14:25 - Sean Kelly Climbed Tourmalet Yesterday...
Yesterday Sean Kelly was invited for a ride from St-Marie-de-Campan to the site of today’s stage finish on the col du Tourmalet. The former professional originally declined. “I don’t have a bike.” “That’s okay,” came the reply, “we’ll get you one.”
“But I don’t have any kit.”
“That’s okay, we’ll get you some... and shoes and all you need.”
“Okay.”
He was later presented with a bike that was from 1910 - single gear (”a 42x24” Kelly confirmed this morning). (continued...)
14:26 - Kelly Made It To The Top...
Kelly had agreed to do the ride and even though he was given a 100-year-old bike and old-style knitted knicks (ie. bike shorts), he went through with the deal and made it all the way to the top of the 2,115m high mountain pass.
14:40 - Comments From Sean Yates...
LeTour.fr recently contacted Sean Yates from Team Sky to get his thoughts on the stage. “It’s nice to have two guys in the move,” said the Brit about Flecha and Boasson Hagen. “We missed out in the last couple of stages... on the day to Pau we almost had someone in the move but they got pulled back just before Lance joined the breakaway and it was a bit of a shame really. “Today we said at the start that we really wanted to have someone in the breakaway and ’Eddy’ and Flecha went with the move.”
14:32 - Sun Breaks Through At Finish
The wind is strong at the finish and although it’s been very wet early today, the sun is now shining for the big crowd that has made the difficult journey to this spectacular location.
14:28 - 100km To Go
This is a rider from the Omega Pharma team at the head of the peloton, followed by Nicki Sorensen. They have increased their pace a little and one of the riders who has dropped behind a little is Nicolas Roche (ALM).