So how about this Tour so far?

[Christophe]

Well the attacking mode has been enabled... tomorrow we will see the result... watch out with Liquigas... I'm expecting a great attack tomorrow or maybe on sunday they need to close Basso's gap...

Yeah, a lot of people seem to write Basso off at this point, but if he makes a serious push to get back into the race, it might stir the pot in some really interesting ways. Plus, he brought a team with him.

 

[Francois the Postman]

Been a bit hit and miss for me. Prologues and mazzzzz sprints are not the way to get me glued to a TV at the best of times, but for years now, week one of the Tour has become a 7 day master class in writing "dull" in capital letters.

Hence my delight when someone plonked an Ardennes stage and some cobbles into the mix.

It is a shame that a potentially sparkling Spa got corked early and had all its fizz sucked out of it. The less said about that stage the better.

But the pave really delivered for me, although it's kinda depressing to realize that all the excitement of week 1 was crammed into a single day, and due to 13km of cobbles out of a mighty 1200 already crossed.

I'm not going to compare week one to the Giro entertainment whirlwind. On its own, that stage was great to watch.

Actually, I'm kinda glad the last 3 days have been pretty much business as usual, as otherwise I might get expectations.

Still, I'm already eternally more entertained than I was last year at this point in the Tour. And, thanks to a wood pigeon that has shown up at my bird feeder 2 days ago, and which has been trying, pretty much non stop, to figure out how to land on the small stick, showing more grit and determination in the face of adversary than the entire peloton did at Spa, the viewing over the last couple of days has been excellent too.

I'm ready for week 2, my usual week 1. Last year, at this point, the Pyrenees were as anti climatic as they can come (apart from a tweet flood and a minor 1 mile kick up a hill that settled "it" for those that are slow of learning, satisfying as that was), this weekend I can only get further ahead on the comparative entertainment scale. It's more or less guaranteed, even if all they do is just showing up to so some mild racing. Hope that the gaps that we have encourages initiatives. That was sadly lacking last year.

I quietly have high hopes for the remainder of this Tour, I'm the eternal optimist.

 

[mr. tibbs]

I enjoy the sprint stages and finishes. Good to see the Gentleman Sprinter netting a couple of wins!

 

[rhubroma]

Been a bit hit and miss for me. Prologues and mazzzzz sprints are not the way to get me glued to a TV at the best of times, but for years now, week one of the Tour has become a 7 day master class in writing "dull" in capital letters.

Hence my delight when someone plonked an Ardennes stage and some cobbles into the mix.

It is a shame that a potentially sparkling Spa got corked early and had all its fizz sucked out of it. The less said about that stage the better.

But the pave really delivered for me, although it's kinda depressing to realize that all the excitement of week 1 was crammed into a single day, and due to 13km of cobbles out of a mighty 1200 already crossed.

I'm not going to compare week one to the Giro entertainment whirlwind. On its own, that stage was great to watch.

Actually, I'm kinda glad the last 3 days have been pretty much business as usual, as otherwise I might get expectations.

Still, I'm already eternally more entertained than I was last year at this point in the Tour. And, thanks to a wood pigeon that has shown up at my bird feeder 2 days ago, and which has been trying, pretty much non stop, to figure out how to land on the small stick, showing more grit and determination in the face of adversary than the entire peloton did at Spa, the viewing over the last couple of days has been excellent too.

I'm ready for week 2, my usual week 1. Last year, at this point, the Pyrenees were as anti climatic as they can come (apart from a tweet flood and a minor 1 mile kick up a hill that settled "it" for those that are slow of learning, satisfying as that was), this weekend I can only get further ahead on the comparative entertainment scale. It's more or less guaranteed, even if all they do is just showing up to so some mild racing. Hope that the gaps that we have encourages initiatives. That was sadly lacking last year.

I quietly have high hopes for the remainder of this Tour, I'm the eternal optimist.

Hip, hip...hoyray...and that sort of thing.