[iain]

Paul Kimmage interviews Froome:

Part 1

Part 2

I think he comes out of ok, except that he won't call specific riders cheaters for having doped. Clarified the parasite thing, the recent TUE and his seated attack in last year's tour.

[Palomides]

Are we having a fantasy league this year? I've a yellow jersey to defend 

I'd be keen another fantasy league. We did the cyclingnews one last year which was ok, want to do the same again or has anyone seen a better one?

It sounds as though they've made a few changes, though the website is down at the moment which isn't a great sign...

There's the Road.cc one : http://fantasy.road.cc/home which seems pretty good - it doesn't need daily tweaking quite as much as some of the others. I'm already on there as "Avoiding The Bears"

There's http://www.velogames.com/ as well, which wasn't quite so polished when I last used it, but I think it's been updated since then

Edit - I got that the wrong way round. Velogames is set up so that you select your team then sit back for 3 weeks. Road.cc has transfers between stages. I've joined both anyway!

[Obi-Wan is lost...]

Sprinting wise, its hard to know where Kietel v Cav will go but I won't be surprised if there isn't a massive crash within 10km of Harrogate. In the past Cav has a few times screwed up the first sprint of the Tour but I'm hoping that he will be more prepared this year.

You were pretty on the money. He wanted it too badly. Shame.

[Duma]

Bit gutted about cav yesterday, but today's stage more than made up for it! Go nibs!

[mark s]

the final climb in sheffield was superb froome,valverde,nibali,contador,sagan all fighting each other.
the sheer number of people cheering on was mind blowing.never seen crowds like it.

[Nibile]

Bit gutted about cav yesterday, but today's stage more than made up for it! Go nibs!

There you go, my pleasure!!! (They keep spelling my name wrong...)

[Will Hunt]

And after the most magical two days in Yorkshire, it's off down to London for what promises to be the most boring stage of the race. Thanks for that, London. Not sure how they managed to get in on the act.

[slackline]

Was it everything everyone hoped for?

There were some impressive cringeworthy camel toes on display from the 15 minutes I caught on TV.

[bigtuboflard]

Had a great day at the foot of the Cote de Bradfield. Was a little sceptical before I went if I'm honest but the atmosphere, caravans, and the sight of the peloton pinning it in to the bend I was on the charge up the climb was incredible.


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[rich d]

Lot of waiting around, really busy, the caravan hardly gave out any freebies, the cyclists went past in about 15 seconds.
But hell yeah, great atmosphere, being able to be part of it and be able to say we were there. It felt like a real occasion and the scale of the crowds were unlike anything I've seen before - even at Wembley/Millenium stadium/Twickenham etc.
Getting high fives from the gendarmes on their bikes 
I loved it. 

[danm]

Watched stage 1 at Buttertubs - got a great spot just up from where it was really packed. Not as dramatic as watching Froome and Quintana destroying Bertie last year on the Ventoux, but massively exciting seeing the peleton taking on our classic climbs, and blown away by the numbers of people.

[tomtom]

Watched stage 1 at Buttertubs - got a great spot just up from where it was really packed. Not as dramatic as watching Froome and Quintana destroying Bertie last year on the Ventoux, but massively exciting seeing the peleton taking on our classic climbs, and blown away by the numbers of people.

Great shot!

[mr__j5]

Went for a more relaxed location just after the summit in Bradfield, which was a nice place and had room to chill out but still had some atmosphere.

It was what I expected really. Watching the 07 TdF prologue on Whitehall was a bigger occasion for me, but I guess this would have been bigger if I could have been bothered to walk up and join the scrum on the actual climb.
Very proud of how many people came out and made the effort though.

I was more excited a few years back when I was stood at the feed zone for a stage of the Dauphine just outside of Bourg d'Oisans.

[Obi-Wan is lost...]

We had a great spot at the bottom of Jawbone Hill in Oughtibridge. The park was right next to the route, with a big screen, food etc so we could keep the kids entertained during the wait and still follow the action. Then had a good view of them starting the climb. They were well spread out by the time they passed us, about 25min between leaders and back markers. The Steel Stage busted them wide open! 

[cheque]

Had a great day at the foot of the Cote de Bradfield. Was a little sceptical before I went if I'm honest but the atmosphere, caravans, and the sight of the peloton pinning it in to the bend I was on the charge up the climb was incredible.

You can't have been far from me. 

I thought it was amazing- as I said on the other thread, my girlfriend is the cycling fan and she was on cloud nine but I was surprised by how much fun I had.

When the motorbikes directly ahead of the first riders appeared it was absolutely crazy- part sporting event, part civil emergency- and the rush of excitement that greeted each pack of cyclists was electrifying. I'll post one or two of the pictures I took in a bit.

The fact we'd been staking out our piece of verge for 8 hours just seemed to make the 15 minutes of race even better- I can kind of understand why people flip out and run alongside them in their pants and stuff now.   

I seem to have agreed to go over to France to watch it next summer... 

[T_B]

Half way up the Cote de Bradfield. Mega 

[slackline]

I thought it was it just the footage I saw but it seems there are a lot of idiots making a nuisance of themselves.

[bigtuboflard]

Had a great day at the foot of the Cote de Bradfield. Was a little sceptical before I went if I'm honest but the atmosphere, caravans, and the sight of the peloton pinning it in to the bend I was on the charge up the climb was incredible.

You can't have been far from me. 

I thought it was amazing- as I said on the other thread, my girlfriend is the cycling fan and she was on cloud nine but I was surprised by how much fun I had.

When the motorbikes directly ahead of the first riders appeared it was absolutely crazy- part sporting event, part civil emergency- and the rush of excitement that greeted each pack of cyclists was electrifying. I'll post one or two of the pictures I took in a bit.

The fact we'd been staking out our piece of verge for 8 hours just seemed to make the 15 minutes of race even better- I can kind of understand why people flip out and run alongside them in their pants and stuff now.   

I seem to have agreed to go over to France to watch it next summer... 

I was stood on the wall holding on to the bus stop, just as the road started to head back up hill. loved the moment after the road was closed when the old fella on the mobility scooter headed along the course only to grind to halt after 50m up the hill and the marshals having to push him to the side of the road 

[Obi-Wan is lost...]

I thought it was it just the footage I saw but it seems there are a lot of idiots making a nuisance of themselves.

I don't think it was too bad, they had that width issue on one of the stage one climbs when the peleton ground to a halt. The crash on Buttertubs had nothing to do with spectators (but did send one tumbling!) Put it this way, of 2.5million people watching, many of which were in a 'good mood'  , but only a handful took some silly risks, none of which caused any incidents. 

[Duncan Disorderly]

Best day ever!!! Rode up to Bradfield and did the Cote de Bradfield, the swift descent into Oughtibridge and up the Jawbone with loads of people cheering me on!! Watched a good portion of the race in the fan park, filled me bidons with Cavendish beer and found a perfect spot halfway up the Jawbone - sat with an ace bunch of folk and laughed non-stop for about 2hrs until the pros rode past... Saw real pain etched on some of their faces and the GC contenders showing how easy it really can be! Was so psyched I rode the Jawbone again and the rest of the closed roads back into town... Dunno if it gets much better really!
Definitely off to watch in the Alps next year!!
:D

[Sloper]

Half way up the Cote de Bradfield. Mega 

That's where we wtched it from, amazing *everything* that came up the road got a cheer, even the bin lorry at the end!

[cheque]

A few more

[rich d]

not near a fan park or a hill. In fact half way between Otley and Ilkley.
And looking the other way

Eiffel tower in your back garden? Why not?

Wembley Way? No Burley in Wharfedale

and Bex welcomes the world to Yorkshire.

[bigtuboflard]

Got some photos of this fella near the Old Horns but I think this little clip does it just as much justice

[Paul B]

We went up to Jenkin Rd. on Sunday and we were really lucky to get right up to the barrier (mainly due to people being pretty friendly). Great atmosphere and I thought Yorkshire looked fantastic throughout the weekend, even if ITV were getting a few place names wrong.

I took a camera but forgot how to hold it straight...


Cote de Jenkin Rd. by travelswithmyt4, on Flickr


Cote de Jenkin Rd. by travelswithmyt4, on Flickr

Full set here