Stage 2 NICE HAUT PAYS>NICE - Wouldn't It Be Nice.

Stage two and Le Tour continued its stay in Nice but this time it’s off to the mountains in the hinterland. Sunny blue skies were quite the contrast to the previous day’s rain that made for treacherous conditions out on the road.

Robbie got his hands on a copy of the medical report that listed the damage done in the peloton. There were too many injuries to list so the report was a one-liner with the words FUBAR on the page. Sad to Philippe Gilbert, John Degenkolb and Rafael Valls have left Le Tour after just one day.

Over in the fancy Plat du Tour kitchen chef Guillaume Brahimi was not so much cooking as preparing Steak Tartare with Pommes Gaufrettes. Raw beef would normally not be my first choice on the menu but this one looked pretty good. The pommes gaufrettes are fancy potato crisps used to scoop up the steak tartare. If you can’t be bothered making the pommes gaufrettes you could always break open a packet of Samboy salt and vinegar.

Speaking of nutrition Dr Bridie McDonnell commented about the quality of school dinners in France compared to that in the US. This inevitably lead to a discussion about the old school tuck shop. For me in tech school it was pies, sausage rolls, hot dogs and how good were egg flip Big Ms? One school speciality was a sausage roll in a hot dog roll which is getting into Frankenfood territory.

Out on the course it was flag in for the big red car and it was game on with the breakaway going off the front that included three-peat World Champion Peter Sagan in green on the hunt for more points.

Early on in the stage and FDJ rider David Gaudu looked to be in trouble with a painful sacrum resulting from a crash in stage one.

But there’s nothing that can’t be fixed with a little ‘magic spray’ from the medical car.  Oddly, it was sprayed on to the jersey and not the skin where you would expect.

Whether it was the spray or taking advantage of the peloton slowing for a nature break, Gaudu gradually got himself back into the main bunch.

It was warm day out on the road and Jumbo Visma was seen bringing out the heavy duty bottle vest.

There was a Darwin Grand Fondo shout out from SBS host Tomo. I actually know someone who participated in it that morning and I'M. NOT. JEALOUS. AT. ALL.

Darwin seemed to the flavour of the day with @sitdowninfront’s pooch Ittybitty making it to the screen in the #Tourdog category. Reports are the fame has already gone to his head.

Back to the racing and the Devil himself was seen in a mask. As much as the Tour has been a relief from the chaos and disruption of 2020 there are always reminders that the threat from the virus is far from over.

 

Wouldn't it be nice...to go on holidays again?

Troll DJ couldn’t help him or herself busting out Wouldn't it be Nice by the Beach Boys and Nice in Nice by The Stranglers

Benoit Cosnefroy went off like a frog in a sock to be the first over the top of La Colmaine. The spaghetti roads of the Nice hinterland proved a challenge to the TV motos as foot pegs scraped the road on the corners. Maybe they should get shorter pegs?

In the pretend caravan of commentary Mattie, Robbie and Bridie effortlessly found their rhythm and it’s a joy to hear the trio. Dissecting the previous day’s commentary Robbie noted how they 100% wrong about everything and Mattie said it at least they were consistent.

And we have a new Robbieism - Astana Karma – which is what you get trying to be a little too cute and attempting to fly down a descent on slippery road.

Mark Renshaw and Macca popped in for chat and the team took time out to chat with Ineos Grenadier ‘sparring partner’ Cameron Wurf on holiday in sunny Monaco. It was all good and well hearing what he’d been up to going from cycling to triathlon and back to cycling but the question on everyone’s lips from lockdown Melbourne was, “What does a holiday look like?”

In the last kilometres of the race the pace started to pick up. Murder hornet Tom Dumoulin went down after touching Michal Kwiatkowski’s wheel.

After a sprint for the line against Marc Hirschi and Adam Yates it was Julian Alaphilippe’s turn to wear the maillot jaune.

It was an emotional victory for Alaphilippe who dedicated the win to his father who died in June.