London Calling

The Tour de France visited London yesterday, with top cyclists on the streets again and racing past the top monuments and finishing on the Mall with the flattest of sprints.

Unsurprisingly a little break went out with two riders from wild card teams Netapp and Bretagne and bravely tried to stay there until they were inevitably mopped up by the rampaging sprint teams setting up the end. With Cav out, and now out for six weeks for an operation which will mean he misses the Commonwealth Games, the result was hardly ever in doubt and Marcel Kittel was untouchable. He went with Sagan and Renshaw on his wheel, but unable to come past. We were left wondering what might have been had the Manx Missile been up against the German young gun, but it is hard to see that Kittel will be ever be beaten in a straight sprint this year.

Now the race heads to France for a comparatively easy day before a cobbled attrition on Wednesday. Just as they inevitably hoped at this point I feel compelled to post this video of Froome time trailling through the Channel Tunnel.

Look out for that on literally every media outlet anywhere. In reality they were flying on a plane.

France bound... pic.twitter.com/NL7PncID1M

— Geraint Thomas (@GeraintThomas86) July 7, 2014

Elsewhere Gee Atherton defended his Crankworx title, which was somehow less interesting than the Whip-off World Champs.

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