Cavandish on the pavement! This is probably going to prevent him from winning this stage!!!
The aftermath of Robert Hunter crashing right at the finish!
Some riders towards the front were able to carry on towards the finish!!! 900 meters to go over the bridge!!! Swing hard around the corner towards the finish!!!! Pedal pedal pedal!!! And Andre Greipel wins it!!!! Nicely done!!!
One nice thing about watching the coverage later in the day is that there are more photographs available on the Interwebs, but the coverage in the evening contains less actual footage and more interviews and profiles of the athletes and more hype in general. I like the raw coverage in the morning but not getting up at 4:30 a.m. or so to see it – LOL!
Ok, thanks again for reading, meh hearties!!!
~Ettetram, from the Drunken Gaming Corner Tram!!!!