Vino!

That looked suspiciously easy for Nibali. Barely breathing.

was quite amazed to see Richie Porte all smiles and grinning from ear to ear straight after todays disaster

I would of thought totally gutted would of been a normal reaction


on a different note the commentatoors said PPeter Sagan has signed for a new team for next year in a big money deal.. and Canondale would be disbanding as we know it.. and they will be sponsoring another team??

any idea where Sagan is going

Rumours seem to be Tinkoff-Saxo.

A few months ago the rumours were Saxo..but I thought Alberto was the main man there

I predict Alejandro Valverde is going to get plenty plates of soup spilled over his lap over the next 10 days after the way he treated the French hero today.

And there we have Porte's traditional bad day in the high mountains.

It wouldn't have been as easy had Froome & Contador been there & uninjured.

Rumour is Tinkoff, but I do wonder if there's room for him and Alberto on the same team. Garmin, maybe? Well, whatever Garmin will be called next season, at any rate.

exactly. They were both in great form at the criterium, until froome fell off. The mountain stage where they took on each other (and left everyone behind) promised a great tour...sadly it feels a lesser race without them. Nibali has been good value, but the organisers must be disappointed.

Meanwhile, over at Vuelta HQ ...

did you mean to finish that sentence ?........

early start on ES today........live coverage scheduled at 11 am

And we're off - Geraint Thomas trying to get into the break, so obviously Sky have given up on Porte now. Too bad for him, but it looks like super-domestique and 8-stage race winner is his limit.

Very long climb almost from the start today and people are already being dropped after a few kilometres with 170K to go and two more big climbs after this one

Could be a long day in the saddle with the prospect of being timed out......

There's also two long descents of about 30K each which should be exciting......

Champion of France just got off his bike and disappeared mysteriously into some-one's caravan.

Was Geraint Thomas struggling on the final climb yesterday, due to his climbing ability to. or due to the work he previously did on the stage, or a bit of both.

I would think a bit of both.. today so far he riding for himself as team sky have basically admitted the GC hopes have now gone - so every man for himself by the looks of things

Don't think we need to hear any more about Arnaud de Mare's digestive problems, if it's all the same to you, lads.

Much cheering, whooping and letting off of party poppers.

The Vuelta is going to be awesome this year.

I wonder if Bradley Wiggins is laughing right now thinking he could have been winning it if he took part. Through I think the commonwealth seems to be important to him and he wouldn't have been able to do the track events there.

Powerful ride by Rafal Majka, pulling away from the yellow jersey group as they dragged everyone else in the break back. Valverde just survived in second place. It did not kick off until 4km out but worth the wait. Nibali looks indestructible against this field.

If Brailsford wants a French rider for future Tours, he need not look further than the youthful Bardet.

Is this Tour Nibali's to lose now? Not sure there is anyone really trying to take out his lead. A few stage wins here and there should keep a nice gap until the ride into Paris

It's been Nibali's tour to lose since Sheffield, in my opinion.

Not at all because he wouldn't be in the top 3, Brad relies on time trials to get an advantage, he woudnt be able to respond to nibalis bursts.

Pier Rolands style reminds me of the way Brad rides.

Valverde says he lost time at the end because a clash with Pinot damaged his derailleur.