the lion is presented by the sponsor of the yellow jersey who is the bank, Credit Lyonnaise.......it's a play on 'Lyon'

not sure about the other toys and things.......they're probably marketing things for the sponsors of the other jerseys

I'm pretty sure at one time one of the competitions was sponsored by a cheese maker and the rider got cheese

I'm pretty sure the riders get to keep them along with a jersey awarded every day.....if you stay in yellow, for example, you get a new yellow jersey every day

Sean Kelly tells the tale of how he once won a cow for winning a race in Belgium......the local butcher bought it off him straight away.....

I'm switching to Nibali.........I like him anyway but I thought he was fantastic today

He's also a fearless descender so might be able to get a bit more time on Contador if there are big descents near to stage finishes, though you'd expect Contador might take time out of him on summit top stages

Thanks for that

I can believe the cyclist getting a cow. Roger Federer was once presented with a cow in Switzerland - don't know what happened to it though

On French TV they have this special old geezer, have never caught his name, who comes on and does all the historical bits. Mind you, he's usually reading from the book as well.

Not only that, they got their WEIGHT in cheese! Actually, it was the crappy ultra-cheap Coeur de Lion brand, so usually the riders would donate it to a local orphanage or church or whatever.

I remember being on the side of the road just at the end of the Passage du Gois in 1999. There was a fall and Alex Zulle lost the thick end of 6 minutes - on stage 2. George Hincapie came by much later, trailing so many bandages he looked like an unravelling mummy.

I am favouring Nibali now as well, I have gained massive respect for him a few years back for his descending ability.

Hopefully Geraint Thomas can also have a good tour, he did very well today, and possibly could have done ever better if it wasn't for his domestique role for Porte.

yes Brailsfords biggest cock up of his career

I remember that. Zulle went right out in the betting. I was thinking of spread betting him, as he was a top guy, and he recovered to finish second overall. To Armstrong.

Anyway, a bad stage for my best, except for my bet on sagan to win green. Mind you, I only got 8/15 - he had been a bit longer than that. He must be about 1/8 now.

Just checked. 1/12 lol

I reckon fuglsang could have got 3 seconds out of nibali, and got himself in yellow.

Yeah, I was wondering about that. What's going to happen if Fuglsang has the opportunity to win over Nibali. Will he take it himself. It could be like Wiggo v Froome in Team Astana.

I remember that as well.......a fantastic stage !

I thought his name was Big George Hincapie. Paul and Phil always called him that.

Yeah they do - I remember an interview with Wiggins (may have been his book actually, come to think of it) where he said he'd only kept a couple, and who he'd given the others away to - a fan outside the team bus, his local pub, and a restaurant he frequents in Majorca, amongst others.

They get to keep them. During the Bradley Wiggins documentary, 'A Year In Yellow', there's an interview with him in the lounge of his home. There's an absolute pile of those stuffed lions on the sofa behind him.

Agreed. After a combination of going down yesterday, then earlier today (and not forgetting he took quite a heavy one in the Dauphiné too) I think his confidence was a bit shot.

A bit like Wiggins in the Giro last year - the withdrawal was obviously put down to illness, but his descending went to pieces after he came down on the stage into Pescara.

You see them signing hundreds of the things after every stage.

irrespective of the drugs, lance did pretty well fetching up, injury free for 7 years in a row,did he not, and avoiding all racing incidents.

To do well on a stage like yesterday, you need the ability to read the race on the road not through your ear piece, a good tactical head and a huge dollop of luck. Unfortunately for Froome/Sky it possibly showed their failings in the first 2 and the third left them completely (probably because of the lack of the first 2!)

A very simplistic way of looking at it

That's the thing when you are putting together a tour team, you need at least one rider who will be able to stay with and protect the leader and sacrifice themselves if necessary - which means there shouldn't be much to pick between them except that one is the leader. Lemond/Indurain/Ullrich could all make a case for being an overall win down if not for riding for their team leader.

Which is why my personal jury is out on Porte being team leader. He has a bit of form for pitching up against a bad day and losing boatloads of time. He hasn't that luxury now.

Bit harsh for Bradley - I thought he was the Sky guy for the Vuelta?

True enough, but the odds are always in your favour when you can just barge your whole team to the head of the race and no-one else can keep up. I remember a couple of stages where that happened - there a stage in the early 2000s when they had to go across a slippery low tide sea causeway when US Postal (or whatever) just zoomed away at the front and put 2 minutes into Pantani.

I'd thought that too, but that was obviously on the assumption Froome would win/complete the Tour.

There's probably a good chance Wiggins will have signed a contract with another team for next year by the start of the Vuelta, so Brailsford will have even less compulsion to try and keep him happy.