And Switzerland is on the Player as well, but with commentary.It's the ITT stage. Cancellera is sitting in the big comfy chair watching TV at the moment, as am I, only difference being that I have spent the last half-hour having a snooze.

If you missed it, worthwhile catching the highlights for the final 20km of climbs: http://laroutedusud.fr/wp-content/up...-Profil-E4.jpg

Movistar certainly learnt the Sky method of four men metronomically setting the climbing pace for Quintana. They thin out the competition before peeling off one-by-one. This time around there is a little twist.

Quintana does not look, or sound, a mere 26 years old.

Just caught up with this. Another fantastic day for Hugh Carthy - going toe-to-toe with Quintana all the way up the final climb, and into a podium place on the GC. Don't miss the final stage later this afternoon.

Hugh Carthy in the RduS yesterday: https://youtu.be/gUjO4HTz-tA

Live broadcasting of the TdSuisse is back on ES TV today. The poor weather may stymie coverage.

The youngster, Lopez, who beat Cancellara is short for an ITT specialist: https://twitter.com/mundociclistico/...94452500119560

Surely it's only a matter of time before a World Tour team snaps up Carthy.......I hope Sky have got their eye on him

He's 21 and according to his Wiki entry is 6 foot 2 inches and 9 stone 9lbs

tall and thin........handy for climbing, perhaps not powerful enough for the time trials

but obviously he has plenty of time to develop a suitable physique to suit his ambitions

That can't be healthy. I'm about his height and if I drop much below 12 and a half stone I look like a stick insect (about 14 stone 10 atm) .

Makes me wonder what damage these guys are doing to themselves in the longer term.

Carthy has said he wants to come into a big team the way Landa has entered Sky. He does not want to spend years as a bottle carrier missing opportunities to be team leader. http://deportes.elpais.com/deportes/...39_462750.html

TdSuisse stage reduced to 57km because of the weather.

Based on those numbers, his BMI is around 17.3, normally classified as borderline anorexic. Below 19, there is a high risk of osteoporosis. Also, cycling, a low impact sport, does not help strengthen bones like running. Boardman retired early because the restricted diet to maintain race weight prevented alleviation of his osteoporosis. I doubt he went down to 20 as a pro.

Carthy limped in 9 mins down after being toppled by a Direct Energy rider during the acceleration on the short final climb: http://www.teamcajarural-segurosrga....a-ruta-del-sur

Terrible bad luck for Hugh Carthy, got caught in a crash just outside the 3K limit, lost 4.22 so completely fell out of the Top 10.

So no more stage races now until the TdF - national championship weekend coming up. Eurosport have highlights of the British ITTs on Friday, then lots of live coverage of the road races on Sunday. They also have highlights of the French road race.

Here's the home page, timetable, course maps, startlists etc etc for the British National Champs this week, from glamorous Stockton-on-Tees.

https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/na...dchampionships

Three Time Trials on Thursday, then two Road Races on the Sunday, both incorporating senior and U-23 categories.

Time trial highlghts on Friday on Eurosport, live coverage on Sunday on Eurosport, highlights on Monday on ITV4.

Dimension Data's team for the Tour de France named - Mark Cavendish and Steve Cummings both make it.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/20...tour-de-france

That's the provisional squad. Still, I believe both riders will make the squad proper.

As for the national ITT, Pooley's lack of racing form (as things stand) makes things interesting, especially with the contest for Olympic selection.

If selected, at which stage will Cavendish withdraw to prepare for the Olympics?

EQS have announced a nine man team for the TdF including Alaphillippe (White Jersey/GC), Kittel (Sprint), Dan Martin (GC) and Tony Martin (TT): https://www.youtube.com/embed/7Tujo1PYJPE

Team Skys Tour de France squad announced;

Chris Froome, Sergio Henao, Vasil Kiryienka, Mikel Landa, Mikel Nieve, Wout Poels, Luke Rowe, Ian Stannard and Geraint Thomas.

Wasnt sure if Thomas would make it, seemed to be looking tired in Swizerland

They seem to accept that this was down to the cold conditions. Presumably with Alps coming after the Pyrenees this year they think that this isn't going to happen again.

The Olympic cycling squad will be officially announced on Friday, but some details have been leaked. Arguably the most controversial decision taken was not to pick Dani King for the women's road race.

Pooley is back with Lotto Soudal Ladies and will ride in their colours tomorrow, along with the Giro Rosa.

No fewer than 35 UCI-classified races took place today - as expected since it's 'National Championships' week for most of the big cycling nations (junior and espoir categories included).

Dumoulin (the favourite for Rio) regained the Dutch ITT title.
Cancellara (who else?) regained the Swiss ITT title.

More intrigue and scheming in the team selection, this time for the men's track squad.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/20...-olympics-2016

No live coverage for the British nationals today, but tweets and other updates here from 12:30.

https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/na...hampionships-0

1.01pm: Under-23 men’s time trial starts
3.16pm: Elite women’s time trial starts
5.31pm: Elite men’s time trial starts

I've been looking at Radio Times online for Tour de France coverage. It says the ITV commentary is with David Millar and Ned Boulting this year. What's going on with Phil and Paul? I'm going over to Eurosport if they're not doing it.

Phil and Paul normally do the world feed, I wonder if ITV are using their own coms to make it easier for going in and out of ad breaks, like Eurosport., strange move I must say.

Dunno, but I know that Phil and Paul also do the US commentary and it must be a nuisance for ITV because one or the other of them is often off-air doing links for the US feed so they don't interact with the British studio. I must say I prefer David Millar, he is much more up-to-date with peleton tactics than Sean or Paul.

Don't forget, we also have Welsh commentary on S4C now in HD as well, so just as good as any of the others, except it sounds like people gargling all the time..

I don't like Phil and Paul.......they're too wooden. Just the opposite of Carlton really

If Carlton is on ES I'd be tempted to move to ITV for Miller & Ned whereas in the past I'd have stuck with Carlton over Phil & Paul

Dowsett won the elite men's ITT, as expected. However, he feels he won't be selected for the TdF, in part due to his screw-up in the TdS opening test.

Hayley Simmonds retained her title in the elite women's ITT. Although the parcours is different to that in Rio, Pooley's 4th place finish was still below expectations.

The Olympic cycling squad has been confirmed, as were the leaked selections.