Felt sorry for our @JustEatUK delivery guy missing out so invited him in to watch it come home pic.twitter.com/jydIzD7rAd
— Rich Wolfenden (@_Wolfenden) July 7, 2021
Despite being unable to follow Jonas Vingegaard's attack Tadej Pogačar was still fast enough to smash the Mont Ventoux KOM by 43 seconds. Helped by the early pacing of the Ineos Grenadiers and a tailwind on the exposed upper slopes, the yellow jersey summited the 20km official segment from Bedoin in 57:16 at an average speed of 21km/h...Not bad for an eight per cent climb...
Stage winner Wout van Aert clocked the ninth fastest time on Strava with 1:00:02 at 20km/h. At the other end of the scale, a look at the grupetto's times shows that Brit Fred Wright was the slowest up the climb, 24 minutes behind Pog and interestingly only two minutes faster than a certain Dave Brailsford who took on Ventoux before the stage...Could Dave B be Ineos' secret weapon for the third week?
Thought you’d have a quiet day of Tour watching to get over last night’s football? (Evil laugh) Mwaaah ha haaaaa. Race start has been delayed by 10 minutes because of strong winds. We all know what that means…
— Orla Chennaoui (@SportsOrla) July 8, 2021
As you can see on Headwind's stage map, it's going to be a bit blustery out on stage 12. Mainly a tailwind which is good news for the breakaway, but also a chance of crosswinds. Will Deceuninck-Quick-Step have the energy to chase the break after yesterday's gruelling time cut mission? If it does come down to a sprint then it should be Cav's first of two chances to bag number 34 before the weekend...
Wout van Aert wins VENTOUX!!! Big party #Ventoux . @JumboVismaRoad@WoutvanAertpic.twitter.com/R6Pgiln7bs
— Daniel Heijne (@dsheijne) July 7, 2021
There was big party on Mont Ventoux yesterday evening...no wands were harmed. One of the more dramatic stories of the day that deserves a bit of attention was Søren Kragh Andersen crossing the finish with three seconds to spare before the time cut. You'd have to be one mean-spirited commissaire to chuck the Dane out if he'd arrived a few seconds later. Luke Rowe was not so lucky and is out of the race.
Cav was content with his day's work: "We knew it was never going to be as close as Sunday, but we still had to be focused the entire day as it was really hard out there. I had my teammates with me, helping me up and down the mountains. It wasn’t easy, but I was incredibly motivated to make it and not quit. I love the Tour and I’ll keep going for as long as I can."
Pure class from @MarkCavendish on the Mont Ventoux at the #TDF2021 today. pic.twitter.com/4yQhI3sf2W
— Deceuninck-QuickStep (@deceuninck_qst) July 7, 2021
this is how we celebrate in leicester pic.twitter.com/DW6zaPQTnB
— zfr. 👁️⃤ (@uwizfr) July 7, 2021
This video doing the rounds on Twitter this morning shows the drunken scenes in Leicester last night after England beat Denmark in extra-time to secure their place in the Euro 2020 final on Sunday. The unfortunate target of the revelry was one unlucky bike lane's wands which were thrown around like a pissed-up Olympic javelin trial...
Man that’s my bike lane what the fuck https://t.co/GRS7J63r2O
— Rashid (@censoredradish) July 7, 2021
Major tournaments must do strange things to people...yesterday on the live blog it was kids pulling wheelies photobombing a peculiar patriotic procession...today, it is booze-induced bike lane bashing...