he'll be having his fun.........

Valverde dropping his team leader Quintana! Quintana though did not show until the latter stages of the Giro as the climbs got harder. Valverde presumably will feel the Tour in his legs in the latter stages.

Not much wrong with Contador's knee if he can cling to Froome's wheel as in the Dauphiné.

Promises to be a great Vuelta if the competition stays this close.

Mark Cavendish getting a bit of form back - 2 consecutive stage wins on the Tour of Poitou-Charentes.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/28965915

Can't imagine the opposition is up to much, but a win's a win. He was well beaten in the Vattenfall Classic on Sunday.

And TV details for the Tour de Grande Bretagne starting a week on Sunday. First day on grown up ITV, then 3 hours live per day on ITV4 every day, plus evening highlights on ITV4 and Eurosport.

http://www.tourofbritain.co.uk/news/...p#.VABANPldVBk

remarkable how the 5 'big guns' were left to fight out the finish......anyone asked to name 5 likely contenders would name those 5 !

the cream rising to the top.........

Tour of GB is live on Eurosport as well.........but it's going to clash with the Vuelta

We'll have to wait and see.........presumably they'll have one on ES1 and one on ES2. God knows what they'll do at the weekend when they have other events to cover.....

The only podium chaser to miss out yesterday was Uran who finished a minute down.

Three injury-related retirements today including OGE's Santaromita who crashed with Froome. No need for medical expertise to diagnose - ouch! https://twitter.com/ORICA_GreenEDGE/...038913/photo/1

That's true Quintana has more suited climbs to come although I have to say Valverde at the moment looks in very good control. That finish on Thursday was sensational.

The tour of Britain will be shown on British Eurosport 1 according to the schedule as well as ITV.

http://www.tourofbritain.co.uk/about...p#.VAGSqWK9KK0

Strange profile for tomorrow's ITT in that the latter two thirds is downhill at 2.2%. The first sector's uphill ending in a couple of kilometres of 7%.

Froome can be in red if he takes a second per kilometre out of Quintana.

Nairo sounded like he had swallowed the box of podium clichés in yesterday's interviews. He probably was national news in Columbia given Uran attacking, Anacona winning a stage, and Quintana taking the race lead.

The only other ITT in this year's Vuelta is the final stage that is less than 10km long (similar length to the Dauphiné's Stage 1).

Wiggins and Stannard confirmed to start ToB for Sky. No announcement yet on Wiggins team for next season.
http://www.teamsky.com/article/0,272...7T37k823lS1.97

Kittel will be contesting the ToB sprints for Giant-Shimano.

Wouter Pouls has signed for Sky from OPQS: http://www.woutpoels.nl/

The Vuelta looks to be decided already.

Is Contador for real?

Race leader Quintana has crashed in the TT........back on the bike but losing quite a bit of time

Quintana's challenge over. Finished 83rd so over 3 mins down now on GC. Contador has blown the race today.

Froomey looks a shadow of his former self.. one more bad day and I think he will abandon
after todays result Contador has made himself big odds on fav to take the win

No <filler>

Quintana out of Vuelta with suspected broken collar bone after second crash in two stages.

So another promising Grand Tour battle turns into a cheat's procession. Oh well, roll on the Tour of GB.

Great win by this year's Italian revelation, Aru. The wiry rider is only 24 and bettering the big guns in two grand tours.

Froome hanging in there, clawing back after each acceleration. Leaves the option for improved form in the second half of the Vuelta. Sky's pace setting looked like it was about to drop him completely at one point.

The Vuelta organisers like the shorter stages and pointy finishes. It certainly provides exciting racing. Only three minutes covering the top nine riders on GC.

Flat 8 x 21km laps for the sprinter's teams tomorrow.

Cavendish and Kwiatkowski to ride ToB for OPQS: http://www.omegapharma-quickstep.com/en/races/race/544

Tour of Alberta starts this evening on Eurosport, beginning of the Canadian leg of the International season, running for the next few weeks.

Heads up for those interested in going to the Olympic Velodrome Stratford for the UCI world Cup in December. Tickets have just gone on sale for British Cycling members. Snapped up Friday Night and Sunday afternoon

Old favourite going for one last moment of glory before retirement?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/29059663

Cavendish not in the World Championships squad.

Guess the course won't suit him at all - having looked elsewhere its quite "hilly" with a few climbs.

Any chance of a Froome/Wiggins?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/29068200

British team for the Worlds. No Mark Cavendish and no-one in the women's TT.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/29068200

Wiggins and Dowsett will probably concentrate on the ITT. Cancellara has opted for the RR so they 'only' need a time better than Martin's to win. Wiggins would then provide a service for the GB team in the first half of the RR and drop out. Sagan, currently taking it relatively easy in the Vuelta, is the man said to be most suited to the hilly circuit. Hopefully, a better performance by the men's Team GB than last year.

That crash that took out Quintana shown from a bike camera. Not too informative as the camera looks back but a motorbike can be seen caught up in the pile up. The IAM rider does not react quickly enough and suffers as a result.http://youtu.be/5oA3110ldOY

Nicholas Roche, rumoured to be linked with Sky for next season, is leading Tinkoff-Saxo. http://www.tourofbritain.co.uk/files..._RiderList.pdf

Video of the final kilometres of ToB Stage 2 around the Great Orme. Latter part is a narrow, winding downhill onto the sea-front for the sprinters. I heard an interview with the organisers saying at one point they considered going over the summit! http://youtu.be/PlFKwqyMT3A?list=PLQ...bUdWuHkcN1ypSu