Tour de France 2017—Part 1

Today is the second rest day in the 2017 edition of the Tour de France.  What a race!  Four riders are separated by less than 30 seconds.  This is the closest Tour in years.  And the Tour has not been without its drama.

• Geraint Thomas (Sky) wins the yellow jersey in the prologue in Germany, holds the jersey for the first four stages, loses the yellow jersey to teammate and three-time winner Chris Froome and then crashes out of the race with a broken collarbone in Stage 9.  
• Mark Cavendish and Peter Sagan collide in the final sprint on Stage 4.  Cav breaks his scapula, and Sagan, the current world champion,  is ejected from the Tour for reckless riding.  Most feel that Sagan should have been penalized but not thrown out of the race.  Watch thee video at Last Km of Stage 4 (Europe) or Last Km of Stage 4 (USA) and decide for yourself.  And remember you can achieve the same effect of crashing in a TDF sprint by stripping down to your underwear and jumping out of the car a 40 mph.
• The Stage 9 Massacre—Besides Geraint Thomas crashing out, Richie Porte and Robert Gesink also crashed out.  Porte's crash on the descent of Mont du Chat was particularly nasty.  Dan Martin, who also went down, was able to continue, but Porte slammed in to a rock wall.  He was lucky to escape with a fractured collarbone and pelvis.  Arnaud Demare, the French champion wins Stage 4 and then fails to make the time cut in Stage 9 and is out of the TDF.  Three of Demare's teammates who stayed back to help their leader also finished outside the time limit and are now out of the Tour.
• Fabio Aru, the Italian champion, won on La Planche de Belles Filles (Stage 5) and again on 12 in the Pyrénées.  Froome suffered on the finish of Stage 12 and lost the yellow jersey to Aru.  Aru was out of position on Stage 14 and lost the jersey to Froome, who now leads Aru by 18 seconds.  My own opinion is that Aru is a shady character who rides for a team (Astana) that is famous for doping.  The unwritten rule is that you don't attack if the yellow jersey has a mechanical, Aru and his former teammate Nibali are both guilty of violating this rule.  Although I have my favorites, I would be happy if anyone of the contenders win the TDF this year save Aru.
• On July 14 (AKA Bastille Day), the tour came through the Ariège.  The Tour is always fun to watch up close and personal.  Before the racers arrive, the publicity caravan comes through and throws out tons of free stuff.  This is something that you never see on TV.  See the photos below.  I got to see it from the comfort of a friend's patio which overlooked the route.

Winners (so far):

• Chris Froome, the current race leader.
• Warren Barguil, leader in the mountains competition.
• Marcel Kittel, who has won 5 stages.
• Dan Martin for coming back after two crashes to sit in fifth place.
• Roman Bardet, who can go descend at unbelievable speeds and still stay upright.
• Simon Yates, in sixth place and leader in the best young riders competition.

Losers (so far):

• The 13 teams in the Tour who have yet to win a stage.
• Fabio Aru together with Astana.  Aru is most likely doping and will always be a loser even if he is wearing the yellow jersey.
• Mark Cavendish and Peter Sagan.
• Arnaud Demare for failing to make the time cut and taking three of his teammates with him.
• All those who have crashed out:  Valverde, Gesink, Porte, Thomas, Cavendish, Renshaw, Majka, Fuglsang to name few.
• The race commissars for some very questionable decisions—like penalizing two riders for taking an illegal feed but letting one rider off because he was French.  The time penalties were later reversed.  And then there is the Sagan decision.

Predictions:

1. Chris Froome
2. Rigoberto Uran
3. Roman Bardet