Here are scenes from today's stage of the Tour de France, which took place in the majestic French Alps. The stage winner, defending Tour champion Vincenzo Nibali of Italy, averaged 19.57 miles per hour for 85.7 miles. The comparatively low average speed tells you how much climbing there was. Nibali broke an unwritten rule of cycling today when he attacked the leader, Chris Froome, while the latter had a mechanical malfunction. I watched it live. As soon as Froome slowed to remove an obstruction from his brake mechanism, Nibali looked back, saw the difficulty, and attacked. What an asshole! I didn't like him a year ago when he won the Tour, and I like him even less now. Either you win as a gentleman or you don't win at all.
Addendum: Nairo Quintana attacked Froome near the end of the stage and closed to within 2:38. Unless Froome has a bad day tomorrow, Froome will win the Tour, for Sunday's stage is largely ceremonial.
