Le Tour

Today's the day ........................ to indulge

Readers of this journal will know how much we enjoy following the Grand Tours of cycling on the television - Le Tour de France in particular - which is now in its final week.

For various reasons, we haven't been able to give it our normal full attention.  We've been reduced to just watching the highlights of the day's stage in the evening, which really is not the same as watching the action unfold in real time.  But today, we decided to indulge ourselves and do just that - on a day that we knew would decide the fate of most of the riders, ahead of the actual finish on Sunday.

And it was absolutely riveting.  Today's Stage was probably the most gruelling of the entire Tour, when anything could happen.  Riders could lose precious minutes if they had a bad day - or do the opposite if they found that they 'had the legs'.  The above is 7.8kms from the end of the final climb with Seb Kuss leading out Jonas Vingegaard, Tajed Pogacar - and our all-time hero, Geraint Thomas.

And, unless something completely unexpected and untoward happens between now and Sunday, that will be their order on the General Classification podium...............