Today at The Tour LIVE | REST DAY | Tour de France

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Well, no racing today. It’s the first rest day of the tour to France, albeit a very late one after 10 full-on days of racing. Full of incidents, multiple changes in the yellow jersey. It’s been fascinating. So, well, it always always does, but this feels much more Rubik’s cube multi-dimensional. There’s been a lot going on, a lot to talk about, a lot to think about. Yeah, there has been. I mean, I think it’s and yet the the white noise is just how strong Tally Poga seems. We don’t talk about that. Yeah. I mean, it’s definitely been a little bit. It seems that he’s he’s almost racing more although it’s been uh very much, as you say, Rubik’s Cube and all over the place. And the way it almost feels that Ted Pogat is racing more confidently, doesn’t need the yellow jersey, knows he’s going to get it. knows he’s how how he’s going to get it and he’s almost toying with everyone and is is quite happy to relinquish the yellow jersey at this point in the race. It’s definitely a different Tadip Bogata. Yeah, absolutely. And we’ve seen, you know, we’ve seen the sprinters sharing out the spoils. Yasper Philipsson winning, crashing out, Malia with two, Milan. That’s a nice little battle between those. I don’t think Milan’s done in this race yet, although opportunities are thin and few and far between them. Yeah, I think Milan and Malia have shown they’re the two fastest sprinters by far. Uh I think they they it really is an interesting battle between them. Uh because they are so closely matched and it’s the first time we’re really getting to see them battle like that against each other and without Philipsson it’s made it all the more interesting because we will never know how Philips compares to them because it’s uh it’s it’s just different. It’s gone up the road and Matthew Vanderpool of course now relieved of his duties of leading out Jasper Philipsson because Kaden Groves doesn’t quite look he’s as if he’s on the right level. He’s just unleashed. Yes. The beast is unleashed. Yeah. He seems to be just having fun. I mean, that’s what’s uh really interesting. Always been the case at the time. No. And I think the fact he got that stage win, got yellow, it’s just allowed him now and without Philips here, they’ve they’ve fulfilled their tour to France in many ways. From now on, he can just do what he wants and he really is doing what he wants, which is great. And just finally, I mean that you know the first mountain stage in the massive central trial where Healey ended up in the yellow jersey where Simon Yates ended up winning a stage again, a third stage for him. One of the details that kind of got lost in the mix was how good Oscar Omni looked. I thought from that stage. Oscar Oney only looked phenomenal and I think it’s uh the fact that he was responding to attacks he was present. Um I think he really is. It’s looking good for him. I mean I think this is he will readily admit this is about the as much as he knows about himself. These the length of climbs where he’s confident when we go to the high mountains it’s going to be a brave new world for him. But the way he’s looking I think he can be optimistic. Yeah. It was pointed out to me online, not by me. I didn’t make this up that um he is seventh in GC and uh deserves the nickname Oscar on O7 and here he is in the leaderboard still despite everything in seventh place but it’s all Constantined closer towards him and the guy who’s vulnerable I think is Kevin Bland to Oscar only. Yeah Kevin Vlan was really he was in trouble and that that’s not going to be encouraging for the stages ahead. Uh whereas Oscar only looks great and I think everyone else looked pretty well matched actually apart from Tali Pagata and Vingard who as usual were head and shoulders above. And here’s Ben Healey uh talking yesterday after assuming the race leading taking his first Mayojan. Well done. Um you’re taking yellow jersey back to the Black Country, but how hard were those final three kilometers for you? Yeah, it was uh insanely tough. you know, it was it was a really b a battle against myself and uh yeah, I just had to dig in and get deep and uh yeah, the my teammates put in so much work for me today, Harry, Harry and Alex. And uh yeah, I just really really wanted to paint them back and I’m so happy I was able to do that in the end. And with with about 30 km to go, it seemed like there was a decision. I’m going for the jersey now, not for the stage. How hard was that decision? Because in Vondi when you won, the gap closed so quickly. It was it was a big risk. Yeah, exactly that. But, you know, I I I kind of gambled a bit cuz I had the stage win in the bank and uh yeah, I mean, how often do you get an opportunity to put yourself into yellow? And uh I felt I had to take that with two hands and and really go for it. The team was absolutely fantastic uh today uh Harry Sweeney and then Alex Bod at the front. How much was that win down to them? Yeah, it’s uh wouldn’t have been possible without them. You know, Harry’s an absolute truck and uh Alex just kept on going as well. So, uh, yeah, just is is all thanks to them in the end, I think. Fantastic, man. Well done. And that, uh, brings to an end the first block of racing, doesn’t it? I mean, we think back to the origins of the tour to France in 1903. They had a rest day every other day. So, that was pretty lame, wasn’t it? Uh, they were doing 450ks or something a day. 486. So, yeah, it was a bit harder. But, no, it is quite rare these days to, well, very rare since the 1990s, I think, was the first time we had a block of racing to France so long. So, yeah. Yeah, they’ll be very happy for the rest day. Do you think you could name the first four stage winners just straight off the top of your head? Um, who won the first stage? Who won the first stage? Yasper Philipsson. Yeah, God, I’d forgotten. Uh, second was uh I’ve got it. Matthew Vanderpool. Matthew Vanderpool. Third stage, Dunk Kirk. Dunk Kirk. Forgotten. Jonathan. Jonathan Me. No, don’t win. No. Tim Malia. Malia, was it? I think then fourth was Pogata. That’s what it does to you. Yeah, you lose track. So, here’s a man who’s going to help us get it all on track. Matt Rendle has been sort of crunching the numbers of the first block of racing. The first rest day is a chance to look back at all the action of the first 10 days. So, let’s take a deep dive into the numbers. So far, there have been 1,687 km raced in seven of the 11 regions of France that we’re visiting on this year’s edition. Interestingly, there have been 72 km of pre-stage neutral zone. That’s almost double the number of time trial kilometers in this year’s tour. The jerseys have been changing hands with multiple owners of the yellow, green, king of the mountains, and best young rider jerseys so far. Despite having had only one mountain stake so far, the riders have climbed 20,735 m. But considering there are 32,84 m still to be climbed, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. In the back half of the race, we’ve got five mountain stages, two hilly stages, two flat stages, one mountain time trial, and one final stage into Paris. Of the 184 riders that started, only 172 finished yesterday’s stage after the usual unfortunate but probably statistically inevitable crashes. There are still 1,649.1 km to go. So, we’re just over halfway. But as the race leads to the mountains, there’s still a very, very long way to go. Here’s another number for you. There are three sets of brothers here in the start list of the tour to France and they’re all still in the bike race. Um, you’ve got the Yates twins, you’ve got the Paripantra brothers, Valent and Oralia, and you’ve got another set of twins as well, Tobias and Anders Johannes. But none of them matter because let’s hear from a more important set of twins, Leo and Jack from the Wellen Wheelers. Hi, I’m Tommy and these are my twin boys, Leo and Jack. They’re five. We absolutely love watching the Tour to France coverage on ITV. We watch it usually in the evenings or sometimes first thing in the morning before school. We’re all really keen cyclists in our family, especially these two. And uh well, maybe they will be the Yates brothers of the future. Who knows? But something I do know for sure is that Leo here, who’s respplendant in his well-in wheelers gear, is a very fast sprinter and he had a couple of really great races over the weekend. But everyone was saying to us he needs a new bike with bigger wheels. So, we bought him his first proper race bike. And we’re very excited, aren’t we, guys? Yeah. Okay, time to uh respond to some of your questions. Uh Borderia says, “Is it assumed that the final stage in Paris will be ridden and not a processional race? Is there any potential for every jersey still to be raced for?” Well, normally that’s a sort of like totally understandable question, but this year, and it still is, but this year, I mean, it’s different, isn’t it anyway? Yeah, I mean, I don’t think we can assume anything because it’s a very different setup to the stage this year. And if the jerseys are close, which does happen occasionally, there’s no reason why not. We’re just hoping the ASO don’t neutralize GC or something. Yeah, they wouldn’t do that, would they? They wouldn’t do that. Surely hope not. Let’s hope it’s close. I think that’s what everybody wants to see. Garant Rollins asks, “Has there been a previous tour to France where one sponsor is finding is is funding two teams? Is there sorry it’s a bit windy, a potential conf potential of conflict of interest with Total Energy? UEFA in football have taken action against Crystal Palace about ownership. Is there a similar issue here? I don’t think technically there’s anything legally to stop one sponsor sponsoring more than one team, is there? I don’t actually know. I mean, there can’t be because otherwise they wouldn’t be doing it. Yeah. Although they’re not technically a headline sponsor, are they? So, INF have not changed their name of their team. I don’t know if there’s a precedent to be honest, but I don’t but I mean they wouldn’t be the tour to France if the rules didn’t allow it. But then at a more in the minutia, it’s whether it’s Total Energies France versus Total Energy UK or global. So there’s all these little intricacies to it that could differentiate. Who knows? And you often get minor sponsors who I’m sure double up and sponsor two or three teams. All right. How you doing? Yeah, very good. Thanks. Friend of mine from the world of cycling, don’t you? Very good. Um, Andy Andy Bull says, “How hard is it for you guys to find lingeretses on rest days?” Well, we got ahead of the curve this year, didn’t we? I actually just wrote about that in my diary uh yesterday. Really? Yeah. I wrote about the fact that you can you have to get ahead of the curve because normally it’s on the rest day that everyone you just meet all the media uh who’ve looked on Google Maps and found a Lordette in the rest day town. But am you got to be on your toes at all times to find a lingerette. Yeah. penultimate day of racing in the first block and we were on it and so we’re on I think you used the phrase ground zero ground zero regarding clean washing at the moment. Um Paul the cyclist, how many helicopters and camera cars and bikes are used each day? Fantastic pictures by skilled people like your commentary and production team. Thank you very much. Well, we’re obviously not responsible for the the race coverage that’s all provided by the brilliant colleagues from France Television. Off the top of my head, they have a minimum of two helicopters. I think they have five motos at least, if not six. Um they have a fixed wing aircraft above the race. Uh they’ve got two of those actually because they kind of relay. Um the helicopters have to refuel on longer stages as well. So it’s a it’s an almighty operation. And then they’ve got about I think 300 350 staff on the ground making it work and Felon are the people who uh who provide the pictures. Uh Elton Pritchard says, “Best wine you’ve had so far, fellas.” Well, David, you don’t drink wine. I don’t drink. So um I do and it’s got to be but it wasn’t last night at the No, it wasn’t. Um Oh, it was a prefume. Prefume. Thank you for remembering. Yeah. No, can’t remember where we had it though. Do you know? Way back. Amazing. Yeah, there you go. The Prefume, which is a very crisp white wine. Callum Halmer says, “Hey Ned and David, how much are you looking forward to the tour to France 2027 Grandar in Grand Beta? What do you think the three British stages will look like? My prediction is Edinburgh to Glasgow, Newcastle to leads, Birmingham to Cardiff, Birmingham to Cardiff. I’m not sure about that last one because I don’t know how we then get That’s a logistical nightmare. Yeah. I’ve got a feeling that we’re going to head to Dova. Well, Folkston, you know, Canterbury, somewhere like that where finished in 2007. So then everyone gets across the Yeah. Kent. So I’m going to my guess is Edinburgh, Glasgow. Yeah. could be possible, but it might they might take the race south rapidly from Edinburgh so that the transfer the next day isn’t an almighty transfer. My guess is the next day will be in Wales. Do you think it’ll go that far? I think so potentially because I Yeah, we’ll see. We might finish in Wales and then I think the next day uh there’ll be a stage that finishes possibly in London actually and then everybody fly uh gets down from there to the uh to the channel after that. It’s just guess work. I have no idea. Is that it? So there we go. The racing continues tomorrow with stage 11 to lose to to lose. And there’s a an awful lot to lose or to win or something. A clever line. Gary will do it better than that. All right, that’s the race. But none of that really matters, sir, when you put it up against the uh monolith that is the publicity caravan. There we go. That kind of that kind of thing. More people at the side of the road are actually there for the publicity caravan than the actual tour to France. And one of those people is Matt Rendle. And for my money, the fans of the tour to France are some of the greatest fans in the world. They’ll stand at the side of the road for hours and hours just for the most fleeting of glimpses of their multicolored heroes. And there’s one thing that makes the Tour to France different from any other event in the world, and you might not be aware of it. It is of course the tour to France Caravan. On every stage, a huge convoy of trucks, cars, and floats rolled through the route a few hours ahead of the Pelaton. And thousands line the roadside in anticipation of freebies, samples, and items that are thrown to the crowds. And this has been happening for longer than you might think. The first instance of something resembling a caravan was probably as far back as 1924 when tire manufacturer Volula offered free postcards. And by 1929, shoe polish, alarm clocks, and chocolate brands were getting in on the action, giving out freebies to fans lining the roads. It wasn’t until 1930 when Henri de G, one of the original creators of the tour in need of more funding, allowed vehicles to officially advertise ahead of the race. That year, Manet distributed over half a million chocolate bars and cups of hot chocolate in the mountain stages. As the caravan grew, so did the excitement. And some interesting stories came along for the ride. Iet her, French accordionist and pianist, rose to fame through the caravan, performing on every stage from 1952 to 1963 and arguably kicked off her illustrious career. It’s become something no one wants to miss. Everyone loves a freebie, right? All right. Excellent. That’s quite enough publicity caravan. Uh let’s hear from Alex Daet now who’s been having a little look at our next few days out in the high Pyrenees. An uphill time trial, some mountain stages, and some of the world’s most famous climbs. The next few days could decide the outcome of this year’s tour to France. And if one thing’s for sure, it’s going to keep you on the edge of your seats. The start of three huge days for the tour kicks off with stage 12 on the coldest 11.9 km at an average of 7.3%. It starts steep to really announce the arrival of the Pyrenees to the tour to France and the first first category climb. The groupto will be happy that the climbing is at the back end of this stage, but this is a day which might really shake up the GC. The final ascent snakes its way up to just about 1500 meters above sea level. But that’s not all that stage 12 has in store. This is how the stage finishes with another first, an HC climb up the Horicam. This infamous mountain was the scene of Vicenzo Nibbli’s 2014 solo ascent which consolidated his grip on the yellow jersey which he then went on to claim in Paris. Can the same history be written into the tarmac this year? It’s a 13.5 km climb, an average of 8% and surely it’s an open invite for the GC riders to launch attacks. Stage 13, following day, it just doesn’t let up with something on the tour that we haven’t seen since 2004. An uphill time trial. Starting out of Luden VA with 2 and 1/2 km of flat before immediately ramping up. Equipment selection will be fascinating here as there isn’t enough flat terrain to warrant a bike change, but there’s enough for it to be a consideration for team setups. It’s an opportunity for time gaps to appear at the top of the leaderboard and Yonas will be undoubtedly hoping for a better TT. And as if that wasn’t enough to split the bunch, stage 14 contains one of the most iconic climbs in France, the colder tormale. If you look up intimidating in the dictionary, this climb would surely be the definition. Staring up from the bottom, riders will be able to seed the full 19 km all the way up to the summit. And to add insult to injury, there is an intermediate sprint at the base to kick things off. This climb winds its way up past ski lifts and passes well above 2,000 m to the summit, the highest point on the route in the Pyrenees, but worryingly not the highest point on the tour. And finally, after a 36-year absence, the tour is returning to Super Vanierz. This climb doesn’t ever let up. It’s 12 1/2 km, and it ramps all the way up to the end of the stage. There promises to be as much of a fight at the front as there is the back. Survival is a key word to this crawling day. As the riders switch back and forth as they ascend above the tree line, Thanks very much, Alex. Uh, three potentially huge days in the general classification in the high Pyrenees. Now, you’ve been voting uh in the all-time legends of the Tour to France knockout tournament. Uh, and the round of 32 is now complete. So, uh, facing off in the next round, we’ve got Eddie Ms versus Rich. Yeah, that’s a done deal. Alberto Conidor against Chris Broom, which is an interesting one. Mark Caves against Cadel Evans. Two rather different riders. Gino Bartali against Bardino. That’s a good one. Bradley Wiggins against Jakon. Yonising against Sha Kelly. Taga versus Peter Sagan. And Bernard Tiffany against Big Mig Ind. I for one am going to be on the edge of my seat to see who gets the public vote between Eddie Murks and Rishad Viron. We’ll find out though in the due course. But do stay tuned as normal service on today at the tour resumes when the racing starts again tomorrow.